Gaming - Page 372

With a bunch of first-party greats, Sony's new PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscriptions provide significant value for new PS5 owners.

Sony plans to release more PS5 consoles this year than any other period in PlayStation history. The company is preparing new a wealth of content to meet millions of new PS5 owners using its services as a delivery system.

The new PlayStation Plus subscription plans will give PS5 users quick and easy access to 12 next-gen optimized games, including must-have launch titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Demon's Souls, and Spider-Man Miles: Morales. It's a great option for new gamers who don't want to pay full price for PS5 games.

Sony is bringing modern convenience features to PlayStation Classic games on its new PS Plus service.

Today Sony announced 119 games that will be available on its new three-tiered PlayStation Plus service (check them here). Original PlayStation and PSP games will actually have new features like save states, rewind, a new UI, and even FPS boost and resolution upscaling features similar to Microsoft's built-in backwards compatibility enhancement tech.

"Some titles that will show improved frame rates and higher-quality resolution compared to their original launch versions. For select original PlayStation and PSP classic games, members will also enjoy a new user interface with menus that allow you to save your game at any time, or even rewind the game if you want a do-over."

The Switch's strong shipments have pushed Nintendo's total lifetime hardware sales to new levels.

Nintendo's latest financial report tallies up its current market performance, showing consistent hardware and software sales that reflect ongoing demand. The Switch recently broke 107.65 million shipments (sell-In) across the globe, with FY22 volume hindered by an ongoing chip shortage.

The Switch's numbers are impressive on their own, but become even more interesting when weighed against--and in combination with--other hardware. According to data provided by Nintendo and compiled by use, the Switch's cumulative growth factor has bumped total handheld sales to an impressive 537.81 million units to date.

Today Sony announced over 100 games coming to its new PlayStation Plus service reboot, but a vast majority of the catalog is still unknown.

The recent PS Plus announcement only includes 119 games across multiple PlayStation platforms. That's a far cry (pun intended) from the 740 games that Sony promised when the service was revealed. That means some 621 games, or 84% of the total advertised catalog, are still unknown.

Sony said this is just a "selection of games," and rightly so because there's only one PSP game on here and no PS2 titles. Check below for a full list of the games confirmed to release on PS Plus Extra and Premium in June:

Unreal Engine 5 is an absolute masterpiece of graphics technology, with every new tease making the world of gamers drool... myself included. Quixel is now here with their insane "Ninety Days in Unreal Engine 5". Check it out:

Quixel explains: "The Ninety Days project kicked off with just three core artists and a simple concept: make something beautiful and inspiring, keep it real-time, and if possible, build each environment in just three days".

Alec Tucker, Cinematic Environment Artist, Quixel, Epic Games said: "Working on several different environments that convey varied stories and moods was extremely fast and iterative using Unreal Engine 5 and Quixel Megascans. This project made me realize how quickly you can put scenes together that hit the detail level of animated films in real-time".

AYANEO has just announced its next-gen handheld gaming console, with the AYANEO 2 packing AMD's latest Ryzen 7 6800U "Rembrandt" APU.

The Ryzen 7 6800U "Rembrandt" APU is based on the refreshed Zen 3+ CPU architecture with 8 cores and 16 threads that boost up to 4.7GHz, which is a 300MHz boost over the AYANEO Next system. Inside, we have RDNA 2 graphics which brings the AYANEO 2 up to the same GPU architecture as Valve's Steam Deck.

AYANEO 2's new Ryzen 7 6800U-powered APU has the Radeon 680M integrated GPU, packing 12 Compute Units: which is a 50% upgrade over the GPU inside of the Steam Deck. The GPU can boost up to 2.2GHz which is a huge 600MHz higher than the Steam Deck GPU, making its integrated GPU twice as fast: 3.38 TFLOPs versus 1.6 TFLOPs.

Square Enix has invested a record-breaking $792 million into new projects and business models, including new games, studio ramp-ups, and emerging technologies like blockchain.

