Gaming - Page 215

Sonic games will continue releasing on Sony's last-gen PlayStation 4 for some time, at least until more gamers stop using the system.

Gen 9 has been one of the most transformation times in console gaming. The shift from Gen 8 to the current generation saw widespread backwards compatibility support, effectively merging the two generations together through software. As such, gamers didn't feel the need to immediately move on to the PS5, and Sony's internal data shows that half of active PlayStation users are still on PS4.

Publishers are wise to this trend, and those who want to maximize full sales potential of their games will frequently release their games across both PS4 and PS5. SEGA is one such company that prioritizes software sales, so we'll see future Sonic games cross over to both PS4 and PS5 in the foreseeable future.

Sony's new PS5 Pro was made specifically for developers, offering them much more power and flexibility to upscale games and lead into the next-gen PS6. Capcom, like many others, are excited for what they can do with the PS5 Pro's new horsepower.

The $700 PS5 Pro might have a high price tag, but it also has lots of potential for high-performance gaming. At least higher performance matched with solid 4K visuals, even if they are upscaled and not necessarily native. The real trick with the PS5 Pro is the console's new PlayStation Spectral Resolution AI library, on-chip machine learning/AI block, and beefier GPU. Developers can use the new tech to deliver higher frame rates, better visuals, and impressive RT effects--and sometimes, all three at once.

Capcom is one such developer who's interested in pushing their games to new limits. The team is currently working on its new RE neXt games engine, and it's likely Capcom is forging its upgraded games-building environment to utilize new tech like the PS5 Pro.

Ubisoft's continuous downward spiral is seemingly only gaining speed, with the latest speed boost coming from the company Monetization Director for Ubisoft, who took to LinkedIn to call gamers critiquing the company and its products "non-decent human[s]".

A quick summary of Ubisoft's recent nose-diving begins with the unveiling of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which quickly gained controversy for numerous allegations that Ubisoft was mispresenting Japanese heritage through unpopular artistic design choices. Additionally, Ubisoft admitted that Star Wars Outlaws underperformed sales wise, and the controversy with Assassin's Creed Shadows reached a boiling point that the game is now officially delayed until February next year.

These company woes have also spawned an internal investigation and review by company board members. All of these bumps in the road have caused Ubisoft's share price to plummet more than 50% in just the last two months, causing the company's board of directors to launch an internal review of the company's performance which will likely result in a reshuffling of staff.

Ubisoft had an ambitious plan to go all-in on the Assassin's Creed franchise with 10 new games in the next 5 years, but this roadmap may have been delayed and disrupted by the publisher's recent performance.

French games-maker Ubisoft is at an interesting crossroads right now. The company's share value tanked by over 50% in the last 2 months, with investors disappointed by recent events; two of Ubisoft's new games, Star Wars Outlaws and XDefiant, missed projections, and its big Assassin's Creed Shadows game was delayed outside of the holiday season. The sales misses caused an executive-level review of the company that may have led to the elimination/departure of a key Rainbow Six franchise executive.

Ubisoft is said to seek options to stabilize its business, and is even mulling over taking the company private with the help of Tencent, who now owns 49.9% of Ubisoft's largest stakeholder.

More than 60 games will be enhanced on Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro, developers and publishers have revealed.

Everyone is buzzing about the new $700 PS5 Pro, and the conversation isn't all about the price tag. Developers have been confirming their support for the new high-end PlayStation, and the list of upgraded games has tripled in size since the console's original announcement.

Multiple AAA games have now been added to the PS5 Pro Enhanced list, but the games will leverage the Pro's extra horsepower in different ways. Some games will double-down on visuals, others will try to hit 60FPS with 4K upscaling, and even more will achieve a mix of RT and fidelity utilizing the Pro's new PlayStation Spectral Resolution library and the new dedicated ML block that's been added right onto the GPU.

Digital Foundry, the tech experts that are widely considered to be the gold standard when it comes to gaming hardware and software breakdowns, has managed to get unfettered access to Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 2 port for the PS5. The tech experts have pitted Sony's new PSSR upscaling technology on the PS5 Pro against the standard PS5, and the results are either super interesting or completely negligible.

Sony's announcement of the PS5 Pro wasn't very well received by fans for various reasons, with most complaints pointing to the price of the console and its increase in graphical fidelity versus the standard PS5. Digital Foundry has now put that to the test with The Last of Us Part 2, and the results were surprising. The tech experts discovered that the PS5 Pro and its PSSR provided sharper image fidelity than the standard PS5. Additionally, the PS5 Pro generated smoother image stability than the PS5 while also maintaining a higher FPS.

