Gaming - Page 332

Starting in 2023, Microsoft will join the rest of the games industry and start charging $69.99 for its new games.

New first-party Xbox Series X/S games will cost $70 from next year onward, Microsoft has told IGN. This includes new games like Starfield, Redfall, new Forza Motosport titles, the upcoming next-gen Fable game, MachineGames' Indiana Jones project, Perfect Dark, Hellblade II, and many other first-party games.

"This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles. As with all games developed by our teams at Xbox, they will also be available with Game Pass the same day they launch."

CD Projekt RED says that the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel will not enter pre-production phases of development until 2024.

CD Projekt has a lot on its plate right now. The company is currently working on five Witcher projects, including a new Witcher trilogy, and is also making Cyberpunk 2077's big new Phantom Liberty expansion. And once that's done, the teams will target Project Orion, a new sequel set in the Cyberpunk universe. It might be some time before Orion is ready, though.

In a recent investor's Q&A session, CD Projekt president Adam Kicinski confirms that Project Orion's development won't start in 2023. Instead, pre-production will not begin until 2024 at the earliest. After Phantom Liberty releases, teams will shift over to Orion and start the concepting phase which begins before pre-production. This will see various aspects of the game being planned and plotted out.

CD Projekt clarifies the planned release timings for its new upcoming Witcher projects and games.

There's a lot of new Witcher games in development right now. CD Projekt is currently working on and/or planning at least five separate Witcher projects, including the Witcher 3 next-gen update planned for release on December 14, a brand new mainline Witcher trilogy that's codenamed Polaris, a new separate game codenamed Sirius from The Molasses Flood that will have multiplayer elements, and Canis Majoris, which is the new Witcher 1 remake built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.

So when will these projects come out? In a recent Q&A session with investors, CD Projekt Group management confirms that the first chapter of Polaris will release before The Witcher 1 remake. The two games--Polaris part 1 and Canis Majoris--will enter parallel development and CD Projekt will work on both games at the same time. Once Polaris is released, Canis Majoris will be able to borrow assets, content, and tools from the episodic game.

Epic Games overhauls Fortnite with a big visual makeover thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 5.

Fortnite Chapter 4 is here and it's been completely reborn in Unreal Engine 5.1 with new high-end effects and visual tweaks. The game looks absolutely incredible for Fortnite, and is a kind of proof-of-concept design of what live service F2P shooters could look like utilizing the new engine toolset.

The new radical update was made possible thanks to Unreal Engine 5.1's optimized tech, including Nanite, which allows tons of extra detail thanks to its virtualized polygons, and Lumen, which adds ray-traced reflections and real-time global lighting effects to create a whole new sense of realism for the cartoony shooter.

The FTC could greenlight the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger in order to avoid a tie vote, sources tell The New York Post.

FTC Chairperson Lina Khan could give her blessing to the Microsoft-Activision merger in order to avoid potential fallout from a split vote. The FTC currently has four members of its panel that are scrutinizing the merger including three Democrats (Lena Khan, Rebecca Slaughter, and Alvaro Bedoya) and one Republican (Christine Wilson).

Sources say that Wilson and Slaughter may vote to approve the merger, with Khan and Bedoya moving to block it, leading to a split tie vote. Sources say this could undermine Lina Khan's authority over the regulator and she would instead proceed to approve the merger.

Hideo Kojima has released three new cryptic symbols to build intrigue for his next project.

Right now Hideo Kojima is working on as many as two projects, including Death Stranding 2 and a new interactive horror game for Xbox's cloud streaming platform (codenamed OVERDOSE). Kojima has continued his penchant for secretive and often bizarre game teasers with a series of mysterious promo images that previously confirmed that both Elle Fanning and Deadpool 2 actress Shiola Kutsuna will star in the project. Symbols and logos accompanied these reveals.

Kojima is back with a new symbol depicting the Automated Public Assistance Company. No one knows exactly what these symbols are referring to, but the major guess is that Kojima is teasing Death Stranding 2 and the PAC will be a faction in the game. The other logos, a strange-looking art deco gate or perhaps a bridge, and a kraken that has been stuck with multiple spears, may also indicate other factions to be featured in Death Stranding 2.

Todd Howard reveals why Bethesda RPGs went from immersive choice-driven character builds to a kind of jack-of-all-trades style where classes are no longer established.

One of the most jarring leaps from Oblivion to Skyrim was the elimination of all player stats. Endurance, Strength, Agility, Intelligence--all stat and attribute modifiers were removed. On a surface level, it appears this standardization (or casualization, if you prefer) was designed to make The Elder Scrolls more appealing to the masses by removing a lot of the customization and guesswork with specific builds from the get-go, and now Todd Howard discusses why those changes were made.

