Gaming - Page 194

Demand for Nintendo's new next-generation console is expected to surge at launch, and market analysts are predicting constricted supply in the weeks and months after launch. If Switch 2 gets a 1H launch, will supply stabilize in time for the critical Holiday 2025 season?

Following a multitude of leaks and an incredible 146 million global sales milestone, all eyes are on Nintendo to reveal the Switch's successor. The new hardware is expected to be a higher-end iteration of the current model capable of AI-boosted 4K gaming while retaining the original's handheld-console design. Some sort of new novelty or gimmick is expected, as is typical of Nintendo's systems.

Unfortunately, another typical trend is expected to repeat itself with the Switch 2: Massive demand. Two analysts believe that the Switch 2 will be pretty hard to find at launch, and if you don't manage to get one before or at release, you could be waiting months before new stock becomes available.

Microsoft paid $70 billion for Activision-Blizzard, and now team Xbox is stressed to hit challenging internal targets...soon the company could have "no choice" but to bring more of its first-party franchises over to competing platforms.

Xbox exclusivity is going the way of the dodo. Once heralded as a way to sell consoles, first-party exclusives have lost their importance when weighed against the almighty profit margin. Now that the dust has settled from the Activision merger, the service giant delivered $7.4 billion in revenue in its first year, comprising 32% of full-year Xbox revenues. But costs are rising across the board and Microsoft is even losing money on Xbox console hardware.

Selling games has become more important than ever. Xbox needs to rake in as much revenue as it can in order to meet the strict revenue/profit margin target set by higher-ups. Bringing games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PS5 should help with ancillary PS Store sales over time, and this effect could be utilized for many more games. The move has done wonders for Microsoft; shortly after breaking exclusivity with Sea of Thieves and Grounded, in combination of the success of the Fallout TV show helped Microsoft achieve and interesting sales milestone. For a period, Microsoft had more best-selling games on Sony's own first-party PlayStation Store than Sony did.

One analyst believes Nintendo's new Switch successor could be tough to find shortly after launch--this makes it potentially similar to other hardware releases from the Japanese toy-maker.

Although Nintendo has yet to announce or reveal its new Switch 2 console, analysts are busily pondering their orbs and making sales predictions for the system. Some, like analyst firm DFC Intelligence, believe the Switch 2 will follow sales trends that are pretty much in line with the original Switch's sales trends.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who looks at regional spending and sales data for the United States, believes that the Switch 2 could sell around 4.3 million units throughout the year. This is U.S-based and not global--for comparison's sake, the Switch moved 14.87 million units globally in its first year, and DFC predicts the Switch 2 could sell between 15-17 million units globally in its first year on the market.

The gaming handheld market has exploded since Valve's Steam Deck and AMD's Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, which debuted in the ASUS ROG Ally. But now a new competitor has emerged and Intel is powering it.

At CES 2025 Intel had at its suite the new device called "Sunday Dragon," which spawned out of a collaboration between Intel and Tencent. The Sunday Dragon features an 11-inch display, and is the largest gaming handheld I have ever had the privellege of holding. While the size is certainly eye-catching it's not the most differentiating factor as the Sunday Dragon comes with "naked-eye 3D" technology, which has been coupled by an "image interlacing algorithm".

The Sunday Dragon sports the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, which is one of the higher end chips within the Lunar Lake lineup. Additionally, the perculliar device features the Arc 140V iGPU, which puts it up against the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and the soon-to-be-released AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme handhelds. As for the physical design of the Sunday Dragon, Tencent has equipped the device with magnetically removeable controllers, similar to the rumored Joy-Cons on the Nintendo Switch 2, a docking point for accessories, a simple switch to dance between 2D and 3D gaming, a built in kickstand for desktop use.

The GeForce RTX 50 Series has been announced, with the flagship GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 launching on January 30 for $1999 and $999, respectively. As part of NVIDIA's announcement, one of the big features of the next generation GeForce RTX 50 Series is DLSS 4 and the new DLSS Multi Frame Generation.

This builds on the initial Frame Generation we saw with the GeForce RTX 40 Series, where AI is leveraged to generate new frames to boost performance. NVIDA Reflex is used to great effect to reduce latency. With DLSS Multi Frame Generation, the advanced AI hardware of the GeForce RTX 50 Series is now rendering three frames instead of one, which is why we're seeing games like Black Myth: Wukong hit 240 FPS.

