Gaming - Page 208

One of, if not the biggest achievement SpaceX has made so far is the success of the launch and catch of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket.

Starship was launched, and its booster, Super Heavy, was caught by the launch tower known as Mechazilla. SpaceX officially called the event Flight 5, and it represented the company's highest-stakes launch yet in its quest to create a reliable, reusable method of transportation capable of putting humans on the surface of Mars. SpaceX has been somewhat quiet on the details of Flight 5, but SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk have seemingly inadvertently given the world a peak behind the curtain as to what SpaceX thinks about Flight 5.

Musk posted a video to his personal X account showing off some Diablo IV gameplay, and in the background, you can hear Musk is on a call with SpaceX staff. The staffers begin by saying they want to be "upfront about the scary sh*t that happened" as focussing on that will help get SpaceX to the goal of Flight 6. The staffers go on to tell Musk that they were one second away from aborting the landing of Super Heavy as the team had "misconfigured gas support" that was only one second away from flight controllers aborting the landing on the tower.

Xbox Insiders have been granted a new version of the Xbox app to trial, and it's an update that revamps the Home or landing experience. According to the Xbox Wire post detailing the update, PC gamers can expect a faster app experience that is easier to navigate and find the latest content.

According to Tila Nguyen, Product Manager Lead, Xbox Experiences, this update is based on player and user feedback and arrives after "testing different designs internally over the last several months." The goal is to unify Game Pass and the Microsoft Store into a single interface without switching between tabs.

The Xbox app Home experience has four key components: featured content, deals and discounts, curated collections and recommendations, and a 'Jump Back In' section that will get you into the game as quickly as possible.

There are PC games that have lived on for decades thanks to mods, with customization, skill, and creativity leading to some truly impressive overhauls or brand-new experiences from a community that simply does it for the love of the game(s). Bethesda's The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim is one example, and Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V is another.

The modding community has embraced these games, and it feels like there's something new worth checking out every other week. Today, we want to focus on a couple of mods that are all about mashing together two iconic universes like you're in the middle of a comic book crossover or multiverse.

The first mod is Hitman Contracts for Skyrim from MagicaLess, which, as the name suggests, brings Agent 47 from the Hitman universe to the world of Skyrim. In the mod, you take control of the iconic bald assassin, decked out in Skyrim's version of a black suit and red tie, and are tasked with taking out five targets.

A former developer of Halo 5 has spoken out about a PC port that, at one point, was being worked on at the studio but was ultimately never released.

Tyler Owens, an engineer for Apex Legends, who also previously worked on Halo 5, replied to an X user on his post highlighting Halo 5. The user mentioned they wanted a PC port for Halo 5, to which Ownes replied, "Never going to happen," in his opinion, and went on to explain the port that was originally being considered was scrapped due to "significant-tech hurdles." It appears these tech hurdles led to Microsoft ultimately canceling a PC port.

Reports have speculated the reason for the PC ports cancelation is to do with Halo 5's framerate being linked to its in-game physics and the difficulties of porting that to PC. However, that was never confirmed by Microsoft or 343 Industries, the development studio behind the project. Unfortunately, Owens didn't specify exactly what the technical issues were that stopped the PC port.

A source has claimed FromSoftware's immensely popular title Elden Ring will be released on Nintendo's next-generation console, presumably called the Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo hasn't even announced its new console yet, and we are already hearing rumblings about what games could be getting a port over to its new platform. According to reports citing the leaker Nash Weedle, who took to X to tease that a "Definitive Edition" of Elden Ring is in the works at the development studio Virtuos, the studio behind Dark Souls Remastered. Additionally, Virtuos has worked on other remasters such as BioShock: The Collection and Assassin's Creed Liberation Remastered.

