Gaming - Page 235

To coincide with the launch of the revised, revamped, and supercharged ROG Ally X gaming handheld, ASUS has released a new and improved version of its Armoury Crate Special Edition software with ACSE Version 1.5. ASUS calls it a 'major update' to the handheld software, optimizing its role as a "centralized hub for game storage, access, and settings customization for gamers to play all of their games, no matter the launcher."

One of the more notable upgrades is the revamped UI, designed to deliver a more console-like experience by offering more customization options and access to games - with a new Light Mode to complement the existing Dark Mode. A single interface makes the ROG Ally X feel less like a Windows 11 PC and more like a robust gaming handheld.

The most exciting feature of the update for gamers is the separate Game Profiles for each installed game. ROG Ally owners will be able to create, tune, and customize each game's settings, including enabling or disabling Radeon Super Resolution (RSR), AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF), and Radeon Anti-Lag.

Diablo 4 is getting a brand-new class as part of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, launching on October 8. The Spiritborn, according to Blizzard, is "an entirely new class in the Diablo series" and hails from the jungles of Nahantu, a location that players will visit as part of Vessel of Hatred. The elevator pitch for the Spiritborn is simple: a marital arts-infused warrior who can harness the power of formidable Spirit Guardians to dispatch the demonic threat plaguing Sanctuary.

Regarding gameplay and mechanics, as a Spiritborn warrior, players can call on skills and abilities from four distinct Spirit Guardians: the Gorilla, the Jaguar, the Eagle, and the Centipede. Finally, players can fulfill their dreams of taking on the role of a powerful Centipede. Okay, so that last one is a little out of left field, but once you see all four in action, it presents a pretty tasty look at how the Spiritborn fits into the current Diablo 4 class lineup.

Players will be able to mix and match the skills and abilities of all four Spirit Guardians: the strength and tank-like resolve of the Gorilla, the fiery speed of the Jaguar, the airborne mobility of the Eagle, and the poison-infused crow control of the Centipede.

Blizzard has just announced the 41st hero in Overwatch 2, a new "Space Ranger" that was teased back at BlizzCon 2023, with the new support hero called Juno. Check Juno out below:

Juno is a new space cadet support character that enters Overwatch 2 in full at the drop of Season 12 on August 12, with a few hero trials over the weekend. Juno has a burst-fire primary weapon called the Mediblaster, which heals teammates and damages enemies, with a secondary Pulsar Torpedoes that lock onto allies and enemies, healing your teammates and damaging your enemies. Very cool.

The passive ability with Juno comes in the form of her Martial Overboots, which allow the space cadet to double jump and then hover in the air like she's kind of (but not fully) flying. The passive ability gels beautifully with Glide Boost, an ability that lets Juno glide above and around the battle horizontally.

It was six years ago when Bethesda published the official teaser trailer for the next installment in The Elder Scrolls franchise, and since then, hardly anything has been revealed for the highly anticipated release of The Elder Scrolls IV.

The hint for The Elder Scrolls IV's setting was discovered on Reddit and cites a Pinterest account owned by a Bethesda Game Studios employee. The account contained many pins of concept art that appear to be inspiration for The Elder Scrolls IV. Judging from the saved pins, it appears the next Elder Scrolls game will be set in the west of Tamriel in the province known as Hammerfell.

This region of Tamriel contains vast jungles, wooded mountain ranges, subtropical grasslands, swamps, and deserts. Reports indicate that past rumors suggested Hammerfell as one of the possible locations for the game, and this recent discovery of the Bethesda employee-owned Pinterest account has only reignited those theories.

AMD's latest graphics driver brings support for Anti-Lag 2 to a second game - namely Dota 2.

The tech first arrived in Counter Strike 2, and it reduces input lag (like the rival NVIDIA Reflex feature), so clearly enough it's an important addition for competitive online games - and with Adrenalin version 24.7.1 it's available for Dota 2 addicts, too.

