Gaming - Page 212

PAX Australia returned to Melbourne this past weekend to celebrate everything from competitive esports and indie games to new tech, gear, tabletop gaming, and jumping on a Nintendo 64 to play some multiplayer Mario Kart with like-minded individuals.

Even though companies like SEGA and Ubisoft were on hand with titles like Star Wars Outlaws and Sonic X Shadow Generations running on console hardware, as seen in previous years, PC gaming was just about everywhere at PAX. From MSI and ASUS rekindling their Computex 2024 rivalry with big booths showcasing their latest hardware to local PC hardware gurus Aftershock showcasing some truly stunning one-of-a-kind builds.

Outside of the surprise appearance of Valve announcing that it was finally bringing the Steam Deck to Australia, the other big thing this weekend was the debut of Intel's new core Ultra 200 Series, with actual builds from companies like MSI running the latest games on brand-new Z890 rigs playing games like Black Myth: Wukong. Here's a list of the coolest tech we saw at the show, starting with Aftershock's incredible custom Alien PC.

For hardcore gamers, putting over 1000 hours into a single game is not uncommon; it usually signals that you're not interested in playing every new blockbuster release and are perfectly happy to stick with one piece of interactive entertainment for years. Whether that's jumping into Counter-Strike, Apex Legends, or Overwatch every weekend or firing up World of Warcraft to play the latest expansion 20 years after the game debuted.

Regarding the gaming tastes of tech billionaires, we've heard stories of Bill Gates getting addicted to Minesweeper to the point where Microsoft employees had to intervene. More recently, Elon Musk has been sharing his impressive builds and high-level dungeon runs in Diablo 4 on X.

And now it's Mark Zuckerberg's turn. We now know the PC game he simply can't get enough of - Sid Meier's Civilization.

After waiting 14 years, PC gamers finally get to play Rockstar's Western epic, the original Red Dead Redemption, later this month. The long-awaited port and remastered release includes support for higher resolutions, ultrawide displays, uncapped frame rates, and DLSS, FSR, and Frame Generation technologies.

When Rockstar made the surprise announcement last week, it didn't include the price - instead, it informed those interested that pre-purchasing or pre-orders would be opening up soon on platforms like Steam and the Epic Games Store. It only took a day or so for these storefronts to list the price for Red Dead Redemption's long-awaited PC debut, upsetting many fans in the process.

The PC release includes the base game and the Undead Nightmare expansion but does not include the game's popular multiplayer modes. As for the price, get ready: Red Dead Redemption on PC is being sold for $49.99 USD.

Thanks to developers CD Projekt Red's ongoing support, the Phantom Liberty expansion, and tech like Path Tracing and DLSS, Cyberpunk 2077 is still one of the most visually impressive games you can play on a modern PC. Running on the company's internal Red Engine, it's a technical marvel open to modders to tweak and tune to their liking.

NextGen Dreams, the creators of the hyper-realistic DreamPunk mod that aims to give the game a photorealistic look, have dropped a new video showcasing the latest version of the impressive mod. Unfortunately, access to the mod sits behind a paywall, but DreamPunk 2.1 overhauls how it handles various graphics and lighting effects, from Indirect Lighting, Light Diffusion, LUT saturation, and more.

The mod and footage we see above look incredible, and yes, some of the shots are indeed photorealistic or movie-like in terms of how "real" they look. The mod sits on top of the game's impressive Path Traced lighting mode, RT Overdrive, with DLSS 3.7.10 enabled on a GeForce RTX 4090 - running in 8K.

Pokemon developer Game Freak has officially confirmed it was hacked and apologized for the leaks in a recent statement.

Over the last few days, we've seen lots of leaks and reports of new Pokemon games run rampant across the internet. The information was apparently gleaned from unauthorized access to Game Freak's internal servers, and the billion-dollar Pokemon steward has now announced that it was hacked back in August 2024.

The firm says that it has taken steps to ensure that these kinds of hacks can't happen in the future: "We have already rebuilt and re-inspected the server, but we will work to prevent recurrence by further strengthening security measures," part of the statement reads.

Microsoft still wants to launch a cloud-only version of Xbox Game Pass, sources tell Windows Central's Jez Corden. This echoes reports that were also made in July 2024.

With unprofitable consoles on land, Xbox's future could be in the clouds. Microsoft is making big moves to accelerate its cloud expansion efforts and bring Xbox games to as many people as possible--especially those that don't own actual Xbox consoles.

Microsoft has big plans for cloud gaming. The company hopes to make $8 billion from Xbox Game Pass through 2030 via an astronomical 110 million subscriber base. Cloud is expected to make a significant proportion of these revenues, with 29% of subscribers, or about 32 million, being from cloud.

Starting next month in November, Xbox users will be able to stream select games from their purchased games library over the cloud, sources tell The Verge's Tom Warren.

Microsoft has big plans for cloud gaming. The company hopes to have 110 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers by 2030, and about 32 million of these users are expected to be playing on the cloud. That's a huge bet compared to the very slim numbers that currently use Xbox's cloud gaming service.

