Gaming News - Page 300

Halo 3 ODST's new Floodfight gametype is one of the best things to ever come to the Master Chief Collection.

Yesterday 343 released a new update for the Master Chief Collection with a fusillade of content, changes, and fixes. Some of these were pretty big: Halo 2 is now visible on the custom games browser, campaign cross-play was added for Halo 3 and ODST, and there's a few mod adjustments. The headlining new feature was Floodfight, a new firefight gametype that introduced Halo 3's flood to my favorite game mode of all time.

Being a Firefight purist and having beta tested Floodfight, I was extremely skeptical on the new mode. Floodfight not only adds flood to traditional ODST Firefight maps, but it also packs in Halo 3 weapons like the battle rifle, assault rifle, and even the energy sword. This changes the meta considerably...but for the better. I'm elated to report that Floodfight is incredibly fun. In fact, it's the most fun I've ever had in Firefight.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors discusses how his decentralized digital empire mitigates risk by sheer breadth of content.

Lots of coverage has broken out about how Embracer plans to buy up more studios and companies, but this is par for the course for the European giant. Embracer isn't just a name--it's the group's raison d'etre. Of course it will buy up more developers, labels, etc. To date, Embracer has made 71 acquisitions worth over $8 billion, and Wingefors has previously confirmed more acquisitions will happen throughout 2022-23 but this time Embracer will be "more selective than ever," the CEO says.

In a recent Financial Times article, Wingefors said something that perfectly outlines Embracer's game plan. The group isn't trying to create one hit, but instead a myriad of titles that will help subsidize development costs, drive revenues, and eventually turn profits.

Battlefield 2042's numbers are in a really bad place right on Steam and have dropped to their lowest point since launch.

Following significant controversy, lack of content, and tons of glitches, it seems PC gamers are moving on from Battlefield 2042. EA's latest online-only shooter has dipped below 1,000 players today on Steam--it's lowest since launch--but has somewhat stabilized in the rough 1,700 player mark.

It's worth noting that Battlefield 2042 has lost over 98% of its Steam players since launch; the game had 105,397 players upon release and currently has 1,733 players.

Epic Games raised $2 billion in its latest funding round, pushing its total valuation to tens of billions.

Sony and LEGO's parent company have just made a combined $2 billion investment into Epic Games to help propel the metaverse and fuel Unreal Engine 5. Following this significant finance injection, Epic Games now has a valuation of $31.5 billion--nearly double what it was worth two years ago. Epic Games said its valuation was roughly $17 billion back in 2020 (Epic was also worth $15 billion in 2018).

The latest multi-billion investment round reflects Epic's unique ambitions with two entertainment titans. Sony in particular has a vested interest in Epic's success because many of its digital entertainment operating units make use of Unreal Engine, which is used in production of games, films, and TV shows. Sony has been ramping up its PlayStation Productions segment to produce adaptations of key gaming IPs like Uncharted, with major TV shows based on The Last of Us and Twisted Metal currently in the works.

Sony has invested $1 billion into Epic Games in a significant move that will supercharge the company's multimedia endeavors.

Sony believes in Epic Games' vague-but-early plans for the metaverse. Today Sony announced that it has strategically invested a whopping $1 billion into Epic to help establish its nebulous metaverse and also deepen the two's synergistic relationship. Sony utilizes Epic's Unreal Engine 5 in its full breadth of entertainment content including games development and TV/film production, and the tech giant has now invested a total of $1.45 billion into Epic.

The investment comes nearly two years after the launch of the PlayStation 5, a console that Epic Games has readily praised. Unreal Engine 5 has been specially optimized for the PlayStation 5 and was the very first platform to show off the engine's capabilities via a breathtaking real-time gameplay tech demo.

The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience is probably the very best graphics available on any platform right now, and you can download it right now and play it on your rig.

But even with some of the fastest silicon on the planet, you're not going to be hitting 4K 60FPS easily, with even an Intel Core i9-12900K and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card incapable of hitting 4K 60FPS. You're going to get around 40-50FPS average at 1440p to 4K on that type of hardware.

The download itself is around 93GB, but you can get that down to a much slimmer 17GB thanks to developer Victor Careil from Unreal Engine plugin maker VoxelPlugin. Not too damn bad at all, eh?

The new Witcher game isn't being developed in CD Projekt's proprietary RED Engine and will instead use Unreal Engine 5. Now the studio discusses the main reasons why.

A bit ago, CD Projekt announced two big things: A new Witcher game is coming, and CDPR is using Unreal Engine 5 to make the game.

On a surface level it's easy to see why Unreal is being used; the engine is flexible, easily deployable, and has been streamlined specifically for optimized workflows across PC, mobile, and consoles. It also features new technologies like Nanite, which allows devs to easily import high-quality images right into scenes, and impressive new lighting systems with Lumen.

It's official: Kingdom Hearts 4 is happening and the series just got a massive visual upgrade.

Square Enix today celebrated 20 years of Kingdom Hearts with a look at the past and the future of the series, including a big Kingdom Hearts 4 reveal. The game is set during the new Lost Master Arc storyline and shows a very high-def Sora waking up in the Quadratum, a modern-day city that looks like something out of an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo (in fact the entire trailer looks like an engine tech demo).

The footage showcases visuals and graphical fidelity never before seen in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, suggesting a next-gen exclusive release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Donald Duck and Goofy are also in the game, alongside an incredible-looking model of Strelitzia from Kingdom Hearts Union X. Square Enix didn't reveal many details in the trailer and there's no release date or window, but we do know that Tetsuya Nomura is attached to the project (Nomura is also helping with the new Final Fantasy VII Remake episodic series).

SEGA's new games could transform the Twitch Plays concept and push viewer-based interaction to a whole new level.

SEGA is currently at a turning point. The company is creating what it calls Super Games, which are big innovative live titles centered around online gaming, engagement, and interactivity. In a recent internal company interview, SEGA management says it is currently experimenting with new ways to allow viewers to "intervene in the game," not unlike Twitch Plays.

"In fact, efforts that could be part of Super Game have already started for titles that are already in operation. For example, in terms of watching the game mentioned earlier, it's a system that allows viewers to intervene in the game. We are experimenting with new experience possibilities to broaden the range of players," SEGA general manager Katsuya Hisai said.

SEGA is using advanced next-gen technologies to build its new Super Games including Unreal Engine 5, AI, and procedural FX tools like Houdini, company management has confirmed.

SEGA has big plans for the future of gaming. The company created a new term called Super Games to describe its ambitious idea; Super Games are described as massive online-driven inter-connected titles that engage players on all platforms all over the world. Phantasy Star Online 2 is a great example of a Super Game.

SEGA wants to have multiple Super Games on the market by 2030 and is investing over $800 million into this new plan while also converging all of its game development segments to work on the multi-game initiative.