Gaming - Page 362

Tony Hawk has confirmed that a second remaster collection was in planning stages, but was cancelled when Vicarious Visions was absorbed by Blizzard.

Vicarious Visions and Activision had originally planned to release a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 & 4 remaster collection following the 1 & 2 re-releases in 2020. Everything was interrupted when Blizzard formally absorbed Vicarious Visions in 2021, the studio that developed the original Tony Hawk remasters. Vicarious Visions moved on to Diablo II Resurrected in 2021, and is now focusing on Diablo IV, which is slated to release in 2023.

"I wish I could say we had something in the works, but Vicarious Visions kind of got disbanded and Activision is going through all their stuff so I don't know what's next," Tony Hawk said on Twitch.

It's possible to get refunds for all Diablo Immortal purchases, but the penalties are so high that you'll want quit playing soon afterwards.

Diablo Immortal players are having success getting full refunds for items and content purchased in the free-to-play game. Blizzard has honored multiple refund requests (here and here) for in-game purchases. But if you're going to ask for a refund you should be really sure you want to stop playing.

Blizzard will indeed refund Eternal Orb purchases for a steep cost. After the refund, players' Eternal Orb balances are put in the negative and you're essentially indebted to Diablo Immortal. Once in the red, the game will significant restrict what you can do. Being in Eternal Orb debt means you can't equip any items, play with others in any sort of multiplayer gametype--you can't team up--and you also cannot break down or recycle items at the blacksmith.

EA and DICE are doubling-down on Battlefield 2042 in an effort to bring back the glory days of the franchise.

Despite Battlefield 2042's failures, new DICE general manager Rebecka Coutaz brings hope and optimism to the franchise. In multiple new interviews, Coutaz says that DICE will earn players' trust once again and aims to usher in the triumphant return of Battlefield as a powerhouse name in the FPS business. EA hasn't given up on Battlefield, either; The publisher is investing heavily into new foundational shifts in management, which see Respawn's Vince Zampella taking a greater hands-on approach to the franchise, alongside key talent like Halo co-create Marcus Lehto, who leads a Seattle-based EA studio.

"DICE deserves to be the powerhouse that it should be in FPS. Together with the team here at DICE and the Battlefield franchise, with Byron and Vince and Marcus and Alex, that's what we're going to do," Coutaz told VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi.

Atari will turn 50 years old this year, and to celebrate a half-century of gaming, Atari is hosting a special extravaganza event with reveals and more.

Atari is one of the most iconic and recognizable brands on the planet, and for good reason: It was the largest pioneer of console gaming as we know it today. Few companies have such a long-lasting legacy, and while Atari is just a fraction of the titan it used to be, the current French-based company plans to celebrate 50 years of gaming in style.

Atari management today announced a special semi-centennial showcase on July 27 that will feature major announcements, interviews with founder Nolan Bushnell, merch, and partner publishing showcases. There's even the re-launch of classic Atari 2600 game cartridges as part of the new Atari XP initiative. Atari CEO Wade Rosen confirms two "amazing new titles" will be revealed at the event:

Sony will reveal a new proprietary line of gaming hardware specifically optimized for its PlayStation 5 platform soon, sources have told Exputer's Tom Henderson.

Sony is making a new brand of enthusiast hardware and accessories aimed at premium PlayStation 5 gaming. The lineup is called INZONE, and will consist of three higher-grade PS5 headsets of varying quality: the H3 (cheaper, wired headset), H7 (wireless), and H9 (wireless, LED lighting noise-cancelling). 91Mobiles has leaked images of each headset and says the models come with 360-degree spatial sound integration to leverage the PlayStation 5's on-chip Tempest sound technology.

The INZONE lineup will also include high-end displays optimized for gaming on the PlayStation 5 with exclusive features like HDR tone mapping and picture modes for specific game genres. The displays will reportedly come in two resolution and refresh rates: a 4K 144Hz model and a 1080p 240Hz monitor. The displays are expected to feature HDR, 1ms latency, and variable refresh rate support over HDMI 2.1. Right now there aren't any PlayStation 5 games that technically support 240FPS, however a number of titles are able to hit 120-144FPS.

Unreal Engine 5 is some mastercraft in engine-making technology, where older games can be modded onto it with some truly awesome results. Another one, is Zelda: Ocarina in Time... check it out:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina in Time in Unreal Engine 5 has been ported by modder CryZENx, who explained last month: "Finally ported to UE5 and I don't regret one bit. There [are] so many new features that can boost up the development. Can't wait to take advantage of it. Also, I present the new feature from UE5 called Lumen. That stands for Global illumination ( dynamic lighting ) without baking any light".

