Gaming - Page 229

At Computex 2024, we went hands-on with one of NVIDIA's impressive digital humans as part of the Covert Protocol tech and game demo (developed in collaboration with Inworld AI and powered by NVIDIA ACE technologies). How it works is relatively straightforward: In-game characters are all AI-generated with personalities, knowledge, and relationships, so using text or voice, the goal is to find specific information in a detective-style role.

Check out my full report on how it works and how I extracted critical information from one of the characters by skipping a few puzzle-like steps. It's a fascinating look at the future of game development, with the demonstration running locally on a high-powered GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU.

At Gamescom 2024, NVIDIA is presenting an actual in-game version of the technology running in Mecha BREAK, a multiplayer mech game from Amazing Seasun Games currently in development. The game is powered by NVIDIA's new Nemotron-4 4B NIM small language model for game characters - a breakthrough NVIDIA says will help bring Digital Humans to games sooner rather than later.

NVIDIA is adding three of the biggest PC games available now or soon to its GeForce NOW cloud gaming platform, including Black Myth: Wukong, Star Wars Outlaws, and Final Fantasy XVI from Square Enix. Yes, the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy 16 is coming to PC in September, and with a free-to-play demo available today as part of its Gamescom debut, you'll also be able to stream the demo over the cloud with GeForce NOW.

With 2,000 games available to play with GeForce NOW, the innovative and industry-leading cloud gaming platform leverages PC gamers' existing Steam, Epic Games, and Xbox libraries to offer up to GeForce RTX 4080 levels of performance up to 4K with DLSS, Frame Generation, ray-tracing, and even G-SYNC support for a smooth presentation.

Both Black Myth: Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws offer full ray-tracing with DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction technology that improves image fidelity, so the GeForce NOW version of these games will interestingly be one of the most impressive ways to play these games.

Half-Life 2's Nova Prospekt level is an iconic location: a rundown prison with memorable checkerboard tiling, bugs, and combine soldiers. Plus, there are plenty of items to interact with using the game's gravity gun - like hurling tables at enemies. At Gamescom 2024, lucky attendees can go hands-on with the classic level as part of the impressive Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project.

RTX Remix is NVIDIA's robust set of modding tools. It can take older PC games and inject them with new ray-traced visuals, AI-enhanced textures, and models. By automatically converting games like Half-Life 2 and offering access to a modern suite of development tools, modders can assemble an impressive remake or remaster.

Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project has been in development for a while now, with the team of over 100 modders at Orbifold Studios updating all aspects of the game, which includes new character and object models, new textures, full ray-traced lighting, DLSS 3.5, and more. The latest trailer shows us the Nova Prospekt level, and the difference between the RTX Off and RTX On versions of the game is night and day.

Digital has been a significant driver for Capcom's game sales, new data and analytics show.

Capcom recently reported its Q1'FY24 results, showing a reduction in all major metrics: Net sales were down by -44%, operating income was also down by -48%, and total game unit sales were down by around -30% year-over-year.

Charting the game sales trends yielded interesting results. According to Capcom's latest financial report, the company is selling substantially more digital copies of its games than it is physical. The reasoning for this is quite simple: Prices of games sold on digital stores like the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, and Steam can more easily be discounted and adjusted. Capcom relies strongly on heavy discounts and price reductions of its games in order to sell more copies, and the publisher has routinely marked down game prices over various quarters like clockwork in order to spark game sales. So far, the plan has worked incredibly well for Capcom.

Capcom still aspires to sell 100 million games per year, and tells investors that it intends to efficiently manage ROI (Return on Investment) via maximizing game sales and not cutting its development budgets.

Capcom recently posted its Q1'FY24 results and an accompanying Q&A session with investors and analysts. The Japanese games-maker has reiterated its plan for success, saying that game unit sales are still the main focus for the company as a whole.

