Gaming - Page 246

Xbox's top brass are reportedly conflicted on whether or not new Call of Duty titles should launch on Game Pass.

Something as big as Call of Duty on Game Pass could skew things quite a bit, and in ways that Microsoft can't fully predict. The megaton shooter franchise is worth over $31 billion, but all of those earnings started with one thing: Premium game sales. Including Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass will lead to fewer game sales--a replacive effect referred to as "cannibalization." Who's going to spend $70 on Call of Duty when they can play it for $17, or maybe even $25?

This is the exact reason that Activision Blizzard never included its games on Game Pass in the first place. Microsoft would have to pay quite a bit to make up for the potential impact on sales, and other publishers have reportedly referred to Game Pass as 'value destructive'. Consumers typically enter ABK's biggest games through a point of sale, especially Call of Duty.

Xbox's new mobile storefront will start on the web and "extend from there," Xbox president Sarah Bond says.

Xbox's Universal Store is starting to take shape. Microsoft plans to lay the early frameworks for its new unified digital commerce ecosystem with a so-called 'mobile store experience.' Xbox already has a game store on consoles and PC, but the mobile version won't be a dedicated shop.

Instead of a native app, Microsoft is launching its Xbox mobile store on the web. This way, Microsoft can completely circumvent paying the 30% commission fee on the Google Play and App Store. The Xbox mobile store experience is set to launch sometime in July--the same month that Microsoft will shut down the Xbox 360 store.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said during the company's recent quarterly earnings call that the next Battlefied game will be developed by the "largest team in franchise history".

During the call, the EA CEO seemed to take on that Battlefield 2042 was a pile of junk, where he said "players have made it clear that they wanted an even deeper experience". I don't think players wanted a "deeper experience," they just wanted a great Battlefield game and to not see their franchise burning into the ground.

Wilson did say that EA is still committed to the live service models, after a survey earlier this year that pointed out that 70% of surveyed developers are worried about the sustainability of live service games. The new Battlefield game in development will have a "connected" side for single-player, but the EA CEO didn't walk us through how that would work.

Capcom's Dragon's Dogma 2 was released earlier this year. It took the publisher's impressive RE Engine (initially built for the Resident Evil franchise and games). It expanded its capabilities to fit the open-world RPG style of the Dragon's Dogma franchise. Hidden inside the engine was a full path-tracing mode that Capcom was playing around with, as seen here.

Now, you can enable full path tracing in the impressive Resident Evil 4 Remake via the same REFramework developer window while modding in DLSS 3.7 for improved upscaling and image quality. Although Resident Evil 4 is a game tailor-made for baked lighting (the time of day never changes), path tracing still makes a massive difference.

Certain night scenes and some objects look off, but several examples in the video presented by MxBenchmarkPC showcase the different path tracing, or complete ray tracing can bring to a game. Even when compared to the game's existing ray-tracing implementation.

Skyblivion is a fan remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the Skyrim engine, an ambitious overhaul on track for a 2025 release. Like the Skywind project (the Morrowing remake using the Skyrim engine), the developers behind Skyblivion have presented an update on the game and its progress, with a closer look at what to expect.

Oblivion was one of the first RPGs from modern 3D gaming to launch with a truly massive open world to explore. However, many of the environments were procedurally generated, with dungeons and other points of interest, repeating layouts, and general designs. Skyblivion is going to great lengths to maintain Oblivion's massive size and ensure that each area, location, and dungeon feels unique.

The new Skyblivion update video opens with a detailed look at the game's 'Great Forest' region to the north. With distinct foliage, animals, and more, it looks fantastic and different in a way absent from Oblivion. Also being updated are the Ayleid Ruins, which now vary wildly in look, feel, design, and purpose.

NVIDIA's latest GeForce Game Ready Driver 552.44 - WHQL adds day-one support for two highly anticipated games, Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut and Homeworld 3, both of which will launch next week.

Ghost of Tsushima is the long-awaited PC port of the PS4 open-world feudal Japan cinematic action game from PlayStation Studios and developers Sucker Punch and Nixxes. Homeworld 3 is the return of an iconic sci-fi strategy game. Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut features DLSS 3, DLAA, and NVIDIA Reflex support, while Homeworld 3 supports DLSS Super Resolution upscaling or DLSS 2.

As a highly anticipated game, Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut also supports AMD's FSR 3 and Intel's XeSS upscaling for those without RTX-powered rigs. The PC version sports new features and improved visuals, with uncapped frame rate and ultrawide display support (up to a massive 49:9).

Two of Bethesda's key studios wanted to make new games in fan-favorite franchises before they were shut down.

Days ago, Xbox shut down three Bethesda Softworks studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog. The decision was part of a new "reprioritization of resources" that would put Bethesda's "high-impact titles" front and center. Xbox closed down the studios and re-allocated their budgets and spending accounts for other teams and projects.

