Gaming - Page 417

Four years ago, Ebb Software unleashed Scorn to ignite the weird corners of our imaginations. Sadly the game won't release in 2021 as planned and has been delayed even further.

Scorn has been delayed into 2022, developer Ebb Software has confirmed. The studio released a new Kickstarter update that details what's currently going on, why they've been so silent, and why Scorn is missing its original 2021 launch date.

The reasons are pretty simple. Ebb is working hard on the game, the team has been silent because they don't have much to show and progress is being made, and Scorn is being delayed because it's just not ready yet.

Halo Infinite's campaign is an Xbox Play Anywhere game on both PC and Xbox, offering gamers more cross-platform value.

Gamers who buy Halo Infinite's $59.99 campaign from the Microsoft Store will get two versions for the price of one. Infinite's premium campaign is part of the Play Anywhere initiative which gives players rights to both digital PC and Xbox versions of the game. Gamers will technically get access to three different Infinite SKUs--the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC versions of the game which all run at different performance targets.

This is just a quick reminder for anyone who might want to pick up the campaign when it drops on December 8. Remember Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free-to-play so you're paying for the massive RPG-FPS mashup that is Infinite's campaign. Also remember that the PC version is exclusive to the Microsoft Store SKU, not the Steam SKU, so don't expect features that are natively integrated into Steam.

Intel has confirmed a list of 52 games that won't natively work on machines with 12th-Gen Alder Lake CPUs on Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Intel has recently published an expansive list of more than 50 games that can't run natively on PCs with its new Alder Lake CPUs. with Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed. The issue is that third-party DRM like Denuvo improperly recognize Intel's new efficient hybrid cores as another system, therefore not letting the games boot up.

The list of games is made up of 52 games affected on both Windows 10 and Windows 11, including games like Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey, Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Wildlands, Mortal Kombat 11, For Honor, Jedi Fallen Order, and many others. Check below for a full list.

Elden Ring will have raytraced visuals on next-gen consoles like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Bandai Namco has confirmed.

A newly released Elden Ring spec sheet confirms the dark fantasy RPG will support raytracing on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. RT is only enabled via a post-launch patch and won't be available in the base game without an update.

There's also confirmation that Elden Ring can run up to 4K 60FPS on next-gen consoles, and that the game will have both a Performance and Resolution modes that prioritize in-game graphics and frame rates. Interestingly enough, Elden Ring is apparently capped at 60FPS on PC.

Electronic Arts just reported a new all-time record-breaking Q2 thanks to stronger-than-average game sales, downloads, and live services.

EA's Q2'22 was the best in its 39-year history. The company earned a whopping $1.851 billion in net bookings and a staggering $1.826 billion in net revenues. These numbers are tremendous on their own but are made even more impressive because of how close they are to each other.

What's the difference? Short answer: Net bookings includes deferrals, which are revenues from online games that have yet to be recognized (earnings from games with microtransactions like FIFA and Madden have to be carved up over specific periods due to GAAP laws). For most of the year, EA's net bookings are lower than revenues because it's subtracting deferrals. The deferrals are recognized later on in the year, usually during the Q3 periods, and help inflate these numbers.

Halo Infinite could end up being Microsoft's own mini-Fortnite with tons of crossover skins.

343i is doing something special with Halo Infinite's multiplayer. The game will have new events called Fractures, which will add non-canon skins and content into the game. Fractures come around once a month and you can unlock stuff that's not actually related to the Halo universe--like the samurai-inspired Yoroi armor shown in teasers.

What if 343i took this a step farther? What if they added skins, cosmetics, effects, etc. from other Microsoft-owned franchises like Gears of War, Forza, The Elder Scrolls, Doom, Fallout, and even The Outer Worlds?

Halo Infinite's first battle pass will cost $10 and has fifteen unlockables including skins for Halo Reach's Noble Team.

343 Industries recently detailed Halo Infinite's battle pass payment schemes along with the content included. The passes will cost $10 a piece, and season 1 is called Heroes of Reach and feature full armor sets for all of Halo Reach's Noble team including Carter, Noble Six, Jun, Jorge, Cat, and Emile. Gamers can also mix and match each armor component to customize their Spartans.

In total, Halo Infinite's Heroes of Reach battle pass has 15 unlocks ranging from armor sets to armor effects, a new AI, and death animations. 343i did confuse us a little bit by saying you need an "armor kit" to look like Noble Team. We're not exactly sure what this means or how it works.

