Gaming - Page 475

Battlefield leaker Tom Henderson has tweeted that the Battlefield Alpha "should be" dropping in July, with the announcement of the Alpha to take place during EA Play.

EA Play takes place a month after E3 2021, with EA Play kicking off on July 22 -- but Henderson notes that it could be an "Oh and the Battlefield Alpha is available to play right now" type of deal during the event. But my biggest question is, if Battlefield is in such good shape... this is awfully late for an Alpha of the game.

Another thing is that EA said in a blog post back in March, close to a full 3 months ago now, that Battlefield 6 was "tracking towards the franchise's earliest Alpha". EA Chief Studios Office Laura Miele said all the right buzzwords at the time, adding: "the gameplay is at an unprecedented scale, and we are taking full advantage of the technology in the next-gen consoles.

Ubisoft's Far Cry 6 development team will answer community questions in a new Reddit AmA on Tuesday, June 1 at 3PM EST.

The Far Cry 6 reveal was plain awesome, and the game looks like a perfect whirlwind storm of FPS chaos, political revolution and guerrilla warfare, and next-gen gameplay. Everything we've seen so far looks pretty good--Guapo the pet gator, Chorizo the wheely-boy, all the makeshift weapons, the new Supremos backpacks that let you shoot mortar rockets from a rucksack, tons of vehicles (many of which have guns).

We still have questions. Lots of questions. What's up with monetization? Is there tons of crafting? What about co-op or PVP? How big is Yara? Three of Far Cry 6's top developers are jumping in answer your questions.

Ubisoft has hired machine learning specialist Guillemette Picard as VP of Product Technology, clearly signaling a further push into new experimental technologies.

Right now most of gaming's biggest players are trying new things like machine learning, AI, and VR as tools to create new games. Sony's AI division has teamed up with first-party studios to push ML on the PS5, and both EA and Ubisoft have been experimenting with nascent technologies for projects. EA has its SeeD division, and Ubisoft has already rolled out prototypes of blockchain-based video games.

Now the French games-maker is doubling-down on this new tech. Ubisoft recently hired seasoned AI executive Guillemette Picard to help lead its product technology group and create new kinds of gaming experiences.

Flying Wild Hog is currently working on four new games including the ultra-chaotic Shadow Warrior 3.

Flying Wild Hog has been pretty busy lately. The studio was recently acquired by Embracer Group's Deep Silver label and has expanded its team to 300 developers to help work on a new slate of games. The team is currently working on four games, and we've heard mention of three of them so far.

"Flying Wild Hog have an exciting project pipeline with four titles that will be released starting from FY 21/22," reads Embracer's most recent Q4 earnings report.

Deep Silver's parent company Koch Media is holding its own E3-timed showcase on Friday, June 11 at 12PM PST/ 3PM EST.

Get ready, Dead Island and Saints Row fans. Deep Silver should finally reveal Dead Island 2 gameplay and/or Saints Row V at the upcoming Koch Prime Time stream on June 11. Deep Silver's dev teams have been working both games for a long time now, and it's possible one of them could release in 2021-2022 based on previous executive comments.

In a recent presentation, Koch Media said it expects "notable organic growth expected in Games segments driven by significant product releases in 2021 and beyond."

The PlayStation 5 is expected to turn a profit after next month, less than a year into the console's lifecycle.

In a recent investor's meeting, Sony Interactive Entertainment says the PS5 standard edition is expected to break even in Fiscal Year 2021. Sony has focused strongly on console production costs and cut corners where it can (as per Mark Cerny, the PS5's limited SSD storage is a result of cost control) securing big multi-million wholesale part deals in the process.

"Another area that we focused on was our console economics. I am pleased to say that the PlayStation 5 standard edition will break even from next month's production. And from then on, we project that it will become increasing profitable," Ryan said.

The PlayStation 4 will be incredibly important to Sony over the next few years, and the current-gen console is expected to prop up the PlayStation brand through the transition to PS5.

