Gaming - Page 475

Overseas mobile titan Nexon has invested a substantial $874 million into Japanese game companies like SEGA, Konami, and Bandai Namco.

Nexon is sinking $1.5 billion in specific games companies in a bid to help preserve high-quality IP creation and curation. The company has already invested 58% of this cash into a trio of beleaguered games-makers like SEGA, Konami, and Bandai Namco, all of which have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19.

Nexon corporate heads say this is a "friendly investment" and the company has no intention of takeovers or acquisitions. Buying out Konami, Bandai Namco, or SEGA simply isn't feasible for Nexon, who made $2.2 billion in 2019, more than Konami ($1.3bn) and SEGA ($1.15bn) but less than Bandai Namco ($3bn).

CD Projekt RED has officially released Cyberpunk 2077's new Patch 1.2 update on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it's a colossal game-sized patch that makes many, many changes.

Since its widely-criticized launch, the devs at CDPR have been tirelessly working on fixing Cyberpunk 2077. The second phase of that comeback story, Patch 1.2, rolls out today and it's an absolutely massive series of bug fixes, tweaks, and adjustments. Patch 1.2's notes clock in at a staggering 8,010 words and there's over 1,000 fixes listed across PS4, Xbox One, and PC, complete with a multitude of quest fixes, eliminating T-pose animations, improved memory allocation on base consoles, and tons of QoL improvements.

This kind of patch also comes with a hefty install size on all platforms. Patch 1.2 takes up 35GB on PS4, but needs 58GB free in order to install. On Xbox, it takes up 40GB. Most of the tweaks are immensely welcomed, but CDPR has removed the fan-favorite fall damage cancelling trick. The devs clearly took all the feedback and bug reports to heart and have methodically squashed dozens upon dozens of issues across all platforms.

The Tony Hawk 1+2 next-gen upgrade is having some big problems on Xbox Series X consoles, complete with crashing and other bugs.

Activision just released the Tony Hawk remaster duo on PS5 and Xbox Series X, but the upgrades didn't go without a hitch. The game is having a hard time on Xbox Series X, and gamers are reporting freezing, crashing, and the inability to upgrade digital versions of the game.

There's seven reports on the support forums of the game freezing on the main menu when booting from an Xbox Series X, and other instances of the upgrade simply not showing up at all. Compounding player frustrations is Activision's odd next-gen upgrade policy for disc owners on Xbox, which forces players to re-buy the game altogether to receive the upgrade.

Microsoft could be very close to unveiling the release date for its highly anticipated Age of Empires IV. So, when will we find out?

Microsoft hasn't directly said that it will be unveiling the release date for Age of Empires IV, but the company has released a new trailer that teases a coming broadcast that will showcase some big news for Age of Empires IV, including a look at gameplay, campaign missions and playable factions.

Additionally, the "Fan Preview" will drop some exciting news for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition players. The broadcast is scheduled to begin on April 10th at 9 am PT/12 pm ET/5 pm BST. The broadcast will also include some behind-the-scenes gameplay for the fans to enjoy. Tune into the livestream if you are excited for Age of Empires IV. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a mish-mash of multiple genres, systems, and mechanics that're a bit confusing to decipher. It was just as tough for CD Projekt RED developers.

Gamers often note Cyberpunk 2077 feels disjointed; is it a Witcher 3-level RPG? An action-paced shooter-looter? Or an immersive open-world sim like GTA? All three? CD Projekt developers reportedly had a similarly tough time outlining Cyberpunk 2077's main scope.

In a recent interview with The Washington Post's Launcher, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier says that sources familiar with CD Projekt's development cycle weren't exactly clear on what Cyberpunk was.

Anthem director and chief of staff Jonathan Warner has left BioWare, marking the 9th higher-profile developer to depart the studio in the last 4 years.

Last Friday, Jonathan Warner announced he was leaving BioWare. Warner had been part of BioWare's core teams for nearly a decade, working on games like Anthem and Mass Effect 3. Warner also served as BioWare chief of staff for over 1 year and helped guide the studio during a critical transition point.

On Twitter, Warner says big franchises like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars are all in safe hands. "So, today is my last day at BioWare, I'm moving on to do new things. BioWare has been home to my grateful heart for nearly 10 years and I want to wish them all the best. DA ME and SWTOR are in good hands and I can't wait to play from this side of the screen," Warner said.

