Gaming - Page 460

Nexus Mods today announced big changes to its premium pricing tiers, confirming the option to buy lifetime memberships will be discontinued next month.

Nexus Mods will remove the option to buy lifetime premium memberships starting August 3. The popular mod-hosting site will instead revert to a standard monthly/yearly subscription model in August as it prepares for the biggest site overhaul in history--a move that will allow premium users to download whole lists of mods with a single click.

Another day, another game with NVIDIA's black magik DLSS technology gracing it offering huge performance increases across the board. Today, F1 2021 is taking DLSS for a lap around the race track.

F1 2021's new update includes support for NVIDIA DLSS technology, which on the flagship GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will offer 90FPS+ at 4K with ray tracing enabled, max graphics settings and DLSS set to "Performance Mode". But the GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, GeForce RTX 3080, GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, and GeForce RTX 3090 can all crank 4K 60FPS+ with DLSS enabled in F1 2021.

NVIDIA also has some F1 2021 gameplay that compares the game with DLSS enabled and disabled, with ray tracing support on the PC and next-gen consoles. There's ray-traced reflections and shadows that will be used in cutscenes, replays, Photo Mode, and more.

Bloomberg estimates that Nintendo could make a $40 profit on every Switch OLED sold, and Nintendo steps in to deny the claims.

Nintendo sells every Switch console at a profit, and the new Switch OLED, which retails for $50 more than the base Switch, will be no different. But how much profit will Nintendo make on each new premium Switch? Bloomberg spoke to hardware manufacturers and supply line operators for a rough estimate.

The findings were that the Switch OLED cost Nintendo roughly $10 more to make than existing models including the new rigid OLED panel displays, doubled NAND flash storage, and dock revisions. If accurate, this would mean Nintendo makes a $40 profit on every unit sold.

Ubisoft's new free-to-play Tom Clancy's xDefiant is a hero shooter with heavy emphasis on gunplay.

Today Ubisoft San Francisco announced xDefiant, a new free-to-play 6vs6 arena shooter with playable characters straight Tom Clancy IPs like Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division. xDefiant is described as "fast-paced firefights meets punk rock mosh pit" with a strong emphasis on gunplay, similar to Riot's competitive shooter Valorant.

xDefiant has different factions lifted right out of Ubisoft's previous games, including the Wolves from Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the Cleaners and Outcasts from The Division, and Splinter Cell's elite Echelon operatives. Each faction has their own unique abilities--the Echelon can see through walls using special goggles, for example, and the Outcasts can pop up a proximity heal. The devs say xDefiant will have new characters not found in other games.

Valve designed the Steam Deck from the ground up to support suspend and resume, allowing for convenient on-the-go play.

Quick and easy access is one of the biggest advantages of mobile gaming. It's incredibly important that consumers can jump right into a game from a click of a button without waiting. Like Nintendo with its Switch, Valve designed its new Steam Deck handheld-PC hybrid with this seamless access in mind. Only Valve put a dedicated suspend/resume button right on the Steam Deck--a feature that was planned from the get-go.

"We all agreed early on that we needed that feature, that it would be a core part of how people experience the device. As we've seen, many other mobile platforms, how people use their phones...that's what they're used to. Press the button and everything comes back up the way they left it," Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais said in an IGN interview.

The new Switch OLED disappointed many, but Nintendo R&D is experimenting with deep learning. Does that mean a DLSS-powered Switch 4K will happen after all?

Note: This is a sizable article filled with both facts and speculation. The facts are regarding Nintendo's R&D spending habits, with breakdowns of DLSS and NVIDIA's mobile Tegra chips. The speculation is which chip the theoretical upgraded Switch could use and why.

While scouting Nintendo's recent 2021 Annual Report, I noticed something interesting: The company specifically mentions deep learning in its R&D activities. References to deep learning are also found in the 2020 report, confirming Nintendo has been investigating and experimenting with deep learning since as early as April 2019. Deep learning is not mentioned in any other annual report from Nintendo, and the company spend more on R&D in FY2021 than it has in any other period in its history.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming soon to Xbox Series X/S hardware, and it'll require a hefty install size in order to play.

The standard edition Microsoft Flight Simulator will require at least 97.2GB of free space on Xbox Series X/S consoles, which is roughly 12% of the total 802GB of available SSD storage. This bit of info was found via the pre-install section of the game's general purchase page.