Sony expects big things from the PlayStation 5. The console is expected to beat the PS4's lifetime sales and Sony is preparing the largest-ever shipment of consoles for next fiscal year. However, the PS4's mighty 116.4 million install base will continue being a tentpole for PlayStation earnings from now through 2023.

In a recent investor's meeting, Sony Interactive President Jim Ryan details just how important the PS4 is to Sony's continued success. Sony expects the PS4 to have the largest tail of any PlayStation console, and the PS4 will deliver a whopping 70% of PS Store spending in FY2022. This is the same year Sony will release a record-breaking 14.8 million+ PS5s onto the market.

Far Cry 6 will bring guerrilla chaos to cross-gen consoles and PC this October, Ubisoft today announced.

Ubisoft just rolled out the first gameplay footage for Far Cry 6, and it looks awesome. Combat is chaotic with a bunch of makeshift weapons cobbled together--you use everything, including an old motorcycle motor in a chain gun, a sardine tin to hold up a laser pointer for your rifle, or even a CD-shooting gun called the Discos Locos and the El Tostador flamethrower made out of a muffler and a propane tank.

The gameplay look decidedly next-gen, and Ubisoft is going all out with the vehicle selection too. Gamers can mount machine guns on the top of sports cars, add nitrous to old Cadillacs, steal tanks from the enemy Yaran forces, fly planes, zoom around on gun-mounted boats, ride ATVs in the higher areas--you name, it Far Cry 6 has it.

Nintendo is reportedly planning a new upgraded Switch model capable of 4K output, an OLED panel, and a more powerful internal SoC. New details also suggest the system will feature an enhanced dock.

Sources say Nintendo is poised to reveal its new Switch Pro sometime before E3 2021 and release the device in the September-October period. Previous info says the new handheld-console hybrid would feature new NVIDIA chips to allow 4K output, and a 7-inch OLED panel with improved bezels. We also know the new Switch will need an upgraded dock as the current model's converter chip only supports 1080p.

New reports say the Switch Pro's dock will be redesigned to support an ethernet port and feature three USB 3.0 ports this time. This reminds me of the old Supplemental Computing Device patents made in 2016, and aligns with our predictions of an upgraded dock being a key component in a more powerful Switch.

The leaked Battlefield trailer isn't what will be shown in June. DICE is preparing a different reveal trailer for the game, sources tell Eurogamer.

A new clip for Battlefield 6 has leaked online, showing scene-for-scene what leaker Tom Henderson has posted about over the last few weeks--a remote island, a rocket launch gone wrong, jet combat, massive explosions.

This isn't the actual reveal trailer, however, but a clip that DICE was using internally for developer's eyes only. Fans had suspected that DICE was changing the Battlefield trailer because of the recent leaks, but this isn't the case as the leaked footage was never the trailer to begin with.

Guerrilla Games just revealed some awesome new features about its upcoming cross-gen sequel.

Sony and Guerrilla just showcased Horizon Forbidden West gameplay footage running directly on a PlayStation 5, and the game looks incredible. The world is vibrant, bright and tropical, combat is fluid and chaotic, and the facial animations are top-notch. What really caught my eye was the new toys that Aloy can use in battle.

Horizon Forbidden West features a bunch of major new additions that add a new dimension to traversal and combat. Aloy now has a Shield Glider that she can use to fly around the map, lifting the glider straight out of open-world Zelda games.

Sony is currently gearing up to make the PlayStation 5 its biggest console of all time.

In a recent IR Day meeting, Sony Interactive Entertainment President Jim Ryan confirms that the group's spending on game development will increase throughout the PS5's lifecycle.

"We have a very vigorous culture at SIE with regards to control of SG&A (Selling, General and Administrative Expense). One big part of our strategy is to invest in the process of game development. You will certainly see increases in the amount of money we spend in making games at our PlayStation studios," Ryan said.

Far Cry 6 introduces Supremo backpacks, new weapons designed to wipe out tanks, groups of enemies, and ignite everything around you.