Anti-Lag 2 offers the option to turn on an overlay on-screen that shows the latency of the game you're playing (hit ALT+SHIFT+L), then you can hold right CTRL down to see the difference between running the game with the tech on, or off. Pretty nifty, and hopefully it'll make a sizeable difference to Dota 2 gamers.

Xbox Game Pass is expected to make up to $5.5 billion in revenue next year, analyst firm Ampere Analysis predicts.

Microsoft's recent Game Pass price hike will lead to a spike in earnings, at least that's what analysts are predicting. Ampere Analysis head of research Piers Harding-Rolls gave an interesting prediction regarding Game Pass revenue forecasts, with the subscription service expected to achieve a whopping $5.5 billion in annual earnings in 2025.

The reason? Ultimate's price increase is undoubtedly a catalyst for this growth, however it's the perceived value fracturing of the subscription tiers--the entire removal of the Console tier and its "degraded" Standard tier replacement--that will ultimately (pun intended) urge users towards the more expensive $19.99/month tier. Note that this estimate reflects the totality of Xbox Game Pass, including options on console and PC, as well as revenues earned via cloud gaming access.

Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass is expanding its cloud gaming options on Xbox.com with a new option that lets gamers choose their streaming service. The 'Play With Cloud' option now includes multiple streaming platform choices: Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce NOW.

This is great news for PC gamers because NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud streaming services is widely regarded as the best for cloud gaming thanks to it leveraging powerful GeForce RTX 4080 hardware (for those on the higher subscription tiers), RTX technologies like DLSS and Frame Generation, with support for VRR displays, and G-SYNC. It even supports up to 240 Hz or 240 FPS.

On the other hand, Xbox Cloud Gaming is limited to 1080p 60 FPS running on console hardware with a higher latency. Microsoft is still all in on Xbox Cloud Gaming, as the service is available on Samsung Smart TVs and recently has found its way to Amazon's Fire Stick streaming devices.

Sony's beefed-up PlayStation 5 Pro console could be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show in September, with a holiday 2024 release for the more powerful PS5 Pro console still in play.

In a new post on X, leaker Tom Henderson was talking about Gamescom preparation being in "full swing" right now, with Ben replying to say, "Is it even a big show this year. Geoff isn't really hyping it much". Henderson replied "Gamescom itself is the biggest one ever - As for Opening Night Live, I am not sure yet". Ben continued, replying, "I guess September will probably be a decent month since PS5 Pro is most likely going to be announced around then?"

Henderson replied: "If it releases this year!" which has set off questions of whether the PS5 Pro will be released this year, but Henderson took to Insider-Gaming to address the PS5 Pro announcement and release. Sony will be returning to the Tokyo Game Show this year after 5 years of not attending, and with the PS5 Pro cooking in the Sony ovens right now, TGS seems like the perfect time to unveil the beefed-up PS5 Pro console.

More layoffs devastate the interactive entertainment industry as Warner Bros. Games shutters an entire mobile games division.

According to a somber LinkedIn post from QA analyst Tony Lazzara, NetherRealm's mobile group has been disbanded and all employees in the division have been laid off.

This is a stark contrast to the studio's position in 2021, which saw NetherRealm pursuing an "aggressive push" into mobile gaming. Through job postings made on NetherRealm's mainsite, we were able to guess that Mortal Kombat would be next in line for a new game, not the Injustice series.

The Federal Trade Commission alleges that Microsoft's recent decisions with Xbox Game Pass will cause harm to consumers.

A bit ago, Microsoft announced that it would be making big changes to its Xbox Game Pass multi-game subscription service. Game Pass Ultimate has been raised by $3, from $16.99 a month to the new $19.99 a month price, and Game Pass Console tier has now been removed entirely, and will be replaced with a new higher-cost Standard tier "in the coming months" that removes day-and-date releases and trades that big benefit out with online multiplayer.