The results are astonishing -- just on the water physics alone -- giving me some Wave Racer 64 vibes from 1996... but way, way better. Unreal Engine 5 is a sight to behold, providing a gigantic 'oomph' to the Zelda: Ocarina of Time in terms of graphics. You could sit at that beach for hours on end, especially with that beautiful score in the background.

UPDATE: The KOTOR II Onderon crash glitch can be bypassed with cheats: This is a known issue and will be addressed in the next patch. For now, our suggested workaround is to warp past the point where the game crashes using the cheats menu. To do so, triple click the left thumbstick, open the cheats menu, select warp, and warp to OND504. Make sure not to head to the merchant quarter, as your game will crash.

KOTOR II cannot be completed on the Nintendo Switch due to a nefarious old bug, Aspyr Media has confirmed.

Back in 2007, Obsidian rushed KOTOR II out with a bunch of game-breaking glitches and bugs. One such bug, the infamous Onderon crash, is found in the most recent KOTOR II re-release on Nintendo Switch. Aspyr Media confirms it knows about the glitch, says it also knows the game can't be completed, and assures fans a patch is on the way.

Meta has announced its new Avatars Store that will sell the equivalent of cosmetic microtransactions that customize users' appearance.

In a bid to further monetize its billions of active Facebook users, Meta is launching a new Avatars Store that will allow users to pay real money to customize their digital avatars. Much like Meta's fledgling metaverse concepts, the new Avatars Store looks amateurish compared to Xbox's own equivalent avatar system, which launched during the Xbox 360 era and has thousands of interesting add-ons, clothes, and bundled content to make representations unique.

Meta's Avatars Store, on the other hand, is teaming up with real-life fashion lines in a further attempt to merge digital and real worlds. The result looks like something out of time, not digital assets designed for the world's most popular social media network. It remains to be seen how popular these items will be, and right now Facebook's ARPU (average revenue per user) is about $9.54 worldwide, with the US & Canada raking in nearly $50 per user last quarter.

Nintendo has announced a new Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct showcase for Wednesday, June 22.

The new Xenoblade Chronicles 3 direct will show 20 minutes of new information on the game, including RPG mechanics, gameplay, and other features. Nintendo recently moved the release date for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 up by two months.

Reports claim that Nintendo will be breaking up its regular E3-timed shows into smaller Directs that focus on individual games. Reporters like Jeff Grubb say this should be the case throughout June: "This fits with what I heard about Nintendo doing their summer showcases in bits and pieces. I still expect more news later this month," Grubb said on Twitter.

YouTuber DIY Perks has built the world's first PlayStation 5 slim model in an ultra-slim form factor that's less than an inch thick.

The PS5 is a massive console that stays surprisingly cool thanks to its robust heat sink design and liquid metal-cooled SoC--our PlayStation 5 SSD temperature tests also reveal how important it is to have a storage heat sink installed. But one YouTuber has pushed things to the max, shrinking the PS5's overall thickness to just 0.75 inches, a size reduction of 85% over the retail model.

The custom PS5 from YouTuber DIY Perks is significantly thinner and cooler than Sony's mass-produced model. The size reduction is apparent, but inside components like the VRM, RAM, and SoC remain up to 45% cooler with a custom watercooling system built specifically for the ultra-slim chassis. This DIY console wasn't easy, though, and cost a pretty penny.

Modders are adding in content that CD Projekt RED originally wanted to put into Cyberpunk 2077, but didn't due to in-game issues, time constraints, or both.

A new mod adds flyable vehicles to Cyberpunk 2077, which is a feature that CD Projekt RED had originally planned for the game. Back in 2016, CD Projekt received a grant from the Polish government to fund its vision for Cyberpunk 2077. This City Creation vision included "living, breathing cities" with "real-time AI" and flying cars, which was arguably delivered in some form in the final game...except the cars weren't actually flyable by players.

One mod has changed all that. Let There Be Flight is a mod from Jack Humbert that brings Cyberpunk 2077's future cars from the streets and into the skies.

EA's new NCAA college football sim is still on track for a Summer 2023 release, collegiate sports institutions have confirmed.

EA's college football games are coming back in mid-2023, new reports indicate. A bit ago, EA confirmed it was making a new NCAA game for its EA Sports label after 10 years or so without a game in the franchise. Now the official CLC branches have sidelined EA to reveal a release window for the game.

"EA's aim is to release a stand-alone college football game in July of 2023, allowing for the two-year game development window necessary for collecting game assets and developing game play to meet the current market demands for a unique college football game while following NCAA guidelines," the Collegiate Licensing Corporation told Extra Points in 2021.

Twitch streamer Quin69's quest is finally over: After spending over $15,000 on Diablo Immortal, he has finally found a single 5-star legendary gem.