Back in June 2020, Ubisoft released a strange Far Cry 6 screenshot that sparked my curiosity. Is that a jetpack? Can we fly around Far Cry 6? Not really, but you can use a jetpack. The older screenshot showed one of the various backpacks that players can make and equip in the game, and now Ubisoft has shown them off.

The Supremos backpacks are basically finishers that are akin to special moves in a beat-em-up. Don't expect to use these all the time and they might require some hefty resources to trigger. Sadly it looks like the jetpack can't actually lift you up and let you fly around and is more for AoE damage than anything else. If you want to fly you'll have to use an airplane.

Techland further details Dying Light 2's City Alignment System which sees the in-game world change and react based on your choices.

A big selling point of Dying Light 2 is immersion and global reactivity. As the survivor Aiden, players have free choice in what they do and who they help. Gamers will have to team up with factions and form and maintain alliances as they journey across Villedor.

The new City Alignment System allows players to change the city's environment. The city is broken up into various zones with small groups of factions, and each safe zone is like its own community. Frist players must restore power and water to an area to make it livable, and once that's done, they can choose who lives there.

Last night Square Enix announced Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate, and now the publisher reveals more details on the project.

Dragon Quest XII is being developed on the new Unreal Engine 5 for next-gen consoles. Dragon Quest XII will make some big changes, including a darker and more adult world, as well as a new combat command system. Dragon Quest master Yuji Horii says the team has a prototype in development and the entire game's story has been written out, but there's a lot of work to do for UE5 optimizations and creation.

Horii says Dragon Quest XII will "take some time to complete."

Nintendo plans to release its new upgraded Switch Pro upgraded model between September and October, sources tell Bloomberg.

The new 4K-ready Switch may be revealed before E3 2021, sources tell Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki, complete with a showcase of new enhanced games running on the hardware. The new Switch is said to retain all the major features of the existing Switch, complete with transforming handheld-console form factors with a dock, but major upgrades include a 720p OLED display and video output to 4K UHD television sets thanks to NVIDIA DLSS technology facilitated by a new revamped chip.

Details on this new chip are slim, and we suspect the silicon could range from Xavier with a Volta GPU to Ampere or even the new Ada Lovelace GPU tech.

Old-school NES classic Dragon Quest III is getting remade in the Octopath Traveler games engine

Square Enix is bringing the iconic and visually appealing HD-2D graphics style to more games. Now Dragon Quest III is getting remade in its entirety in the HD-2D engine for consoles.

Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii says more remakes could happen down the line, and Dragon Quest I & II might also get the same treatment.

Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate has been announced by Square Enix, and it will be a darker, more adult-themed game.

Dragon Quest XII was confirmed in the 35th anniversary live stream, and while no official gameplay or screenshots were revealed, but Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii confirms the game will have a more sinister and dire tone.

"It's a Dragon Quest for adults. It's changing, a darker world, the ambiance is different," Horii said in the livestream.

Sony has outlined forecasts for the PlayStation 5's second and third year shipments, and estimations show the next-gen console could outpace the PS4 by over 5 million units by FY2022.

After a significant market push and chip allocation, Sony says its FY2022 period (ending March 31, 2023) will sell more PlayStation consoles than any other point in SIE history.

"We're planning next year's PS5 availability to ensure FY2022 will represent the highest number of consoles that we've ever sold in PlayStation history,"SIE President Jim Ryan told investors.

Sony plans to spend 2 trillion yen ($18.3 billion) on strategic investments in the next three years, and gaming should be a major focus.

In a recent annual corporate strategy meeting, Sony confirms it has allocated 2 trillion yen for major investments across its key segments including gaming, music, streaming, and film. It's likely Sony is eyeing more major gaming acquisitions, but the company will diversify its investments and is careful with studio buyouts.

For example, Sony only made two gaming-related purchases during its third Mid-Year Plan when it had allocated 1.4 trillion yen for investments: Audiokinetic (Wwise) in 2019 and Insomniac Games later in the same year.