Gaming - Page 410

Battlefield 2042 has been YET ANOTHER clusterfu*k for EA, with major reshuffles internally post-launch now that Battlefield 2042 is in the wild. But fresh info from Battlefield insider Tom Henderson gives us a better look at the development of the game, and what a mess it has been.

The game only had 15 months of development time, with full production of Battlefield 2042 beginning in August 2020 -- after being delayed a couple of times, and then released in November 2021. EA DICE knew that they were in trouble just 6 months in at around early March 2021, with Frostbite engine problems making headaches for EA.

We saw the flow-on effects from this just days ago, with Respawn Entertainment boss (and ex-Infinity Ward boss) Vince Zampella taking over the Battlefield franchise. EA DICE has also turfed Battlefield executive producer Aleksander Grondal, who spent 14 years working at DICE producing Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, and acted as the executive producer on Battlefield 2042.

A new report from Bloomberg reveals what went wrong with Halo Infinite's development.

Halo gamers usually have one question when it comes to Halo Infinite: What happened? Halo Infinite is the first mainline Halo game to come with a F2P multiplayer without core game modes, no playlists, complete with microtransactions and a badly-designed progression system. It's also the first Halo game to launch without co-op, and other features like Forge won't be here for nearly a year.

The true is Halo Infinite's current over-monetized and content-cute state is due to many factors, including COVID-19 interruptions, the departure of key 343 Industries staff, and decisions made by "stakeholders" and both live ops and creative teams. Some of the bigger issues lie with how Microsoft and 343i run their day-to-day gaming business that were compounded by the usual rigors of games development.

Halo Infinite's campaign will not have a pre-load option on consoles or PC, it has been confirmed.

Halo Infinite is a digital-based game that must be downloaded directly from Microsoft. This includes both the free-to-play multiplayer and the $59.99 singleplayer campaign. The retail Halo Infinite disc does not contain a playable game and is instead a physical DRM authentication check.

Despite being a forced download game, there's no way to pre-load the campaign onto Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, or PC. It doesn't matter if you're an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber or if you bought the physical disc--you still cannot pre-emptively download the full game in preparation for the December 8 release.

Sony has released new internal schematic diagrams showing exactly how its new DualSense controller works.

As part of its annual Technology Day conference, Sony reveals the engineering advancements used in its new PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. The footage highlights the DualSense's new dual actuation technology used for fine-tined controller vibrations as well as the pressure-sensitive haptic triggers.

Sony hardware engineer Takeshi Igarashi says the DualSense's multi-range vibrations are made possible by dual rumble systems that are housed in each of the DualSense's handles, making for roughly 4x the force of a DualShock 4. Sony has also developed an easy-to-use software suite that developers can use to add vibration features to their PlayStation 5 games.

Ubisoft is getting into NFTs, and they're calling it Ubisoft Quartz.

Ubisoft makes good on its promise to jump into blockchain and NFTs with a new program called Ubisoft Quartz. Ubisoft will use the Tezos blockchain for its Quartz platform for its NFTs, which are called "Digits". These are basically glorified cosmetic weapon and armor skins/textures that can be purchased and re-sold for cryptocurrency on NFT trading sites like Rarible. Ubisoft will receive a cut from every transaction on these sites. Although Digit NFTs are 100% cosmetic, the scheme is literally like the Real Money Auction House that killed Diablo III back in 2012...only for cosmetics.

Here's a baseline of how it works:

Halo Infinite's singleplayer campaign has two parts: 1) main story missions that can't be replayed, and 2) free roam with bases, objectives, and side missions.

Similar to most open world games like Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed, or even Far Cry, Halo Infinite will not allow gamers to natively replay story missions and levels once they are beaten. Infinite also won't have a NewGame+ mode like some of those other games. Infinite has four saves, and you beat the campaign missions for each save, you're done with them for good.

This is a huge departure from the classic Halo campaign experience, which has a linear playlist of campaign missions that can be replayed once they are beaten.

Halo Infinite's retail version only contains an installer and acts as a DRM check--it doesn't include a playable game.