What's more interesting is the on-console Microsoft Store listing says the game has an approximate size of 147.6GB, This size was listed for all versions of the game--standard, deluxe, premium deluxe. While this might sound like a lot, remember that over 2,5 petabytes of map data gets streamed to Flight Sim players via Azure servers. Flight Sim is also taking advantage of the Series X/S's machine learning inference capabilities.

A massive crypto farm in Vinnitsa, Ukraine was seized by government officials alongside 3800 PlayStation 4 Pro consoles. Despite popular belief, these consoles weren't actually used to mine cryptocurrency.

Last week, the Security Service of Ukraine busted a crypto farm and seized a massive stockpile of tech that included over 500 graphics cards, 50 CPUs, and a whopping 3800 PS4 Pros. Erroneous reports assumed the PS4s were somehow being used for crypto farming--which is something that hasn't really been done before.

The reality is the miners weren't using the consoles for crypto. According to new reports from European news site Delo, the miners were using the PS4s to make money off of FIFA. The PS4 Pros were a bot farm, complete with special AI that simulated actual player behaviors, playstyles, and actions. These bots basically racked up in-game coins and leveled up accounts, which were then sold on an underground market for a profit.

Skate 4 developers at Full Circle confirm the game won't be at EA Play Live on July 22, but fans will get some sort of teaser tomorrow.

With IPs like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Star Wars, and now Skate missing the show, EA Play Live will be dominated by Battlefield 2042, FIFA 22, and Madden 22. The reality is Full Circle isn't yet ready to show off Skate 4 in a big way...but that doesn't mean they can't give us "a little something".

"We know many of you were hoping to see more from us this week, but we're not ready for prime time just yet and we won't be part of the EA Play Live show on Thursday," the developer announced. The team says they don't "want to blow it" and they understand how much hype has gone into Skate 4, so they need more time to make something really dazzling.

Anyone with a Steam account can now reserve a Steam Deck handheld-PC hybrid, Valve confirms.

Steam Decks can now be reserved by anyone, Valve says, but the company has pushed back fulfillments to match this widespread availability. Before now Steam Deck reservations were somewhat restricted and couldn't be made by users with new Steam accounts.

Valve's new Steam Deck has garnered a lot of interest and buzz. It's a fully-fledged PC made into a portable handheld, complete with full compatibility with Steam games via SteamOS. A lot of people want one, and luckily Valve has a plan to ensure there isn't a free-for-all bot frenzy.

Ubisoft plans to reveal a new Tom Clancy multiplayer FPS tomorrow, and it's likely the leaked BattleCat game.

Ubisoft announces that it will show off a new Tom Clancy shooter tomorrow, July 19 at 2PM EST. The game is believed to be the leaked BattleCat hero shooter, which was said to be free-to-play on consoles, PC, and streaming platforms complete with crossovers across Ubisoft's Tom Clancy franchises. Gamers should expect characters, weapons, and possibly even maps from big mainline IPs like Splinter Cell, The Division, and Ghost Recon.

The teaser is filled with bright colors, and irreverent, punkish aesthetics not unlike Watch Dogs 2. This could suggest a kind of chaotic mashup of games, and new gameplay footage promos clearly show character abilities befit of a hero shooter. One of the characters has a cloak ability and a green watch, which could match up with previous reports of Splinter Cell's Echelon being featured in the FPS game.

Ubisoft's new 3-player PVE shooter Rainbow Six Extraction has been delayed again to January 2022, but it won't miss the company's fiscal year timeline.

Squad-based co-op shooter Rainbow Six Extraction has been pushed back again so that developers can polish, iterate, and create the best experience possible. "We are embracing the opportunity to take additional time to bring this vision to life in the way it deserves in January 2022. We are confident this will ensure Rainbow Six Extraction is the immersive, cooperative, and thrilling experience we set out to create, and the one you aspire to play," Ubisoft said in a statement.

The delay makes sense. The holiday Q4 2021 period (October - December) is extremely congested, especially for shooters: There's Halo Infinite, Call of Duty Vanguard, Battlefield 2042, and even Ubisoft's own Far Cry 6 all releasing in the period.

Valve wants to ensure its new PC-handheld Steam Deck hybrid has full games parity with the PC client at launch.

