Gaming - Page 406

Activision-Blizzard is the latest video game developer to respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Call of Duty maker Activision-Blizzard has ceased game sales to Russia due to the ongoing war against Ukraine. The company will no longer sell or ship new copies of its mega-hit franchises to Russia, and will also cut off in-game purchases to the region.

"Today, we are announcing that Activision Blizzard will be suspending new sales of and in our games in Russia while this conflict continues. We will continue to look at ways to support the Ukrainian people," Activision-Blizzard Chief Operating Officer and President Daniel Alegre said.

Square Enix's latest RPG Forspoken has been delayed to October so the team has more time to polish and refine the game.

Luminous Productions today announced their latest hack-and-slash RPG Forspoken has been pushed back by over half a year. Originally set to release this month, Forspoken will now launch on October 11 during Square Enix's Q3 period.

"We have made the decision to move the release date of Forspoken to October 11, 2022. Our vision for this exciting new IP is to deliver a game world and hero that gamers across the globe will want to experience for years to come, so getting it right is extremely important to us," the team said.

Halo Infinite's new Fractures seasonal events aren't living up to their ultimate cross-synergy potential.

A bit ago I predicted that Halo Infinite's Fracture events would lead to cross-overs with other Xbox Studios franchises. For instance, one season could see new cosmetics inspired from franchises like Fallout or Doom cross over into Halo. It's not the best lore-friendly solution, but 343i themselves says the Fractures are slices of alternate timelines of what could've been.

Instead, 343i is using Fractures to try and split the Halo universe in unique ways. We saw early iterations of Fractures in Halo Master Chief Collection with Season 8's odd cosmetic design choices that added myth-inspired armors to the game including Nordic and Greek-style cosmetics. These didn't fit Halo (and still don't), and it's a big immersion-breaking seeing shields and Valkyrie helm-wearing Spartans in Halo 3.

Epic Games has enacted a temporary sales ban to Russia and will no longer sell games or services to the region.

Russian gamers can no longer purchas content on the Epic Store launcher. Epic Games announced that it has halted business with Russia due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine

"Epic is stopping commerce with Russia in our games in response to its invasion of Ukraine. We're not blocking access for the same reason other communication tools remain online: the free world should keep all lines of dialogue open," the company wrote on Twitter.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is currently hiring an executive position to lead its new live services games division.

Sony's PlayStation Studios recently put up a job listing for a Vice President, Head of Live Services role that will help shape its new push into online-driven games. The executive position is open to all of SIE's branches, including its offices in London, Liverpool, San Diego, San Mateo and Los Angeles.

"As Head of Live Services, you will be responsible for the ownership and successful delivery of the PlayStation Studios Live Service operational framework. You will be responsible for architecting a cohesive and integrated live services business strategy, product strategy and operational framework to deliver commercial success," the listing reads.

One of Halo Infinite's principal developers has left 343 Industries, leading to discussions about the state of the game.

Lead multiplayer modes & systems designer Andrew Witts has left 343 Industries after 3 years with the company, the developer announced on Twitter.

Wiits departure is the latest high-profile dev that has left 343i throughout Halo Infinite's development (creative director Tim Longo left in 2019, then studio head Chris Lee left in 2020).

Amazon will no longer localize New World for Russian players, the company has announced.

Amazon Games is one of the latest games companies to speak out against Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The developer has confirmed it will no longer bring Russian voice-over dialog or language support to New World as a result of the war.

"We were looking into localizing New World for Russia, and we stopped that," VP of Amazon Games Christoph Hartmann told TechRadar.

Indie developer Miquel Camps Orteza created an actual playable video game based on Red Hot Chili Pepper's iconic music video.

Californication might be one of the most memorable music videos of all time. It came out during those early days of 3D gaming and everyone who grew up during the time (including me) wanted an actual video game based on the video.

Now one aspiring game developer has delivered an actual playable version of RHCP's Californication, and you can download it now.

SEGA has joined other game developers in donating directly to Ukrainian relief funds.

Japanese games-maker SEGA is the latest video games company to raise funds for Ukraine. The Sonic developer shared an update on Twitter that pledged support for the beleaguered Eastern European country:

"SEGA is making a meaningful donation and is matching donations from its staff to various Ukraine-focused humanitarian aid causes. This money will go towards desperately needed help for those affected."

343i is adding three new game modes to Halo Infinite to keep things interesting.

Halo Infinite released in December 2021 without fan-favorite game modes and features. Campaign co-op wasn't available for the first time ever, and key multiplayer modes like king of the hill--which is tremendously fun--were missing. Now 343i confirms some of the missing modes are coming to Halo Infinite when season 2 releases in May 2022.

