Gaming - Page 239

Microsoft is cooking up its next-generation Xbox console, with industry analyst Mat Piscatella saying that it'll be all-digital and that Microsoft will walk away from physical copies of next-gen Xbox games.

This isn't too much of a surprise, where earlier this year we reported that Microsoft had huge Xbox layoffs as the industry was moving (full steam ahead) into an all-digital gaming world. In a new post on X, Piscatella said that Xbox gamers should expect to see physical games leaving shelves sooner, rather than later.

Piscatella expects Sony and Nintendo to do something similar, but it will be a couple of generations from now. Piscatella said PlayStation should go full digital with the PlayStation 7 (so expect physical PlayStation 6 games) while Nintendo will be another two generations of physical games before moving to all-digital with the Switch (or whatever comes after the Switch 2 or Super Switch, whatever Nintendo ends up calling its next-gen platform).

Dr. Disrespect has officially commented on the recent controversy surrounding the popular streamer, and has confirmed exactly why he was banned from Twitch.

Back in 2020, Twitch made the curious decision to ban Dr. Disrespect, one of the most well-known celebrities in the space. Fast-forwarding to the present day, one ex-Twitch employee let slip the alleged reason that Doc was banned from the platform.

Today, Dr. Disrespect has formally revealed the actual reason for his ban on Twitch with an official statement.

Will game streaming replace dedicated gaming? Not any time soon, at least that's what former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden believes. The "Netflix of gaming" isn't expected in his lifetime.

Back in 2019, game streaming was all the rage. Google made a big splash into streaming with Stadia, the failed game client-and-storefront package that attempted to sell AAA games at big $60 prices. Microsoft also furthered streaming with xCloud, wrapping it in a convenient and well-managed package with its Game Pass subscription. Sony had established streaming years ago after its purchase of Gaikai, transforming the service into PlayStation Now, and further evolved it into PS Plus Premium. NVIDIA likewise has dominated PC game cloud streaming with its GeForce Now service.

Despite these big, expansive (and expensive) efforts from some of the biggest names in tech, game streaming hasn't taken off according to plan. Google shut down Stadia, and both xCloud and PS Plus streaming options are mostly used to sample games--not as the primary way to actually play long sessions.

Is console gaming hurdling towards ruin? Former PlayStation chairman Shawn Layden gives a frank answer on the current state of play with the traditional nexus of Big 3 hardware.

In terms of revenues, console gaming is still doing quite well. But hardware uptake is slowing compared to previous generations; gamers are buying fewer PlayStations and Xbox's during the Gen9 console cycle, and a significant portion of PlayStation gamers are still on the PS4 (the Nintendo Switch, however, is doing exceptionally well with its mid-generation cycle).

Even through yesterday's COVID boom and today's recession-driven market, the age-old question has remained: Is console gaming in trouble? In a recent interview with IGN, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden shares his candid thoughts on the existential threat to consoles--the expectation of continued, compounding growth.

The life of the Nintendo Switch is coming to a close, but before the popular gaming handheld is discontinued it will more than likely break another record.

According to Mat Pscatella, an analyst for Circana, formerly The NPD Group, the Nintendo Switch unit sales total was only just behind the total sales of the PlayStation 2 in the US. The discrepancy between the two juggernaut consoles only being 1.4 million units as of May 4, 2024, and it's been two months since those figures updated, meaning its more than likely the Switch has already broken the record.

How does the Nintendo Switch tee up against the best-selling consoles globally? Nintendo's now 8-year-old gaming handheld ranks 3rd on the all-time list with 141.32 million units, coming in behind the Nintendo DS, which has 154.02 million and Sony's PlayStation 2 with 155 million. It remains unclear if the Switch will have enough legs in it to take the global crown, but that all depends on when Nintendo announces the Switch successor.

FIFA is the governing body behind the world's most popular sport, football (or soccer for those of us in the United States or Australia). For many years, it has supported the rise of esports, though, for the most part, it has been via traditional soccer games like the former EA FIFA series.

If you're a fan of competitive gaming on PC or console, then no doubt you're aware of Rocket League, the vastly popular soccer-like game where you control cars trying to push and hit a giant ball and score goals.

With a new announcement on its social media channels, FIFA announced that the first FIFAe World Cup featuring Rocket League is coming later this year. Much like the real-world Word Cup, teams representing various countries will go head to head in a tournament.

7 Days to Die is an open-world zombie sandbox game that debuted in Early Access in 2013 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. This week, developer The Fun Pimps announced that after a decade of updates, new features, and improvements, the game will hit Version 1.0 on July 25. The plan is to bring this version of the game to Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

"After nearly twelve years of early access, the highly anticipated Version 1.0 release of 7 Days to Die is here," The Fun Pimps writes. "This momentous milestone marks a significant evolution in the survival horror genre. The 1.0 Edition brings more optimizations, polish, quality-of-life improvements, new content, new features, and new gameplay systems than ever before."

It's a significant game overhaul, with visual improvements, a new gore system, updated crafting, an armor systems overhaul, and more. You can learn about all this in the 7 Days to Die 1.0 video.

