Gaming - Page 211

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is out October 25, and today, Activision announced the game's PC hardware requirements and released a new PC Launch Trailer. The trailer features footage captured with AMD hardware, and the game is set to launch with AMD FSR 3.1 support that includes the latest FSR Super Resolution and FSR Frame Generation technology.

Activision studio Beenox is leading the development of the PC version, working alongside primary developer Treyarch Studios. On PC, the game will ship with various graphics modes, Ultrawide display support, and over 500 individual customization options covering all aspects of the game. As seen with the recent beta, the game also supports NVIDIA DLSS and other RTX technologies.

In addition, we now have the hardware requirements and specs covering Minimum, Recommended, and Competitive/4K Ultra settings. The good news is that the game will run fine on most PCs; the minimum specs call for at least an AMD Radeon RX 470, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, or Intel Arc A580 GPU - and just 2GB of VRAM.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 chows down on around 81GB per hour streaming the data required to show the (very, very beautiful) world as you're flying through the game.

Flight Simulator 2024 streaming data demands up to as high as 180Mbps while flying, which places peak utilization at around 81GB per hour of gameplay at high LOD (level of detail) settings when flying over densely populated areas in the game.

Why the big change in downloads being used per hour? Microsoft and Asobo Studios -- in their infinite wisdom -- wanted to make the game installation size of Flight Simulator 2024, and in doing so, it really soaks down any and all of your internet, which is a huge problem. Flight Simulator 2020 demanded a 130GB to 400GB installation size, while Flight Simulator 2024 is reduced to just 30GB on your storage.

Bandai Namco, the publisher behind mega-hits like Elden Ring, Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, and Tekken, has reportedly cancelled a variety of game projects.

Bandai Namco has a multitude of IP that it makes games with, including franchises like Dragon Ball, Gundam, One Piece, Naruto, and Kamen Rider. The company also publishes games like Elden Ring, which has proven to be one of the best-selling games in Bandai Namco's lineup with over 25 million sales to date--Elden Ring's new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion made up more than half of the group's total Q1 game sales.

The firm's new games are also off to a great start. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero managed to top both the PlayStation and Steam charts for a period, indicating strong sales.

Microsoft's new Xbox Series consoles now use 6nm chips--something that we predicted back in 2022.

The newer digital-only Xbox Series X and 1TB Xbox Series S models now use 6nm chips. The new SoCs were discovered by YouTuber Austin Evans, who tore down the new consoles in a recent video.

To be clear, the newer Xbox consoles are not more powerful in regards to CPU and GPU performance. The 6nm chip has many benefits, including a slight power usage reduction, but most of the benefits are on the production side of things. The 6nm SoCs used in the new Series X and Series S consoles are part of TSMC's N7 family, and are still part of the same family as previous models. The N7 family includes 7nm, 7nm+ (the launch 2020 models), and 6nm (the new revised models).

SEGA and Atlus are hitting it big in 2024 with multiple best-selling RPGs.

In an industry dominated by billion-dollar live service games like Fortnite and Call of Duty, SEGA is proving that the age-old adage still rings true: Gamers will show up for great singleplayer games.

Take a look at the myriad of platinum games from SEGA and Atlus, for example. SEGA now has four separate releases that have each accumulated over 1 million copies sold throughout the year: Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, Unicorn Overlord, Persona 3 Reload, and Metaphor: ReFantazio, the last of which sold 1 million in its first day, making it the fastest-selling Atlus release of all time.

Like it or not, AI is here to stay...and it could help transform some aspects of the entertainment industry, especially video games.

Artificial intelligence is a hot-button topic for many reasons. Generative AI is seen as a potential threat that will impact jobs at a time when the games industry is already culling tens of thousands of workers in an effort to save money, reduce costs, and improve margins for the illusion of perpetual growth.

But executives and high-level creatives also see AI as an opportunity. EA, for example, is using generative AI to completely revolutionize user-generated content. Xbox is also using generative AI to help with writing and dialog of its games. Other teams have been more quiet on their AI usage, but it's fair to say that a portion of the biggest companies in gaming are using it in some way--except for Nintendo.

Popular streamer Asmongold has been banned from Twitch following controversial statements made about Palestinians regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Last night, Asmongold made incredibly controversial comments that have incensed Palestinians. During the stream, Asmongold commented on the ongoing war in Gaza, claiming that Palestinians practice an "inferior culture in all ways," and that he has no sympathy for Palestinians being killed in the Middle East.

This has led to one of Asmongold's accounts being banned from Twitch--the zackrawrr account has been affected. "This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch's Community Guidelines or Terms of Service," reads the banner.

BioWare's new Dragon Age game won't have any kind of DRM when it launches on Halloween 2024.

The first new Dragon Age game in 10 years is right on the horizon, but despite that long wait, BioWare and EA have chosen not to use DRM protections on the new game. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is due out on October 31 and won't have Denuvo at launch, which is typically a good thing for gamers as DRM can impact in-game performance. However, it does mean that PC users won't get to actually pre-load the new Dragon Age.

"As you prepare for October 31st, please find the preload times for each platform below. Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't include any 3rd party DRM (such as Denuvo) on any platform. The lack of DRM means that there will be no preload period for PC players," BioWare said in an update post.

Dragon Age developer BioWare is excited to flex the PS5 Pro's new horsepower and push higher-end console performance in their new Veilguard game.

The list of PS5 Pro enhanced games keeps growing, and some developers like BioWare have been busy adapting their games to the Pro's new AI upscaling capabilities. The Pro's built-in PlayStation Spectral Resolution (PSSR) AI library works in tandem with a new custom machine learning block that's built right into the console's SoC to upscale image quality, thereby giving developers more wiggle room in the age-old resolution vs performance battle.

Utilizing PSSR in creative ways, developers can lower their effective resolution targets, alleviating the need for native resolution assets. This can, among other things, reduce the size of assets that are streamed into PS5 Pro's GPU and CPU (which are already highly compressed), giving developers more resources to push things like better performance targets via FPS, more lush environments, and other effects. In short, PSSR is a kind of magic trick that can upscale images to make them look like 4K renders while the assets themselves are below 4K, thereby reducing the workload demands.

Microsoft's new duo of Xbox Series X consoles is now available in time for the holiday season.

In a bid to further its subscription-driven business, Microsoft's games division has released a new Xbox Series X model that's all-digital and doesn't have a disc drive. The move is meant to further solidify consumers into Microsoft's ecosystem of digital products and services that are more profitable than the traditional physical media found on store shelves.

The new Xbox lineup includes the all-digital Xbox Series X with a new white paint job, and for dedicated gamers, Microsoft has also launched the limited-edition galaxy black Series X that comes with a 2TB SSD. For more budget-conscious consumers, there's the 1TB Series S which effectively doubles the storage capacity over the launch model that was limited to just 512GB.

Despite the onslaught of layoffs and cost-cutting, ex-Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime says that the games industry is still growing.

Following massive expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic, gaming is going through a great contraction as the industry returns to a steady-state equilibrium. Gone are the days of thunderous growth spikes in spending across software and services. That growth is still happening, at least by analyst projections, but at a much more consistent pace; things aren't as wild as they were during the pandemic when everyone was stuck indoors.

Some industry figures have conceptualized this growth-shrink phase on a business level, and now we have similar comments from ex-Blizzard president Mike Morhaime. As the head honcho for one of the world's premiere service-oriented companies, Morhaime was privy to a lot of factors and insights on the industry.

The Nintendo Museum officially opened its doors earlier this month. The Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan facility showcases products, iconic designs, characters, and more from Nintendo's long and storied history, from its humble beginnings as a maker of playing cards to its ascension as a videogame giant.

From lesser-known products like the Love Tester toy from the late 1960s through to the first Game & Watch handhelds to the rise of the Nintendo Entertainment System and its 16-bit follow-up, the Super Nintendo - it sounds like an incredible place to visit. And somewhere where you can go hands-on and interact with attractions and exhibits.

There has been a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding the opening of the Nintendo Museum in Japan. However, a new post by X user @ChrisMack32 adds an interesting layer to the interactive exhibits. Nintendo, the company that actively shuts down and pursues legal action when it comes to emulating its games and hardware on a PC, is apparently using a Windows PC to emulate the Super Nintendo.

The trailer for Amazon's upcoming anthology animated series that will aim to feature the world's most popular video game characters leaked online via Telegram.

Unfortunately for those interested in the show, Amazon has since launched a DMCA takedown notice that has resulted in the leaked trailer for "Secret Level" being taken down. However, as with all things posted on the internet it's contents were quickly analyzed, copied and pasted elsewhere. The new TV show will have a 15-episode first season that will be coming to Amazon's Prime Video streaming service. Tim Miller and Blur Studio will head the show, the team behind "L0ove, Death & Robots."

The TV show will incorporate legendary video game characters from popular franchises such as SEGA's Mega Man, Warhammer, God of War, Destiny 2, Titanfall, Halo, and many more. At the moment, the only official trailer released for Secret Level can be found above, but the recently leaked trailer, which has now been pulled down, revealed a star-studded cast is coming to the show. Something that was previously and still is unannounced.