While these results are good and what we would expect out of a substantially more expensive console, Digital Foundry does point out that viewing distances and display sizes will dramatically impact whether these graphical improvements are even seen. Comments on the Digital Foundry video point out these graphical differences between the Pro and Standard consoles can only be really seen when the image is zoomed in on and that if a gamer is playing on a TV at a viewing distance of greater than six feet, it will be extremely difficult to notice any improvement.

343 Industries was originally experimenting with a battle royale mode for Halo Infinite, but those plans have apparently been scrapped. Now we have even more information on the kinds of things the studio was planning to put into Halo BR.

Back in 2022, it was reported that 343i was working with longtime partner Certain Affinity on a battle royale release for Halo Infinite. It was called Tatanka, and it was said to be a huge sprawling game type that would break new ground for the franchise.

Sources close to the Halo team have told Rebs Gaming more details about what happened. According to the reports, the mode was cancelled internally following Bonnie Ross' departure from 343 Industries. When Pierre Hintze took over, Tatanka became Project Ekhert, but this iteration was also cancelled so that 343 could focus principally on the next mainline Halo game.

Following multiple disappointments and sales misses, Ubisoft could become a private company in a bid to better control its business value.

Ubisoft is currently in trouble. The company's share price has dropped by more than 50% in the last 2 months, with recent dips the results of lower-than-expected fiscal earnings forecasts, the delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows outside of the holiday release window, and disappointing revenues from two newer games.

But Ubisoft's largest stakeholder is currently mulling over how to best respond to these issues. Sources tell Bloomberg that one such plan could be to take Ubisoft private.

Valve's Deadlock is currently listed as being in 'early development'; however, it's one of the most popular games on Steam. Deadlock blends hero-shooter elements from games like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch with the lane-based action of a MOBA like DOTA 2. It's a mix of styles and mechanics that feels familiar and fresh, so it's not out-of-step to say that Deadlock is shaping up to be another hit from a studio that releases very few games.

Valve is no stranger to multiple games or shooters; Deadlock is a third-person shooter with several decades of running servers and handling matchmaking for some of the most beloved PC games ever made. So you might think this would be one side of Deadlock that it wouldn't need any outside help to sort out. Especially not ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is becoming an invaluable tool for many, and Valve engineer Fletcher Dunn used the generative AI chatbot to help out with Deadlock's matchmaking system.

Cloud gaming might not be a household thing, but regarding image quality, performance, and latency, NVIDIA's GeForce NOW is arguably the best cloud gaming platform today for modern titles. Playing games you own or have access to on platforms like Steam, PC Game Pass, and Battle.net makes GeForce NOW an affordable way to get immediate access to impressive GeForce RTX 4080 hardware.

Although there's a new game in the franchise every year, there's a lot of hype surrounding the October 25 release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. With its 1990s-set campaign that looks fantastic and a multiplayer suite (and the fan-favorite zombies mode) that excited fans during the recent beta test, it's looking like a return to form after the lukewarm reception of last year's Modern Warfare 3.

In addition to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Xbox Game Pass, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is also coming to GeForce NOW. PC gamers with GeForce NOW also have access to RTX tech like DLSS Super Resolution, Frame Generation, Reflex, and even G-SYNC for a smoother presentation.

Sources tell Insider Gaming that Cameron Lee, vice president of the Rainbow Six franchise, has reportedly left Ubisoft.

Ubisoft seems to be in trouble right now. Star Wars Outlaws missed expectations, and its new frenetic free-to-play shooter XDefiant also made less revenue than Ubisoft wanted it to make. The French company's stock has also tanked by more than 50% in the last 2 months, driven in part by last week's unpopular earnings forecast. Missed sales and earnings of its current games coupled with a big delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows has caused Ubisoft to lower its full-year net bookings guidance.

As part of these announcements, Ubisoft also confirmed a sweeping executive-level review of its core business. Now it appears that the Rainbow Six franchise was affected by this process, as R6 VP Cameron Lee is said to no longer be working at Ubisoft. This is potentially happening as a voluntary departure, or it could be a layoff and job elimination at the behest of corporate.

Microsoft's gaming leadership explains why Xbox Game Pass was introduced, and why the company chose to disrupt its own business model of game and software sales.

In 2017, Xbox changed the games industry by releasing Xbox Game Pass. It was the first multi-game subscription service, allowing subscribers to pay a low monthly fee to access hundreds of games. Since then, both Nintendo and PlayStation have released their own variants, with Nintendo option for its Virtual Console replacement with Switch Online, and Sony going with its three-tiered PlayStation Plus offering.

Here at TweakTown, we've talked in length about Xbox Game Pass and how the service has evolved the industry while also helping Microsoft shake-up the fundamental market space. We've also discussed why we think Microsoft chose to do this--a potential hail Mary move in a bid to introduce a new subscription segment to the billion-dollar games market, and get ahead of the competition while innovating with new monetization methods--but now we have somewhat of an answer from Microsoft themselves.

Tango Gameworks had already been working on a Hi-Fi Rush sequel for about half a year before Microsoft and Bethesda shut down the studio.

Bethesda's abrupt shuttering of Tango Gameworks came as a surprise to gamers, especially given Hi-Fi Rush's apparent success. Even though the innovative rhythm game reached 3 million players across Xbox Game Pass, Tango was still closed down (alongside other groups like Arkane Austin).

Despite the first game's success, Tango wasn't just waiting around and had already started work on Hi-Fi Rush 2. According to Krafton VP of corporate development Maria Park, Tango Gameworks had an early build of their sequel in development shortly before the South Korean publisher moved in to resurrect the team.

Assassin's Creed Shadows will have a co-op mode, according to the rumor mill, but this won't be available when the game is first released - it'll arrive down the line somewhat.

This speculation comes from Tom Henderson, a reliable source for Ubisoft-related spillage (as flagged by Wccftech).

The leaker observes that the co-op mode is codenamed 'League' and is under development right now (and it has been for some time - so this isn't an additional component just bolted on, following news of the delay of the game).

Microsoft could be preparing to release a new type of foldable as a patent filed back in 2021 has recently been unveiled, showcasing what the Redmond company may be developing quietly behind the scenes.

Firstly, patents aren't indicative of what is about to be released by a company, but they aren't totally worthless either, as they show what a company is interested in pursuing development-wise. There are almost countless patents filed by technology companies and 9/10 times, none of the showcased products see the light of day. However, select features from specific patents are often combined with other patented features to eventually create a new product.

As for the recent patent, Microsoft appears to be working on a new device that is capable of folding 360 degrees. The patent was originally filed in 2021 and the 38-page document was unveiled on October 1, 2024. The documentation reveals how Microsoft describes the device, with the company writing it can take the form of a tablet, laptop, or another computing apparatus. More specifically, the new device has a rear cover, a glass layer, and a light-emitting layer in between.

The open source Nintendo Switch emulator for PC, Ryujinx, is no more, following in the footsteps of Yuzu.

If you recall, Yuzu was shut down following a Nintendo lawsuit alleging 'massive intellectual property infringement of Nintendo' and 'facilitating piracy at a colossal scale.'

Ryujinx, which remained the only major emulator option on the table after Yuzu was downed, has now gone the same way as Wccftech spotted. The Ryujinx website's download page is now simply blank (and other pages have been removed too, though the site itself is still there as a shell), and the emulator can't be found on GitHub any longer.

Krafton, the South Korean company behind PUBG Battlegrounds, is going to bring Palworld to mobile phones.

That's the sum total of the information we have thus far, though.

It's not surprising that Pocketpair would seek to further leverage the success of Palword, which was an instant smash when it emerged on PC back at the start of 2024.

Krafton executive Maria Park reveals more details on the company's plans for Tango Gameworks, and the logistics around the Japanese studio's resurrection.

In May, ZeniMax/Bethesda shut down Tango Gameworks, the studio behind games like The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush. Then Krafton, the publisher responsible for the mega-popular battle royale PUBG, swooped in to save the day. But Krafton didn't actually buy Tango Gameworks. Instead, the South Korean publisher just offered Tango's developers a new place to work.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Krafton VP of corporate development Maria Park explains how this actually worked, and confirms that Krafton is still in negotiations to buy the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Microsoft.

The ever-present question 'Can it run Doom' has now been applied to quantum computers, in a fashion, with the 'Quandoom' project.

As Tom's Hardware reports, Quandoom is a port of Doom for quantum computers, the catch being that there isn't a powerful enough computer to run it - not yet anyway.

As Luke Mortimer, known as Lumorti, the creator of Quandoom, points out, the game needs a quantum computer that boasts 72,376 qubits and 80 million gates - which doesn't exist yet (we're nowhere near that level, in fact).

Epic Games has just finished its Unreal Fest opener with some huge news, but one of them is the upcoming Unreal Engine 5.5 update that has some new MegaLights technology. Check it out:

Unreal Engine 5.5 has some exciting new rendering improvements, with Nanite now capable of rendering Skeletal Meshes incredibly fast says Epic Games (which is currently an Experimental feature) and Path Tracer is now Production-Ready. But there's also a new MegaLights technology that comes with Unreal Engine 5.5.

What is MegaLights? Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview 1 includes support for a new experimental feature called MegaLights, which enables developers using UE 5.5 to create movable, dynamic, and realistic area shadows with the ability to light volumetric fog. Epic showed off its UE 5.5 + MegaLights technology running on real-time on a PlayStation 5 console with a scene navigated through an area with over 1000 shadow-casting lights.