This includes the use of DLSS Performance, which, as a whole, delivers an 8X increase in performance compared to running the game natively in 4K. This is where the GeForce RTX 5090 only delivers 29 FPS with Full Ray Tracing enabled. And it's a $2000 GeForce RTX gaming GPU.

MSI is launching its second-generation MSI Claw gaming handhelds: the new MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+ gaming handhelds running Windows 11 and powered by the latest mobile Intel Core Ultra 7 processors. The only real difference comes in the visual look, as the 8 and 7 refer to the screen sizes for each handheld - 8-inch or 7-inch.

Both feature FHD+ (1920 x 1200) 16:10 IPS displays with full touchscreen support and a VRR-capable 120 Hz refresh rate. Underneath the hood, you'll find an integrated Intel Arc 140V GPU with second-generation Battlemage architecture. Compared to first-gen arc gaming performance, it is significantly improved with broader game support and Intel XeSS for AI-powered upscaling and frame generation.

At CES 2025, we went hands-on with both Claw devices, playing Sonic Generations and Cyberpunk 2077. They're comfortable and responsive, and the display is bright and vibrant.

Dominoes Pizza has fired off a friendly, but funny jab at Ubisoft over the company's recent announcement about the launch date for Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Ubisoft originally intended to launch Assassin's Creed Shadows on November 14, 2024, but after mounting criticism of artistic design choices, setting, choppy animations, allegations of bot being purchased to post positive comments, and much more, Ubisoft decided to delay the launch until February 14, 2025. The company cited needing more to further polish the game before it releases, and then on January 9, 2025, Ubisoft took to its social media channels with a message informing fans Assassin's Creed Shadows will be delayed again until March 20, 2025.

Dominones has decided to through a friendy, and quite funny jab at Ubisoft for its delay of the title, writing on its official Facebook account, "call us if you need help delivering on time," and shared a screenshot of the Ubisoft message announcing the delay. While the Dominoes post certainly poked some fun at Ubisoft for its double delay of Shadows, the post has provided some utility in the form of awareness, as some commenters wrote Dominoes' viral post is the way they found out about Shadows being delayed.

When it launches at the end of the month, the GeForce RTX 5090 will be an absolute beast of a PC gaming GPU. NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell GPU will launch alongside DLSS 4, leveling up Path Traced gaming to deliver 240+ FPS performance in some of the most visually impressive games ever made - from Cyberpunk 2077 to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

One game currently being developed is Black State, which features incredible Path Traced visuals and support for the latest DLSS 4 technologies. At CES 2025, we got to play an early Alpha build, running on a GeForce RTX 5090 PC built by Maingear. We first heard about this title in August 2024, when we were blown away by its RTX Announce trailer.

This is a sci-fi third-person stealth action game with photorealistic environments, thousands of interactable objects in a scene (that will go flying in the heat of battle), and body dismemberment reminiscent of the classic PC shooter Soldier of Fortune, except with the visual fidelity of a ray-traced PC game in 2025.

At CES 2025, NVIDIA announced its GeForce RTX 50 Series of graphics cards, led by the new flagship GeForce RTX 5090. Alongside the next-generation GPUs, the company also announced the arrival of DLSS 4 and the brand-new DLSS Multi Frame Generation technology that takes advantage of the RTX 50 Series' advanced AI hardware and design.

Building on DLSS 3 Frame Generation, it can render two additional frames on top of the original one, boosting performance to new heights - especially in visually intensive games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The game was developed by Machine Games and built on a custom version of id Software's idTech engine, which supports full Path Tracing.

Even on the highest-end hardware, like the GeForce RTX 4090 or upcoming GeForce RTX 5090, Path Tracing is so hardware-intensive that it's only made playable thanks to tech like DLSS. With the arrival of DLSS 4, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle looks incredible - running on the GeForce RTX 50 series in 5K at 200 FPS.

CES 2025 birthed a large selection of interesting technology-related announcements, and among the tsunami of new products coming to market in 2025 was what is believed to be with reasonable confidence, an accurate model of the Nintendo Switch 2.

This isn't the first time we have caught a look at what appears to be Nintendo's upcoming console, as late last year accessories manufacturers began posting images and listing of accessories for a Nintendo console that didn't exist, presumably the Nintendo Switch 2. Now, accessories maker Genki has brought a dummy model of the upcoming console to CES 2025 where media were able to go hands-on with it, revealing up close shots of the physical design.