Square Enix just reported its best year ever. During FY22, Square Enix hit new all-time highs across sales, operating profit, and overall profits. The company raked in $3 billion in net sales thanks to strong over-performance in the MMO segment and consistent earnings in HD Games and mobile. What's even more interesting is how much Square Enix is re-investing into new projects.

Throughout FY22, Square Enix's production account spending grew to a new high of $792 million. Every year the company invests around 26-30% of its net sales into the production account, which is a big budget that's spent across all of its upcoming projects. As net sales rise, so too does production investment.

The Switch has shipped 107.65 million units to date, solidifying it as the third best-selling Nintendo system of all time.

Even with five years on the market, the Switch family of consoles shows no signs of slowing down. Nintendo has announced that total Switch shipments (sell-in) have reached 107.65 million between launch in March 2017 to March 2022.

The Switch family of hardware is quite diverse insofar as shipments, and the base model, handheld-only Switch Lite, and premium Switch OLED have all contributing strongly to overall results. The Lite and OLED have sold less units due to being on the market for shorter periods.

The Nintendo Switch family of hardware and software has helped Nintendo earn nearly $63 billion in games revenues since 2017.

The Switch is one of the most successful systems that Nintendo has released, combining the strengths of all platform types and revenue streams in one package (handheld + console, digital + physical game sales, and online services like Switch Online).

To date, the platform has made a considerable portion of Nintendo's games revenues. According to data provided by Nintendo and compiled by us, the company has generated $62.766 billion from its dedicated video games hardware and software division since the Switch released in March 2017.

Dune is coming back to the world of gaming in a big, big way (well, besides Dune Spice Wars, that is).

Funcom, the devs behind Conan Exiles, announced a new Dune game that could scratch all the itches that sci-fi nerds have had for decades. It's been 21 years since the last Dune game and it sounds like Funcom is going to make up for the lost time with this new project.

The studio says a new Dune survival game is in development, and that it's their "most ambitious project yet." It's to be a next-gen open-world multiplayer game, so expect the typical live services, evolving world/expansions/updates, and of course deep social interactions. The Dune game is also being built in Unreal Engine for PC and consoles.

Indie horror dev Bloober Team recently signed a "significant distribution deal" with Sony Interactive Entertainment for its upcoming games, and Silent Hill may be included.

Bloober Team has secured a worldwide distributor for its new games and it's one of the best in the business: Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The developer is currently working on four projects including a new game with Konami (believed to be Silent Hill), a new Layers of Fear, a project being funded by Take-Two Interactive's Private Division label, and a project with Rogue Games. Sony may be the distributor for a handful of these games both digitally via the PlayStation Store/PS Plus and through physical retail channels.

Take-Two's mega merger with Zynga is expected to close on May 23, 2022, NASDAQ reports.

The convergence of Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive and mobile powerhouse Zynga may be finalized in late May. The news comes from NASDAQ Trader, who reinforces a recent definitive agreement SEC filing that assigns a May 23 closing date to the deal. Zynga's shares are anticipated to halt trading on May 20 in preparation for the closing date.

The merger is worth $12.7 billion and will combine the might of Take-Two's AAA empire with Zynga's mobile know-how. The synergies are expected to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in net bookings growth over time, complete with significant earnings potential with Zynga's ad tech platform.

Nintendo has announced a stock split that will significantly increase the amount of shares available to investors.

Nintendo is preparing a stock split that will widen share volume to 1.29 billion outstanding shares, which will lower share prices and allow more investors to buy company stock. Nintendo shares are currently trading at 57,250 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, or roughly $442.

The split will take place on September 30, 2022, and on that date common stock held by shareholders will be divided into 10 shares. Nintendo's board has authorized the company to issue a total of 4 billion shares.

Elden Ring is now the top-selling game in the United States year-to-date, the NPD Group reports.

Elden Ring is so big that it's dethroning some of gaming's biggest giants. FromSoftware's breakout RPG sensation sold 13.4 million units in little over a month, which is better than most games' lifetime sales. These massive numbers make Elden Ring the #1 game in the U.S. across multiple metrics, including trailing 12-month game sales (April 2021 - April 2022) and top 20 best-selling games of the year so far.

