Gaming - Page 261

New reports make a shocking suggestion: Sony has prohibited consumers from selling their physical PlayStation games to stores, digital e-commerce sites, and other people. This isn't the case.

Sony's overseas Software Usage Terms are once again under the crosshair for alarming language around game resales. The gaming sphere has picked up on a specific passage in Sony's software EU terms that seemingly forbids consumers from selling their purchased PlayStation titles. This isn't the first time this particular passage has kicked off a controversy, and the actual terms haven't changed in the past 9 years.

The reality is that the Software Usage Terms were controversial even before the PS4 launched. Eurogamer reported on this very subject two days before the PS4 released in 2013, which prompted Sony's Shuhei Yoshida to clarify that yes, users could indeed sell and share their PS4 games.

Netflix's gaming ambitions have taken over both Google Play and the App Store, with free Netflix games topping the charts on both stores.

Two years ago, Netflix announced it would start adding games to its subscription. Netflix now has 86 games available to download and play on mobile, and the streamer has even conquered both the Google Play and App Store digital marketplaces with its latest release. With the help of Rockstar Games' mega-popular Grand Theft Auto franchise, of course.

In a surprising move, Netflix teamed up with Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games to launch the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition mobile port on the service. Actually, launch is a bit of a misnomer; Netflix subscribers can download a special version of the GTA games on both mobile stores. These versions are separate from the base games in the newly-released GTA mobile trilogy, which are sold at $19.99 a piece.

Newzoo's 2023 games market report illustrates just how important North America is for the interactive entertainment industry.

A bit ago, Sony raised the price of its PlayStation 5 console in basically all worldwide regions except for the U.S. There's a good reason for that: North America, including the U.S., is among the top-spending geographies on the planet.

Analyst firm Newzoo recently published its video games industry market report for 2023, and the data is particularly interesting given the current economic climate. Gaming is set to make $184 billion revenues in 2023, excluding games hardware and betting segments. Elsewhere in the report, Newzoo compares the amount of gamers per region, and cross-referencing this data with regional spending delivers eye-opening results.

Microsoft wants to expand its Xbox gaming business to all global regions, but the company faces an uphill battle in countries like Japan.

Microsoft aspires to reach games industry leadership by 2030, with an implied $32 billion of revenue generated from its widening ecosystem of products and services. To get there, Xbox needs to expand. The recent Activision Blizzard King acquisition will accelerate these plans with an enviable content war chest worth many billions of dollars, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.

Xbox's strategy goes well beyond first-party content, and to achieve its goals, Microsoft needs to build its business in certain markets like Asia, including both Japan and China. Progress is well underway--Xbox has made deals with Square Enix to bring more games to the platform, starting with Final Fantasy XIV in 2024. To streamline this expansion process in Japan, Microsoft recently hired former PlayStation business director Mena Sato Kato to help spark partnerships and relationships between Xbox and Japanese publishers.

Elden Ring's anticipated DLC expansion could launch in February 2024, and FromSoftware may be working on a second expansion set for 2025, new marketing materials indicate.

New accidental leaks at retailer Data Blitz give updates on Elden Ring's new story content. The site erroneously updated marketing materials for a special edition Elden Ring-themed Thrustmaster controller that's specifically designed to make the action RPG more player friendly. The Thrustmaster eSwap X2 Pro Xbox controller touts swappable joysticks, mechanical buttons with better actuation, and extra programmable buttons.

The document makes it pretty clear that the public wasn't meant to see the info--it wasn't necessarily a product page, but more of a guide for retailers to use for their shop descriptions. The leaked materials mention that the controller will "sync" with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion's launch, and the eSwap X2 Pro would release during Elden Ring's anniversary, which is listed as February 2024.

3D Realms is the latest video game studio to get hit with layoffs as a result of Embracer Group's aggressive cost-cutting plan.

Despite making an estimated $184 billion throughout the year, 2023 has been a terrible year for some of the people who make games. The games industry has suffered over 7,000 layoffs across all disciplines as more publishers, developers, and parent companies aim to reduce spending budgets. Higher costs are eroding year-over-year profit numbers and margins, and now billion-dollar publishers and smaller-scale devs alike are pulling the layoff lever.

Decentralized, entrepreneur-funded Embracer Group has been hit particularly hard by layoffs. The company laid off 904 workers as of September 2023, of which 700+ were game devs, and Embracer said more layoffs were likely. Now that's happened: Layoffs have come for Danish games publisher 3D Realms, who released the original Duke Nukem on PC.

Larian Studios boss Swen Vincke confirms the game dev was given full creative control over Baldur's Gate 3, including free reign on which era the game takes place in.

Baldur's Gate 3 is known for its incredibly vast player freedom. Gamers can choose a multitude of outcomes throughout the RPG, whether it be something integral like character creation/skills/classes or the myriad ways you can win in battle. Whatever the parameter is, you can bet that Larian lets you fiddle and experiment with it.