The close-up look of the dummy unit reveals the Nintendo Switch 2 will be slightly bigger than its predecessor, and will feature an additional "C" button on the right-hand Joy-Con. Additionally, the Joy-Con's will magnetically attach to the console instead of the railing system that on the current Nintendo Switch. There will also be the inclusion of an additional USB-C port on the top of the console.

AMD's RDNA 4 announcement at CES 2025 was more of a teaser than a full reveal. We all got confirmation that two new GPUs - the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 - were on the way, with some architectural highlights. With more advanced ray tracing and AI hardware, we also got confirmation that FSR 4 is following in the footsteps of DLSS by upgrading to a new AI model for super-resolution and frame generation.

Interestingly, AMD chose not to showcase FSR 4 during its CES presentation; however, we were able to find it at AMD's booth at CES. We say find because the display was in the back with a sign that said 'AMD Graphics Research AI-Based Upscaling.' This is strange because the demonstration featured Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart running on the new Radeon RX 9070.

The GPU had an 'Engineering Sample' sticker, but we saw FSR 4's new AI upscaling. And the results are not only promising but impressive. From reduced ghosting to more detail and less shimmering, it's a big step forward for FSR.

NVIDIA's keynote at CES 2025 introduced the world to the what is now considered to be the most powerful graphics card in the world, the GeForce RTX 5090.

During the presentation NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang detailed the massive performance increase of the RTX 5090 versus its predecessor, and how AI is responsible for big performance jumps in games. The technology Huang was referring to is DLSS, and with the new RTX 50 series cards buyers will get DLSS 4, which is set to offer massive performance increases in compatible games. NVIDIA has begun releasing performance comparisons between games running without DLSS 4, and then with DLSS 4 turned on.

One of those titles is the upcoming Dune: Awakening, which NVIDIA showcases running at approximately 60FPS on the RTX 5090 without DLSS 4 turned on. The next section of the video shows Dune: Awakening achieving a staggering 240FPS, with it pushing above 300+FPS in some scenes thanks to DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will reportedly allow players to explore inside of around 40% of the big buildings in the game, while you'll be able to enter ALL smaller shops in the game, with next-gen levels of physical destruction where the buildings FEEL your battles and fights.

In some new leaks, we're hearing that Rockstar has been truly cooking... where you'll be able to enter around 40% of the buildings you see in GTA 6, which will see players being able to blow out windows on doors on anything that is enterable. This means that big hotels, skyscrapers, banks, malls, and other large buildings will (be around 40% enterable) but also have physical damage applied to their windows and doors.

However, smaller buildings in GTA 6 like shops, pawn shops, gas stations, and more are ALL enterable, as they're spread out through the map. These smaller buildings are more destructible than big buildings -- so it's not just the windows and doors -- but you can destroy around 60% of them.

Ubisoft has announced the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows will be delayed again, as the developer continues to further polish the controversial title.

Assassin's Creed Shadows has gone through what I would consider as the most tumultuous release in the Assassin's Creed franchise in recent memory, as the development of the game was plagued with heavy criticism from fans of the series for artistic design choices, price, choppy animations, alleged bot purchasing, characters, and setting. This mounting criticism resulted in Ubisoft announcing Assassin's Creed Shadows will be delayed until February 14, 2025, from its original release date of November 15, 2025.

At the time Ubisoft announced it delayed the next installment in the Assassin's Creed series to further polish the game, and now Ubisoft are citing similar reasons, writing in an X post that it will need "a few additional weeks" to implement player feedback that Ubisoft has reportedly been taking in since it announced the first delay. Ubisoft states the new launch date for Assassin's Creed Shadows is now March 20, 2025, which isn't a "few additional weeks" from February 14, 2025, it's actually more than a month, or precisely 34 days.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is back in the headlines during the manic CES 2025 week, with the same leaker who teased gameplay details last week, sharing new details on "truly next-gen" graphics of GTA 6.

In a new post on X, the leaker explained that GTA 6's graphics are "even better" than Red Dead Redemption 2, with the leaker noting that "there is a real jump from it, even though RDR2 still looks very beautiful", but GTA 6 looks and feels truly next-gen". The leaker says he doesn't mean that in a hyper-realistic way, but Rockstar chose a "more unique approach to it, but it truly is breathtaking" nothing that it's even better during stormy or hurricane-type weather.