Notably, Dark Souls Remastered is currently the only FromSoftware title available on Nintendo's latest console, the Switch, which somewhat adds hope to the claims that Virtuos is behind the rumored Elden Ring port. As for when we could see Elden Ring on the Nintendo Switch 2, leaker Nash Weedle believes the remaster will be released sometime in late 2025, which is in line with Nintendo's rumored release window for its upcoming console.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is an updated version of the original open-world adventure in the Horizon series for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, and PC. Its visuals align with its sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, with revamped lighting, environments, character detail enhanced 4K textures, more foliage, and even 10 hours of new mocap animation. As seen in the announcement trailer, the updated graphics are pretty impressive.

It also adds full Dual Sense controller integration and support to the game and will be available as a $10 upgrade to those that owned the original. The PC version will support DLSS 3, FSR 3.1, Ultrawide (21:9), Super Ultrawide (32:9), and even triple monitor setups. Like the original, it supports a wide range of hardware; however, with PC developer Nixxes Software posting the PC hardware requirements to social media - it's a far more hardware-intensive game than the original release.

The recommended specs have been bumped up. The original release's CPU requirement of an Intel Core i7-4770K at 3.5GHz or Ryzen 5 1500X at 3.5GHz has been updated to an Intel Core i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600. The recommended hardware on the GPU side has also been bumped up, going from a GeForce RTX 1060 or Radeon RX 580 to a GeForce RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 5700.

We reported on an impressive mod a week ago in which an enthusiast turned an original Xbox console into a handheld gaming device. This week, it's the PS4's turn, with the PlayStation 4 Slim console turned into a portable gaming handheld by YouTube creator and retro hardware expert Restore Technique.

The dimensions of the end product, 249 x 156 x 49.2mm, and an overall weight of 1700 grams make it a hefty unit, but it's still a remarkable build. It makes good use of Sony's smaller PS4 Slim motherboard and more power-efficient console. It removes unnecessary elements, ports, and additional mods to keep the heat and power balance in check.

Even so, it required a large 12V 10,000 mAh battery pack and the addition of a custom fan controller to boost the handheld's cooling. In addition to adding a 7-inch IPS display, it even integrates the Dual Shock controller's buttons and triggers to make it a portable PS4.

Sony's first-party developers are currently rolling out PS5 Pro updates to its games so early adopters can take advantage of the new console's hardware on day one. With a GPU featuring 67% more Compute Units, 28% faster memory, new advanced ray-tracing hardware, and AI-powered upscaling with PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), it's set to become the world's most powerful gaming console when it launches on November 7.

With Naughty Dog updating The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2 last week with new PS5 Pro modes, it was Insomniac Games' turn over the weekend. The celebrated studio released new PS5 Pro updates for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Surprisingly, the studio is adding PC-like graphics controls beyond the choice of Performance and Fidelity modes.

In Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Version 1.004, PlayStation 5 Pro owners are given new graphical toggles to adjust the game's real-time ray-tracing effects. The game now includes individual controls for RT shadows, reflections, and ambient occlusion - with the ability to turn these on or off one by one and adjust the quality setting.

A disappointing ending has been reached by the massive effort made to preserve video game history following the recent ruling from the US copyright office.

For three years, the Video Game History Foundation (VGF), along with the Software Preservation Network (SPN), has been backing and pushing a petition to the US copyright office to request a DMCA takedown exemption to build online libraries and archives of video games that are no longer being printed. These digital game libraries of archives would grant researchers or historians the right to access the games through emulators. The VGF argues this is particularly important considering 87% of all video game releases in the US before 2010 are now out of print.

So, what happened? The new ruling has cited the Entertainment Software Association's and other industry lobby groups' belief that there would be a "significant risk that preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes." This line of reasoning sounds ridiculous when you consider that current libraries already lend out digital forms of media, which the majority of people consume for recreational purposes.

A few weeks ago we heard about Nintendo sending out Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to players requesting they participate in an upcoming online playtest for a secret title.

As with every NDA, individuals who agree to the contract are unable to share footage, images or even discuss the contents of what they will witness. However, Nintendo's playtest involved more than 10,000 players, and this is the internet we are talking about here. As I predicted earlier this month, with thousands of players involved, it's more than likely something is going to get leaked. In response, Nintendo's DMCA machine gun is running red hot as it fires off takedown notices for any published content of the unannounced title. But that hasn't stopped the leaks.

