Gaming - Page 356

Tyler Ensrude, who worked on some of Halo Infinite's best maps, announced that he is leaving the studio.

343 Industries has lost yet another developer, and this time it's multiplayer level designer Tyler Ensrude: "After 5 years, I've made the decision to leave 343 Industries and Halo. It was an absolute honor to help build the franchise that built me. Thank you for playing and sharing your experiences with me! Love you all. Now it's time for a new journey," Ensrude said on Twitter.

Ensrude helped create some of Halo Infinite's best maps, including Catalyst, Behemoth, Deadlock, and my personal favorite 4v4 team slayer map, Aquarius.

Halo Infinite is chewing up lots of data with up to 1GB used per every two matches.

Users have found that Halo Infinite is using an incredible amount of data bandwidth that's not related to direct gameplay. The community has now advised gamers who have data caps to avoid playing Infinite in its current state. The main culprit is that Infinite is continually re-downloading a high-resolution image thousands upon thousands of times, causing a significant spike in data usage.

"Infinite downloads the Season 2 Banner image about 1000-2000 times, which amounts to around 1-1.5GBs of Data being wasted. Downloads stop while you're in a match, but after you quit into the menu it starts downloading again," reads a Reddit post. "This should be an easily-fixable issue on 343's side."

GameStop's NFT marketplace sparked extreme outrage today as one seller listed an NFT inspired by a haunting 9/11 image.

GameStop is once again in the news for all the wrong reasons. The company's NFT marketplace is under heavy fire for allowing a controversial NFT based on the horrifying Falling Man image from the 9/11 attacks. The NFT is literally called "Falling Man" and depicts an astronaut falling vertically face-first against a striped background. The similarities between the NFT and the sobering real-life image of the man who leapt to his death as the World Trade Center erupted in flames are quite obvious.

GameStop has since pulled the NFT from its marketplace following widespread outrage, but the listing remains archived on the Wayback Machine for all to see. The NFT was minted 11 days ago, meaning the controversial digital image was on GameStop's marketplace for nearly two weeks.

Respawn's new Jedi: Survivor sequel might pay respects to one of the best Star Wars games ever made.

Hasbro revealed a ton of new Star Wars action figures during the San Diego Comic-Con, including a Cal Kestis figure lifted right out of the new Jedi: Survivor game coming in 2023.

It looks like Cal is a gunslinger this time around; the figure includes a unique blaster pistol that's possibly based on the DE-10. Cal may use this blaster to blend in and hide his identity as a Jedi.

Yesterday Ubisoft announced that it had delayed two games: Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, and a new smaller unannounced game. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the smaller game was the next Assassin's Creed title.

Ubisoft will not release a new Assassin's Creed game in 2022 as planned. The publisher has delayed the project, which is codenamed Rift, past its current Fiscal Year 2023 period. Rift, which will reportedly star Basim from Assassin's Creed Valhalla in a standalone adventure set in the Middle East, is now expected to launch in FY24.

Ubisoft will reveal the future of Assassin's Creed during a special event on September 10. Rift and the new Assassin's Creed Infinity live game may be announced. AC Infinity is a kind of central paid hub or platform that will host various different Assassin's Creed games with shifting locations and protagonists.

Sony officially debunks rumors that The Last of Us Part I will not have gameplay upgrades on PlayStation 5.

Naughty Dog has just released a new video that illustrates the major new tweaks, upgrades, and optimizations for the new Last of Us Part I remake on PlayStation 5. The developer's update comes just a day after circulated reports claimed the remake simply wouldn't have any gameplay changes...despite the fact that Sony had previously confirmed TLOU1 would have TLOU2-style combat overhauls.

"The tech of the PS5, it's like an open box of tools and goodies that we can play with and draw from. 4K, HDR, improved haptics, 60 frames...all help us to re-imagine The Last of Us," said creative director Shaun Escayg.

Bungie will reveal Destiny 2's next major expansion during a special August stream, the studio today announced.

Destiny 2's new Lightfall expansion should be revealed during the August 23 stream event, alongside the next season 18 update. Bungie was careful to say it will not be releasing new info in its weekly TWAB updates. Arc 3.0 might also be part of the showcase and Lightfall may also include a new subclass, according to Forbes' Paul Tassi.