SEGA says it will continue exploring strategic acquisitions and buyouts to help bolster its new game plan.

SEGA has a bold new plan. The company wants to make a new type of video game called Super Games, which are massive global online-driven games that make $1 billion in lifetime revenues (think Phantasy Star Online 2). This endeavor is going to take lots of money, time, and talent. If it wants to meet its goal to release a new Super Game by 2026, SEGA might need some help. Luckily it's interested in buying new studios.

In its recent annual report, SEGA outlined its plans for its new Super Game focus and says it will "proactively explore" new acquisitions to help its plans along. SEGA is prepared to spend an extra 100 billion yen (roughly $880 million) to aid in games development, acquisitions, and strategic planning across five years.

The new Skyrim Anniversary Edition re-release actually has a decent price tag, all things considered.

It's been 10 years since the last Elder Scrolls and by the end of the year Skyrim will have been released five times. Thankfully the new sixth version of Skyrim won't be expensive. Bethesda confirmed the upcoming Skyrim Anniversary Edition will cost $49.99 on digital platforms, as opposed to the new $69.99 price of next-gen games and the existing $59.99 MSRP of current-gen titles.

Bethesda also re-confirmed that owners of Skyrim Special Edition on PS4 and Xbox One will get a free next-gen upgrade to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. The only difference between the Special and Anniversary Editions are Creation Club additions. The Anniversary Edition includes every piece of Creation Club content released to date. Mod support, next-gen optimizations, and the full existing base game are available on both versions.

Halo Infinite's first battle pass has been revealed and 343i confirms XP can be earned by playing the campaign.

Halo Infinite's season one battle pass is called Heroes of Reach and features armor unlocks from Noble Team including Carter, Emile, Jun, Cat, Jorge, and Noble Six. There's also fiery pauldrons and an explosive helmet to spice things up.

An interesting bit of the announcement is confirmation that gamers can unlock cosmetics by playing Halo Infinite's campaign. No specifics were given and it appears the battle pass is entirely separate from the campaign. We don't know if playing the campaign will give you XP towards the battle pass, or whether or not there are challenges in the campaign itself similar to Halo Reach.

Nintendo's latest corporate strategy brief strongly indicates that a new Switch model is on the horizon.

Rumors of an upgraded Switch Pro or Switch 4K have been circulating for years now. Reports say the Switch OLED was supposed to be a Pro version, but the beefier 4K-ready console was delayed due to chip shortages. Official details are scarce, but Nintendo's latest documents inadvertently suggest the new upgraded Switch is indeed coming.

There's one particular section in the report that talks about how the new Switch models have changed consumer purchases and habits. Switch hardware is diversified across the Switch Lite, 2017-2019 Switch model, and the new premium Switch OLED. Gamers are buying multiple Switch consoles to fit their needs and adoption of the Switch Lite and Switch OLED has been steady.

Top games publishers like Ubisoft, EA, and now Square Enix are getting into NFTs as a new source of monetization, engagement, and long-term revenue streams.

Square Enix going all-in on digital. Everyone wants to transition towards digital due to higher revenues and lower costs. But not every company is adept at monetization or engagement, which are two main pillars of the segment. Digital expands far past full game sales. The real bread and butter is long-term earnings from ongoing purchases within the game.

Despite not being experts at existing monetization trends outside of its ever-popular Final Fantasy 14 MMORPG, Square Enix is jumping into new emerging trends like blockchain and NFTs with both feet. The Final Fantasy-maker has experimented with NFTs and the results were very positive; the company sold all of its minted digital trading cards in the Shi‐San‐Sei Million Arthur series.

A newly leaked repository from the infamous GeForce Now leak indicates multiple big-name PS4 and PS5 games are coming to PC in 2022.

Sony recently doubled-down on its commitment to PC gaming and plans to release a bunch of new PlayStation exclusives on the platform. If this supposed leak can be confirmed, Sony could bring as many as 7 high-profile games to PC throughout 2022.

The list includes PS5 exclusive like Returnal as well as Ghost of Tsushima and surprisingly Horizon Forbidden West, which is strange timing considering the console release is in February 2022. If this is accurate, Sony could bring Horizon Forbidden West to PC just months after its console version. On the other hand Sony just announced the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection is coming to PC in "early 2022", and the document lists a February 7 launch date. It's possible this info could be genuine.