Enough images and videos have surfaced online that we can work out what the new title will entail for players. Judging by what has popped up online here, here, and here, it appears Nintendo is working on an MMO that combines Minecraft and Roblox but with Nintendo shine. Players will be able to populate an entire planet with various creations and explore to discover new lands, enemies, and resources. Furthermore, players will be able to build up and eventually connect their floating islands with other islands, expanding their domain and creative possibilities.

Despite breaking exclusivity with multiple first-party games, Microsoft's latest annual report says that "exclusive games content" is a measure of growth of its interactive entertainment business.

Microsoft has lofty goals for Xbox. The company wants to bring its gaming business everywhere that people currently are, including mobile phones, the living room, PCs, even directly to TVs via cloud streaming. Microsoft has the service infrastructure and technology, and now that it's armed with 20x game franchises that have made over $1 billion each, it also has the content.

But there's just one issue: delivery. Xbox consoles have been flagging for years, leading Microsoft to not only purchase some of the biggest third-party publishers on the planet with Activision-Blizzard and ZeniMax, but also start releasing its games in competing platforms. Earlier this year, Microsoft brought four more first-party games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, a trend that will continue with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. At one point, Microsoft even had more first-party games on the PS Store's top 10 best-sellers than Sony did. The age of exclusivity seems to be behind us, or at the very least, behind the overarching goal of higher numbers and better margins.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 seemingly has a serious problem which renders upscaling tech like NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS pretty much useless in the game.

This is the rather shaky state of affairs according to reports on Reddit, where Redditor 'Important_Shake_1491' has led the charge with pinning down evidence to the effect that DLSS and the other upscalers are essentially broken.

As you can see in the above post (which was noticed by Wccftech), the Redditor reckons that turning on DLSS (or whatever your chosen upscaling solution happens to be) in Black Ops 6 kicks in a performance overhead of something like 40%.

After recent reports Ubisoft was developing a Rayman remake, Eurogamer has reportedly received confirmation from Ubisoft that it is indeed working on an unannounced Rayman project.

The confirmation of a Rayman project being in development over at Ubisoft comes after reports from Insider Gaming claimed the team behind the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was disbanded, and some of the development team members were moved over to Ubisoft Milan, which is reportedly heading the Rayman project. Insider Gaming also claimed Ubisoft is referring to the Rayman project internally as "Project Steambot" and that was being developed by at least a dozen former Prince of Persia developers.

Additionally, the Insider Gaming report mentioned the involvement of Rayman creator Michael Ancel with the upcoming Rayman project, which is seemingly a controversial decision given Ancel's history at Ubisoft. Ancel left the company in 2020 after 30 years on not-so-good terms as the basis for his departure was an investigation launched into him after several complaints were lodged by his fellow employees accusing Ancel of toxic leadership.

The debacle at Ubisoft continues over the recent reports the team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has been disbanded following the title's failure to reach Ubisoft's internal sales expectations.

Reports from Insider Gaming claimed Ubisoft made the decision not to pursue a sequel to The Lost Crown only a few weeks after the game was released. Additional reports from Insider Gaming claimed the team behind the title, Ubisoft Montpellier, were disbanded after being rejected a sequel for the tile. Notably, The Lost Crown wasn't poorly received by gamers, in fact, it was a welcomed success among those who played it.

Unfortunately, the title didn't quite get the attention it deserved, and according to Michael Douse, the director of publishing at Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios, Ubisoft is at fault for the title's lack of success. Douse pointed out the game wasn't available on Steam when it launched, and if it did it would have been a "market success" and there "would likely be a sequel because the team are so strong."

Rumors were circulating that Nintendo was planning on finally unveiling its successor to the Nintendo Switch, with speculation pegging the month of October as the time and place for the announcement.

However, the month of October is almost over, and unless Nintendo is planning on a surprise event, these rumors, and much like the ones before them, will be just that - rumors. Officially speaking, Nintendo said it will continue with the current Switch until the end of this financial, which is March next year. Those official statements from Nintendo haven't stopped fans from speculating and scouring the internet for any signs of a potential announcement.

