Gaming - Page 424

Blizzard has explained Diablo 2's server issues and says a fix will take some time to roll out.

Today Blizzard published a lengthy blog post detailing what's going on with Diablo 2's servers. Apparently D2R uses the same server structure as the original game, with minor alterations and tweaks--these tweaks are becoming more plentiful thanks to these issues. The devs explain that the server issues the past four days were caused by a perfect storm of massive concurrent user spikes and a game-improving update. Both of these combined knocked the servers offline. Datacenters have simply been overwhelmed every day--too many people are trying to play Diablo 2 Resurrected at once.

The global servers were also trying to continually reconnect and back themselves up, an automated process that caused lots of headaches. So Blizzard has optimized and released fixes with server downtime. The devs also say that the biggest fix will take some time to roll out.

Call of Duty's new advanced RICOCHET anti-cheat tool has already been leaked out into the wild, and coders are currently investigating ways on cracking it.

Yesterday Activision announced RICOCHET, a new innovative kernel-level anti-cheat solution aimed at decimating cheaters in Warzone and the upcoming Vanguard. Gamers were wary of yet another kernel-based anti-cheat (these programs technically get access to the most sensitive parts of your computer) and this kind of security is only ever deployed to combat the most stubborn threats.

Now it looks like RICOCHET could be rendered obsolete before it's even launch. Hackers have obtained and leaked RICOCHET out into the wild and P2C (pay2cheat) coders are already reverse-engineering the driver in an effort to exploit it and circumvent the measures. This means Activision's work may be useless even before it launches.

DICE today announced details on Battlefield 2042's new Hazard Zone, the third major gametype featured in Battlefield 2042.

Battlefield 2042's Hazard Zone sounds pretty unique. It's essentially a squad-based battle royale with PvPvE elements where players aren't just killing one another, but trying to secure hard drives from pods that crash down from space. The goal is to secure as many drives as you can without dying and extract them safely. As DICE explains: "scavenge for valuable resources as foes and cataclysmic storms close in."

Hazard Zone is set in all seven All Out Warfare maps so there's tons of areas to find the orbital-drop drives. It's a 32-player game mode with squads of 4, so that's 8x squads of 4. Players explore the maps in squads of four specialists to grab drives, taking on AI enemies as well as other players. The AI is randomized across each match. Destructive map-wide weather effects are also closing in (not unlike Battlefield V's Firestorm) forcing players closer and closer together as the match goes on.

Call of Duty Vanguard's anticipated zombies co-op mode will be revealed today at 11AM, and you can check out the announcement stream here.

Vanguard's new zombies mode is developed by Treyarch, but a lot of official details remain unknown. The devs say to expect favorite modes returning with a twist, and promos confirm dark necromancy, cultism, and the summoning of a titanic four-armed demon monstrosity, There's satanic glyphs and runes and a strange pyramidical dagger that could be used in bloody rituals.

I'm personally hoping we get to fight that demonic demigod pictured in the teasers. How epic would it be to have a live game event where you have to take down a hulking monster-boss that takes up half the screen?

Chinese mega-hit Genshin Impact is the latest internet sensation to grab the attention of Tesla's Elon Musk, which could help spike popularity even more.

Elon Musk could eventually show up in F2P sensation Genshin Impact, possibly as an NPC. So how did we get here? Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo launched a strange fan account Paimon2theMoon back in August. The account is run by Ella Musk, the so-called fictional daughter of Elon Musk. It's obviously a tongue-in-cheek joke, and the account even put up some follower goals according to NoisyPixel:

It looks like Musk is interested in playing along in his own way. The news started circulating on Twitter and Musk got word of the strange ARG campaign, putting out a tweet: "I can't wait to be in Genshin Impact."

Acer has just entered the gaming desk business with the announcement of its new 55-inch Predator gaming desk (PGD110) which will be released in 2022.

The new Acer Predator gaming desk will have enough room for everything you need to game on its 55-inch surface, which comes in two surface variants: easy-to-clean carbon fiber, and then Acer also offers another one with a beautiful custom-designed Predator mouse pad. I really want to see that in person.

There's plenty of room for your gaming PC or laptop, a monitor, and your required peripherals in your gaming mouse and keyboard. But Acer is dialing up the notch here with the Predator gaming desk with a storage rack for controllers or physical copies of games for your PlayStation 5 for example. There's a headphone hook, a cup holder (so good) and cable management on either side of the desk to keep your cables in check.

Any regular Call of Duty: Warzone players will know that cheaters have all but ruined Activision's most successful shooter, but it seems that things are about to change with RICOCHET. What is RICOCHET? Check out this video:

Activision has introduced RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system that is supported by a team of "dedicated professionals focused on fighting unfair play". The developer explains: "RICOCHET Anti-Cheat initiative is a multi-faceted approach to combat cheating, featuring new server-side tools which monitor analytics to identify cheating, enhanced investigation processes to stamp out cheaters, updates to strengthen account security, and more. RICOCHET Anti-Cheat's backend anti-cheat security features will launch alongside Call of Duty®: Vanguard, and later this year with the Pacific update coming to Call of Duty: Warzone".