The house of Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Mega Man still holds its lofty goal of achieving 100 million annual game sales, but it still has a long way to go--throughout FY23 (April 2023 - March 2024), Capcom had sold a total of 50 million games. The publisher's plan hinges on the cumulative effect of game sales through one main lever: Strategically-planned discounts across its library of evergreen games. Capcom has seen significant success with this tactic as its games regularly go on sale on digital platforms like Steam, the PlayStation Store, and the Microsoft Store.

It's official: Final Fantasy XVI will launch on PC next month in September, Square Enix has announced.

Final Fantasy XVI is coming to PC storefronts Steam and the Epic Games Store on September 17, 2024, and a demo for the PC version is currently up on Steam.

The PC port will be priced at $50 for the base game, and $70 for the complete edition that includes all paid DLC--Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide. FFXVI's PC launch comes at a time when Square Enix's overall quarterly revenues have fallen to their lowest point in years, so this release should help boost the company's earnings for the Q2 period (July - Sept) and well into the holiday Q3 period (Oct - Dec).

In a move to boost its CSR status and to help spark new game developers, Capcom plans to hold an 11-day course at a Japanese university utilizing its proprietary RE Engine.

Today Capcom announced some interesting news: The Japanese games publisher will lend its powerful RE Engine to students at Kindai University and let them make a game in Capcom's first-party toolset. Capcom will teach a game development course at the university, providing students access to the RE Engine through Amazon Web Services.

The current RE Engine has powered a multitude of Capcom's best-sellers, including Monster Hunter World, which has quickly become the company's single top-selling game of all time with over 20 million units sold worldwide, as well as every new mainline and remake Resident Evil title. Capcom is currently working on its next-generation RE Engine, which is codenamed RE NeXt, and could power Capcom's games across Gen 9 consoles and carry through to the PlayStation 6, Switch 2, and new-gen Xbox systems.

Newzoo's latest market report lays out revenue predictions for 2024, showing that things aren't necessarily dire for the interactive entertainment industry.

Newzoo has just published its 2024 Global Games Market Report laying out estimates for how much money the games industry will make throughout 2024. According to the data, the analyst firm expects that gaming will generate $187.7 billion in total revenues throughout the year, up 2.1% year-over-year.

This growth is driven primarily by mobile with $92.6 billion (49% of earnings), console with $51.9 billion (28% of earnings), and PC in third place with $43.2 billion (23% of total 2024 revenues). Console gaming is the only segment among the three that is not expected to grow in 2024 and is projected to drop by around 1% from last year.

ZOTAC has just launched its much-anticipated gaming handheld, the new ZOTAC GAMING ZONE, with pre-orders in select regions and e-tailer platforms at $799.

Inside, the new ZOTAC GAMING ZONE we have the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U "Hawk Point" APU based on the Zen 4 architecture with RDNA 3-based integrated graphics. This enables the ZONE to handle 120FPS gaming in usual suspects like Overwatch 2, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, while handling 60FPS+ in AAA titles.

ZOTAC GAMING is using AMD's in-house driver-level Fluid Motion Frames (FMR), and FidelityFX Super Resolution to further enhance performance. Inside, we've only got the one option for RAM and SSD storage, with the ZONE shipping with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB Gen4 SSD.

In our reviews of Intel Arc graphics cards, we praised the entry-level and mainstream ray-tracing performance. With the upcoming release of Black Myth: Wukong, there's a good chance that Intel Arc A750 and A770 GPU owners will be able to get some decent 1080p visuals and performance. In addition to DLSS and FSR, the game supports Intel's AI-powered XeSS upscaling, so it should run great on day one.

This is especially true with official support added in the latest Intel Game On Graphics Driver release for Arc GPUs and integrated chips. Driver version 32.0.101.5971 is available now and provides day-one support for Black MytH: Wukong, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and World of Warcraft: The War Within. This is a non-WHQL Certified update, but one to get if you plan on playing these new releases.

Although Intel doesn't provide specific performance information for these titles, expect optimizations and compatibility across the discrete Intel Arc GPU line-up and Intel Core Ultra chips with built-in Arc graphics.

Black Myth: Wukong launches this week, one of the most anticipated PC game releases of the year, and ahead of the game's debut, NVIDIA has posted a new trailer and a deep dive into the game's Full Ray Tracing mode. Full Ray Tracing or Path Tracing is advanced ray tracing that renders all light, shadow, and reflections in a game with the sort of realistic detail you find in movies.

It's incredibly hardware intensive, so, like with Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077's Pat Tracing modes, Black Myth: Wukong also supports DLSS 3 Frame Generation to boost performance and NVIDIA Reflex for latency reduction. Technologies like upscaling and frame generation are the key reasons Full-Ray Tracing modes like the one seen here are possible and playable.

Granted, Black Myth: Wukong looks lovely with or without ray tracing, but with full RT, the visuals take on a cinematic quality. For those who love being immersed in games, PC gamers with a high-end GeForce RTX 40 Series rig are in for a treat.

Developed by Blizzard North, the original Diablo was first released for PC in January 1997. Not only was it the first game in an iconic franchise that is still going strong today, but it also helped create a brand-new genre: action RPGs. Still playable on modern hardware, this latest version of the game lets you fire up and play the original Diablo on any capable browser.

With the source code for the game ported to WebAssembly via Git, you can now fire it up and enjoy exploring the multi-layered dungeon found underneath the town of Tristram while being able to alt-tab to work-related windows at tasks just to make it look like you're still working. Yes, even after all these years, the simple Diablo formula, as depicted in the first game, is still as highly addictive as ever.

To play the full version of the game, you'll need to upload the DIABDAT.MPQ file from your copy (or digital version found on services like GOG), and then you're good to go. Don't own a copy of the original Diablo? Or, more likely, you don't have a fresh install sitting somewhere on a hard drive. The good news is you can still play the Shareware version without uploading a file.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the latest release in the long-running RPG franchise from BioWare and the next major single-player game from the studio behind the original Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, and Mass Effect. Fans have been waiting a long time for this, and that wait is set to end on October 31, 2024 - when the game launches on PC and console.

Powered by EA's Frostbite engine, the game sports a vibrant and detailed art style widely viewed as a departure from the franchise's gritty roots. The latest trailer for the game, which you can watch below, is easily the Dragon Age: The Veilguard's best showing to date - bringing the sort of epic vibes and visuals you'd want for an RPG franchise that has been missing in action for over a decade.

With pre-orders for the Standard and Deluxe Editions of the game now open, EA and BioWare have also unveiled the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for PC gamers. The good news is that the game should run smoothly on any gaming PC.

If you thought you had a great gaming collection, sit down... and be prepared to be blown away by Ibrahim Al-Nasser for connecting 444 gaming consoles to a single TV, earning the gamer a Guinness World Record.

The organization behind Al-Nasser's setup is nothing short of astonishing, with cable management at peak here, with the 444 consoles connected through 30 x RCA switchers, and at least 12 x HDMI switchers. Al-Nasser explains: "I noticed that I had a big stack of gaming consoles that I couldn't play. The TV ports are limited, so I either had to unplug existing consoles or add more switchers and converters. I used all the tools available in the market in order to organize the cables".

Al-Nasser added: "By adding more switchers, the idea came to my mind to connect all of the gaming consoles I have to the TV then contact Guinness World Records because this project is unique. It includes hundreds of video game consoles, all different to each other. All of the consoles require a special set up and cable management as well".

Bully has been rated by the Taiwanese ratings board, hinting at a potential re-release on Gen 9 consoles...but it may also be a nothing burger due to Rockstar's new games subscription.

Taiwan's Entertainment Software Ratings Board has greenlit Bully for release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Interestingly enough, this version of Bully that was rated by the board is the European PAL version, aka the Canis Canem Edition (which translates to "dog eat dog").