These adjustments were caught by the FTC, who is currently appealing a decision made by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in July 2023 that had led to the closure of the $70 billion Microsoft-Activision merger. In a new filing, the FTC alleges that these price hikes, in tandem with the new "degraded" Xbox Game Pass Standard product, will cause harm to consumers.

Nintendo just made the Joy-Con charging situation with the Switch much more manageable, especially for those who have many Joy-Con controllers around their Switch setup.

Nintendo has taken to its social media account to announce it will be releasing a first-party Joy-Con charging station that will enable buyers to charge two Joy-Cons. This makes the living room charging situation much easier as now gamers will be able to have two Joy-Cons charging on a charging station and another two charging on the Switch itself.

Additionally, the new charging station integrates with the retro wireless NES gamepads, which are typically used to play Nintendo Switch Online games. The charging station can draw power from the Nintendo Switch dock or directly from an outlet via its USB-C connection. Furthermore, the stand can be removed to make the charging station more portable. Nintendo hasn't revealed the price for the new accessory, but it did state in its announcement that it will be coming to market on October 17, 2024.

Apex Legends is the latest game to be hit with a wave of negative reviews on Steam, as players of the popular battle royale rally against EA's latest monetization strategy.

If gaming history serves us at all, we know that gamers aren't fans of quick cash grabs, particularly if they come in the form of microtransactions that plague the game with a bunch of unappealing cosmetics or, in some worse cases, items that give buyers an advantage. Apex Legends has been put in the crosshairs as EA has decided to essentially release two battle passes instead of one long one that would run throughout the season.

The decision to split the battle pass into two halves means players are no longer able to save up Apex Coins from battle passes to then spend on premium tiers in future battle passes. EA has changed it so that premium tiers cost $9.99. The immediate reaction to this change by players was fury, as players rushed to the Steam listing to call out EA for its seemingly tone-deaf cash grab.

AAA titles are making their way to iOS as smartphones' hardware has reached a level where cut-down versions of big-name games can be played on mobile.

Titles such as Assassin's Creed Mirage, Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 4, and Death Stranding have made their way over to iOS, and according to Appmagic, which estimates store data, none of these titles have performed well in terms of sales. Also joining that disappointing list is Resident Evil 7, which was released on July 2. Appmagic estimates the new release has been downloaded approximately 83,000 times since it launched, earning Capcom about $28,000.

That aforementioned figure doesn't include Apple's mandatory 30% cut of all transactions through iOS, which, if added to the figure, would bring it up to $36 582. How Appmagic arrived at the total number of buyers of the app was dividing the $36,582 by the $20 fee for unlocking the full game, which brings you to less than 2,000 paying customers.

Alongside adding day-one support for Dungeonborne and Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn with the latest GeForce Game Ready, these two titles are also a part of the latest games getting DLSS support this week. Dungeonborne, launching into Early Access, is a solo and multiplayer crawler with impressive ray-traced visuals. So, thankfully, it's arriving with DLSS Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Currently, the game is a PC killer with only the GeForce RTX 4090 able to push higher than 60 FPS at 4K with max settings and ray-tracing enabled. This increases to around 190 FPS with DLSS Performance Mode and Frame Generation enabled. Even the GeForce RTX 4060, RTX 4060 Ti, and RTX 4070 can hit 60+ FPS with DLSS 3.

Lowering the resolution to 1440p and DLSS 3 increases performance across the entire GeForce RTX 40 Series line-up by around 2.3X. This is the resolution sweet spot for PC gaming, and here, every GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU can push past 100 FPS, with the GeForce RTX 4060 just falling short with an average frame rate of 93.5.

CD Projekt Red is working on a selection of new titles for gamers, but what does the renowned developer consider as its "most advanced" project.

For those that didn't know, CD Projekt is currently working on four new titles, all of which are named after stars. Firstly, there is Canis Majoris, a remake of The Witcher that is currently being developed at Polish studio Fool's Theory. Next is Orion, which is the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 that is being helmed by developers at the Boston studio. Next is Sirius, a Witcher spin-off game that is being developed at Molasses Flood in Boston.