The odds of finding a 5-star legendary gem in Diablo Immortal are astronomically against you. We put the odds at 1 in 2000 for a 5-star legendary gem dropping, which basically means you'll spend thousands of dollars on Legendary Crests.

Case in point: Streamer Quin69 spent over $20,000 NZD (about $15.7K USD) on Diablo Immortal's Legendary Crests before he found a single 5-star legendary gem. Once he actually found one, Quin69 did the unthinkable: He broke the gem down to infuse a useless 1-star gem, deleted his character, and uninstalled the game for good.

Diablo Immortal has been delayed in China and will no longer meet its original June 23 launch on iOS and Android in gaming's most lucrative region.

Blizzard's and NetEase's controversial free-to-play Diablo game has been pushed back to an undetermined period of time in China. Originally due to launch in June 23, the game has been delayed to "optimize" the experience. NetEase promises to give Chinese players a special "exclusive thank you package" that includes legendary equipment, materials, and "rich props".

It's also worth noting that Diablo Immortal discussions were banned on China's Weibo social media platform for a "violation of related laws and regulations."

Diablo Immortal has made an estimated $20 million+ in total worldwide market revenues excluding China, new data from AppMagic reveals.

Blizzard's wildly controversial free-to-play Diablo game has hit the ground running with tens of millions in revenues in its first half-month period. If this revenue doesn't sound like a lot, it's because it really isn't, not compared to mobile's biggest players at least.

Heavy-hitters typically make hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings every month; SensorTower reports that Honor of Kings made $268 million in May 2022, followed by PUBG Mobile with $206 million worldwide revenues.

Starfield's starting traits pays homage to one of the most notorious mechanics in Morrowind.

While re-watching the Starfield gameplay reveal trailer, I noticed something quite humorous: The new space odyssey makes a direct reference to something that all Morrowind (and Obliion) players spent a lot of time doing. I'm talking about spamming the jump button, of course.

Starfield's Serpent's Embrace trait rewards you for constantly grav-jumping, and also takes something away if you stop: "You grew up worshipping the Great Serpent. Grav jumping provides a temporary boost to health and endurance, but health and endurance are lowered if you don't continue jumping regularly--like an addiction," the trait reads.

Blizzard promised it would make things more clear at its Overwatch 2 reveal event, and the developer did: Overwatch 2 is completely free-to-play, has NO loot boxes, will have a new season every 9 weeks, and Battles Passes are being thrown into the mix.

Overwatch 2 will be launching with 3 new heroes -- Sojourn, Junker Queen, and another unknown support hero -- while another big change to the OW roster is the new Battle Pass system. Blizzard will be giving Overwatch 2 players cosmetics (skins, etc), XP boosters, and more with up to 100 levels to unlock.

Season 1 of Overwatch 2 kicks off on October 4, when the game launches, while Season 2 starts 9 weeks later on December 6. There will be 3 new heroes launching with the game, another tank hero with Season 2, and "new heroes" promised for future seasons. A new map and 30+ skins will launch with Season 2, as well as a new Mythic skin.

Final Fantasy VII Remake's second chapter, Rebirth, will release on PS5 in Holiday 2023, Square Enix has announced.

Today was a big day for Final Fantasy VII fans. Square Enix revealed FF7R part 2 Rebirth, a new standalone chapter that features prequel and flashback sequences from the original Final Fantasy VII story arc. The trailer shows the days when Cloud and Sephiroth were allies in the ranks of SOLDIER. There's also flashbacks that include Zack, too.

Creative director Tetsuya Nomura comments that the dev team has been able to work much faster on Rebirth due to a streamlined process. Nomura and his team have actually started work on the third game.

Dragon's Dogma II is officially in development, Capcom today announced during a special 10th anniversary franchise stream.

Details on Dragon's Dogma II are very light outside of the development confirmation. Capcom did say the game will be built with its powerful RE Engine tech, the same engine that is being used for its newer Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter titles. It's likely that Dragon's Dogma II will also be exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

"Dragon's Dogma 2 is currently in development! Everyone in the development team is hard at work creating a game that we hope you will enjoy! Please look forward to it!" said Dragon's Dogma director Hideaki Itsuno during the 10th anniversary event, discussing the creation of the game's original backstory with other developers.

Overwatch 2 will not have lootboxes and will instead have a direct cosmetic storefront instead, Blizzard has announced.

After making billions from lootboxes in Overwatch 1, Blizzard is changing its strategy with Overwatch 2. The new shooter will now have two primary monetization points: A new battle pass for every season and an in-game storefront where players can directly purchase cosmetics, skins, and other trinkets.

"Players will also be able to unlock new cosmetic items through the new in-game store and battle pass, as well as complete weekly challenges. The game is going to feel fresh all the time," Blizzard said during a recent Overwatch 2 stream.