Overwatch 2 Season 13 is nearly here, bringing map reworks, systems updates, the enchanting Mythic Spellbinder Widowmaker skin, and all of the tricks, tre

Blizzard has revealed the changes that are being made to Competitive Play and matchmaking with the launch of Overwatch 2 Season 13, with multiple multiplayer tweaks, the annual Halloween Terror event, and more. Overwatch 2 Season 13: Spellbinder launches on October 15, featuring a new Battle Pass, new game modes and events, and a collaboration with the popular anime series My Hero Academia.

Once Overwatch 2 Season 13 is live, players will be able to jump right into the new Halloween Terror event, which will run through to November 4, with a bunch of improvements, tweaks, and adjustments made to Overwatch 2's various game modes which you can deep dive into here.

PC gaming handhelds like the ROG Ally, Legion GO, and Ayaneo KUN all run Windows 11 with custom overlays and UIs to make navigating Steam and accessing system features as easy as possible. However, Windows 11 was never designed for handheld and controller navigation, which puts pressure on Microsoft to accommodate this new and growing market.

The good news is that Microsoft is updating Windows 11 to make it more PC gaming handheld and controller-friendly, as seen in Windows 11 Build 22631.4387, which is available to Insiders. It's a long overdue update you'd assume was already available: the ability to navigate the on-screen keyboard with a gamepad or Xbox controller.

Windows has featured an on-screen keyboard for touch screens for several years; however, until now, you could only navigate and use it with a controller. The great news is that Microsoft has made the system similar to how gamers use the on-screen keyboard on an Xbox console.

Xbox Game Studios just got its second new boss in about a year's time.

Xbox's Matt Booty used to lead the group's stable of developers under the Xbox Game Studios banner, but he was promoted to Xbox President of Game Content and Studios following the $70 billion Microsoft-Activision merger. Alan Hartmann, previously the head of Forza developer Turn 10, was then promoted to lead Xbox Game Studios.

Now Hartmann is retiring at the end of November, and Rare boss Craig Duncan is taking on the mantle. Xbox exec Matt Booty explained the news in a memo that was acquired by The Verge:

The Destiny mobile game is real, but Bungie didn't actually develop it.

Back in 2018, Chinese mobile gaming juggernaut NetEase injected $100 million into Bungie to fund the studio's "bold vision." Now we know what the investment was for--NetEase was licensing the Destiny franchise for a mobile game.

Today, NetEase announced Destiny: Rising, a new mobile shooter RPG set in Bungie's landmark sci-fi universe. Rising doesn't take place in any known timeline, though, and will have its own characters, timeline and story. Pre-registrations are now open.

Call of Duty is officially coming to cloud game streaming services this month, marking a new era for the landmark video game series.

Call of Duty has made over $31 billion in lifetime revenue, and a big part of that is because the games really weren't permanently made available on game subscription services. Titles have showed up on PS Plus, and Call of Duty briefly popped up on NVIDIA's GeForce Now streaming service, but for the most part gamers have had to pay $20 - $70 just to access the titles. That doesn't include the billions generated through microtransactions.

All of that changed when Microsoft acquired Activision for $70 billion. The company made clear its intent to bring mega-hits like Call of Duty to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, a move that could devalue the franchise in the short-term, but deliver strong service-oriented subscription revenues in the long-term. Now Microsoft has announced that Call of Duty games are also coming to cloud gaming in a bid to deliver the live service-driven game to consumers who may not have gaming consoles or PCs.

CD Projekt co-CEO Michal Nowakowski debunks the new DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) reports surrounding the Witcher and Cyberpunk developer.

A new video from YouTuber Endymion makes some pretty bold claims for games companies like Ubisoft and CD Projekt, predicated on the ongoing DEI controversies--whether real or embellished--that continue wracking the industry.

But that hasn't stopped key executives from coming in to squash some of the talk. Recently, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told investors that the company is focused on interactive entertainment and isn't interested on igniting controversy. Now videos like this one have prompted CD Projekt's management to also shrug off the claims.

Bethesda's next-gen Creation Engine 2 has been reiterated from the ground up for Xbox Series X/S consoles, and is likely to set the stage for all future Fallout and Elder Scrolls games.

Based on all of the work that went into the Creation Engine, it seems unlikely that Bethesda will switch to the more standardized Unreal Engine. Bethesda Game Studios has invested a lot of money and manpower updating its custom Creation Engine 2 for newer games like Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. In 2020, Todd Howard said the jump to Creation Engine 2 was the "largest engine overhaul in Bethesda's history."

In 2023, Howard also commented that all the various work and tweaks on the Creation Engine 2 "took so long to do." That kind of investment won't be shrugged off too easily, despite the sizable benefits of moving to something like Unreal Engine 5--the reduction of tech debt, or the accumulation of outdated code (think of a house being continually over-built on a potentially jeopardized foundation), and less need for specialized coding because of UE5's more ubiquitous nature.