Sony plans to dole out record bonuses to unionized employees, news site NHK Japan reports.

Sony expects to earn over $10 billion in net profits this year, and the company plans to share its record FY2021 profits with employees. According to recent reports, Sony will pay its unionized workers a bonus that's equivalent to 7-months salary. Unions had previously asked for a bonus worth roughly 6.9 months' of pay in negotiations with Sony.

According to a recent Form 20-F filed with the SEC, 13% of Sony's employees are members of labor unions. As of the end of 2020, Sony had 114,400 employees, so roughly 14,872 workers were unionized in the timeframe. NHK notes that this is the first time in 20 years that Sony has issued such a large bonus payout.

Digital Extremes reveals tons of new content coming to Warframe next month, including PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X optimizations.

Warframe's anticipated Update 30: Call of the Tempestarii will bring new content like the new Warframe Sevagoth and a few quests. Also coming with Update 30 is next-gen upgrades on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S systems. Thanks to a new memory allocation thread tweak, and Sony's custom 12-channel PCIe 4.0 SSD, PS5 load times have been cut in half. It's all coming in April, the developer says.

"April is also our launch month for the next-generation Xbox build of Warframe. That will include Update 30. So if you play on Xbox Series X or S you will be, in April, receiving Update 30 and the next-gen build,"live ops and community director Rebecca Ford said in a new developer update (full video below).

Hideo Kojima's next game should be revealed soon, Kojima Productions art lead Yoji Shinkawa says. What could it be?

In a recent interview with AI Hub, Yoji Shinkawa says he's working on something new and that it could be announced in the coming months. "Well yeah, I am doing something, for sure, and I could tell you probably that we can announce it quite soon," said Shinkawa.

It's likely Shinkawa is referring to Hideo Kojima's next game. Yoji Shinkawa has worked on over a dozen Metal Gear Solid games in collaboration with Hideo Kojima, and was one of the first to follow Kojima when he left Konami in 2015. That was six years ago, and Shinkawa has been a part of Kojima Productions ever since.

Microsoft is eager to buy PC chat platform Discord and is currently in advanced acquisition discussions, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft could finalize a deal to purchase Discord as early as next month, sources tell WSJ. The deal could cost Microsoft over $10 billion, a substantial sum that re-affirms the company's commitment to gaming during a time of record-breaking industry earnings.

The Discord buyout follows Microsoft's recent acquisition of ZeniMax media and all of its studios and IPs for $7.5 billion, the second-largest games industry purchase in history. Microsoft will likely use Discord to power its Xbox party chat infrastructure and help better unify its cross-platform PC-and-console ecosystem.

aOver the past decade, Darby McDevitt has helped shape the stories of Assassin's Creed. Now he's moving on to a "new adventure."

As narrative lead at Ubisoft Montreal, Darby McDevitt has spent 10 years weaving historical fact with engaging fiction. McDevitt helped pen some of the most memorable games in the Assassin's Creed franchise; he was narrative director on Valhalla, and lead scriptwriter on Black Flag, and Revelations, helping create unique characters like Edward Kenway and Eivor Wolf-Kissed.

Now McDevitt is moving on. The dev recently announced his departure from Ubisoft Montreal on Twitter and said a new adventure awaits...but we don't know exactly what he's referring to. Given the pedigree of his past works, it's likely that McDevitt won't leave the games industry entirely.

This year's Call of Duty is called Vanguard and returns to the franchise's World War II roots, sources tell Eurogamer.

Activision has conscripted Sledgehammer Games to develop 2021's Call of Duty game, which will be set in World War II. Contrary to recent reports, the game won't follow an alternate history set in a 1950s timeline where WWII never ended. Instead, the game will be more traditional, sources tell Eurogamer's Wesley Yin-Poole.

Sledgehammer is being re-entrusted with the franchise after supporting Black Ops Cold War's development, and the news follows a substantial 100-worker expansion across its Australia- and California-based studios.

Back 4 Blood brings back Left 4 Dead's original Director game mode with a unique twist.

Turtle Rock's new zombie FPS gore-fest Back 4 Blood will make use of an evolved form of L4D's classic Director gametype. The mode is basically like a randomized Firefight map with weapons and enemies strewn throughout by an AI bot. Turtle Rock is making one big change by adding in some Magic The Gathering-style card mechanics.