The latest tidbit of information comes in the form of a seemingly unusual Nintendo logo that was hinted at by Playtonic, the team behind the upcoming Yooka-Replaylee remaster. Within Playtonic's announcement trailer for the upcoming remake, the supported titles list "Nintendo" instead of Nintendo Switch. Typically, within the supported titles of a game, Nintendo Switch is listed, but for some reason, it's just "Nintendo". While this may initially sound like a small detail, a pair of animated eyes stops right above the lettering, drawing attention to that part of the frame.

If you enjoyed the Overcooked series of games - we certainly did when we played them with our wife, they're a real laugh, and surprisingly addictive - then you might want to check out the latest free game from the Epic store.

Moving Out is in a similar vein to Overcooked, a top-down (isometric) party game which is all about tapping a rich vein of chaos, and is accessibly casual by nature. Here, though, instead of trying to cook, you are attempting to move house.

It's a couch coop affair - literally, in that you'll spend some time shuffling around with couches, trying to negotiate tight corners - and one with a sense of humor. Here, you are no mere 'mover' but a 'furniture arrangement and relocation technician' working for the 'Smooth Moves' company.

A new grotesque creation that's part of Monster Hunter Wilds has been spotted, and it surely qualifies as one of the most repugnant beasts ever rendered on a PC or console.

PC Gamer spotted the skin-crawling revelation of the Rompopolo, a sickly-looking, bulbous, purple Brute Wyvern which calls the Oilwell Basin home. Said basin is a sprawling and volcanic region, apparently, featuring oil lakes and tar pits - and it looks like the Rompopolo has been fed a diet of Boscan crude oil from birth.

You can see someone battling the Rompopolo in the above YouTube video clip, and get a better sense of the terrors in store from the oily beast.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has taken to his personal LinkedIn account to post his annual letter detailing Microsoft's current position and where it wants to be in the future in relation to where it is now.

Nadella covered everything from AI, infrastructure, Microsoft's achievements, and where the company is striving towards, and throughout the letter, the CEO touched on Microsoft's perspective on gaming. It was only recently that rumors began spreading that Microsoft was squeezing the breaks on its initial plan to bring Xbox games over to other platforms, such as the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. These rumors came from Spanish insider "eXtas1s," but have now been proven incorrect given Nadella's recent letter.

According to Microsoft's CEO, the company will "continue to extend our content to new platforms," while mentioning the four trial titles that have already received ports - Grounded, Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves. Nadella also mentions Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard and how it now has brought "hundreds of millions of players" to Microsoft's gaming ecosystem. Moreover, Nadella reveals Microsoft now has control over "20 franchises that have generated over $1 billion in lifetime revenue".

Microsoft officially confirms that it has 20 video game franchises that have each grossed $1 billion in game sales and microtransactions.

A year ago, after Microsoft closed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, we attempted to wrangle up the top billion-dollar franchises that Xbox now owns. After all, Activision had a total of 8x separate franchises that each earned over $1 billion in revenue before the Microsoft buyout. Matching that up with other games in Microsoft's already-sizable first-party lineup, we came up with the number 17.

That number is actually a bit higher. In a recent annual report filing, Microsoft says that it owns 20 billion-dollar gaming franchises.

"You just need to check out Steam forums, for example. Very toxic, very hostile environment." That's Denuvo's product manager, Andreas Ullmann, speaking with Rock Paper Shotgun about the perception surrounding his company's anti-cheat and anti-piracy software.

If you're a hardcore PC gamer, you're probably aware of Denuvo's anti-piracy software, which developers and publishers integrate into releases to combat piracy and maximize profits. Final Fantasy XVI and Black Myth: Wukong are two recent examples of games with Denuvo's anti-piracy software, with the general perception that Denuvo impacts performance. Or worse, it destroys SSDs.

"We simply don't want to leave the floor to these people who are posting all things about us anymore," Andreas Ullmann adds. "We also want to share our view, our opinion on these topics, and also act as a trusted source of information."