The Bully Canis Canem Edition on the aforementioned platforms was approved on August 18, 2024, but before gamers get too excited, there's an important caveat: It's possible that these re-classification is for Rockstar's GTA+ subscription, and not for a fully-fledged re-release on Gen 9 consoles (oddly enough, the game was also approved for Xbox 360).

Consumers are willing to pay a premium for Nintendo hardware, potentially indicating at a higher price point for the upcoming Switch 2 console.

Nintendo's new Switch successor could be priced at a higher cost than the current Switch handheld-and-console family of systems. Data released by the Japanese company and compiled/analyzed by TweakTown suggests a clear trend: Consumers are more than willing to pay extra for upgraded hardware.

To get a better understanding of consumer habits, we took a look at historical Switch unit sales by model. The sales data, which is based on sell-in shipments, shows that retailers (and consumers who buy the hardware) are indeed confident in the higher-priced Switch OLED model.

Nintendo's new Switch successor is expected to cost less than $499, one Japanese securities analyst has predicted.

Similar to its predecessor, Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 console may not be fixed at a more premium price point. Although the Switch 2 is expected to deliver higher-end 4K visuals via a new DLSS-enabled NVIDIA Tegra T239 chip, that doesn't necessarily mean the system will be sold at the upper $499 range where the PS5 and Xbox Series X currently sit.

Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda thinks it's more likely that Nintendo will price the Switch successor below $499, but by how much remains to be seen. Yasuda recently published a research note to investors (via financial site Kabutan) that laid out his predictions for the Switch 2 console.

Epic Games' costly antitrust lawsuits against Google and Apple could have reached nearly $1 billion in total spending and missed Fortnite revenues, company CEO Tim Sweeney says.

Epic's lawsuits against Google and Apple took years before decisions were made, and throughout that time, Epic Games spent hundreds of millions of dollars in expensive court and lawyer fees. Fortnite was also removed from both the Google Play and App Store, which significantly impacted Epic's revenues throughout the last few years--albeit less so on Android because Google allows side-loading of apps. Fortnite only just now made its way back on iOS, but only in the European Union thanks to the EU's new Digital Markets Act.

So that leads us to an interesting question: How much has Epic spent on these lawsuits? Epic Games remains one of the biggest games companies on the planet thanks to its stable of highly popular live games (multiple chart-topping Fortnite games, Rocket League, Fall Guys), and has also received multi-billion-dollar investments from companies like Sony, Disney, and even Tencent, who owns around 40% of the company.

Streaming platform Antstream Arcade is headed to PlayStation, bringing over 1,300 classic games to the PS4 and PS5.

Cloud game streaming service Antstream Arcade is coming to PlayStation alongside a multitude of old-school games. The platform had originally launched on Xbox in 2023 in a timely move for Microsoft's $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King--MSFT used the move as a tactical strategy to illustrate its willingness to allow competing game streaming services onto its platform.

The streamer offers a unique selection of yesteryear titles that can't really easily be found in other corners of the internet, including hundreds of Amiga and ZX Spectrum games. It's important to note that not all of the games listed on Anstream's site may be available on PlayStation platforms, so keep that in mind.

Chinese chip-maker Weltrend (known as WeiQuan Electronics in China) has seen a quarterly spike in sales thanks to new PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch models.

Sony and Nintendo are gearing up for their respective new consoles, the PlayStation 5 Pro and the next Switch successor, formally called the Switch 2. Mass production of the new systems is apparently underway, with Sony having already shipped thousands of pounds of PS5 Pro development kits throughout 2022, presumably readying the new high-end souped-up raytracing machine for its purported 2024 launch.

While neither Sony nor Nintendo have really discussed either the PS5 Pro or the Switch 2, other companies are giving out a few clues. Chinese chip-maker Weltrend has apparently mentioned "new models of PS5, Xbox, and Switch" have boosted the company's Q3 power management integrated circuit (PMIC) orders.