It turns out that the Belgian RPG masters were given similar freedoms. In a recent awards acceptance letter penned by Swen Vincke, the founder says that Larian was given "carte blanche" (a Latin term that essentially means blank check, in this case denoting full artistic liberty) on how they wanted to use the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Vincke further comments about the disastrous layoffs that saw Hasbro eliminating 1,100 employees, many of which were at its Wizards of the Coast division.

Microsoft plans to release a next-gen Xbox console by 2026, new unverified rumors and reports claim.

Accidental document leaks from the FTC v Microsoft trial put a next-gen Xbox release in November 2028, however new rumors say that a new Xbox console is coming in 2026. This is a substantially reduced window and would cut the current Gen9 Xbox family to about 6 years, two of which were mostly constrained by chip shortages. It's worth mentioning that this document was published in May 2022 and a lot has likely changed since then.

The trial leaks also show that Microsoft was mulling over a potential mid-cycle Xbox Series X refresh set to launch sometime in late October of 2024. This console was codenamed "Brooklin" and would be a cylindrical, digital-only Series X. The documents also say that the mid-gen consoles (Ellewood, which is the 1TB Xbox Series S, and Brooklin, the aforementioned Series X refresh) have been funded.

The rumored PlayStation 5 Pro will reportedly use custom dedicated raytracing technology developed by Sony.

New reports indicate that Sony is developing custom, proprietary DLSS-like technology for its new PS5 Pro console. Sources have told Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb that the mid-gen PS5 upgrade will leverage Sony's own dedicated, hardware-accelerated RT technology that's based on significant iteration over the PS5's existing machine learning (ML) capabilities.

The PS5 Pro's custom RT tech would target higher frame rates and resolution across demanding current-gen games.

Kojima Productions enters its 8th year of independence as the Metal Gear Solid creator confirms the next phase of expansion is underway.

Hideo Kojima's independent studio is growing. Since establishment in 2015, Kojima Productions has teamed up with Sony Interactive Entertainment and 505 Games to release Death Stranding on PS4, PS5, and PC, reaching 16 million players on all platforms (Game Pass included). This is part of KojiPro's Phase 1 development.

The studio is now in Phase 2, which sees major expansion points into new territories. On the more traditional front, KojiPro is making Death Stranding 2 for PlayStation 5. Kojima is very interested in exploring uncharted waters, though, and opened a new Los Angeles-based subsidiary focused on film, music, and TV. This branch is working alongside movie production company A24 on a new Death Stranding film adaptation.

It's official: Hideo Kojima is finally working on a film based on his games.

Hideo Kojima has a voracious appetite for art, film, and music. Looking at his games, this comes with the territory; Kojima's work is filled with pop culture references, highly artistic influences, and complex stories interwoven with relatable human themes. This combination delivers a cinematic interactive experience.

Now Kojima is officially making a movie (although some could argue Death Stranding is just that). The auteur announced that Kojima Productions is working alongside independent film production company A24 on Death Stranding movie. A24 seems like the perfect fit for Kojima's style--it's known for an eclectic range of art-house films like Everything Everywhere All At Once, Midsommar, Hereditary, and The Whale.

Naughty Dog has ceased development on its Last of Us live service game, which had been in pre-production since The Last of Us II.

Sony's live service push isn't going according to plan. Inspired by billion-dollar GaaS titles like Fortnite, Warzone, Apex Legends, and even Minecraft, Sony's games division laid out an ambitious strategy to release 12 live service games by FY25 (April 2025 - March 2026). This ambition has been considerably scaled down due to the current landscape of the games market, which has triggered thousands of layoffs to counter rising costs.

In a Q2 earnings brief, Sony announced that it had reduced its FY25 live service slate from 12 to 6 games, citing that the other titles would be delayed. Rising costs has triggered layoffs at Bungie, who Sony acquired in 2022 for $3.6 billion to help lead its live service charge. Sony is currently relying on Bungie to help vet its live service games with a "rigorous review process." Naughty Dog's Last of Us GaaS title didn't exactly pass Bungie's live service litmus test and the project had been delayed as a result.

Dune movie stars Austin Butler and Timothee Chalamet have taken the battle to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, where they battled it out in a Rust 1v1 battle with knives only. Check it out:

The two actors will next appear in Dune: Part Two in March 2024, with Activision getting the actors to play themselves in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 with some surprising results. You can get the Paul Atreides bundle in Call of Duty right now for 2400 COD points, which works out to around $20.

Chamalet, on the other hand, used to mod Xbox 360 controllers before he was a movie star, with his own YouTube channel called ModdedController360 when he was a teenager. Chamalet is the winner in the end, and both of the actors said "good game" at the end, which was wholesome to see.

Sony's beefed-up PlayStation 5 Pro console will reportedly be an "incredibly developer-friendly system" for game developers to create -- or upgrade -- their games on.

In a new video released by Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing that game developers that have been targeting 30FPS for their PlayStation 5 games will be able to drive their titles up to 40FPS. Meanwhile, games with 40FPS and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) that are becoming standard options in PlayStation 5 games will be able to run at a stable 60FPS.