There's two sides to Back 4 Blood's new Corruption Cards: Ones the director selects, and ones players use while fighting. Director cards are detrimental things like enemy spawn types and in-game challenge activities. Players, on the other hand, get to buff their team with handy bonuses like extra health, ammo, and other things.

Thomas Happ reveals more details on Axiom Verge 2 in the recent Future Games Show event.

The mystery of Axiom Verge 2 is slowly peeling away, and now we know the game is actually a prequel set before the original game. It's also a standalone experience that doesn't require players to beat (or even play) Axiom Verge 1.

"I eventually decided to break down the story of Axiom Verge into multiple parts, with multiple perspectives, each intended to be its own game," Happ said in the presentation.

Since Apex Legends' release, gamers have been wondering if titans from the Titanfall franchise will ever make it into EA's battle royale. Well, it might just happen.

Dataminer Biast12, who is known for finding Season 7's new legend Horizon before the release, has found something quite interesting in the game files. Biast12 posted what was found to Twitter, and as you can see from the above video, the new character Blisk has an ultimate called "Standby for Titanfall". Upon using the ultimate, the player can summon a titan from the Titanfall series to provide covering fire to an area.

Additionally, we also have gotten a look at Blisk's abilities, and from the provided screenshot that can be found below, we can learn that Blisk's passive is a Pilot Kit. This passive has been taken straight out of Titanfall and provides Blisk with the ability to hack Survey Beacons and also wall run. Blisk's tactical ability allows him to create a damaging zone that is powered by the arena's ring. It should be noted that none of these leaks have been confirmed by Respawn, so take them with a grain of salt.

GameStop is shrinking its board of directors from 13 members down to 9, and expects high-profile industry vets like Reggie Fils-Aime to retire.

In a recent Form 10-K SEC filing, GameStop outlined future plans to reduce its board of directors. It expects that eight current board members will retire during its 2021 annual meeting, including ex-Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who joined in 2020, as well as Board Chairperson Kathy Vrabeck.

Returnal, Housemarqe's new ultra-frenetic sci-fi shooter, is now 100% finalized and ready to ship.

Sony's latest PlayStation 5 console exclusive Returnal has gone gold and won't be delayed any further. Housemarque's latest AAA game uniquely blends the die-and-respawn mechanics of a rogue-lite with an arcade-style third-person shooter.

In fact, Housemarque says they're drawing on their substantial experience making arcade games for Returnal. Combat-wise, the game is flashy and chaotic like a typical Housemarque arcade shoot-em-up, and has a sense of Mass Effect Andromeda movement mixed with Dark Souls bossfights and bullet-hell evasion tactics.

Ghost of Tsushima is being made into a feature-length film, and John Wick director Chad Stahelski will direct it.

Sony Pictures and its newly-formed PlayStation Productions label will produce a live-action film based on Ghost of Tsushima, sources tell Deadline.

Chad Stahelski of John Wick fame will direct the adaptation, which will be centered around the bloody Mongolian invasions of 13th century China and subsequent clashes with samurai clans. 87Eleven Entertainment is set to produce the film, and Sucker Punch will be directly involved as executive producers on the film.

Want to cheat in Outriders? The devs will find out, and they'll mark you as a cheater so you never forget.

Outriders developer People Can Fly has a unique punishment for cheaters. They won't ban you, but they will potentially shame you among your peers. On Reddit, the developer said it will have a permanent watermark reminding you (and anyone else that sees your screen) that you've cheated.

"Any account logs found to have evidence of cheating on them on or after launch day will be permanently branded."

aAs a Castlevania fan, I get excited about anything that: scrolls sideways, has gothic architecture and a pixellated style, and incorporates the term "Metroidvania" in its description. Last night I came across The Last Faith, a new indie from Kumi Souls Games that checks all those boxes.

The Last Faith blends Symphony of the Night with the more intricate hack-and-slash timed combat from Dark Souls. Combat is slicey-and-dicey, there's a huge non-linear environment to explore complete with puzzles, hidden items, and lots of loot, and there's also tons of enemies to stab, shoot, or ignite with magical spells.

What sets The Last Faith apart is its "reactive combat system," which incorporates three separate types of dodges (a dodge that moves back, a roll-dodge, and even a dodge that slides underneath enemies and lets you sneak in an attack) alongside an expansive weapon list complete with unique movesets.