Perfect! Just as Battlefield 2042 is about to launch, Call of Duty: Warzone -- and soon, Call of Duty: Vanguard, have what should be world-class anti-cheat systems. On top of this, there's a new PC kernel-level driver that was developed internally for the Call of Duty franchise, and will be launching first inside of Call of Duty: Warzone. This new driver will help identify the cheaters, which Activision says will reinforce and strengthen the overall server security. We are to expect RICOCHET to launch on the PC and by extension, console players through cross-play against players on the PC will benefit. It seems that this is only a PC thing for now, with console gamers benefitting through cross-play and PC with the PC gamers having their hacking abilities taken away.

Final Fantasy XIV has become the single-most profitable game in the entire 35 year-old RPG franchise.

There's few franchises that've stood the test of time like Final Fantasy. The IP is a whirlwind galaxy of interconnected spin-offs complemented by anthology releases that set themselves apart--they're all different shades of the same crystal, Square Enix has said. But one game has surpassed all of the re-releases, remakes, and numbered titles: The mighty MMORPG.

In a recent PlayStation Blog post, Square Enix confirms that Final Fantasy XIV is the most profitable game in the franchise. This makes sense considering it's a live game that's been delivering 8 years of paid expansions, subscriptions, and more recently, in-game microtransactions. The MMO has also amassed a huge 24 million players (up 2 million users since April)--it's so popular that some worlds have been maxed out completely.

Rainbow Six Siege is one of the most competitive games out there. It is was also one of the few FPS shooters to include a dedicated ranked mode when it first came out. Now, however, almost every FPS shooter has a ranked mode.

Because of the competitive nature of R6S and the inclusion of a ranked mode, more and more players are trying to get the highest rank possible. Here we have compiled a list of tips that will drastically change the outcome of your matches and help you rank up faster.

Heading into a ranked match without a warmup is one of the most common mistakes that gamers make while trying to rank up. A warmup session can have drastic effects on the outcome of a ranked match. The purpose of a warmup in Esports is not to raise your body temperature; instead, its purpose is to fire up your muscle memory. How you aim and move your mouse is engraved in your brain in the form of muscle memory. Warmup allows you to get in the grove and perform at your best. We recommend that you play one or two matches of the casual mode before getting into a ranked match.

UPDATE: The original GTA trilogy has been removed from PS4 now too.

At the behest of Rockstar Games, Valve has removed and delisted the original Grand Theft Auto 3D trilogy from Steam.

Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas have been removed from Steam's storefront. Rockstar Games warned players that the original GTA trilogy would be pulled from all platforms as it readies the new remastered Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition re-release bundle for its November-December launch.

aOne of gaming's most iconic attacks started off from a simple premise: "You know what would be a cool ass move?"

Mortal Kombat is about to turn 30 years old, and to celebrate, Netherrealm's Ed Boon shared some interesting behind-the-scenes looks at the game's development. Boon posted up a recording of how Scorpion's legendary hook attack (get over here!) was made, and the dev says the move was conjured up on the spot.

"We certainly did a ton of prep for our video shoots, but some ideas came to us while filming. With Scorpion's spear, it started with "You know what would be a cool ass move?". From there you can be a fly on the wall and see us working through the details," Boon said on Twitter.

Bethesda's new Skyrim re-release will break compatibility with plugins and mods, forcing some creators to start from scratch.

Bethesda has a penchant for breaking mod support in its biggest games. It happened in Fallout 4 and Skyrim with Creation Club, and modders also had to adapt their creations for the newer Skyrim Special Edition re-release. Any time Bethesda touches or updates older games it seems like something always breaks. Now it's happening again.

Skyrim Anniversary Edition will sever compatibility with script extenders and native code mods like SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender), which are absolutely critical for some of the best mods to function. Creators are warning gamers to backup their .exe files and launch Steam in offline mode to avoid the update. It's a big, inconvenient mess that will drastically shake-up the mod scene, which is already rife with drama and difficulties with preservation.

Diablo 2 Resurrected's servers are having issues for the fourth day in a row, and Blizzard is still investigating solutions.

Over the past three days, Diablo 2 Resurrected servers have been taken offline for maintenance and emergency fixes. Many gamers have lost items, runewords, and in-game progress as the developers quietly rolled back the servers to a previous state. Now that could happen for the fourth day in a row.

Blizzard recently announced that Diablo 2 Resurrected's investigations are still ongoing, and the team is reacting to issues as they pop up. This means game creation and logins could be interrupted however it looks like Blizzard is doing its best not to take the servers offline again.

Battlefield 2042 started off as a full-on battle royale game, inspired by the likes of Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone according to Battlefield insider Tom Henderson.