Not only that, but games that are currently running at 60FPS on the PS5 will be capable of running up to 120FPS with "zero effort put in" by developers, that is, if the frame rate in those games is uncapped. If it's capped, well, we could expect higher resolutions being outputted (think 1080p to 1440p, or 1440p to 4K, or just less blur all over the place).

You probably forgot, but Bethesda announced it was working on an official 4K update for Fallout 4 in 2022 as part of the franchise's 25th anniversary. Described as a "next-gen" update for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, in addition to higher quality assets, Bethesda noted that it would support higher frame rates, bug fixes, and even additional content via the Creation Club.

For Bethesda Game Studios, 2023 was the year of Starfield, so we can only assume this Fallout 4 remaster was put on the back burner while the team focused on launching its brand-new space RPG. This brings us to today, where, after a year or so of radio silence and Starfield out in the wild, the official Fallout account on X has confirmed that the Fallout 4 "next-gen update" is on track for a 2024 release.

Even though there's no official word on when we might get a Fallout 5, 2024 is set to be a big year for the franchise as the highly anticipated TV adaptation is set to debut on Prime Video in April. Based on the show's reveal trailer, it captures the look and feel of the post-apocalyptic landscape and world depicted in Fallout 4.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was first released in 1993 for the Nintendo Game Boy, the first major Zelda game developed for a handheld console and one of the very few entries in the series not to take place in Hyrule. In terms of style, the top-down action-adventure is an extension of the Super Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and the DX edition of the game presents the adventure in full Game Boy Color mode.

This brings us to the brand-new Link's Awakening DX HD fan remake for PC, which does some pretty amazing things that we'd love to see applied to more retro 2D sprite-driven games. The big thing is that not only does it draw more of the classic pixel art to fill a modern 16:9 widescreen without loading from one screen to another, but you can zoom in and out of the entire Zelda map and still play.

Yeah, it's the sort of feature that fundamentally changes the experience while remaining true to the original. Instead of a sequence of screens, you're presented with a seamless world with an accurate 1:1 pixel recreation. It doesn't stop there, as the Link's Awakening DX HD also supports a smooth 120FPS presentation.

In a bid to sell more units, both Sony and Microsoft have slashed prices of their PlayStation and Xbox consoles for Black Friday. This trend is apparently set to continue as the companies face hardware sales dips.

New reports from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella give valuable insight on the current US video games market. According to Piscatella's data, consumer spending on video games hardware dropped 24% year-over-year for the period from October 29 - November 25.

It's very important to note that this is one day after 2023's Black Friday sales started to kick off. This year's discounts saw significant savings on PlayStation 5 consoles as well as Xbox Series X and Series S systems. Circana's report likely includes Black Friday sales data, albeit not Cyber Monday.

Twitch has updated and condensed its sexual content policies to allow for "artistic nudity," but this doesn't mean streamers can be naked during broadcasts.

While scouting Twitter, I noticed an interesting report: Twitch apparently now allows nudity on its platform. Looking into this further, I whittled away at the truth: Yes, Twitch will allow some kinds of nudity. But you can't just get nude on a stream to thousands of people.

Twitch's updated adult content policy explains the limitations. According to the mandate, streamers can show "artistic depictions of nudity" in fictionalized content like drawings, animations, and sculptures.

Xbox Game Pass can now officially be accessed in virtual reality.

Game Pass is coming to VR, starting with the Meta Quest HMDs. The subscription can now be enjoyed on Quest 2, Quest 3, or Quest Pro headsets, but users won't be able to download full games just yet. Technically, only half of Xbox Game Pass is available for Quest owners.

Today Microsoft and Meta announced that VR users can now stream Xbox games via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Microsoft has released a dedicated Xbox Cloud Gaming app on the Meta Quest Store that allows Ultimate subscribers to stream a selection of games directly to their VR headsets. Bringing Game Pass to VR was originally mentioned in the FTC v Microsoft trial.

Good things come in threes: Hideo Kojima's games production company has filed for three interesting trademarks since 2019, and the more recent ones give clues on what to expect from his new horror game OD.

Hideo Koijma's games are enigmatic and stylish, but the auteur will often provide surprisingly obvious clues on what he's working on (hindsight is 20-20, after all). Take his new game, OD, for instance; since 2019, we've been writing about Kojima's desire to create a new kind of interactive gaming experience using horror. That project has manifested with OD, an Xbox-funded title that will apparently use the cloud to deliver a uniquely social horror game. Kojima is even enlisting horror mavens like Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, NOPE) to help out. We've also seen Kojima do livestreams with Peele in the past.

So what's up with OD? Not much has been revealed, but new trademarks give us some hints. It turns out Kojima Productions has filed for 3 separate trademarks that all have 3 words that begin with the letter S in them. The Social Strand System trademark was filed in 2019 for Death Stranding, and refers to the more loose and indirect online co-op featured in the game.