In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, the Bethesda designer confirms that newer games are built to be classless experiences in an effort to reduce friction and the need for starting a new character. Long gone are the days of Morrowind where you are simply stuck with the build you make on day 1--Bethesda wants players to be able to morph between builds in a more seamless way.

NVIDIA has just announced that its Ada Lovelace GPU-exclusive DLSS 3 upscaling technology is coming to some of December's biggest games, joining the list of 14 games that already rock DLSS 3 support.

DLSS 3 only dropped in October 2022 with the release of NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 "Ada Lovelace" graphics card, with the fun continuing last month with the second-fastest Ada Lovelace release in the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB graphics card. But now... DLSS 3 is being added to five new games in December 2022.

We can expect DLSS 3 updates for Need for Speed Unbound, Warhammer 40,000 Darktide, Portal with RTX, Jurassic World Evolution 2, and Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's upcoming "Next-Gen Update". I'm sure that the release of Portal with RTX is going to be one of the most-hyped DLSS 3-powered titles.

In a few hours' time the release of The Callisto Protocol takes place, with the developer taking to Twitter to announce the "Max" and "Ultra" PC requirements for the game.

The Callisto Protocol requires 8GB of RAM and 75GB of storage at a minimum, with the developer recommending gamers use an SSD -- it's 2022, you really should be -- while you'll need Windows 10 or Windows 11 at a minimum, too.

Moving onto the CPU requirements, The Callisto Protocol developer recommends an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor for the minimum PC requirements, while the recommended PC requirements bump the CPU recommendation up to an Intel Core i7-8700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor. The recommended PC specs for The Callisto Protocol also get bumped from 8GB of RAM, to 16GB of RAM, too.

Todd Howard says that balancing rare loot is an artform that Bethesda still has a lot to learn about.

To me, Bethesda RPGs are fueled by three things: Exploration, questing, and loot. Finding awesome gear, including epic weapons and armor, is a big motivator to keep searching specific areas. Sometimes you find a good gun or sword, other times you find the best item in the game. But finding that perfect balance is tough. Not every game can be like Morrowind and offer a smorgasbord of ultra-powerful artifacts that make you an indomitable god like the Boots of Blinding Speed, the Ebony Mail, or the Skullcrusher.

In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, Bethesda's Todd Howard talks about how the studio handles rare gear and items and praises other games that did it right including Destiny 2 (which is debatable considering 90% of the gear is just materials fodder) and Diablo III, whose outrageously crazy drop stats brought tons of fun to the dungeon-crawler.

After years of development, Digital Extremes has finally added cross-play to its blockbuster F2P hit Warframe.

A while back, I said that cross-play was one of the most important new features of modern gaming. That goes double for free-to-play, multiplayer-driven live service games and over the years we've seen many titles incorporate full-on cross-play. Now Warframe has joined the mix, offering full cross-platform action everywhere the game is available.

Starting today, Tenno will be able to join their friends and play together across all platforms including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC, with full support for every SKU of the game regardless of how it's played--Steam, Epic Games Store, etc. Sadly cross-save/cross-progression is not currently available but the feature is coming in the future, so for now gamers will still have to remain on their main platform of choice.

The Callisto Protocol's poor reception have reportedly caused Krafton's shares to drop by nearly 9%.

Yesterday the review embargo broke for The Callisto Protocol, a new horror game made by many of the original Dead Space developers. The project was published by PUBG owner Krafton Inc., who hoped that the game could spawn a new IP and franchise that lives alongside the immensely popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

The Callisto Protocol apparently didn't meet expectations. The game is currently sitting at a 76 on Metacritic, which is not bad by any means, however it looks like investors may feel differently. It doesn't help that The Callisto Protocol has mostly negative reviews on Steam due to the game's poor optimization and performance on PC. Only 35% of the Steam reviews are positive and the game is suffering from bad optimization that leads to stuttering even on lagging heavily on some enthusiast-grade builds.

Bethesda Game Studios has a dedicated team that's responsible for placing in-game objects in all interior and exterior environments of every single RPG.

Bethesda's RPGs are known for their huge open worlds with interesting NPCs and memorable cities and environments. Many of these areas feel alive because of the various landmarks or in-game items that add a distinct lived-in feel; Fallout in particular makes creative use of environmental storytelling with towns like Megaton, a city built around a nuke that spawned an entire religion, and Diamond City, a city hub built out of Fenway Park.

It turns out that many of these areas, from landmark cities to random dungeons, are made possible by Bethesda's so-called "clutter group." This team is exactly what it sounds like: A dedicated group of devs who go into every single area of a game and clutter it with loot, gear, miscellaneous objects, models and characters that often tell unique side stories (like, for instance, the infamous Cat Lady in Fallout 4).

