Gaming - Page 467

The latest update for Marvel's Avengers displays your IP on your screen while connected to online servers. Yes, really.

Don't stream Marvel's Avengers on Twitch or YouTube any time soon. The new Patch 1.8.0 update adds a bunch of features to the game: a Cosmic Cube event and sector, a bunch of fixes, and potentially doxxing players by showing sensitive personal internet network data on their screen. For some astronomically bewildering reason, the game can show your IP address on the screen as you play. This is a big deal because in the right hands, IP addresses can be manipulated to seriously ruin your day with DDoS spam or even find your location.

Mention of the glitch was first spotted on Twitter and then confirmed by Forbes' Paul Tassi. Crystal Dynamics has acknowledged the issue and calls it "floating text strings." If you see them, don't stream, the devs say.

Tencent has bought the majority of shares in Yager Development, the studio behind games like Spec Ops: The Line, German website Games Economy reveals.

Tencent has grabbed the reins of another indie studio. This time it's German game dev Yager, a team responsible for games like Spec Ops: The Line and an Eve Online-esque shooter called Dreadnought. Yager is currently working on two titles: An online live game calledThe Cycle, which has been released but will expand with content and is a big reason behind Tencent's acquisition, and another unannounced project. Tencent typically invests in studios creating games-as-a-service titles that are monetized over time and kick back consistent revenues--like, say, Riot Games' League of Legends or Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile.

Backed with Tencent's billions, Yager now has a lot more freedom to chase its passions and create projects it wants to make. Yager boss Timo Ullmann says he wishes he teamed up with Tencent sooner, especially in the 2018-2019 periods when Yager's fate was more uncertain, but the partnership will open up new doors for the studio.

Quake, one of the most formative FPS games on PC, is now 25 years old, and id's John Romero takes a look back at the shooter's development.

Like Doom, Quake has had a transformative effect on the games industry. It had major breakthroughs like a fully-fledged console command environment, TCP/IP multiplayer, its own scripting language that id actually released to fans and a much more advanced control scheme with techniques like strafe jumping. The gory atmosphere was gritty and brutal, and the industrial Nine Inch Nails soundtrack really added a visceral flavor to everything.

On Twitter, id Software co-founder John Romero briefly talked about what it was like to make Quake.

Starfield's new trailer was created entirely in-engine and confirms big upgrades from Bethesda's new Creation Engine iteration.

According to Senior Lighting Artist Keith Beltramini, the recent Starfield E3 2021 reveal footage wasn't pre-rendered, but was entirely in-engine. This shows what the new Creation Engine 2 overhaul can do on PC and the Xbox Series X/S.

"I created the lighting for the 2021 teaser trailer of Starfield. Using our own Creation Engine 2, we created this entirely in game without any cinematic tools,"Beltramini said on his website.

Quake was influential on the entire gaming market, and while the original game came out 25 years ago now... a Quake reboot is reportedly in development.

The new Quake reboot is rumored to have a female protagonist, which would be a big change for the franchise. It was rumored that during the development of DOOM Eternal that id Software was going to use a female lead character, but now the Ranger from Quake looks to be female.

The news is coming from the latest Xbox Era podcast, where Shpeshal Nick says that there is a Quake reboot in development, and that MachineGames is "helping out" id Software. The new Quake reboot would offer both single-player and multiplayer.

Square Enix's latest financials hint at big projects releasing in its fiscal year ending March 2023.

In its recent FY2021 earnings report, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda outlined an ambitious plan for company earnings. Square Enix expects to make up to 500 billion yen in sales by March 2024. A big part of this growth will be driven by a slate of games releasing in the FY2023 period.

Square Enix's content production account, which funds games development, is bigger than ever before. By March 2021, the account swelled to 78.1 billion yen. This clearly indicates a slew of big games are in development; as the spending grows, so too does the number of games or the scope of the projects therein. Square Enix has announced projects like Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, and Dragon Quest XII.

Square Enix tells shareholders that one game's sales miss won't affect other titles that're in development.

While scouting Square Enix's FY2021 earnings report I noticed something interesting. Company President Yosuke Matsuda recently discussed write-downs and assuaged investors that one game underperforming in sales doesn't hurt Square Enix's production account.