The news has caused a big rift among the Xbox faithful, but frustrations rose even more once today's news broke. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Tango Gameworks was prepping an internal pitch for Hi-Fi Rush 2 before the studio was shut down. Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most acclaimed Xbox games in recent memory--fans love it and were eager for a sequel.

It hasn't been a great week for Xbox, with the studio dealing with widespread criticism and backlash for closing several Bethesda studios, including the talented Japanese team at Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Hi-Fi Rush) and veteran American studio Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall).

This latest round of drastic cuts follows some major ones that happened after Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, so the general sentiment among the Xbox community right now is one of deep disappointment. To the point that a lot of that criticism is now being aimed squarely at those in charge.

Although it could be completely unrelated, the gaming community is viewing a Fallout 76 player dropping a nuke on Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer's (whose Gamertag is 'P3') in-game Camp as a small slice of digital justice.

ASUS has just revealed the new refreshed ROG Ally X gaming handheld, featuring the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU, but some upgraded innards. Check it out:

The truly next-generation ASUS ROG Ally 2 gaming handheld is still in development, with ASUS using the same Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU that made its original ROG Ally a hot-seller. We have the same APU, the same 7-inch 48-120Hz VRR screen, a newly black-colored style with huge battery life improvements, and more.

ASUS told The Verge that the refreshed ROG Ally X has "way more" than 30-40% more battery capacity, where we are told by ASUS SVP Shawn Yen that the ROG Ally X "won't disappoint" our "worst-case scenario" of 3 hours of battery life. That's not bad at all, ASUS.

The job cuts aren't over for Xbox, and new reports say that Microsoft is poised to make even more layoffs.

There's turmoil at Xbox, and the global games industry, as costs continue to rise exponentially. Companies are shrinking budgets and reducing spending in an effort to stabilize budgets and create some semblance of growth--or, at the very least, reduced losses. Xbox took a hit with its Q2 results, with hardware revenues dropping to the lowest point of the Xbox Series generation. Overall revenues are flat without Activision's contribution.

Market trends and economic conditions have triggered mass layoffs at Xbox, with Activision Blizzard King shedding 1,900 workers. Then this month, Xbox made one of the most controversial decisions in recent memory by closing three Bethesda Softworks studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog. This isn't the end, though.

Why did Xbox just close down 3 studios? The reason is a combination of economics and strategic trajectory.

Days ago, Xbox surprised fans by closing down numerous first-party studios. Tango Gameworks, who had just released the mega-popular Hi-Fi Rush, was shut down alongside Arkane Austin, the team behind Dishonored and Prey. Alpha Dog, the team behind the Doom mobile game, was also shut down. The news comes 3 years after Microsoft purchased ZeniMax for $7.5 billion.

So, why would Microsoft eliminate these teams? The decision is a combination of many factors, but it mostly comes down to money. More specifically the game development budgets for new projects. Xbox wanted to re-allocate the budgets of these studios to other "high-impact" and "priority" games under the ZeniMax umbrella--your Elder Scrolls and Fallouts and Dooms, in other words. IGN recently posted the full internal memo from Xbox content and studios president Matt Booty, who describes the move as a "reprioritization of titles and resources."

The head of Xbox Game Studios has shared internal remarks that highlight Microsoft's goal to obtain more smaller games that give Xbox "prestige and awards".

It was only a few days ago that Xbox Game Studios announced it was letting go four development studios under its Bethesda brand. The move to close the development studio was done under Xbox's goal of "reprioritization of titles and resources," according to an internal email sent to studios by Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios. Now, The Verge has reported Booty told listeners in a call, "We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards".

The publication writes that some listeners in the call were surprised by the remarks as one of the developer studios closed by Microsoft was Tango Gameworks, the creators of the critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush. The title by Tango is a rhythm action game that features music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, while having an art style that was reminiscent of old PS2 games.

Only days after Nintendo officially announced when it was going to unveil the successor to the Nintendo Switch, we may have another leak about what the next-generation console has under the hood.

According to recently leaked shipments and customs data between NVIDIA and Nintendo, the successor to the Nintendo Switch, presumably called the Nintendo Switch 2, will feature 12GB of RAM, which is three times more than the 4GB of RAM in the standard Switch. WCCF reports, Famiboards tracked a website that publicly logged shipment data that they linked to NVIDIA and the Nintendo Switch 2.

The report also states that Famiboards has been tracking the data for weeks and was able to identify 12GB of RAM within the Nintendo Switch 2, which will arrive in two 6GB of 7500 MT/s LPDDR5 modules. Additionally, the next-generation console purportedly will have 256GB of Universal Flash Storage (UFS 3.1). It should be noted that none of the above information is verified and that all Nintendo has officially said about a next-generation console is that it will be unveiled in fiscal year 2024.

The Helldivers 2 fiasco has simmered down since Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it wasn't going to go ahead with the PSN account linking with Steam.

For those that don't know, Helldivers 2 had a turbulent weekend after Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it was going to force new and current PC players to link their Steam account to a PSN account.