This could change dramatically, and soon. The landmark Epic v Google antitrust trial is now over, and Epic scored a huge win for itself and other gaming firms. Google must now allow third-party app stores and separate billing systems directly on Android's Google Play Store, a move that will jeopardize Google's $12.4 billion mobile economy. Microsoft plans to deploy its own digital storefront right into the Xbox app while simultaneously opening up game streaming to new levels.

Purchases made on Steam now inform users that they are buying a license to digital software, and will not actually own the software outright.

Valve's PC gaming marketplace has dominated the competition, but there's one thing that Steam has in common with all other digital stores: No one actually owns the software except for the creators. Consumers are simply buying a license to the software itself, not the actual software. The same is true when you buy a disc-based game or media--you own the disc itself, which is the license, but not the contents of the disc.

Now Steam is letting users know about this clarification every time they purchase a game on the platform. "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam," reads the banner on Steam's checkout page.

The Xbox mobile store will open up soon, allowing gamers to buy Xbox titles directly from a mobile app.

Epic Games made history in its landmark trial against Google. The Epic v Google antitrust case has concluded, with a federal judge officially ordering that Google open up the Play Store and allow competing storefronts on its billion-dollar app marketplace. This means that native Android apps like the Xbox app and the Epic Games Store can not only show up on the Google Play Store, but can also sell games directly to consumers.

Xbox President Sarah Bond has confirmed that the Xbox app will soon turn into an Xbox mobile store starting in November:

Digital rights management software like Denuvo might be pesky for consumers and gamers, but it apparently helps reduce the impact piracy has on game sales by a significant amount.

A new study has some pretty interesting info on how Denuvo DRM can help stabilize piracy as it relates to full game sales. The study is called Revenue effects of Denuvo digital rights management on PC video games, and was published in volume 52 of the Entertainment Computing journal.

The study surmises that piracy and illegal sharing of software can actually have a sizable and noticeable impact on initial PC game sales during a title's critical launch window. The idea is that publishers and developers use Denuvo DRM to shield their games for the first 12 weeks on the market, which is enough time to alleviate most of the revenue losses.

Nintendo is requesting participants for a mysterious online playtest but is asking all involved not to talk about the contents of the program.

The news comes from X user @OatmealDome, who shared a screenshot of the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) Nintendo sent out to players, and within it, the company states, "We request that you do not discuss or disclose content from either the Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program test software or website with others." Given the nature of the internet, it's very unlikely that absolutely zero leaks will come from this playtest, but perhaps the looming legal nature of Nintendo will be enough to scare participants into not turning on any screen recording software/hardware.

However, I highly doubt that will happen, especially given the secret nature of the play test, which is scheduled to take place between October 23 and November 5. Users interested in participating will need to have an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. The secrecy of the playtest has fueled speculation that it has something to do with Nintendo's next-generation console, presumably called the Nintendo Switch 2. However, that is pure speculation at this point, as Nintendo hasn't officially mentioned anything about a next-generation console besides it's coming.

Concord is renowned as one of the biggest video game flops of all time, and is definitely Sony's biggest flop ever, with the title reportedly costing as much as $400 million to develop only to generated a few million upon release.

The failure of Concord is likely underestimated due to how quickly Sony decided to pull the game down after abysmal sales and reception. Moreover, the game was such a failure that Sony decided to refund everyone who purchased it, meaning Sony made exactly $0 from a multi-hundred-million investment. That begs the question: Will Concord and all of the content surrounding it just be thrown in the bin now? Or does Sony shelf it for the time being and re-release it as a free-to-play game?

The second theory is gaining some traction as it was discovered that Concord's developers, Firewalk Studios, are quietly updating the Steam games files, according to the title's Steam db listing. The activity was as recent as October 8, and while we can't decipher the changelog to see what was added/altered, the activity has fueled speculation Sony and Firewalk Studios are preparing for the free-to-play re-release of Concord.

Electronic Arts (EA) is attempting to get back into the good graces of the Apex Legends community by sharing the drop rate for the rarest lootbox item in the game, Heirloom Shards.

So, why is EA suddenly choosing to share the drop rate for Heirloom Shards now? EA was originally forced to share the drop rates for loot boxes by new laws passed in South Korea that require publishers to disclose the drop rates of loot boxes so users can make informed purchasing decisions. As a result of these new laws, EA has taken the opportunity to reveal the drop rate of its rarest lootbox item, Heirloom Shards. According to the new blog post, EA has previously stated that Heirloom Shards have a drop rate of less than 1%, but the specific percentage is 0.045%.

According to EA, the drop rate of 0.045% is based on the inventory of a player who hasn't earned any Apex Legends cosmetics, and an active player will have a higher drop rate than the one listed due to the duplication protection rule. Players are unable to receive the same item twice, which means the more items a player has in their inventory, the more items they have crossed off the list of possible cosmetics. With each new cosmetic earned, a player is increasing their chances of obtaining an Heirloom Shard.

