Gaming - Page 363

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.

Activision-Blizzard tells investors that there is no actual evidence of widespread and systemic sexual harassment or gender discrimination at the company.

Today Activision-Blizzard released a new 8K filing that reveals the results of its investigations into the scathing allegations of harassment. The billion-dollar games publisher has formally declared its board of directors and external advisors did not find evidence that management or CEO Bobby Kotick willingly hid or ignored harassment complaints.

Activision relied on "outside advisors" and former EEOC chaiman Gilbert Casellas (1994-1998) to review the evidence, which includes correspondence and internal documents, for signs of systemic harassment.

Ark 2 has an official release window of sometime in 2023, with the announcement following a new trailer for the game, giving us a better look at Vin Diesel and his character, Santiago. Check it out:

The new Ark 2 cinematic trailer describes the world of the game, with some fantastic visuals for your eyes -- while the sequel to the super-successful Ark: Survival Evolved features third-person gameplay with "advanced character traversal mechanics include mantling, free-climbing, parkour, sliding, and swinging" says developer Studio Wildcard.

Ark 2's new trailer has Vin Diesel riding a T-Rex, and I'm not even joking. He's with his family -- of course, Vin Diesel is big on FAMILY for anyone who watches the "Fast" movies -- with his character Santiago joined by his daughter Meeka, who is voiced by Auli'i Cravalho who voiced Disney's Moana.

Starfield will support mods on consoles and PC, and will give creators all sorts of new ways to redefine gameplay.

Starfield wouldn't be a Bethesda game without mod support. Luckily the new space RPG will indeed come with a creation kit similar to previous Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. Bethesda's Todd Howard commented on Starfield's new mod setup but didn't get exact specifics on what to expect.

"We've learned that people do play our games for a really, really long time. People are still playing Skyrim. Certainly we're going to be doing extra content for this game, and we love our modding community. We actually think this game for our modding community is going to be a dream because there's so much they can do. We think that's a great thing," Howard said in a recent IGN Unfiltered interview.

Starfield will let you live your best space-age life, whether it be an intrepid voyager of the stars or an interstellar culinary master.

Starfield will continue Bethesda's penchant for offbeat and irreverent humor. There's LSD fish, a bunch of funky planets, and weird critters scuttling around on moons. Sure there's lots of realism here--the stark coldness of space for one, the do-or-die FPS combat for two--but players will also get a taste of whimsy too.

Speaking of tastes: One of Starfield's starting classes is a Chef. Apparently cooking will play a big part of Starfield, which makes sense considering the dearth of materials and aliens you can collect/harvest across the game's 1,000 planets. We don't know how in-depth the cooking system is (hopefully it's as robust as FFXV) but we'll at least be able to make "specialty food and drink".

Sony will reportedly reveal a new premium PS5 DualSense controller aimed at professional and enthusiast gamers.

A new higher-priced PlayStation 5 DualSense controller is coming from Sony, sources tell games insider Tom Henderson. The new controller is specifically aimed at pro players and will feature upgrades similar to the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller from Microsoft, including swappable analog sticks, trigger stops, and back paddles.

The new PS5 Elite controller will retain features of previous DualSense controllers including more actuators/trigger haptics, however the new model will be more advanced with trigger stops to increase sensitivity and reduce latency. Another breakthrough feature is being able to completely remove the controller's entire analog stick mechanism.

Considering the pedigree of his contributions to the fantasy genre, Brandon Sanderson is a definite authority on myth and magic. He's also a gamer. Combine these two together and you have a special type of curator that can deliver very targeted recommendations to his fans.

Brandon Sanderson, the author of books and series like Mistborn, Wheel of Time, and the Stormlight Archive, loves Elden Ring (and Dark Souls in general). Fun fact: Bandai Namco wants to collaborate with Sanderson on a new game, and the writer is all for it.

Sanderson recently put out the first in his series on Why You Should Play Elden Ring, a rare let's play series where Sanderson gives glimpses of his past and talks you through key segments of the game. The first video is illuminating and shares Sanderson's early gaming experiences while touching on why he thinks fans should try out FromSoftware's new game.

GSC Game World shares a haunting look at life during the Russian invasion, confirms that STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl has been delayed to 2023.

STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World is at the heart of Russian invasion of Ukraine. The studio recently gave a harrowing update on current events, revealing a resilient spirit of developers who continue to work in dire conditions where raid air sirens go off right outside their windows, Some devs are working from washrooms, others in corridors and hallways. Others, like animator Oleksandr Levchenko, worked even though they didn't have contact with their loved ones since the war broke out.

Some of GSC's devs even joined the fight against the Russians. Lead AI designer Dmytro Iassenev joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces: "I never imaigned a war in Europe in the 21st century," he said.

For some strange reason, 343 Industries is raising the price of Halo Infinite's controversial cosmetic armor microtransactions.

According to latest findings on Reddit, Halo Infinite's full armor set cosmetic packs are becoming more expensive. Prices have for these sets recently reached a high point of 1700 credits (roughly $17), prompted much criticism from Infinite players. Armor set prices have fluctuated from 1200, 1500, 1600, and now 1700 credits over the past five months.

343 Industries originally lowered all Halo Infinite microtransaction prices in January, however prices then started to jump very shortly after online design lead Jerry Hook left the studio.

Blizzard has announced that its upcoming Overwatch 2 beta will kick off for players on June 28 on both the PC and consoles, with sign-ups starting June 16... barely 24 hours from now.

The new Overwatch 2 beta will include one of the new heroes that Blizzard just announced -- Junker Queen, a new Australian character joining Junkrat on the roster -- once it begins on June 28. Blizzard will also be unleashing a new map for the Overwatch 2 beta, reworks, and I'm sure some changes to its heroes, too.

Blizzard will be detailing more during its Overwatch 2 showcase on June 16, where I'm sure we'll get the nitty-gritty on everything Overwatch 2 -- new heroes, maps, tweaks, and everything in between -- with the full beta open to both PC and consoles starting June 28.

Call of Duty: Warzone is about to go through some huge changes with Season 4 right around the corner, with Warzone's new map being introduced as a cool 12-piece puzzle. Introducing Fortune's Keep:

Fortune's Keep is the new Warzone Rebirth map, with the official Twitter account for Call of Duty tweeting: "Thank you to our community for helping reveal Fortune's Keep, a new #Warzone Resurgence map, where the amount of danger and action is second only to its riches".

The new Fortune's Keep map is reportedly a fast-paced and close-quarters combat-focused map, which is just how Rebirth players like it. We don't have much to go by other than some photos, but Fortune's Keep looks like it's at least double the size of Rebirth Island -- with some more island-y vibes to it -- where you'll be battling it out in the Camp, Graveyard, Lighthouse, Smuggler's Cove, Terraces, and more.

Bethesda's Todd Howard confirms Fallout 5 will be the studio's next game after The Elder Scrolls VI.

Fallout 5 is coming, but not for a long, long time. In a recent interview with IGN Unfiltered, Bethesda Game Studios mastermind Todd Howard said that the studio will return to Fallout once The Elder Scrolls VI is finished.

"Yes, Elder Scrolls VI is in pre-production, and you know, we're going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate's pretty full going forward for a while. We have some other projects that we look at from time to time as well," Howard said.

Starfield may let players steal spaceships from NPCs, Grand Theft Auto-style.

Bethesda is putting a ton of effort into Starfield's ship-building. There's tons of customization options and add-ons to purchase for your ship, but if you're running short on credits, you can get a headstart by getting the old five-finger discount and stealing a ship instead.

According to Bethesda's Pete Hines, it sounds like players will be able to steal ships from Starfield's NPCs and enemies throughout the game. This lends even more credence to Bethesda's previous comments about becoming a space pirate and could indicate players can have multiple ships at one time.

Valheim, one of the most popular indie games of all time, is coming to Xbox consoles.

Valheim will release on Xbox consoles in Spring 2023 and will be included in Xbox Game Pass. The news was announced during the Xbox extended showcase and the developers at Iron Gate also confirm full cross-play support between Xbox and Steam players. There's no word on cross-progression though but that could be implemented later. The Norse crafting sensation is also coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC this Fall.

Valheim remains one of Embracer Group's most popular franchises with over 10 million copies sold in a year's time. The game did so well that it helped spike publisher Coffee Stain's earnings by 700% at launch.