The new Steam Deck has a powerful selling point: allowing consumers to take their full Steam games library on-the-go and pick up right where they left off. The Steam Deck also has the added bonus of being a fully-fledged PC that can be plugged into a monitor or TV for dedicated play. There's just one potential issue with compatibility as the Steam Deck uses Linux, not Windows.

The Steam Deck runs Valve's own proprietary SteamOS operating system, which is based on Linux. The new SteamOS 3.0 uses a solution called Proton to get Windows-based games up and running without any extra work from developers. The idea is to provide seamlessly compatibility to ensure games natively run on both Windows and SteamOS.

Valve has been quietly adjusting Steam Deck pre-order availability as part of its strategic staggered rollout.

Instead of a huge free-for-all spree where bots dominate pre-orders, Valve has a multi-tiered plan with Steam Deck reservations. The idea is to start fulfilling pre-orders on a first-come, first-served basis. That means consumers who made their reservations early will also get their Steam Decks earlier than those who reserve today.

Reservations for the system were first held a day ago with a targeted December 2021 shipment date. Now, however, the models have been pushed back as far as Q3 2022. Valve plans to start shipping Steam Decks in waves rather than all at once.

Hackers and dupers are currently disrupting Fallout 76's economy, and that's on top of big server issues.

Fallout 76 players are reporting big issues with the state of the game. Right now the online-only Fallout is getting hit on two levels:

The crashes are widespread and affect players across the board, from users with lower and higher-end internet connections.

The new Steam Deck uses a socketed M.2 2230 SSD that apparently isn't soldered to the motherboard, Valve confirms.

The Steam Deck's internal SSDs may be replaceable after all. In a recent email, Valve's Gabe Newell confirmed the Steam Deck uses a smaller M.2 2230 SSD, which is the same form form factor as the custom WD SN530 SSD used both in the Xbox Series X's internal storage and the storage expansion card's CFExpress casing.

Valve has now confirmed the Steam Deck's M.2 2230 SSD by officially updating the system's specifications. According to Valve, every Steam Deck has an M.2 slot, but the storage in the 256GB and 512GB NVMe versions aren't meant to be replaced by users. "All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)," the updated specs page reads.

Massive demand and interest has emboldened scalpers to hike secondhand sales of Valve's new Steam Deck.

Pre-orders for Valve's new Steam Deck handheld-PC console went live today, and predictably, securing an order is pretty tough. Valve is doing a $5 reservation to gauge how many units they need to produce to meet initial shipments in December 2021 and throughout 2022. It's been a frustrating process so far.

Consumers who can't seem to secure a reservation pre-order or don't want to mess around with long queues have another option: Buy from a scalper. eBay listings have popped up commanding up to $5,000 price tags for the 512GB NVMe SSD Steam Decks. These auctions are extra tricky because no one has actually pre-ordered a Steam Deck yet--they've just bought a reservation, or a chance to fully pre-order the Steam Deck, for $5.

Today EA confirmed it will share its plans for new Star Wars games sometime next year.

EA clarifies that Star Wars won't be a part of the upcoming EA Play Live event on July 22. Instead the publisher will announce its "vision for the galaxy far, far away" sometime in 2022. This likely refers to multiple game reveals across EA's internal studios and not just one singular game.

EA is currently working on multiple new games, including Respawn's sequel to Jedi Fallen Order. In January, when Ubisoft announced its own Star Wars game, Lucasfilm also said that a "number of projects" were in development at EA.

id Software might announced its new FPS game at Quakecon 2021.

Today Bethesda outlined what to expect from Quakecon 2021 (August 19-21). The publisher says we can expect "livestreams featuring updates on existing and upcoming games," which could hint at a game reveal.

Recent id Software job listings mention a new FPS exclusively for next-gen consoles and PC, possibly aligning with the recent Quake reboot rumors.

Introducing the Steamdeck, a Valve handheld that plays PC games.

Today Valve announced the Steamdeck, a $399 handheld specced to play Steam games. The Steamdeck is marketed as an all-in-one PC handheld and features an AMD mobile APU with a 4-core Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2 GPU with 8 CUs alongside 16GB of fifth-generation LPDDR5 RAM, up to 512GB NVMe internal storage, and a 7-inch 1280 x 800 resolution display at 60Hz (full specs below).

"We partnered with AMD to create Steam Deck's custom APU, optimized for handheld gaming. It is a Zen 2 + RDNA 2 powerhouse, delivering more than enough performance to run the latest AAA games in a very efficient power envelope,"Valve says.