"We also want to take this moment to set some expectations before the Showcase itself. Because we have a few exciting things set for next month, TWABs before that date will not be announcing any major news. We'll still be updating you all on what's going on in the live game itself, but we will not be sharing any ground-breaking revelations until everyone has witnessed (not you, Witness) the Showcase dropping next month."

Ubisoft has signed a huge new licensing deal that is expected to significantly accelerate its mobile earnings.

Today Ubisoft announced a substantial partnership that will help boost its mobile presence. The publisher has signed a licensing deal with an unnamed publisher and/or developer to make a new mobile game based on a popular game franchise.

Ubisoft has received an upfront payment that will be recognized this fiscal year and help boost topline growth by 10% year-over-year, but the game won't launch in 2022 and still remains unannounced. Ubisoft will also receive royalties and payments after the game is released. This appears to be a separate deal from the Tencent partnership.

Ubisoft today announced that it has cancelled four in-development projects so it can free its teams for other games.

Ubisoft just posted up its Q1 Fiscal Year 2023 earnings and made some big promises to investors. The publisher says it will achieve 10% year-over-year topline growth as it accelerates towards a new mix of premium and what it calls AAA free-to-play mobile games (The Division: Resurgence is an example).

One of the ways that it will achieve this growth is streamlining its development teams. Ubisoft CFO Frederick Duguet confirmed that four games have been cancelled, including Ghost Recon Frontline and the Splinter Cell VR game. The publisher also delayed the big new Avatar Frontiers of Pandora game by as much as 16 months.

The new next-gen Avatar Frontiers of Pandora game will not release alongside the Avatar movie sequel, Ubisoft has announced.

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora has been delayed by up to 16 months. The game was originally set to release in November 2022 and has now been pushed back to Ubisoft's FY24 period, which is from April 2023 - March 2024. Frontiers of Pandora is a big multi-year live service game that will have tons of post-release content that ties into the movie and sets its own storyline.

"Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will now release in 2023-24. We are committed to delivering a cutting-edge immersive experience that takes full advantage of next-gen technology, as this amazing global entertainment brand represents a major multi-year opportunity for Ubisoft. We also decided to release in 2023-24 a smaller unannounced premium game, originally slated for 2022-23," Ubisoft said in a press release.

Microsoft's first-party game studio The Coalition is currently hiring for a new Gears of War project, and it could be the next mainline game in the series.

The Coalition has put out six new job openings recruiting developers for a new Gears of War game. The listings strongly suggest that the new project will be a major entry in the series with direct mention of both campaign and multiplayer game modes.

The job listings also mention the new Gears game will be a AAA experience built in Unreal Engine 5.

Mojang, the developer of one of the most popular video games on the planet, firmly opposes NFTs.

Today Mojang announced new rules for Minecraft. NFTs and blockchain-based content and worlds are not permitted within the game, and the developer is pushing back against the emerging speculative market.

In a succinct quote, the Minecraft dev outlined why NFTs simply have no place in a game like Minecraft where inclusivity and accessibility to in-game content is available for every player.

With sub-20,000 playercounts, Halo Infinite's next move towards earnings and profitability may be to monetize its upcoming Forge mode.

Halo Infinite is currently getting lapped by ultra-popular competitors like Call of Duty Warzone, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. The Halo-as-a-service shooter has largely failed to hit its stride and routinely pulls in less than 10,000 daily players for many weeks on end--a paltry sum compared to Apex's mighty 347,783 players in the last 24 hours.

Lower playercounts typically means less monetization, which of course means 343 Industries is theoretically making less money from Halo Infinite than they would like to. The game's microtransaction system, a mix of piecemeal cosmetics and battle pass purchases, has largely remained unchanged. That's probably because of massive scrutiny and controversy coming from what the community feels to be overpriced content.

LEGO sets are pretty expensive, and the new Atari 2600 set is no exception...but for this price you nearly get a fully-functioning video game console.

The new Atari 2600 LEGO is absolutely amazing and comes with a replica console, four mock game cartridges, a joystick, and it even opens up to show off a neat little diorama depicting old-school 1970s gaming. Like the incredible Nintendo Entertainment System LEGO set, the cost is pretty steep--the Atari 2600 set will set you back $239.