Ubisoft says it will reveal the "future of Assassin's Creed" this September, possibly with the announcement of the next game.

It looks like Ubisoft's next Assassin's Creed game will be announced in September 2022, making for odd timing for a reveal of this caliber. Ubisoft skipped its typical summer showcase this year (likely due to COVID-19 disrupting development cycles) and is splitting Assassin's Creed into its own showcase.

Right now Ubisoft is reportedly working on two Assassin's Creed projects. One is codenamed Rift, and is a smaller-scale project starring Basim from Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Rift is expected not to be a grand, open-world experience, but more of a slice of the typical content offered in AC games.

Starfield will let the NPCs do all the talking. Bethesda has confirmed the game will have a silent protagonist.

One-on-one dialog is a big part of any Bethesda game, and the same is true for Starfield. Only this time the player character won't be jibber-jabbering. "Yes, dialogue in Starfield is first person and your character does not have a voice," Bethesda announced in a short Tweet.

The news is a relief to players who disliked Fallout 4's controversial dialog system, which saw the protagonist often delivering clipped and terse responses. Even with a silent protag, Starfield has more lines of dialog than any other BGS title with over 150,000 lines of dialog, beating Fallout 4 by some 40,000 lines of speech.

AMD is slowly getting more and more game developers on-board with FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 (FSR 2.0) support, with the list growing from 14 to 19 games with FSR 2.0 tech.

AMD's new FSR 2.0 technology debuted with DEATHLOOP, was added to Farming Simulator 22, and then God of War... but there are more games coming with FSR 2.0 support very soon. The list continues to grow, from 14 to now 19 games coming with AMD FSR 2.0 support for Radeon GPU gamers.

The new games announced with FSR 2.0 support include Abyss World, Hitman 3, Rescue Party: Live!, Super People, and The Callisto Protocol. Hitman 3 already had FSR 1.0 but it will get the beefed-up FSR 2.0 support through an upcoming update. The other games will have FSR 2.0 when they launch later this year.

The last we heard about Nightdive Studio's remake of System Shock is that the game was done on the PC, with console ports the only thing left to do... and now... now, we have a new System Shock remake gameplay video. Check it out:

The System Shock remake is looking fantastic, with a graphical overhaul I can't wait to dive into when it releases later this year -- still, without a release date -- on the PC, and consoles. The new gameplay video gives us a great look at some of the visual overhaul the team at Nightdive has done, with graphics that are more in line with games of today, compared to the mid-90s.

Nightdive's upcoming System Shock remake has been completely reworked after a huge $1,350,700 from their original Kickstarter goal of just $900,000. The team started on the Unity Engine, but they've since moved over to Unreal Engine... as well as adding members from studios that worked on games like Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect, and BioShock.

One of my favorite games of all time would have to be Flashback, a game that is -- 30 years later -- getting a sequel. Flashback 2 now has a release window, where it will hit the PC and consoles later this year.

Details are scant on Flashback 2, but we do know that publisher Microids has announced Flashback 2 is currently in production and the release is later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One. The portable Nintendo Switch will enjoy some on-the-go Flashback 2 sometime in 2023.

What we do know about the game is that it will feature puzzles and action, just as the original did -- with familiar locations including Neo Washington, through to a jungle -- with new locations for players like a mysterious space station, and Neo Toyko. Flashback 2 enjoyed a slick gameplay teaser during the recent Summer Games Fest, where we get to see platforming, climbing, and more.

Blizzard has announced that Overwatch 2 will be launching in early access form on October 4, for the PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.

Overwatch 2 will be purely free-to-play with both cross-platform play, and cross-platform progression... with Blizzard to add new heroes, reworks to heroes, maps, modes, and premium cosmetics over time. Blizzard will be launching Overwatch 2 with a new tank character -- Junker Queen -- another Australian character (as an Aussie, woohoo) that joins Junkrat.

The cinematic trailer made me feel like a kid again, super exciting stuff, even though I was disappointed in the Overwatch 2 PvP beta... and have been playing OW1 ever since. We should expect more details during the June 16 Reveal Event, which isn't too far away at all... barely 48 hours now.