Gaming - Page 220

Overwatch 2 is dropping onto Xbox Game Pass today, where if you link your Battle.net account to an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Xbox Game Pass for Console, or PC Game Pass you'll get some exclusive benefits unlocked.

Blizzard announced the news today, starting on September 17, if you link your accounts you'll get 6 of the coolest hero skins on the battlefield says the developer. This includes the following exclusive skins: Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Street Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver as well as a one-time bonus of 30 Mythic Prisms.

Not only that, but if you link an active Xbox Game Pass account, you'll get access to select Overwatch 2 Shop cosmetics from the past three seasons of the game. You'll have access to an awesome collection that updates each season, with new styles over time.

Today, EA demoed its ambitious new experimental AI technology to investors, showing off ideas that could change gaming forever.

During its Investor's Day stream, live service publisher Electronic Arts outlined specific ideas on how to best use generative AI to transform gaming experiences. In one of the AI concepts, dubbed "Imagination to Creation," EA Chief Strategy Officer Mihi Vaidya showed off a video where two gamers used a ChatGPT-like prompt to quickly create an in-game map, mode, and characters--all using EA's first-party asset library. The publisher is mining decades of game files from titles like Battlefield and Apex Legends to help fuel its vision for AI-powered User-Generated Experiences (UGX).

The chat prompt is just an experimental concept, and Vadiya was careful to say that its UGX tools "aren't meant to replace AAA games." EA instead wants to use its Imagination to Creation vision to supplement AAA gaming with a new line of engagement and monetization. "We believe AI is the next great opportunity to unlock new levels of value long-term," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in the stream.

Electronic Arts will use generative AI to completely transform user-generated content and significantly reduce friction in this billion-dollar market.

UGC, or user-generated content, is incredibly popular in gaming--these are the kinds of in-game creations that power Roblox's billion-dollar economy. Major live service publishers want in on the action, and today at its investor's day stream, EA demonstrated a generative AI concept where users can interact with a ChatGPT-like prompt to create in-game levels, designs, and characters.

EA is calling this "Imagination to Creation," and the tools are powered by generative AI that has mined the publisher's resources, games, and content. Rather than UGC, though, EA refers to this as UGX, or User-Generated eXperiences. In the experimental concept, gamers could choose official EA-franchised character models alongside community-created weapons. Parameters like combat options/game modes were also instantly generated via the ChatGPT-like prompt. Once generated, users could drop right into the map and start playing against each other with the set parameters, character designs, etc.

Sony's new $700 PlayStation 5 Pro could pack a newly designed radiator-and-fan combo to help cool its powerhouse GPU.

Based on specs alone, the PS5 Pro is likely to use a new-and-improved cooling solution. The Pro sports a beefier GPU with +67% more compute units and onboard AI upscaling tech to facilitate raytracted 4K 60FPS gaming and +45% faster rendering. A side-by-side comparison also reinforces that the Pro has a more robust cooler--CNET's latest video shows that the Pro is noticeably taller than its Slim forebear.

As we reported years ago, the PS5's massive heatsink was the main reason why the console was so big. It's also the reason why the Slim was so small; the Slim uses a much more efficient heatsink design that's been altered over the main 2020 model.

Digital Foundry, tech experts who are considered to be the gold standard for deep dives on games and the hardware that powers them, have commented on the recent announcement of the PlayStation 5 Pro and what gamers can expect out of Sony's newest console.

The PS5 Pro announcement has been shrouded in controversy as Sony's showcase of the powerful technology within the upcoming console was widely viewed as lackluster, particularly due to a few factors. Sony showcased the increase in performance with older games, and the differences required a microscope, which was exacerbated by YouTube's compression of its videos. This seemingly disappointing graphical improvement led to many gamers complaining about the price hike to $699 from $499, especially when the PS5 Pro contains the same CPU as the base PS5.

Now, Digital Foundry has touched on why Sony has decided to opt for the same CPU in the base PS5 for the PS5 Pro, with the experts saying that price, compatibility, and size are some of the reasons why Sony decided to go with the same CPU. More specifically, upgrading the CPU to a later version of the Zen architecture would have increased the price of the console significantly and wouldn't have impacted the graphics capabilities of the console, which was Sony's goal with the PS5 Pro - introduce 4K 60FPS gaming with ray tracing features turned on, precisely the quality of Performance mode in titles.