Activision is doing all it can to reduce the toxicity within the Call of Duty community, and with improved features launching in Black Ops 6, a big reduction could be achieved.

Call of Duty is one of the most popular franchises in the history of gaming, and with its popularity, it developed what is renowned in the gaming sector as quite a "toxic community". Activision is aware of this and begun implementing anti-toxic-player features such as its voice and moderation system which is designed to monitor voice and text chats for bad behavior in real-time. As the launch of Black Ops 6 approaches, Activision is planning on rolling out in the latest title a new and improved version of the technology, which is called ToxMod.

ToxMod was developed by Modulate.ai and uses artificial intelligence to monitor voice and text chats. If it detects an infringement on the Call of Duty code of conduct, it will flag the event for a human to deliberate on whether it's a bannable offense. According to Modulate CEO Mike Pappas, who spoke to GaminingIndustry.biz, "We built ToxMod to help sift through the proverbial haystack and identify the worst, most urgent harms. This allows moderators to prioritize where they can have the most impact."

Artificial intelligence tools are expected to change the games industry, but some developers like Fallout creator Tim Cain believe AI offers unique opportunities for smaller teams.

AI, especially generative AI, is accelerating at a rapid clip. Big publishers like Electronic Arts are going all-in on generative AI and plan to use it to revolutionize creator content. Others, like Microsoft's Xbox games division, will use it to help craft stories. But it seems like AI is being used by many parts of the industry right now, whether overtly or behind closed doors.

This level of disruption is common in the tech industry, and innovations in software development are also prevalent through iterations of games engines like Unreal. In a recent video, Fallout creator Tim Cain discussed his thoughts on how technology like AI will change jobs and how games are made.

This year's annual Football Manager game will miss its planned November launch, SEGA has announced.

Football Manager 25 is now coming in March 2025 alongside a 5-month delay, and will not launch during its original November 26 release date. This marks the second time the game has been delayed by the publisher and developer.

"After careful consideration, Sports Interactive have made the tough decision to further delay the release of Football Manager 25. Following discussions with SEGA, our licensors and partners, we have agreed the best course of action is to delay the launch until March 2025. Specific platform release dates will follow once confirmed," the teams announced in a blog post.

Diablo 4's microtransaction prices were out of control, but they weren't always meant to be.

Blizzard has made headlines with Diablo 4's cosmetic prices, usually for the wrong reasons. Earlier in March, the publisher charged charged $20 for town portal reskins. The current store isn't much better in pricing, with $20+ character cosmetics skins being the norm.

But it wasn't always going to be this way. Before he left in January 2024, in which Blizzard subsequently laid off over 1,900 people, ex-Blizzard president Mike Ybarra intended to reduce the microtransaction pricing of Diablo 4's controversial storefront. That's according to a report from Jason Schreier's new book Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, which says that Ybarra wanted Blizzard to move away from the live service model and reduce the reliance the company had on recurring microtransaction-driven revenues.

Amazon released New Word on September 29, 2021 and after amassing a big player base of more than 900,000 concurrent players on Steam, the MMORPG eventually fell off as there was a lack of end-game content to satisfy hungry players, among other reasons.

Currently, New World averages less than 10,000 concurrent players on Steam, and at the same time, a year ago, it had more than 50,000 concurrent Steam players. Unfortunately, this is a common curse of MMORPGs, but the failure of New World didn't dissuade Amazon from having another attempt at the notoriously difficult gaming genre, as Amazon Games recently published Throne and Liberty, an MMORPG developed by NCSOFT.

A new article published on the Amazon Games website reveals Throne and Liberty has already amassed more than 3 million registered players, with 24 million hours played in the game, and 11 million hours watched on Twitch. According to Vice President for Amazon Games, Christoph Hartmann, "Bringing THRONE AND LIBERTY to players around the world has been a huge shared undertaking by our team and our friends at NCSOFT, and we're so pleased to see the results as players join the game. We're only getting started, and we have a series of updates planned including our first castle siege coming soon."

Nintendo is holding sign-ups for a new mysterious Switch Online feature, but no one knows exactly what the company has planned.

Today, Nintendo announced a new playtest for its Switch Online subscription service. To get in, you have to be subscribed to the $50/year Switch Online + Expansion Pack, and even then, there's no guarantee you'll be able to get in. Only 10,000 people will be able to try out the new feature.

"We will be performing a test related to a new feature for #NintendoSwitchOnline on #NintendoSwitch. Starting 8:00 AM PT on Oct. 10, existing Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members will be able to apply to participate on a first-come, first-serve basis," the company said.

Remember the mysterious Nintendo device that popped up on the FCC database? False alarm--it has nothing to do with Nintendo's next-gen Switch 2 console.

Back in late September, Nintendo submitted a new device (CLO-001) for the FCC to test out. It was believed to be some sort of strange peripheral, possibly for the Switch 2. After all, the mysterious device had motion tracking via a 24GHz mmWave sensor. What else could it be, if not some sort of JoyCon-like controller?

Now the device has been revealed, and it's something that no one expected. It's actually an interactive alarm clock.