Gaming - Page 1889

There was some surprise when Square Enix announced Rise of the Tomb Raider would be exclusive for the Microsoft Xbox platform for one year.

"I hope fans know that it wasn't an easy decision. I think any sort of partnership at this level is a decision that took a long time for us to get to," said Phil Rogers, CEO of the Americas and Europe at Square Enix, in a statement to The Examiner. "The decision at a studio level, we took very, very seriously. We knew it would, in the short-term, disappoint fans."

Square Enix apparently made the decision after noting Microsoft's continued passion for the Tomb Raider series: "Having been working with us on previous games in a lesser sense, they've been supportive. [However], for Rise of the Tomb Raider, they've just brought this passion and belief that has really enabled us to blow people away. People should feel that about Microsoft. Their commitment to Tomb Raider is just amazing for us."

Square Enix's Japan division today announced that it has expressed interest in releasing the new Dragon Quest XI: In Search of Departed Time on Nintendo's new NX hardware.

The Japanese publisher revealed the new game during a special Dragon Quest themed presentation, revealing that Dragon Quest XI will be releasing on PlayStation 4, the 2DS and 3DS handhelds, and possibly Nintendo's new NX system.

"In addition we are considering the launch of Dragon Quest XI on Nintendo's in-development console, the NX," the publisher said in a new expressed interest press release.

Bethesda wants to give gamers an enjoyable - and customizable experience - while playing Fallout 4, and won't rely on just pre-determined frameworks to get the job done.

If you remember purchasing a house in Skyrim, there was a minimum amount of customization available to gamers. That apparently won't be the case in Fallout 4:

"It's not just, 'Hey, here's Breezehome [one of the houses in Skyrim],' where we just picked a house, and you can buy it, and you can go to somebody and say, 'Here's this much gold, and put this thing into my house.'" said Pete Hines, VP of Marketing at Bethesda, in a statement to GameSpot. "[In Fallout 4] it's, 'Now I'm building it, I'm actually building the house, I'm building the wall, I'm placing the door, I made the table, I made the mattress.' It's that sense of making your own way in the world and defining, 'Who am I and where do I live and what's my story in this world?"

We've seen a considerable amount of old school games being teased on Unreal Engine 4, with Mario, Sonic and even Pokemon, but now it's time to see what a possible open-world Kirby game could look like in Unreal Engine 4.

For fans of Kirby, is this something you want to see happen? A massive, beautiful, next-gen Kirby game could be something that could happen in the future. While this is just a tease, there's no stopping the developers from making these games using Unreal Engine 4.

343 Industries took some heat after it was announced Halo 5: Guardians won't support split-screen - and now the game developer is discussing its decision.

"The decision to remove split-screen support from Halo 5: Guardians was one of the most difficult ones we've ever had to make as a studio," said Josh Holmes, executive producer, in a blog post. "We know that for many of our fans, Halo has meant playing together with friends in the same room. We all have great memories of past Halo split-screen multiplayer matches."

Indeed, it looks like 343 Industries wanted to "deliver a true next-gen experience" and "tough choices had to be made." To help deliver the best gaming environment, there needed to be room for scale - and Halo 5 could have been comprised if a split-screen setting was included in the game.

Bethesda may have waited until June to announce Fallout 4, but the studio had a great interest in having the game take place in Boston for years now. In fact, the location was decided before Skyrim was released in 2011, and developers started thinking about Bean Town in 2008.

"Long ago... Pre-Skyrim. The ideas for Fallout 4 started right after Fallout 3 and have gotten worked on and been percolated since 2008," said Pete Hines, VP of Marketing at Bethesda, in a statement to GameSpot. "We're talking about its infancy, we're talking about jotting some stuff down, we're talking about, 'I want to do it in Massachusetts, and have it be about this, this, and this."

Fallout 4 game development started after Skyrim had been supported "for several years," and the studio was comfortable moving on to the next project.

Bungie has a long-term plan for Destiny, and gamers will be able to support their current Guardian for quite some time. It turns out, with Bungie's current 10-year support plan, gamers may not need to make a new character - or switch - anytime soon.

"We certainly take it seriously that Destiny is a ten-year thing," said Luke Timmins, engineering lead for the Destiny video game, in a statement to GamesRadar. "It's a long-term thing and with these adventures that we're adding my contract to you - and any player - is that your Guardian will always be there. We're going to keep adding new stuff for you to do and I'd hope you'll look at The Taken King and be like, 'I'm looking forward to logging on again and hooking friends online.'"

Destiny: The Taken King is scheduled for launch on September 15, and it looks like Bungie plans to support your characters for a while. The expansion will be available for $40. In addition, it looks like Bungie is already working on a new "upcoming title," so Destiny fans will be quite busy.

Ouya CEO Julie Urhman today confirmed that PC hardware maker Razer has bought out the company. Urhman inadvertently broke the news by tweeting a cavalcade of thank you messages signalling something big had happened.

The ex-CEO further tweeted the following message to Razer, confirming the buyout speculations: "Can't wait to see what you do. Take care of my incredible team and community...I know you will."

Razer has since issued a lengthy announcement post. "Today we're pleased to welcome OUYA to the Razer family," reads the announcement. "With them in the Razer fold, we plan to further embrace hardcore gaming in the living room and take Android gaming to the next level."

Hori's new Tactical Assault Commander 4 is a keyboard and mouse duo aimed at emulating PC quality FPS control on Sony's PlayStation 4 console. Armed with the new controller, gamers can now hone their headshot skills to a heightened degree with the kind of precision that a steady mouse can offer.

The mouse and keyboard are both wired via USB and feature programmable macro buttons for customized play. Like previous models, the peripheral sports must-have modes like snipe and walk buttons, and the traditional WASD scheme shouldered by Triangle (Q) and Circle (E) for easy maneuvering. It also has keys to match a DualShock 4 including a Share button for screenshots and video.

The keyboard is decidedly created with right-handed gamers in mind--lefties are out of luck with this model. Hori affirms that the Tactical Assault Commander 4 is cross-platform compatible and is fully functional on the PlayStation 3, so you can fire up yesteryear classics like Blops 2 for practice.

2014 has proven to be quite the lucrative year for Valve as reports indicate that the company's digital PC gaming storefront Steam raked in an estimated total of $1.5bn in total sales last year.

Valve's in-house mega blockbusters DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 were responsible for a considerable bulk of the figures, pulling in more than $450m profit across all three games.

Industry research company SuperData affirms that Valve also amassed $330m in royalties from third-party titles sold on Steam. As per company policy, Valve takes a 30% cut of each sale. Considering Steam has a library consisting of over 781 million games, and that the service hit a peak of 9.2 million users, it's no wonder Valve can pull in that kind of revenue.