Here's the gist: Square Enix has a content production account that's kind of like a big piggy bank that stores all the money used for game development. This account expands as needed; when the teams need more money for a game, Square Enix funnels more cash into the account.

Cyber Group Studios, the company behind shows like the 1990s beloved ReBoot series, is producing a new animated series based on Final Fantasy IX.

Square Enix is teaming up with French TV giant Cyber Group Studios to make a new Final Fantasy IX animated show, sources tell Kidscreen. The show is being made for 8-13 year-olds and probably won't have adult themes like Vivi's rather depressing backstory and existential crises--expect more swashbuckling heroism set in a colorful fantasy world.

Cyber Group Studios is set to produce and distribute the show. Square Enix hasn't mentioned anything about a possible Final Fantasy TV show, however it's possible the deal was coordinated by Mitsuko Okamoto, one of Square Enix's new directors that has a background in television.

Every so often gamers ask: "What happened to Dead Space?" Now there might be an answer. It looks like the IP could be coming back to life.

Rumor has it that EA Motive is leading a revival of an established Electronic Arts IP, and there's reason to believe it's Dead Space. The tip comes from GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb, who mentioned it during a recent podcast. The info was later corroborated by Eurogamer, however EA hasn't announced anything just yet. The publisher is apparently saving that for the EA Play event on July 22.

EA Motive is mostly known for its excellent vehicular prowess and created the ship combat in Star Wars Battlefront II, and more recently it made a big splash with Star Wars Squadrons. A revival of Dead Space would be a departure for Motive.

Cyberpunk 2077 is now back on the PlayStation Store and can be purchased, but Sony warns gamers to expect performance issues.

Today CD Projekt's long digital PS4 drought is over. Cyberpunk 2077 is now re-listed on gaming's biggest console storefront after being blocked for six months. The game has been discounted from its $59.99 MSRP down to $49.99, but it's currently on sale for $19.99 at Best Buy.

Although CD Projekt rolled out a new v1.23 patch just days ago, both Sony and the developer warn the game still isn't completely fixed and players will still experience some performance issues. The game is only now fixed enough for Sony's liking but it still plays best on PS4 Pro and PlayStation 5 due to each console's higher horsepower--performance on the base 2013 PS4 is still expected to be impacted.

In a recent interview with Gamespot, Bethesda exec Pete Hines made a good point; Starfield's exclusivity will remove barriers and roadblocks to the game's development.

Starfield's exclusivity to Xbox Series X/S and PC isn't just good for business, it's also good for developers. Removing the need for PS5 optimization will the game development process more efficient by removing another platform environment. Game devs won't have to iterate, execute, test, and optimize for PlayStation 5 consoles. While the Series X/S and PS5 are similar on paper and both use the x86 architectures, they are still different enough to cause platform-specific headaches for game makers.

Bethesda's management agrees. Pete Hines says this exclusivity decision is a good thing for Starfield's development team.

A new Wolfenstein game is likely to be MachineGames' next project, Bethesda Pete Hines hints.

MachineGames' new Indiana Jones game won't release for a long time. How long? Maybe a few years. The project is in "very, very, very early development," Bethesda's Pete Hines told Gamespot.

This makes sense. MachineGames is creating a new all-original story for the Indiana Jones game, and they're also working with Lucasfilm, who is notorious for making game adaptions quite difficult due to stringent approval processes.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been spotted in code from the Epic Games Store, hinting at a possible exclusivity deal with the platform.

References to both Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Alan Wake Remastered were recently uncovered on Epic Games Store database. This could mean one of two things: Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to both the Epic Games Store and Steam, or the more likely scenario that Epic has paid for an exclusivity deal to get FF7R first on EGS.

The references have since been changed--Final Fantasy 7 Remake is now listed as Pineapple QA_OLD and Alan Wake is called Heron Staging.

New comments from Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser makes us think the Switch Pro may not deliver true dazzling next-gen performance.

Nintendo is reportedly making a new Switch model that's capable of outputting a 4K video signal. Bloomberg reports the upgraded Switch, dubbed Switch Pro, will feature a new chip allowing 4K gaming. We know the console will also feature a new dock because the existing dock's video switcher can't output 4K video. The new Switch is also expected to have a larger 7-inch OLED panel.