The price point is interesting considering you can get a base Atari VCS system for $299, which looks like a modernized recreation of the retro classic. The VCS not only plays Atari classic games (it comes pre-loaded with multiple titles), but it can turn into a Linux PC and run various operating systems and Steam games, stream content via apps, and act as a versatile multimedia device.

Today Microsoft announced that Xbox is getting Discord voice chat integration before PlayStation...despite Sony's partnership and monetary investment into Discord.

Discord is coming to Xbox first, complete with streamlined in-game voice chatting. The feature is now being tested on the Xbox Insiders program:

"Discord Voice chat is coming to your Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. You will be able to chat with anyone on Discord via voice channels or group calls directly from your console making it easy to connect with friends across mobile, Xbox, and PC."

Stray is now available for the PC and PlayStation 5, with the third-person cat adventure game being a smash hit for Annapurna Interactive and BlueTwelve Studios.

Stray launched today on both the PC and PS5, where on Steam it has a purrfect 60,000+ concurrent players on launch. Industry analyst Benji Sales tweeted: "Now over 60,000+ Concurrent Players for Stray on Steam. I absolutely cannot over emphasize how incredible these numbers are for an indie title. These numbers are much closer to what a successful AAA titles reach. HUGE hit for Annapurna Interactive and BlueTwelve Studio".

He followed up with another tweet, adding: "Stray has shattered the concurrent players record for any Annapurna Interactive game on Steam easily becoming its biggest PC launch ever". 60,000+ concurrent players on Steam on launch day is mighty impressive, but this success must feel SO good for the developer... listening to their fans, and themselves as cat lovers (as am I).

Blizzard Albany, who used to be known as Vicarious Visions, is now the second Activision-Blizzard studio to unionize.

The second Activision-Blizzard QA (quality assurance) team has organized to form a union. QA workers at Blizzard Albany, originally Vicarious Visions (Diablo 2 Resurrected, Tony Hawk remasters) before it was absorbed into Blizzard, want fair pay and a reduction of brutal overworking conditions as well as solutions to other issues.

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) union pledges to help Blizzard Albany become formally recognized as a union. Activision-Blizzard says that it will "publicly and formally" respond to the NLRB, which ensures a vote from the National Labor Relations Board.

John Romero, the co-creator of gaming's most legendary first-person shooters like Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Hexen, is returning to the world of FPS mayhem.

Today John Romero announced he is making a new first-person shooter built in Unreal Engine 5. Talk about a major return of the king moment. Sadly the new FPS won't be set in any established universe or series, so don't expect Romero to lead the charge on the next Doom, the brutal Wolfenstein 3 sequel, or the rumored Quake reboot.

The new FPS is being developed by Romero Games and will be set in a new all-original IP (kind of like Hexen, or even Daikatana). It will have online multiplayer elements across PC and consoles, according to Online Architect and Senior Multiplayer Programmer job listings.

UPDATE: FF7 Remake Intergrade can now be claimed and downloaded by PS Extra and Premium subscribers.

Today Sony added Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade as a downloadable game for all PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra subscribers, but multi-SKU licensing issues have prevented some users from downloading the game.

Sony's PlayStation 5 game classifications have caused issues since the console's release. Unlike Microsoft's Smart Delivery which automatically upgrades (or downgrades) a game based on the console used, Sony separates PS4 and PS5 games into two separate versions. This has caused save issues and other collision problems between the two SKUs.

Today marks the end of an era for Halo and 343 Industries. Sparth, the renowned concept artist that has helped guide and shape the look and feel of modern Halo games, has left the studio.

After 14 years of working on Halo games, Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier is moving on. Sparth has been incredibly influential on 343i's Reclaimer Trilogy, shaping the exotic, high-futuristic visuals of Halo's in-game environments. Bouvier was to Halo what Ralph McQuarrie was to Star Wars. It's not uncommon to see Sparth's artwork directly recreated in 343i's Halo games.

"All good things come to an end. After close to 14 years on HALO, I have decided to pursue other opportunities outside Microsoft and 343 Industries. It's been a hell of a ride, loved every minute of it. Wishing the absolute best to 343, you guys are and always will be amazing," Sparth said on Twitter.