Players who get their Halo Infinite discs early still won't be able to play campaign. That's because the disc doesn't have a full playable game and instead is basically a physical key that proves ownership of the game. Halo Infinite's full campaign still has to be downloaded and even then it can't be accessed until 343i activates the switch on December 8.

The news was discovered by Digital Foundry's John Linneman, who criticized Microsoft's decision on Twitter.

STALKER was very similar to Crysis back in the Golden Age of PC gaming, where the same "can it run Crysis" jokes could be used for "can it run STALKER" -- but now we have STALKER 2.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl looks to require a hefty amount of SSD storage space, with 180GB required on the Microsoft next-gen Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. We already know that the PC version of STALKER 2 will require 150GB of storage, with developer GSC Game World detailing the PC system requirements on Steam.

We should expect some changes of the requirements (not just PC hardware required) but also storage space as we lead into the launch of STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl on April 28, 2022, for the PC and Xbox Series X/S consoles.

A gamer in Soest, Germany could've been burned alive due to lack of awareness while he was playing PlayStation.

According to reports from German newspaper Soester Anzeiger, a man in Soest, Germany could've died from smoke inhalation and possibly burned down an entire apartment building because he was paying too much attention to a gaming session.

Reports say the German gamer was surprised when the fire department showed up in his smoke-filled apartment on reports of a possible fire. The man had been so engrossed in his PlayStation gaming session that he didn't notice the beeping smoke alarms, nor did he see the thick plumes of smoke that had filled the apartment from a burning pan of spaghetti sauce.

Halo Infinite's full worldwide unlock timings have been announced by 343 Industries--here's when you can play the campaign.

Halo Infinite's campaign is just two days away from release, but fans will have to wait until the actual day of December 8 to play it. 343i has confirmed Halo Infinite will not have a midnight launch the night before official release similar to other Bungie-era Halo games. The good news is the campaign is releasing simultaneously across the globe at the same time.

Check below for exact times per specific region:

The armor lockers in Halo Infinite's campaign reportedly do not feature actual armor pieces that can be used in PVP customization.

Gamers can find Spartan armor caches strewn across Halo Infinite's campaign map that apparently don't have armor in them. These lockers are part of Infinite's myriad of unlocks and collectibles which include equipment upgrades and Easter Eggs.

That's according to Forbes' Paul Tassi, who discovered the armor lockers only doled out cosmetics and not actual armor pieces that can be equipped and used in multiplayer. Reports also say the campaign does not have an unlockable armor core to be used in multiplayer. Tassi received an early copy of Halo Infinite for review and clarified the reports on Reddit:

Final Fantasy XIV's new Endwalker expansion is out now in early access, but gamers are having lots of trouble actually playing. Square Enix has offered up free game time as an apology.

Right now Final Fantasy XIV's game servers simply can't keep up with demand. Everyone wants to play the new Endwalker expansion and the online networks are just filling up too fast, leading to long login waiting queues and maxed-out worlds. The developers are now giving out 7 days of free game time as an apology to all subscribed users, and more time could be offered if the issues continue, the team says.

Warzone testers plan to strike until Activision reverses its decision to fire multiple QA testers.

Last week, Activision fired around a dozen quality assurance testers, roughly 1/3 of its QA team, at one of its studios Raven Software. These workers were under contract--meaning they are not employees, do not get benefits or healthcare, and can be cut at any time--and their emotional stories of termination were told on Twitter by onlookers and the workers themselves, who had moved to Madison, Wisconsin and are now out of a job.

Now the remaining QA testers are planning a collective strike in protest, and demand that Activision hires their co-workers back on the team. Activision tells Bloomberg that they have fired 20 contract employees but intend to make 500 of their contract team into full-time employees.

What is real? That's the question you'll be asking after watching this amazing Unreal Engine 5 tech demo.

Epic's new Unreal Engine 5 is so powerful that it may defy the limits of reality--you know, what Neo does at his day job. Is it the spoon that's bending? Or is it us? Epic Games is taking advantage of the new Matrix Resurrections film release to showcase the true might of Unreal Engine 5 with an interactive tech demo featuring Neo and other characters from the Matrix series.

The free demo is called Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience and it's available for pre-download on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Sony has been caught up in a huge pedophile sting, with the Senior Vice President of Engineering for Sony, George Cacioppo, fired after he was busted in an amateur pedophilia sting video. Sony said in a statement: "We are aware of the situation and the employee in question has been terminated from employment".