The Switch Pro's 4K capabilities have triggered mass speculation. The consensus is that the Switch will use NVIDIA's DLSS tech to upscale native images for 4K TVs. This would require a new chip revision because DLSS requires NVIDIA's newer Tensor cores to operate.

4A Games will use what it learned with Metro Exodus as a template for future next-gen games.

Metro Exodus' next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X upgrades were a test run for 4A's next console games. The team used these upgrades as an opportunity to experiment with new features like ray-tracing and see how far the consoles could be pushed. As you can see in videos or by playing Metro Exodus on next-gen consoles, the results were pretty favorable.

In a recent blog post, 4A Games talks about the game's enhancements on a more in-depth level and discusses the processes that played a critical part, including upsampling, geometry improvements, and tweaks to its ray-tracing systems and denoising effects.

Sony wants more games to support cross-play with PlayStation 4 consoles but are publishers willing to pay the extra tax?

After years of resistance, Sony had a change of heart and is finally ready to support cross-play. The truth is Sony has a vested interest in cross-play on a business level--cross-play increases player counts, which leads to more engagement and monetization. There's an extra layer of earnings tacked on to cross-play, though.

Sony's new cross-play commission is a big reason why it feels comfortable with cross-play. Sony has a very particular policy regarding cross-play that requires publishers to compensate the company to enable the feature. Epic had to pay Sony for cross-play as well as the non-negotiable 30% cut that it has to pay for all Fortnite revenues. Sony has earned over $1.82 billion from Fortnite since 2017, court documents reveal.

Sony filed a trademark for PlayStation Experience in June 2021, possibly hinting at an upcoming showcase full of updates.

Xbox completely dominated E3 2021 with a slew of announcements. Nintendo fired back, but in its own way, revealed games like Warioware Get it Together, Metroid Dread, and a tentative Breath of the Wild 2 release window. Now it's Sony's turn, and everyone wants to know when PlayStation will deliver its own salvo.

Rumor has it Sony is planning an event for July 8, but Sony hasn't announced anything yet. A new PlayStation Experience trademark filing might support this claim. The document was filed on June 11 and is classified as "organizing, promoting, and conducting exhibitions and conferences for commercial purposes"under the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Battlefield 2042 hype is on fire right now and gamers are returning to the next best thing to get their fix: Battlefield 4.

Battlefield 4 servers are getting slammed right now. Everyone wants to play Battlefield 2042--the crazy 128-player chaos looks like a blast, ditto with the new levels, operators, and storm systems--and fans are flocking to the next best thing. Gamers are jumping back into Battlefield 4 to experience modern FPS carnage to relive memories and prepare for the all-out warfare coming with BF2042.

So many people are playing Battlefield 4 that EA had to increase the game's server capacity to make sure everyone could find a match. BF4 is the closest thing to BF2042 as the most recent games, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V, take place in World War I and World War II respectively. So if you're firing Battlefield 4 back up, rest assured that EA has you covered with manageable queue times.

The games industry is slowly moving to next-gen consoles, and here's how publishers are helping--and why they're not ready to give up on current-gen hardware just yet.

Publishers are starting to shift towards next-gen consoles in a very careful and calculated way. There's multiple parts of this strategy that include:

These parts are actually quite intertwined with one another. Exclusive performance and exclusive features are ways to help justify a price hike to $69.99, which represents the first frontline price jump in over a decade. The new price will help boost sales revenues, which will be re-invested into R&D advancements that in turn help power new optimizations and features that push each console even farther.

Outriders is outperforming Square Enix's expectations and the company is satisfied with the game's reception on Game Pass.

Releasing a new IP like Outriders on a service like Game Pass could be a risky gamble. Fortunately for Square Enix, the bet paid off. Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda says digital sales for Outriders have skyrocketed and player counts are beyond the publisher's expectations--Game Pass isn't the only factor, though, and the game's Steam playerbase was huge at launch. In short, Outriders is a success.

"While there were slight issues with bugs and the like on launch, we believe it has gotten off to a good start as a new IP. In addition, we have been pleasantly surprised as the digital sales ratio for the title have been very high, and the number of active users has also beaten our expectations. We believe that our decision to make Outriders available with Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass as soon as the title launched also worked in our favor to build an installed base for the game," Matsuda said in a Q&A session with investors.