The Nintendo Switch has now sold-in a total of 92.87 million shipments worldwide and is on pace to beat the Wii's sales by the end of the fiscal year.

Nintendo recently announced a Q2 earnings slide across revenues, operating income, profit, and overall hardware sales. The numbers are comparatively lower due to last year's huge gains sparked from COVID-19's continued lockdown measures.

Switch sell-in has dropped significantly. Like every other tech company, Nintendo is having a hard time securing components and scarcity has led to less shipments. During Q2, Nintendo shipped 3.83 million Switch consoles, down 44% from last year's blitzkrieg shipments.

Xbox gamers get to pre-load Battlefield 2042 four days earlier than PC and PlayStation users, DICE today confirmed.

Battlefield 2042's worldwide pre-load timings are now up and they reveal something interesting: Xbox gamers get first dibs. This could be a result of EA's marketing deal with Xbox for Battlefield 2042 but it ultimately doesn't amount to much because no one can start playing the game until early access goes live on November 12.

Also remember that Xbox gamers can technically pre-download games they don't own yet with the game unlocking once they officially buy it.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the first game to support NVIDIA DLAA technology, but don't confuse DLAA with DLSS. DLAA = Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing, while DLSS = Deep Learning Super Sampling.

DLAA is now enabled in The Elder Scrolls Online with its new v7.2.5 update (Deadlands and Update 32) which adds both NVIDIA DLSS and DLAA support into the game. DLAA could very well be the best anti-aliasing technique yet, but we'll have to see it up and running in The Elder Scrolls Online, first.

The Elder Scrolls Online's new patch opens up the gates to the Deadlands: Gates of Oblivion DLC, which will drop gamers into the Dagon's plane of Oblivion. You'll also explore the mysterious city of Fargrave, while the storyline of Gates of Oblivion will come to an end in Deadlands.

Battlefield 2042 isn't too far away now with a release on November 19, with EA announcing that Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get Battlefield 2042 for free.

EA has announced that Battlefield 2042 will be free for Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in a new limited time "privilege" that lets you play the game in a 10-hour trial. EA is unlocking this on November 12, a week ahead of Battlefield 2042's official release on November 19.

Furthermore, EA Play Pro members will be granted access to Battlefield 2042 Ultimate Edition, which sports an additional Midnight Ultimate Bundle that packs outfits and skins as well as a digital artbook and soundtrack.

Call of Duty: Warzone is about to get updated, with their Halloween-themed event now wrapped up and finished and Call of Duty: Vanguard about to launch... in the middle of that we have Warzone Pacific.

Warzone Pacific will launch in the coming weeks after Vanguard and will feature a new Pacific-themed map called Caldera. Activision will be deploying their new RICOCHET Anti-Cheat technology with its kernel-level driver, which should put a stop to hackers on the PC finally.

During the recent Call of Duty: Vanguard launch event, people were handed a special jacket with the map of Caldera on the back. Activision CCO Pelle Sjoenell posted a picture of the spiffy new jacked on his Twitter, where you can clearly see the map of Caldera that will debut in Warzone Pacific.

Based on historical quarterly data, Blizzard doesn't actually need to make new video games to make tons of money.

Blizzard puts live services above all other things. Before Diablo II Resurrected, the company hadn't released a mainline premium video game since 2016's Overwatch. That's four years since a new product that can be sold on a shelf in stores. Sure there's been three big World of Warcraft expansions (Legion, Battle for Azeroth, Shadowlands) that have sparked revenues, which are important. But these aren't technically new games--just updates to existing ones.

The reality is Blizzard can coast quite a while on digital monetization and live services. Despite not releasing a new mainline video game product--a new game that can be sold on shelves--in the last six calendar years from 2015 - 2020, the company's revenue never fell below $298 million. (Note: Although Vicarious Visions is now part of Blizzard, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was recorded in the Activision segment, not Blizzard's).

The Grand Theft Auto franchise just broke Q2 records with over $247 million earned during the quarter.

Take-Two Interactive just published its 10-Q report detailing info on GTA sales. Based on historical data, we can extrapolate the figures and compile them in a graph. The results are pretty interesting.

Based on our findings, the Grand Theft Auto franchise made about $247.423 million in Q2 Fiscal Year 22. This is a record-breaking Q2 that delivered the best earnings since GTA V's release. To date, Grand Theft Auto V has propelled franchise earnings to $6.925 billion since launch in September 2013.