Lastly, Polaris is a completely new Witcher game that is being helmed by the main CD Projekt studio in Warsaw, Poland. In a recent interview with Flow Games, associate game director Pawel Sasko said most of the titles are currently in their "early stages" and the new Witcher saga, which is slated to enter production sometime this year, is "the most advanced of all of those".

In a bid to maximize revenues and further improve profitability--especially a full year after the $70 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King--Microsoft has made radical changes to its Xbox Game Pass subscription, including the outright removal of its console tier.

A bit ago, Microsoft announced a big shake up to its value-oriented Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Three key things happened: Price increases, adjustments of value, and the removal of the service's most saturated tier.

On the price increase front, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is increasing from $16.99 a month to $19.99 a month. Prices for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate held strong, with the debut $14.99 staying static across for years, but Ultimate prices jumped to $16.99 in 2023, and now to $19.99 in 2024--representing a 33% increase across the full five-year span that Ultimate has been offered.

Microsoft's recent Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike is the second increase since the service rolled out in 2019, and represents a +18% increase in a year's time.

As we had predicted in 2022, Microsoft recently made the decision to raise Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription prices to reflect the added value of new games, such as the gargantuan Call of Duty Black Ops 6. That's not the only thing Microsoft did, though; the company also fragmented the value of Game Pass by removing day one first-party releases on its new Game Pass Standard tier.

The new multi-tiered structure gave rise to a price hike for the all-encompassing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. This appears to be an effort to offset cannibalization and ensure long-term revenue via the lease-based model of subscriptions versus the one-off premium purchase that companies like Activision enjoyed in the past; gamers can sub for one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $20 instead of paying $70 for new first-party games, including Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Unlike other prominent players in the gaming space, Valve is the very definition of a private company. The developer behind Half-Life, DOTA 2, and Counter-Strike also runs Steam, the largest PC gaming platform in the world. Yet, little is known about Valve's overall size and how it operates day to day.

According to a new leak, Valve only has a fraction of the employees of its contemporaries, companies like EA, Epic Games, and Riot Games. Information regarding how many employees work at Valve surfaced recently via redacted documents as part of an antitrust lawsuit against Valve.

Spotted by SteamDB's Pavel Djundik, the information covers Valve's employee headcount and even gross pay across the company's four key divisions - Admin, Games, Steam, and Hardware.

Since Nintendo entered the console market, it has released new generations of home consoles faster and faster. That was until the release of the Nintendo Switch.

A new report from VideoGamesChronicle (VGC) pointed out how many days the Nintendo Switch has been on the market, which stacks up to 2,687 days as the Switch was released on March 3, 2017 - seven years ago. Notably, the Famicom, or the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as known to markets outside of Japan, was on the market 2,686 days before it was replaced with the SNES.

More interestingly, the successor to the Nintendo Switch, presumably called the Nintendo Switch 2, likely won't be released until at least March next year, increasing the total number of days to 2,920 - if it isn't released before March 1, 2025. As for why the Nintendo Switch has stayed on the market for so long, Nintendo doesn't necessarily need to replace the Switch as it's one of the company's most successful console launches to date.

It's 1987. Predator and Lethal Weapon are on the big screen, while a brand new cartoon called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits TV screens across America. And if you wanted to play a new video game, your best bet was to take a pocket full of quarters and head down to the local arcade - where you'd find one of the year's hottest games, Double Dragon.

The original Double Dragon introduced many to the concept of the beat 'em up, where up to two players took on the roles of martial artists Billy and Jimmy Lee to bring the pain to street thugs and other baddies. Double Dragon ushered in a golden age for the beat 'em up genre; it spawned sequels, popular console versions for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and even a film adaptation in 1994.

Several new entries have been made, including recent ones for mobile and modern consoles like the Switch. However, Double Dragon Revive is different because it's a complete 3D remake of the 1987 original - one that is set to arrive 38 years after its original debut.