Cacioppo was busted after he prepared to have a 15-year-old boy come to his house to have sex with him, but it turned out to be an amateur pedophilia sting video. The cameraman approached the house and talked to Cacioppo, but he was calling the PlayStation executive "Jeff" -- as he's obviously changed his name to not get caught.

Once the cameraman gets closer to the door, Cacioppo realizes what has happened and retreats back into the house after he finds out it's not the 15-year-old boy he was going to have sex with. The cameraman continues asking questions, shouting in the end that the PlayStation executive had hired a 15-year-old boy to have sex with.

Fortnite has flipped, literally... Epic Games have launched Fortnite Chapter 3 and boy does it have a lot in store for gamers. Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1: Flipped is here, check out the trailer:

The original island in Fortnite has been turned upside down, revealing an entire new world for Fortnite players to explore, destroy, and enjoy. Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1 is an entire new beginning, with developer Epic Games explaining: "a perfect starting point for new players and a perfect returning point for those who haven't played in a while. Witness the wintry new island thaw, discover new locations plus a few surprises, seize victory crowns, and complete new quests".

There's totally new sliding mechanics in Fortnite now, where you can slide down hills and take out the enemy sliding down like you're... well, in Call of Duty: Warzone. Not only that, but you can swing around the new map in Fortnite with the Spider-Man featured in the game and his web-shooters (which can be used with any skin). You can also now pick stuff up when you're down, which is going to be a huge change to the meta in the game, as well as crawl around faster when you're knocked down.

Grand Theft Auto V is a great-looking game on its own, but with the help of some mods it can look better than most games on the consoles, and even on a high-end gaming PC.

But in this new video from German modder Digital Dreams, Grand Theft Auto V has never, ever looked better than this. Digital Dreams is running Grand Theft Auto V with the Reshade ray tracing mod, as well as the QuantV, GTAV Real Buildings, and Realistic Traffic mods all enabled.

On top of all that modding goodness, Digital Dreams is running Grand Theft Auto V at the Grand Master resolution of 8K (7680 x 4320) which is 4x the pixels of 4K, and 16x the pixels of 1080p. It's an incredible load on any gaming system, and even watching the video in 8K on YouTube will require a 100Mbps+ internet connection if you don't want buffering.

Diablo II Resurrected has received its new Update 2.3 which along with a bunch of balances, improvements, and fixes -- but most of all, NVIDIA DLSS support has been added to the game.

There are gameplay improvements, as well as accessibility and graphical improvements but the inclusion of NVIDIA DLSS is magical. Sure, you might not need 120FPS+ in something like Diablo II Resurrected, but on slower systems, you can crank up the DLSS setting to "Quality" and enjoy even better-looking graphics without a performance hit.

You can update your Diablo II Resurrection now, and enable NVIDIA DLSS in the graphics settings.

Fortnite is now powered by Epic's next-gen Unreal Engine 5 technology which offers significant texture, graphics, and effects upgrades.

The first UE5 game is now on the market, and to no one's surprise, it's Fortnite. After all, Epic Games promised they'd bring Fortnite over to UE5 this year (although it took a lot longer to execute).

Fortnite's big Chapter 2 The End finale event actually ran in UE5 and this explains the decent in-game visual boost on Switch and PC, as well as some extra physics additions like the crazy weather effects (tornadoes!), combat sliding, web-slinging with Spider-Man's new slingers, and widespread environmental destruction across the all-new Island. It also explains the sizable multi-gigabyte update with Patch v19.00, which clicked in at up to 14.8GB on Switch.

Halo Infinite is so controversial that the official Halo subreddit has been forcibly locked down to curb abuse.

Like Cortana, the Halo Reddit has gone rampant. Mods have temporarily quarantined the subreddit like a sick, wild animal to prevent any more doxxing and death threats breaking out--and to relieve some of the extraordinary amount of pressure that 343 Industries is currently facing for Halo Infinite's widely-contested features.

"On all sides this has absolutely gone on long enough and spiraled out of control," r/Halo mod -343-Guilty-Spark said.