Microsoft's games division is being hit on all sides as it battles rising costs and tough operating margin targets.

Xbox's unclear strategy is bewildering developers and employees, sources tell The Verge's Tom Warren, and the layoffs are affecting morale at the games giant. The group is being affected at the top, the bottom, and the sides of its billion-dollar games empire as it attempts to navigate the tumultuous market while trying to guide consumer trends and capitalize on all sectors of its business.

According to the ZeniMax Workers United union, Microsoft has laid off more than 2,500 people across Xbox as it attempts to trim the fat from its $70 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft's board and corporate c-suite are pressuring the Xbox games division to deliver specific margin and growth targets as Xbox absorbs Activision and tries to spread out in all directions, across all vectors, models, and platforms.

Bungie is making big changes to Destiny 2's content roadmap to better reflect a tighter budget and more consistent cadence.

Like most game companies that are still around today, Bungie has recently enacted layoffs in a bid to keep costs under control. Bungie is also refining how it releases new Destiny 2 content as part of these cost-saving plans, going for a more systemic approach with multiple updates rather than a major annualized expansion. This new content structure comes months after two big events at Bungie: The launch of Destiny 2's Final Shape expansion, and the layoff of hundreds of Bungie employees.

Interestingly enough, it looks like Destiny 2's new roadmap is a result of "Sony discipline." The PlayStation-maker bought Bungie earlier in 2023 for $3.7 billion, and although Bungie is to remain an independent company within SIE, they're still bound to earnings targets. If Bungie keeps missing these targets, Sony can reportedly dissolve Bungie's board of directors and take full control of the Destiny developer.

Microsoft has committed to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms...so what about Battlefield? EA could make it happen.

The first-gen Nintendo Switch isn't really up to snuff when it comes to running demanding first-person shooters. Sure, we've seen FPS games like Borderlands pop up on the handheld-console hybrid, but the low-spec Tegra X1 isn't an ideal piece of kit to run complex simulations...especially the types we see is games like Battlefield.

But the Switch 2 could be a different story, especially if the rumored specs are correct. A custom version of NVIDIA's Tegra T239 chip combined with beefier RAM and DLSS upscaling could do the trick. In any case, EA and Respawn are certainly interested in Nintendo as a viable platform for Battlefield games--and rightly so, considering the Switch's incredible 143 million-strong installed base.

The next Battlefield game will take direct inspiration from the games that fans liked best: Battlefield 3-4.

EA's new Battlefield game is being led by the largest team in franchise history, and the devs are laser-focused on tapping into what players love and expect from the franchise. The publisher is eager to avoid another Battlefield 2042 catastrophe, which cost the company reputational harm as it slowly adapted the live-only shooter into a more palatable, and better-playing experience.

With Battlefield 6, or whatever Ripple Effect ends up calling it, will take place during the modern era and retain the more cohesive 64-player framework while ditching the rather unnecessary 128-player chaos from BF2042. In a recent interview with IGN, Battlefield head Vince Zampella gave a few new details about what to expect from the new Battlefield.

4A Games, the developer behind the hit Metro video game franchise, will now stay with The Embracer Group as Embracer re-organizes itself into three separate entities.

Following the cancellation of dozens of games, and laying off thousands of employees, The Embracer Group has announced that 4A Games will now stay within the company. A bit ago, Saber Interactive split off of Embracer with the help of company CEO Matthew Karch, who purchased Saber for $247 million.

Metro game dev 4A Games was an option in the buyout deal, but ultimately the studio was not included in the deal. 4A will stay as part of Embracer Group. Interestingly enough, 4A is currently working on two new AAA experiences, one of which is a brand new game set in the best-selling Metro series. One of these games is Metro Awakening--a VR experience--and the other is to be a mainline game that carries the core franchise forward.

Sony has no plans on shifting the main part of its gaming business over to PC or mobile gaming, and rightfully so, considering the billions of dollars that it makes from PlayStation hardware sales.

Console sales are a major part of each of the Big 3's platform strategy. Systems like the Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S are the critical gateway points for game purchases and microtransaction spending, all wrapped up neatly in a digital storefront that has advertising, sales, and even subscriptions. Hardware is the bedrock for Nintendo, Sony, and of course Microsoft.

It should be no surprise then that Sony is not eager to give up on PlayStation any time soon, especially given the company's current earnings performance for the PS5 generation. Even still, it's good to hear that consoles will remain the heart of PlayStation gaming even as Sony pushes further into PC, and eventually, mobile.

One of the most successful games of this year is, by far, Black Myth: Wukong. The Chinese developer behind the title Game Science has become the proud leader of the Steam charts in the most-played single-player game.

Now, industry analyst Daniel Camilo has said the title has sold more than 20 million units since its release on August 19, with 18 million of those units being sold in just the first two weeks of its launch. Previous rumors indicated Game Science was planning on releasing at least two DLCs for Black Myth Wukong, and now we have begun hearing the first rumblings of when the first DLC will release.

According to Camilo, who cited "very reliable first-hand sources I heard from," Game Science is planning on releasing the first DLC in early 2025, or around the "Chinese New Year," which puts its release between the end of January and early February. This rumor corroborates previous rumors that suggested Game Science was doing DLCs for Black Myth Wukong before moving on to another game.

Intel lost out on a major contract to design and fab Sony's next-generation PlayStation 6 console back in 2022, which "dealt a significant blow" in the company's efforts to build its struggling contract manufacturing business.

In a new report from Reuters, we're learning Intel could've been inside of the PS6 console which would've had them enjoy billions and billions of dollars of revenue, fabricating thousands of silicon wafers per month. In the competitive bidding process to supply and design the PS6 chip, it was a fight against AMD and TSMC, which have made the chips for both the PS5 and upcoming PS5 Pro consoles.

AMD has been enjoying the fruits of that semi-custom SoC labor, pumping out tens of millions of PS5 chips and 10+ million PS5 Pro consoles... and every single future-gen PS6 in 2026 and beyond. Reuters reports that Intel and AMD were the "final two contenders in the bidding process for the contract".

Black Myth: Wukong will melt your gaming PC when its visuals are cranked to the max, but what about running it on a smartphone? Yeah, you can... but what about a tri-fold smartphone? Yep, that works with Black Myth: Wukong as well, and it works incredibly well. Check it out:

A few different videos have popped up into my various social feeds, the first of which I noticed on TikTok which you can check out here, with Black Myth: Wukong running on Huawei's just-released Mate XT Ultimate Design smartphone. This is a new tri-fold smartphone that folds out not once, not twice, but three times for a gigantic display that is oh-so-perfect for on-the-go gaming.

Huawei's new Mate XT Ultimate Design smartphone was running Black Myth: Wukong over the company's cloud servers, so you'll be needing some super-fast 5G connectivity to get the game to even load. Even on its most conservative bitrate consumption, cloud gaming will blow through your mobile data quick smart, so be careful.

A new week means a new Nintendo rumor, or at least that is what it feels like if you have been following along with the news trail created by the rumblings of Nintendo's mysterious next-generation console.

Unfortunately for Nintendo fans, that news trail has been stretching since 2017, when the original Nintendo Switch was released. Fortunately for Nintendo, this gap between consoles is a testament to the Switch's popularity and success, which has ultimately led to the production of a string of rumors about a successor. Previous rumors suggested the Switch 2 was going to be a much more beefier version of the original Switch, with additional performance being added via the dock and the inclusion of NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling technology.

Other rumors corroborated this performance estimation for the Switch successor and stated the Switch 2's performance would just fall short of the Valve Steam Deck. Now, a new report from Taiwan Economic Daily News reveals Nintendo has moved up the reveal for the Nintendo Switch 2 to respond to Sony's recent unveiling of the PlayStation 5 Pro. According to the publication, an announcement for the Nintendo Switch 2 is expected before the end of the year.

According to information on Harrison Froeschke's LinkedIn profile, a Senior Product Manager at Blizzard, Diablo IV's lifetime revenue has surpassed $1 billion, which includes over $150 of microtransaction revenue. The profile and information have since been removed or made private, but not before publication Gamepressure spotted it and posted a screenshot.