"Elden Ring was the 2nd best-selling title of April 2022. Elden Ring remains the best-selling game of 2022 year-to-date and has surpassed Call of Duty: Vanguard to become the best-selling premium game of the trailing 12-month period ending April 2022," NPD Group's Mat Piscatella said.

Bandai Namco had absolutely no clue that Elden Ring would be such a hit, and originally expected the game to sell less than 5 million units. FromSoftware actually smashed that target.

Elden Ring has now sold 13.4 million units worldwide and is a mega-hit franchise for Bandai Namco, FromSoftware, and the dev's parent company Kadokawa Corp. Elden Ring was able to achieve these numbers in little over a month.

The sales number was revealed as part of Bandai Namco's full-year FY2021 earnings report, where the publisher said it expected a modest 4 million sales for Elden Ring. As it turns out, the game beat that forecast by 235% and helped push the company's net digital game sales revenues to $3.1 billion.

Remedy celebrates Alan Wake's 12th anniversary with some new teases on the upcoming sequel.

Thanks to Epic's financing and Remedy's know-how, Alan Wake 2 is currently in development. Details are light, but we do know Alan Wake 2 is a psychological horror game with a new emphasis on survival. Now Remedy has dropped a few more details about the sequel and confirmed the protagonist will be "put through the ringer."

"It feels very familiar but at the same time it feels very fresh. We are breaking new ground. It's a new genre and we are pushing further into the horror aspect, but also exploring the depth of the character," Sam Lake said in the recent anniversary video.

Prey, one of the best video games to release in 2017, is now free on the Epic Games Store.

Bethesda's surreal, mind-bending masterpiece Prey is currently free on the Epic Store. If you haven't played it before, now is the perfect time to jump in especially with all the recent 2022 game delays.

Arkane's first-person shooter weaves an engaging and ultra-weird tale of supernatural sci-horror with impressive visuals, fun gunplay and abilities, and some of the best environmental storytelling in the entire games industry. You'll definitely see shades of Deathloop strewn around Talos-I, complete with that old-school 1970s retro space-age charm.

Today Electronic Arts confirmed the new Dead Space remake is coming January 27, 2023 exclusively on next-gen consoles.

EA's Motive studio is making significant headway with its new Dead Space remake, an ambitious project that completely revitalizes the original Xbox 360 horror experience for modern-day consoles. The game is being completely rebuilt with DICE's powerful Frostbite engine using the base game as a skeleton reference point.

The game is still in pre-alpha phases in development, but the team was recently able to do a full walkthrough of the game where "all content was present." Major effect breakthroughs include real-time global illumination and volumetric lighting thanks to the power upgrade from the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.

EA's Need for Speed franchise is coming back in a big way with two of gaming's best racing devs at the wheel.

Today EA's games division announced that Codemasters and Criterion Games are co-developing a new Need for Speed Game and are also laying the foundation for the franchise's future. EA has actually merged the Cheshire-based Codemasters team into Criterion for the ambitious plan. EA purchased F1 and Grid developer Codemasters in 2021 for $1.2 billion to help supercharge its racing games, and Criterion is known for its work on Need for Speed, Burnout, and vehicle production in Battlefront and Battlefield games.

Not much is known about the project(s), but they will be dedicated games that are separate from the mobile-based Need for Speed title from Tencent.

Today Bethesda delayed Starfield into the distant galaxy of 2023, and Xbox fans aren't happy.

Starfield went from a set release date of 11/11/22 to a very wide six-month release window in 2023. The delay has considerably affected the sentiment around Xbox hype (yes, the console wars are still alive, but now it's more about platform wars).

Starfield's big push back certainly didn't help dissuade the popular rhetoric that "Xbox has no games," and the delay has impacted the excitement behind Microsoft's E3-style upcoming games showcase scheduled for June 12.