In a new tweet, Henderson explains: "In other news, the theory that #Battlefield2042 started as a Battle Royale is true, although I'm not sure how far in development it was changed to a more "traditional" Battlefield. The inspiration from CoD was there, but Apex was a BIG inspiration".

Interesting. So, Battlefield 2042 started out as a battle royale game and was changed into a "traditional" Battlefield game when it was in development, but we don't know when that change happened. It was inspired by Warzone and Apex Legends, which explains some of those battle royale-inspired feels in Battlefield 2042.

Halo Master Chief Collection's new season 8 update drops tomorrow, bringing a bunch of new features...but one of them steals the show.

Custom games are some of the most fun I've ever had in Halo, and the new custom games browser has delivered tons of entertainment in Halo Reach. Now MCC is expanding on that with its new season 8 Mythic update. Both Halo Combat Evolved and Halo 3 custom games are coming with season 8's release, and not only that, but gamers can easily sort through which games they want to play.

The new custom games browser has a filter option that lets players select parameters like game, gametype, maps, and more. The idea here is to make it easier for you to find which games you want to play when you want to play them. Right now the custom games browser is finicky and awkward, often refreshing and displaying wrong playercounts and availability.

DICE will reveal BF2042's new mysterious Hazard Zone mode on Thursday, October 14 at 11AM EST.

It's finally happening. After months of waiting, DICE will formally reveal Battlefield 2042's new Hazard Zone mode this Thursday. While no gameplay has been shown so far, we do have quite a bit of info on Hazard Zone. According to DICE, the mode is a unique spin on the battle royale gametype complete with squad-based mechanics and high-stakes strategy.

In the August 2021 issue of Play magazine, DICE says that Hazard Zone will "move the battle royale concept on in a way only Battlefield can."

YouTuber RandomGaminginHD answers a simple question: How does Far Cry 6 run on integrated graphics? The answer might surprise you.

Today's modern games require serious high-end hardware for stellar performance. But what about the other end of the spectrum? How do today's demanding titles run on builds below minimum specs like, say, on iGPUs? Take Far Cry 6, for example. The game actually runs at 30FPS+ on an entry-level dual-core AMD Athlon 3000G APU with AMD FidelityFX FSR doing some serious heavy lifting.

According to YouTuber RandomGaminginHD, the Athlon 3000G with its integrated Vega 3 graphics can hit around 35FPS with resolution set to 1280x720 and all settings cranked down the their lowest levels. FSR performance mode is a must to achieve 30FPS+ but don't expect the visuals to look great--FSR takes a big chunk out of on-screen fidelity.

Hitman 3's wild success has driven IO Interactive's yearly earnings to an all-time new high.

IO Interactive's FY21 revenues skyrocketed by 136% thanks to Hitman 3's sales. The Danish independent games developer recorded 582.586 million DDK (nearly $78 million based on current exchange rates) in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2021, coupled with 270 million DDK (roughly $42 million) in profits. This is a new all-time high for the small studio.

IO says this huge earnings spike was driven by Hitman 3's sales, and the report mentions the game earned 300% of its sales budget since release.

The new Nintendo Switch OLED dock is capable of native 4K video output, but the console is powerful enough for 4K gaming just yet.

The new Nintendo Switch OLED dock comes with a special chip that enables native 4K 60Hz video signal output. The Realtek RTD2172N was found on the dock's circuit board, and it's a USB-C to HDMI 2.0 IC adapter capable of 4K 60Hz video signal output. The console's signature "switch" feature is enabled by such an adapter, which converts DisplayPort 1.4 video output from the USB-C port at the bottom of the Switch into HDMI video output that is displayed on a TV.

It is worth mentioning that this Realtek adapter has nothing to do with the new STM32F070 RBT6 chip recently discovered on the Switch OLED dock's board, which features a built-in ARM Cortex-0 CPU. The Realtek chip is what enables 4K output but there is no evidence of a built-in upscaling solution (that will be handled by the display and any other tech within the actual Switch itself).

Nintendo's new Switch OLED dock has an embedded ARM microprocessor but it does not enable 4K upscaling.

As we predicted, the Switch OLED's dock features extra chips that aren't in the base 2017 and 2019 remissions. According to recent teardowns, the dock's board utilizes an STM32F070 RBT6 chip, a microcontroller with up to 128kb of flash storage, 16kb of SRAM, and a 32-bit CPU that operates at 48MHz. In fact, the IC uses an ARM Cortex-M0 CPU, a low-cost and power-efficient chip that's used for more simple data processing and I/O control tasks. It's not used for video output or 4K upscaling--that kind of technology is handled by the more advanced Cortex A-series, which helps power higher-end devices like the upscalers in premium 4K UHDTV sets.

Our research shows the Cortex-M0 CPU is likely utilized for the dock's new ethernet connectivity as well as low-powered state functions--e.g. being able to download games via ethernet while the Switch is docked and turned off. It is used for ultra-low power applications and simple I/O control tasks, and features the smallest instruction set of all M-series cores with 56 instructions.