The new modes include:

Halo Infinite's campaign co-op won't be available at the start of season 2.

343i has finally announced new details on Halo Infinite's upcoming features, including co-op, forge, season 2, and bug fixes. 343i can't fix everything at once, and the studio has a prioritization hierarchy that looks like this:

Co-op isn't at the very top of the list, and there's a lot involved to get co-op running on five separate Xbox consoles. The studio says Halo Infinite's online/split-screen campaign co-op play will not be available when Season 2 begins on May 3.

Electronic Arts condemns Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and has enacted a temporary sales ban in the region.

EA has joined Microsoft in banning the sale of its products in Russia and Belarus. The gaming giant announced the news in a recent update post where it calls the war on Ukraine "shocking" and "deeply troubling."

"We have made the decision to stop sales of our games and content, including virtual currency bundles, in Russia and Belarus while this conflict continues," the post reads.

Nintendo may have enacted a temporary sales ban of games and services in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian gamers can no longer purchase content and services on the Nintendo eShop. The regional eShop support page confirms Nintendo's payment processor has temporary restricted the ruble, Russia's currency, as a valid form of payment.

This is likely due to economic sanctions against Russia that have blocked seven major banks from accessing SWIFT, a messaging system that instructs worldwide bank transactions (such as the digital purchases used in the eShop). Nintendo serves Russia as part of its Nintendo of Europe subsidiary.

Microsoft has temporarily suspended sales to Russia following the devastating attacks on Ukraine.

Microsoft today announced a sales ban of its products, goods, and services in Russia. Consumers in Russia will no longer be able to buy or access Microsoft services, including Xbox hardware and games.

"We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia," Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith said.

Dungeon Siege is back...but many fans would prefer it stay dead.

After ten long years, Square Enix has finally resurrected Dungeon Siege. Well...sort of. Dungeon Siege will be joining metaverse platform The Sandbox complete with NFT real estate and characters.

Here's how it works: The Sandbox is basically a world complete with landmasses and countries. These regions are called LAND and can be purchased as digital NFTs--gamers can buy in-game land. Some countries are owned by, say, Atari, and others are reserved for franchises like The Walking Dead. Square Enix will have its own LAND patch where it will host Dungeon Siege-themed content, including skins, characters, and cosmetics.

Rockstar Games details the new performance modes and features coming to GTA V's next-gen version.

It looks like Rockstar is pushing the PS5 and Xbox Series X to their limits. GTA V Expanded & Enhanced will have a surprising 4K 60FPS raytracing mode on both Navi 2 GPU-powered consoles, which is no small feat. The resolution will indeed by upscaled and not native 4K, but it's still not something that most open-world games support.

GTA V E&E will have three graphics/performance modes:

Gran Turismo 7's microtransactions are up to 1233% more expensive than GT Sport.

Conveniently after reviews went live, Sony has switched on Gran Turismo 7's in-game purchases...and the prices are eye-opening. GT7 allows gamers to buy cars, parts, and accessories with premium currency. It's an online live game, after all, so monetization is a given. Currency prices look like this:

According to findings from Video Game Chronicle, some cars that used to cost £ 5 in GT Sport now cost an incredible £ 40 in GT7. That's a 700% increase (or 7x) over GT Sport for the same cars.

The Nintendo Switch has enjoyed five years of success, and here are the numbers to prove it.

The Switch is the ultimate union of handhelds and consoles, and as such, the system has generated tremendous profits for Nintendo. As the system turns five years old today we're taking a look back at some of the most important milestones the platform has achieved in half a decade.

In the last five years, the Switch has helped Nintendo generate nearly $60 billion in revenues. From March 2017 to December 2021, Nintendo made $59.8 billion in revenues. While those numbers do include 3DS hardware and software sales, the majority of those earnings were from the Switch itself.

Games titan The Pokemon Company is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Ukrainian relief efforts, joining other games-makers and publishers providing relief.

The Pokemon Company has publicly lamented the "heartbreaking" Russian invasion in Eastern Europe. The war sees nearly 1 million Ukranians fleeing the war-torn country as refugees, including children.

The Pocket Monster creator has responded with a $200,000 donation to the GlobalGiving foundation to provide humanitarian relief for Ukrainian families and children.

Babylon's Fall may be a flop for Square Enix, a publisher that needs more hit AAA titles.

Based on extremely lower player counts, Babylon's Fall could be the next Square Enix game to deliver "disappointing results." Babylon's Fall, the online-only hack-and-slash RPG developed by PlatinumGames, had less than 1,000 concurrent players on Steam on its launch day. Right now the game has roughly 4,000 Twitch viewers which indicates low curiosity for the game.

There's a few general reasons for this: