Gaming News - Page 383

Guerrilla Games outlines a bunch of new changes in the cross-gen Horizon Forbidden West sequel coming in February 2022.

In many ways, Horizon Forbidden West sees the franchise unleashed and fully realized. Guerrilla Games is making huge fundamental changes that will alter the scope of the game and how players engage with the world. One of the biggest changes is the inclusion of free climbing, which brings Assassin's Creed-style exploration and verticality to combat and gameplay.

While the animations look very Assassin's Creed-ish, the truth is Forbidden West seems closer to Breath of the Wild. The combination of free climbing with the new Shieldwing paraglider gives players unprecedented freedoms to scale tons of areas in the game and fly down them in real-time. This is something that I sorely missed in AC Valhalla, although it wouldn't have made any sense historically.

Sledgehammer Games has created multiple dynamic phases of DualSense trigger actuation in Call of Duty Vanguard.

Like most PS5 gamers, Vanguard will make heavy use of the DualSense controller's new rumble tech. Similar to Black Ops Cold War, which had amazing next-gen tactile feedback, the new WWII-themed Call of Duty has its own multi-phase pressure-sensitive trigger haptics to significantly increase immersion. Guns will pop with recoil and power as you fire them, precision weapons will feel more satisfying, and gunfights will actually feel like lethal do-or-die battles.

There are four stages to a trigger pull in Vanguard:

The new $350 Nintendo Switch OLED isn't any more durable than the base 2017 model, and you really should put a screen protector on it.

YouTuber Jerry Rig Everything answers a simple question: How much abuse can the Switch OLED withstand? Starting with the screen, the outer-most protective layer scratches very easily with a level 3 hardness gradient because the surface is made of plastic. This is an anti-scatter sheet that protects the glass OLED panel underneath--and also protects users from shards of glass should the screen shatter.

Overall the OLED model is structurally sound. It didn't break or crack under pressure and the bezels are made of metal. The YouTuber proceeds to torture the OLED model with 35-seconds of ignited lighter action, multiple scratches from a razor, and even some really rough bending. The Switch OLED bends and flexes a bit but it doesn't break in two.

Halo Infinite's campaign has changed dramatically since its disastrous 2020 reveal.

Today 343i dropped a new campaign trailer showing gameplay, in-engine footage, and CGI cutscenes. The result flexes the new Slipspace Engine technology with impressive-looking visuals, UHD 4K textures, lighting effects, and advanced physics rendering. In short, the new 2021 footage completely destroys the controversial 2020 Halo Infinite gameplay trailer. Check below for some side-by-sides.

While most of the trailer looks great, we're still a bit worried about those draw distances especially on Xbox One consoles. They don't look too great even on the higher-end hardware that the footage was captured on--we're betting it was on PC or Xbox Series X. 343i was also quick to clarify that not every scene was actually in-engine (like that amazing Escharum screenshot seen below). To showcase the differences between the new and old footage we've put together a bunch of side-by-side screenshots to help illustrate how much the game has changed in a year.

Now that the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta has been wound down, DICE has been more open about how the beta went and the feedback from the community -- as well as unveiling 5 new Specialists for Battlefield 2042. Check them out:

Battlefield 2042's new Specialists include Navin Rao (Recon class), Santiago 'Dozer' Espinoza (Assault class), Emma 'Sundance' Rosier (Assault class), Ji- Soo Paik (Recon class), and Constantin 'Angel' Anghel (Support class). As for the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta, DICE explained that it was branched from the main development one of Battlefield 2042 back in August.

This should mean the final version of Battlefield 2042 will be in a much better state, given there will have been many months of work on the code and optimization. NVIDIA's magical DLSS technology will be in the final version, ramping up performance for those who want the frames, or quality for those who want higher fidelity graphics. EA DICE has also made some other major changes in Battlefield 2042, which they've talked about.

Walt Williams, writer of 2012's renowned ethics-twisting Spec Ops: The Line, is the story lead behind Insomniac's new Wolverine game.

Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games is making a Wolverine game for PS5 aimed at emotional impact. Based on who's involved with story, it looks like the devs will deliver in spades. Spec Ops: The Line writer Walt Williams is not only working on the project, but he's leading the Wolverine game's story arc.

The yesteryear war shooter was known for its mind-bending narrative that made gamers question the ethics of their actions throughout the campaign, presenting scenes that didn't glorify war but exposed a more real and destructive side to it.

Overkill confirms new details about Payday 3 including the return of the original crew.

The Payday franchise just celebrated its 10th anniversary and Overkill spent some time looking ahead as it looked back over all those years. According to the developers, Payday 3, which is due out in 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, will have all four original heisters: Dallas, Hoxton, Chains and Wolf are returning.

The game takes place a few years after Payday 2 where the crew has retired. The world has moved on to digital-based currencies including crypto and there's a lot more to robbing than carefully-planned bank heists and gunning your way through SWAT teams. Now things are more subtle and heists will change a bit...however Overkill hasn't really detailed any specifics.

Halo modder RejectedShotgun is one step closer to huge global battles in Halo 3.

Halo 3 originally had a global battle feature that emphasized crazy wide-scale combat. That feature was cut (likely due to console hardware memory constraints) and Halo 3's AI limit was capped at 40 enemies on the screen at once. This attests to Bungie's creativity with those crazy open-ended battle sequences.

That limit is still in place, but modder RejectedShotgun has found a way to bypass it with a script that dynamically loads enemy AI in and out of sequences as needed. So far over 100 enemy AI can be loaded in and out in this wary. The result creates an illusion of bigger battles especially when you're roaming through areas on vehicles.

Old-school Halo modder RejectedShotgun is doing some crazy things with Halo 3's new modding tools.

We're seeing some amazing creations with Halo 3's new modding tools. Creators like RejectedShotgun are taking mods to new heights by creating heavy battle sequences with tons of enemies, vehicles, and even towering scarabs on the screen. It's like those big explosive missions that you know and love from Halo 3's campaign.

The end goal with the AI War project is to recreate the insanity of Halo 3's campaign mission The Ark via a concept called Global Battles, which is apparently something Bungie wanted to put in the game but cut due to hardware constraints. The mod is out now on NexusMods and you can mess about with it.

Grand Theft Auto fans have put together side-by-side screenshots comparing the original trilogy with the new remastered trilogy. The results are pretty impressive.

Rockstar's new Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition has completely remastered the original PS2-era GTA games, complete with high-res textures, volumetric fog and ambient lighting, improve draw distances, and significant overhauls to environments, models, characters, and controls. The games now even support 4K 60FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X.