At first it was simply an annoying thing PC gamers complained about, but it quickly turned into hundreds of thousands of players review bombing the game when they realized some regions where Helldivers 2 was being sold didn't have access to the PSN network, meaning players in those areas would lose access to the game they paid for after the change went through.

Nintendo has taken to its website to announce its cutting ties with X, the social media platform formerly named Twitter.

Nintendo's announcement found on its website states as of June 10, players will no longer be able to post screens or videos directly from their Nintendo Switch's Album to X. Additionally, they send friend requests to social media users via the Friend Suggestions feature will be removed. Nintendo notes that posting screenshots and videos to Facebook "will continue to be available," but it will remain a service that "may also be discontinued at a later date."

Nintendo goes on to target three games specifically; Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Splatoon 3, and Splatoon 2. The company explains the ability to post Smash Ultimate screenshots from the Album in the Nintendo Switch Home Menu to Smash World, within the Nintendo Switch Online smart device app, will also become unavailable. As for Splatoon 3, posting to X via mailboxes in Splatsville, Inkopolis Plaza, or Inkolpolis Square will be removed, along with posting to Facebook. The same change applies to Splatoon 2's mailboxes.

During a recent earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that the publisher's developers and studios have a "real hunger" for generative AI. The company is looking to use the new technology to make game development more efficient and to deliver big and complex games quickly.

"As a company, we've been deeply tied to AI since our inception," Andrew Wilson said. "It has been the very center of all of the games that we create, replicating human intelligence in the context of a gameplay experience. But certainly, as we think about the wave of generative AI today and as it merges into artificial general intelligence, broadly, we're still very early."

Citing FIFA as an example, using the game's animation and run cycles - this grew from 36 run cycles in FIFA 23 to 1,200 run cycles in EA Sports FC 24. The result is a more realistic-looking depiction of football/soccer and one that feels closer to watching the sport live on TV than the series has ever been.

Rumors have been circulating for a while, indicating that ASUS planned to release a new version of its ROG Ally gaming handheld this year. This led to people speculating that it could be a full-blown sequin or laptop-style refresh with new Ryzen hardware or possibly even a new OLED display, ala the Steam Deck refresh.

Recent speculation and rumor have pointed to the 2024 ROG Ally refresh being nothing more than a minor hardware update that would fix the SD Card Reader issues that have plagued some units since ASUS launched the Windows 11-based PC gaming handheld in 2023. It's a minor but very welcome fix that would sort out one of the only real faults with the hardware and something that wouldn't warrant a special presentation.

That said, ASUS is teasing a special stream set to broadcast tomorrow with the title 'The Next ROG Ally.' This indicates that there's a lot more coming to the ROG Ally 2024 refresh than a fix to the SD Card Reader.

Upscaling tech is such a big part of PC gaming that NVIDIA announces which titles are adding support for DLSS Super Resolution and DLSS 3 Frame Generation every week. However, with that said, only a handful of PC games are adding support this week - limited to DLSS Super Resolution or DLSS 2. There's no Frame Generation, but hey, there's always next week.

The big one is the long-awaited Homeworld 3 from Blackbird Interactive and Gearbox, which launches on May 14. This strategic sci-fi RTS takes place in beautifully rendered 3D spaces, and for all GeForce RTX owners, DLSS 2 will boost performance while maintaining the game's impressive visual fidelity. Homeworld 3 is the latest installment in a long-running and beloved PC franchise, so there's definite hype surrounding its launch.

The second game getting DLSS 2 support is a little more unknown. It's an Early Access RPG available to play on Steam and already sitting on a 'Mostly Positive' user review rating. With survival mechanics, exploration, action, resource and town management, story, and armies to command in a medieval setting, Bellwright is worth checking out.

Sony now once again has more games on the PlayStation Store's best-sellers list than Microsoft does.

Once Microsoft purchased Activision for $70 billion, Xbox became an overnight powerhouse. Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard King, Bethesda/ZeniMax, and the myriad of teams under its Xbox Game Studios banner. That's a lot of IPs and franchises--Microsoft now casts one of the widest nets in gaming.

Buying ABK wasn't enough--Microsoft also needed to break exclusivity and bring its first-party games to competing platforms so it can "use what Sony has" to sell games. As a result of these expansion efforts, Microsoft took over the U.S. PlayStation Store top-sellers charts simply by virtue of its size.

Nintendo gives fans a very loose timeline on when the next-gen Switch will be revealed.

Today, Nintendo announced its Q4 financials that clearly illustrate the Switch is on its way out. It's time for a new model, and Nintendo is set to unveil its new Switch 2 (aka the Super Switch, Switch 4K, etc). The only question is...when?

In a surprise move, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa gave an update on Twitter on the new hardware. The company plans to reveal the new Switch during the current Fiscal Year 2025 timeline, which ends in March 2025. And it won't be revealed in June. So the system could be revealed at any time in 9 months.