GTA 6 reportedly "feels" real and "looks like it actually is happening" with wind moving things in the environments, including poles and road signs, NPCs losing their balance in high wind and running for cover, and so much more.

Sony held their press conference at CES 2025 yesterday. Among the announcements: an all-new electric vehicle, motion cameras, a headset for NFL coaches (very specific).

However, to cap off the showing, gamers will be pleased to hear that three of your favorite PlayStation franchises will be receiving film and television adaptations. 

The first announcement was an anime based on Suncher Punch productions' Ghost of Tsushima. Currently in production, the series will be premiering on Crunchyroll in 2027. The show will be directed by Takanobu Mizuno, who worked on Disney Plus's Star Wars Visions, and produced in collaboration with Aniplex and Sony Music. 

New court documents underline the sheer enormity of Call of Duty and show that a single game in the series has outsold entire video game franchises.

Activision's latest responses to an ongoing lawsuit with Uvalde massacre survivors (24SMCV02494 VERONICA MATA ET AL. VS META PLATFORMS, INC., A CORPORATION, ET AL.) has revealed new info about the $32 billion+ Call of Duty video game series. A document filed Dec 23 has direct testimony from Call of Duty series head Patrick Kelly, who discusses key data points of the series.

According to Kelly, 2019's Call of Duty Modern Warfare reboot sold 41 million copies, which is an incredible figure for any game, let alone one that is just a few years old. But things get really interesting when we compare this figure to lifetime sales data of other video game franchises--some of which have been around for decades.

Activision spent $640 million total on Call of Duty Modern Warfare's lifecycle development costs, new filings from a California court case reveal.

Alongside Meta, Activision is being sued by survivors of the brutal Uvalde massacre of 2022. There's actually two lawsuits: One related to product liability (24SMCV02498 ARNULFO REYES, ET AL. VS META PLATFORMS, INC., A CORPORATION, ET AL.), and the other related to claims involving mass tort (24SMCV02494 VERONICA MATA ET AL. VS META PLATFORMS, INC., A CORPORATION, ET AL.). These cases can be accessed via the LA Court database.

The cases were recently updated last month, with Activision filing new documents that attempt to deflect allegations. A document that highlights testimony from Call of Duty's head of development Patrick Kelly also reveals some sensitive information regarding franchise sales, potential earnings, and the costs of development. These are the types of figures that were carefully guarded during the FTC v Microsoft anti-merger lawsuit from 2023.

If you're an Xbox gamer but prefer the feel of a Dualsense: you're in luck. At CES 2025, Hyperkin, an LA-based game peripheral manufacturer, revealed the design for a new DualSense 5 style controller that will be compatible with Xbox consoles and PC. 

The gamepad, entitled 'The Competitor', features, well.. a very PlayStation style design. From the transparency of the d-pad, to the texture of the thumbsticks: Hyperkin has very convincingly replicated the look and feel of Sony's DualSense. To such an extent, that it makes you wonder if some kind of patent or copyright is being violated. 

Now, The Competitor won't contain any of the haptic triggers, or adaptive triggers characteristic of a DualSense. But it does come equipped with Hall Effect Triggers and Joysticks, which are considered a gold standard in GamePad design. These types of sticks utilize magnetics instead of mechanical components. Generally offering more durability and protection from the dreaded stick drift. Additionally, the controller comes with a mic mute button and two programmable back buttons for extra inputs. 

ASUS has made its ROG Flow Z13 premium gaming tablet official at CES 2025, rocking AMD's new Ryzen AI Max+ 395 "Strix Halo" flagship APU, up to 128GB of RAM, and 40 Compute Units of RDNA 3.5 GPU power. Check it out:

The new ASUS ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet features a 13-inch 2.5K 180Hz touchscreen Nebula Display with 500 nits of peak brightness and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, a new stainless steel and copper vapor chamber, larger intake vents, and 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans which provide 70% more airflow for quiet, and efficient cooling.

ASUS has included a larger 70Wh battery inside of the ROG Flow Z13, as well as a larger touchpad and keycaps, a convenient Command Center button for quick access to vital system functions, dual USB-C ports (both support USB4 and power delivery), a dedicated HDMI 2.1 port for up to 4K 120Hz output, and more.