Sony's PlayStation VR2 headset for the PS5 is a massive improvement over the PS4-era original. It is an impressive VR headset backed up by some fun and immersive experiences like Horizon Call of the Mountain, Gran Turismo 7, and Resident Evil Village, if you can stomach it.

That said, Sony's post-launch support has been virtually nonexistent, and we've heard for months that headset sales have been lackluster. This week, it looks like we've hit the point where Sony is giving up on VR.

A new report by Android Central, citing sources close to or within Sony, states that Sony is making "deep cuts" to VR game development and that very few, if any, VR game projects will be in development at Sony's first-party studios. Apparently, only two PSVR 2 games are currently in development at Sony, and they might be the last.

With Season 4 of Diablo 4 still in full swing, the game is experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks to the 'Loot Reborn' overhaul that brought massive changes to itemization, the end-game, and how fun it was to level up a character slaying demons. Season 5 is set to begin in August, and Blizzard is showing no signs of slowing down with the pre-expansion update set to add an exciting new end-game activity called 'Infernal Hordes.'

It's a horde mode with a rogue-like twist, where you have 90 seconds per wave to survive and see how many horrors from the Burning Hells you can destroy. At the end of each wave, you need to decide between three Infernal Offers with positive and negative effects that will affect the rest of the run.

Blizzard calls these 'Boons and Banes,' in a nod to the many rogue-likes out there - Hades, Vampire Survivors, etc. The ultimate goal is to collect as much Burning Aether as possible, where at the end of the final wave, you can spend on various themed chests, letting players target-farm all sorts of items and materials.

With the arrival of Microsoft's new Copilot+ PC line-up powered by the new Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chipset, a new era for portable Windows-based devices has begun. Even though we will see new Intel and AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs in the future, it's a big deal for Microsoft to go all in on Windows on Arm like this.

Early word on Copilot+ PCs is primarily positive for app performance and battery life, but gaming performance has been hit-and-miss. This is because there's an emulation component where x86 or x64 code must be converted to Arm64 without any work required from game developers.

PC gaming is a big part of the vision for Copilot+ PCs, as outlined by a new DirectX blog titled 'A Step Forward for Gaming on Arm Devices.' The article cites advances in Prism emulation, a key part of the Windows 11 24H2 update, unlocking "a large back catalog of games that work great on Arm under emulation." And Microsoft's only getting started.

Funcom has published another livestream dedicated to its upcoming survival MMO "Dune: Awakening" where players will embark on tenuous journeys throughout Arrakis.

Funcom's Dune: Awakening is a new open-world survival MMO from the studio behind Conan Exiles, and the upcoming title will take players to the desolate world of Arrakis. Just like in the movies, surviving the harsh environment on Arrakis will be paramount, which means players will be required to stay hydrated throughout their adventures and also use rocky/shady areas to their advantage.

Funcom revealed during the recent livestream the character creation menu, where players are able to change the appearance of their characters, provide their own backstory, and select their mentor specialization. What was likely the most exciting part of the livestream was the reveal of the world structure, where Funcom explained Dune: Awakening will connect various maps together to enable a seamless experience between different maps all within a single world.

Microsoft has announced it will be making a big appearance at Gamescom 2024, and its Xbox team will be showcasing a selection of upcoming titles.

In an announcement that surprised absolutely no one, Sony announced it will not be attending Gamescom 2024, which seemingly sparked Microsoft to share news of its commitment to the gaming tradeshow.

Microsoft took to the official Xbox X, formerly Twitter, account to say it will be at Gamescom 2024, and fans can expect to see the following titles: Age of Mythology: Retold, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, Diablo Immortal, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Towerborne, and World of Warcraft: The War Within. Xbox also said that its booth at Gamescom 2024 will be "our biggest booth yet". You can expect to be able to play (probably a demo) the aforementioned titles at the Xbox booth.

Bethesda's Todd Howard talks about how the team thinks about operating both singleplayer and live games in parallel with each other without too much impact on missed sales.

Bethesda's live games are doing very well right now. Fallout 76 recently passed 20 million lifetime players and The Elder Scrolls Online broke 24 million users earlier this year. Does this mean that less people are buying and playing Bethesda's actual singleplayer games? Apparently not.

In a recent interview with Mr. Matty Plays, Bethesda's Todd Howard assuages worries that the live games will negatively impact new singleplayer games like The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5.

Embracer Group reveals plans to incorporate artificial intelligence tools to develop new games, but the publisher doesn't want the technology to actually replace its workers.

With thousands of layoffs wracking the video games industry, AI is a hot-button topic. The tech has been criticized because its automation processes could put even more people out of work at a time when jobs are already scarce. While pretty much every games publisher plans to utilize AI in some way--lest they miss out on the AI gold rush and somehow get farther behind competitors--these companies are trying to find ways to do so in a more acceptable way.

That's the case with Embracer Group, the once-decentralized group that itself had laid off over 1,300 people in the last year. Embracer wants to use AI to help accelerate game dev, but not at the cost of human capital. At least that's what the company says in its recent year-end report.