The only official information surrounding Diablo 4's revenue arrived after the game's launch in June 2023, when Blizzard announced it had generated $666 million in sales in a week. Making it the studio's fastest-selling game ever. The LinkedIn post mentioned leading the monetization strategy of the "store cosmetics, pricing, bundle offers, and personalized discounts," which drove the $150 million in microtransaction revenue.

However, this only represents 15% of Diablo 4's total revenue. As a full-priced game in one of the most popular action RPG franchises, most of the money has come from players buying the game.

One of the big criticisms of Sony's big PlayStation 5 Pro reveal was that it was hard to see the difference in visual quality when it showcased footage from games like Ratchet & Clank running on the baseline PS5 hardware, comparing it to the beefed-up PS5 Pro. Like others, part of the issue stems from Sony dealing with YouTube compression and artifacts when live-streaming a presentation.

As part of its next DF Direct show, Digital Foundry has gotten access to uncompressed or direct-feed-like footage of the PlayStation 5 Pro running Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Alan Wake 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Hogwarts Legacy, Gran Turismo 7, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Dragon's Dogma 2. Although currently locked behind a paywall for its members, X user @JMaine518 has posted a summary of Digital Foundry's findings.

Specifically, Sony's brand-new AI upscaler PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution). The good news is that PSSR delivers a higher-quality image than AMD's FSR. However, it falls short of NVIDIA DLSS regarding image stability - in that some scenes have noticeable ghosting and shimmering.

Until Dawn is a new PC game developed by Sony, PlayStation Studios, and Ballistic Moon. It's a remake of a fan-favorite PlayStation 4-era cinematic horror game from Supermassive Games that is more of an interactive movie than an action game. Praised for its branching story and engaging characters, the version coming October 4 is a full-blown remake created in Unreal Engine 5.

Ahead of the game's release, PlayStation has announced the PC hardware requirements for the game, which are relatively modest in terms of CPU and GPU requirements to hit the recommended 1080p 60FPS performance. On the CPU side, you'll need at least an Intel Core i5 8600 or AMD Ryzen 7 2700X. On the GPU side, you'll need at least an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT.

Bump the resolution up to 4K 60FPS, and you'll need more recent and more powerful hardware, like the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and Radeon RX 6900 XT. To further boost performance and visual fidelity, developer Ballistic Moon has also confirmed that the game will feature ray-traced shadows, reflections, and Ambient Occlusion. Plus, DLSS 3 and FSR 3 support.

The $699 pricing for the new PlayStation 5 Pro from Sony has some gamers upset, and now the company is playing defense with some statements to Nikkei that setting up a PC is more "difficult" compared to a console.

Speaking with Nikkei, Hideaki Nishino, the CEO of the Platform Business Group at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said that the key selling point to its userbase with the new PS5 Pro is the simplicity compared to the PC. Nishino said: "I think that with mobile devices, there are a lot of games that show ads, and with PCs, the setup can be difficult. With PS, you can immediately enjoy the content you purchased as soon as you turn it on. Even in the stores where you buy software, the products are clearly displayed, making it an intuitive experience".

He's not wrong.

Sony only just unveiled its new PlayStation 5 Pro, but its next-gen PlayStation 6 console is already being discussed... and what improvements we could expect from the PS5 to the new PS6 generation console.

In a chat with Nikkei recently, Hideaki Nishino, the CEO of the Platform Business Group at Sony Interactive Entertainment was asked if the launch of the PS5 Pro would be more of a challenge to create a successful next-gen PS6 in a few years, to which Nishino responded about technology constantly evolving and that there is "still more that we (Sony) can do".

Nishino mentions the shortened loading times by moving from a HDD in the PS4 to the Gen4 SSD in the PS5, and that the sound is now 3D through the PS5 DualSense controller speakers, enhancing immersion. Nishino also mentioned that "visual accuracy is important" and that "we will also be updating other elements". The PS4 to PS5 upgrade was rather large, and I expect the PS5 to PS6 upgrade to be even bigger.