Nintendo has officially shut down its Dragalia Lost mobile game, and the company is more comfortable scrapping smartphone titles because the segment is not all that important for Nintendo.

After 4 years of service, Nintendo has determined that hosting Dragalia Lost is no longer worth it. The game, which was one of the only mobile titles that Nintendo had offered, is now offline. Dragalia Lost is estimated to have made about $100 million as of 2019, but the game's loss will not significantly impact Nintendo's earnings.

Now is a good time to remember that Nintendo is not reliant on mobile games to any real meaningful degree. Over the past 3 years, the company makes less than 5% of its revenues from mobile/smartphone games on a quarterly basis.

Today's Google Doodle is something that all gamers should check out to learn the origins of the early video games industry.

Before the days of next-gen consoles, 8K gaming with raytraced visuals, and always-connected multiplayer, there was a simpler time when arcades, wood grain, and pixellated graphics were all the rage. The early days of video games in the 1970s was an era that's hard to capture--it was something you had to be there to experience--and all too often today's gamers miss out on important history lessons from that early age.

Google has provided a neat little interactive history lesson that tells the story of one of gaming's most iconic creators: Jerry Lawson, who in 1976 helped create the world's first video games cartridge.

Discord has officially launched its Server Subscription program to all eligible creators in the United States.

Today Discord made history by offering new monetization options for creators in the form of Server Subscriptions. The new feature was in testing phases but is now widely available, and it's essentially a content delivery system that allows creators to monetize followers on their servers in the form of multi-tiered offerings. It's kind of like a combination of Patreon and Discord.

Creators have sole discretion in pricing and the content offered on each tier, which gives lots of flexibility and room to brainstorm new ideas. Discord has included a few examples from Bella Poarch below:

After monstrous sales on the Nintendo Switch, Capcom's behemoth-slaying mega-hit is coming to Xbox and PlayStation in 2023.

Monster Hunter Rise will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S consoles simultaneously on January 20, 2023, Capcom has announced. The biggest surprise is that Monster Hunter Rise will also release day one on Xbox Game Pass, which doesn't typically happen. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is also coming to consoles in Spring 2023.

Capcom's sold 21.3 million games in the first six months of this fiscal year, and releasing Mon Hun Rise on Game Pass could affect game sales on the Xbox platform--but Rise also has microtransactions so this may help offset any potential loss in game sales. Capcom is also likely to get a nice royalty bonus for including the game on Game Pass as well, and there's a good chance the game will rotate out in 3-6 months. Plus, Sunbreak will not be included, as is customary for most Game Pass titles to not include expansions.

After 2 years of support, Assassin's Creed Valhalla is about to ride off into the sunset with its final content drop, and Ubisoft has teamed up with Bungie and Capcom to send the game off with a bang.

Destiny is no stranger to collabs--the game had a surprising Fortnite crossover this year--and now another epic crossover is happening with the Assassin's Creed franchise. Bungie and Ubisoft have announced both games will be getting AC and Destiny content in the form of buyable cosmetics.

Destiny 2 and Assassin's Creed players will be able to buy packs that include crossover content from each game. Assassin's Creed Valhalla will get some awesome armor sets that allow Eivor to transform into two of the most iconic Guardians in Destiny history, Lord Shaxx and Saint-14. The Valhalla pack includes 2 armor sets--Lord Shaxx and Saint-14--swords, a mount, and more weapons.

Valve will give away over 180 units of the hottest handhelds on the market in just a few days.

Valve has announced that it will give out a Steam Deck PC handheld every minute that The Game Awards is streamed. Last year's show was 3 hours and 30 minutes, and The Game Awards 2022 is expected to be "roughly three hours," which means that Valve should give out at least 180 Steam Deck systems.

To enter you just have to sign in to this link and then watch The Game Awards showcase live through the Steam platform.

Overwatch 2's upcoming Season 2 update isn't far away now, where Activision-Blizzard will be unleashing its new transforming tank hero "Ramattra" and so, so much more.

The new Season 2 update will also include a new map called Shambali Monastery, which is Tibetan-themed, as well as a new limited-time mode called Battle for Olympus, on top of a bunch of Greek mythology-themed cosmetics (of course, it's Blizzard, gotta make that dosh with skins).

The new tank in Ramattra is a powerhouse, with Ramattra being the first tank that can completely change forms as part of its kit, where it can alter its abilities and playstyle at any moment in the game. It'll be an interesting turn of events in Overwatch 2, which is already radically different -- as well as beautifully familiar -- to the original Overwatch.