Elden Ring fans are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the timer to tick down until tomorrow so they can jump straight into the highly anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

With most of the attention on the contents of the DLC, which looks absolutely fantastic in both the teaser trailer and the recently released official trailer, there hasn't been much focus on the new update that was revealed alongside the new trailer.

Heading to Bandai Namco's website, the publisher outlines patch 1.12, which will include support for the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, new map functions, new inventory features, a new "recent items" tab, and the ability to summon the spectral steed during the Elden Beast boss battle. Additionally, FromSoftware will also be adding PvE balance changes to weapons, skills, Incantations, and balance adjustments for PvP and PvE interactions. Those adjustments will come in the form of damage increases, attack speed increases, and more.

The first official expansion for Elden Ring releases tomorrow and ahead of its launch publisher Bandai Namco has released the official trailer for highly anticipated DLC.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will be released globally tomorrow, and to celebrate the launch, Bandai Namco has taken to its YouTube channel to drop the official trailer, which spans three lengthy minutes. The trailer teases players with incredible new environments, enemies, weapons, bosses, and much more. Within the description of the trailer, it's written, "Witness the birth of a God. The coming of a Lord. And follies better left forgotten. In that forsaken place, blood must spill."

It was only a few days ago that we got the official PC requirements for Shadow of the Erdtree, and the good news is that if you were able to comfortably play Elden Ring, you will be able to comfortably play the DLC as well. There isn't any difference between the Shadow of the Erdtree Minimum and Recommended hardware specifications and the Elden Ring specifications - besides 20GB of extra storage space.

Yesterday, Nintendo unveiled the highly anticipated Metroid Prime 4. Fans have been waiting seven years to see some gameplay, and the two-minute trailer didn't disappoint - it looks like a modern take on classic Prime gameplay. Technically impressive, too, the game runs at a rock-solid 60 FPS with even more impressive visuals than last year's brilliant Metroid Prime Remastered.

However, what we saw was running on the current Nintendo Switch hardware rather than the Switch 2 successor set to launch sometime in 2025 (alongside Metroid Prime 4: Beyond). Nintendo is clearly holding its Switch 2 cards close to its chest, so we won't get details on games and hardware specs until we're much closer to release.

In my write-up of Metroid Prime 4, I noted that the low-resolution look of the footage made it clear that the gameplay trailer featured current-gen Switch gameplay. According to a new Metroid Prime 4 technical breakdown from Nintendo World Report, the game runs at 720p docked. Yikes.

A couple of visually impressive games have launched on PC this week, and both are pushing the GeForce RTX 4090 to its limits. The highly anticipated MMO sandbox Pax Dei has launched into Early Access, and its mix of realistic visuals with supernatural elements is fantastic - though when playing in native 4K with max settings, the GeForce RTX 4090 only manages an average performance of 51.7 FPS, followed by the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER with 38.6 FPS.

These numbers come directly from NVIDIA. The second half of the story is Pax Dei launching with full DLSS 3 and NVIDIA Reflex support. Turn on Super Resolution and Frame Generation, with Reflex to lower system latency, and the performance increases by a massive factor of 3X to hit 145.6 FPS on the RTX 4090 and 118 FPS on the RTX 4080 SUPER. Even the mid-range RTX 4070 hits 72.1 FPS at 4K.

This brings up an interesting topic (discussed in this week's episode of The TT Show): are technologies like upscaling and frame generation a crutch? Shouldn't the RTX 4090 have no issues running any game at a native 4K 60 FPS if it's properly optimized?

Counter-Strike is officially 25 years old, with the game first hitting the PC as a mod for Half-Life hitting public beta on June 19, 1999.

I still remember being at a LAN with my friends and brother when Counter-Strike first dropped in 1999, pumping unimaginable hours into it amongst Half-Life, Quake, Quake II, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D, Need for Speed II: SE, and so many other 90s classics on the PC.

Counter-Strike was officially released as a standalone game after being a Half-Life mod on November 8, 2000, and became the foundation for competitive first-person shooters. Now that Counter-Strike is celebrating its 25th anniversary, CS players are hoping that Valve steps up and does something well and truly above and beyond any other celebration of previous games hitting major birthday milestones.

Nintendo recently held its Direct showcase, where it revealed that for the first time, Zelda was going to be the main character in a new game soon-to-be-released in the long-standing franchise.

Ever since the creation of The Legend of Zelda franchise, Link has been the main character players take control of, as the kingdom of Hyrule and, in particular, Zelda is in trouble and requires saving. However, Nintendo has decided to turn the normal upside down with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, in which Zelda becomes the protagonist as Link disappears after Ganon beats him in battle.

Zelda embarks on a quest to save the world from total destruction, and throughout her journey, she will fight monsters and overcome puzzles. In Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo has changed the way players will interact with the world, as Zelda won't carry a sword and shield reminiscent of Link, but instead, a magic wand called the Tri Rod will be used to summon objects and even monsters to fight by Zelda's side.