Gaming - Page 494

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.

PUBG Mobile has been downloaded over 1 billion times worldwide, clashing with the might of Pokemon Go and making it one of the top-downloaded mobile games on the market.

In 3 years time, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile has surpassed 1 billion downloads, matching with the immense $2.6 billion revenues it generated throughout 2020.

Now to celebrate the milestone and the game's 3-year anniversary, Krafton is inviting some special guests to the BR battleground: King Kong and Godzilla. A press release confirms both monsters will be included in a new mode, but specifics are light. We should hear more once the Godzilla vs Kong movie releases on March 31.

We know that Nintendo is working on a next-gen Switch console which I'm hoping the company calls the Nintendo Super Switch, but now a known leaker has teased NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU will power Nintendo's new Super Switch.

In a tweet by VideoCardz about the new Switch and it having NVIDIA DLSS technology enabled in TV mode, kopite7kimi simply replied with "ada" referencing NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. NVIDIA's next-gen Ada Lovelace GPU architecture will succeed Ampere, the GPU architecture that powers the GeForce RTX 30 series of graphics cards.

We should hear more about NVIDIA's new Ada Lovelace GPU architecture at NVIDIA's upcoming GTC 2021 event, where NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang will don the leather jacket and provide the world with a keynote. This news flies right in the face of the recent rumors that the new Switch would have a custom 12nm Tegra Xavier SoC with the graphics side of things handled by the Volta GPU architecture.

Pets are coming to Fallout 76's player-created C.A.M.P.s to make them feel more like home. So what can we expect to see?

In a recent Reddit AmA, Fallout 76 developers revealed a ton about the game's upcoming roadmap. There was talk about the alien Zetans from the stars, discussions on private servers, content rebalancing, and pets. Yes, pets are coming to Fallout 76, but they won't be like Dogmeat from Fallout 4--instead they'll be stuck in your C.A.M.P. for now (you can, however, technically tame animals in the game).

So what kind of pets will we get? Bethesda says dogs are coming first, followed by cats. Then...who knows? Robots? Irradiated nasties shrunken down to cute bite-sized proportions? The team did express interest in adding a pet Liberator, and we could see mini deathclaws and other domesticated monsters show up.

Hitman 3's new DLC model is an interesting introspective journey into the mind of ruthless killer Agent 47 with horror movie overtones.

Have you ever seen Se7en? IO Interactive has a unique idea for DLC: Adapt each of the seven deadly sins (gluttony, lust, greed, envy, sloth, pride, wrath) into episodic mini-expansions complete with their own themed missions. It gets better, though. The DLC is based around a psychological exploration of Agent 47's psyche and each of the expansion's environments are based around that particular sin.

The first expansion focuses on greed, so it'll feature lots of opulence--everything is covered with gold, and there's even a new gleaming suit and golden cane to unlock.

Niantic, the developers of the $4 billion Pokemon Go, plans to work their augmented reality magic on the Pikmin series.

Pikmin is coming back...well sort of. Nintendo and Niantic are teaming up directly to make a new AR mobile game set in the whimsical Pikmin series, the two companies announced. Like Pokemon Go, the game will bring players outdoors as they interact with colorful characters from the iconic franchise using mobile AR technology.

"To kick off the partnership, Niantic and Nintendo are developing an app based on the Pikmin franchise. The app will include gameplay activities to encourage walking and make walking more delightful," the announcement reads.

As competitor Google exits the stage, Amazon is doubling-down on games with a new Montreal-based development studio.

Amazon Games has conscripted top Rainbow Six Siege developers to lead its new Montreal, Canada-based studio. The studio is being spearheaded by a seasoned four-man team of game developers that helped R6 Siege become one of the most-played modern FPS games.

While Bouchard, Marquis, Remy, and Rimokh aren't single-handedly responsible for Rainbow Six's success, their experience does bode well for Amazon Games Montreal. Rainbow Six Siege currently has over 70 million players and made over $1 billion in less than four years.

Microsoft clarifies exactly what's going on with the recent Xbox LIVE name change and affirms that Xbox LIVE Gold isn't going anywhere.

Microsoft recently put out a statement confirming Xbox LIVE has been rebranded to the Xbox network, a move that baffled consumers. Now it says it made the move in an effort to separate the online network from the paid online service.

Before now, Xbox LIVE was a blanket term that described both the monthly subscription service (Xbox LIVE Gold) and Microsoft's online gaming network. The term was used interchangeably between the two. The recent name change only affects the latter; instead of Xbox LIVE, the online infrastructure is now called the Xbox network.

Japanese VR company Mark-on is giving workers the day off so they can play Monster Hunter Rise.

The Monster Hunter series is so big in Japan that many people are calling in sick to work so they can play the latest game, Monster Hunter Rise. Japanese mixed-reality company Mark-on has prepared for this eventuality by making March 26 an official holiday for the office.

"March 26 will be the release date of Monster Hunter Rise, and since it is expected that we will not be able to concentrate on our work, I will be making that day a 'MonHun vacation'," Mark-on CEO Masaki Hiyama told the Huffington Post.

Nintendo is readying a new 4K-ready Switch model for 2021 to round out its hardware family, sources tell Bloomberg.

The new rumored Switch Pro is coming in 2021, and could cost as much as $399, sources tell Bloomberg. The new console-handheld hybrid will feature hefty upgrades including a new higher-end NVIDIA SoC with a beefier CPU and more RAM. The new Switch's main selling point is 4K video output and enhanced performance across the board.

The upgrade is said to use NVIDIA's powerful AI-based DLSS upscaling technology as a cost-effective solution for 4K gaming. DLSS boosts frame rates, allows for resolution increases, and sharpens visuals using machine learning, but games must be updated in order to take advantage of it. Nintendo may go through its own iterative cycle which sees developers going back and updating titles similar to the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X optimizations implemented years ago.

Social chat platform Discord is looking to sell, and reports say Microsoft is looking to buy the service for a substantial sum.

Discord is following up on several acquisition offers and is currently in talks to sell the company to Microsoft, sources tell Bloomberg. Based on Discord's previous $7 billion valuation in December, the buyout could cost as much as $10 billion.

The acquisition makes sense for Microsoft, who has positioned its Xbox brand front and center to its core business. The Redmond-based titan recently purchased ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion in the second-largest gaming buyout in history. Xbox has a billion-dollar ecosystem of gaming, services, and content, and Discord could be a neat way to wrap PC and console gaming together. Microsoft merged Xbox LIVE connectivity into Discord in 2018 Discord currently has 140 million active users and is one of the most powerful networks for engagement and social connectivity in the games industry.

Capcom has teamed up with Google for an interesting buy one get one promo. Only this time instead of getting a game for free, you get an entire gaming platform.

Google has a great promo for anyone interested in adopting Stadia: Buy Resident Evil VIII on the digital store, and get a Stadia Premiere Edition free of charge, a $99 value. Consumers who pre-order or buy Resident Evil Village on the Stadia store before May 27 will get a free Chromecast Ultra and Stadia controller (while supplies last).

The move comes after reports that Google has hundreds of thousands of unsold Stadia Premiere Edition bundles. After lower-than-expected earnings, Google pulled the plug on its first-party Stadia studios and has relegated the service as a storefront for third-party titles.

Capcom just announced Resident Evil 8's PC spec requirements, confirming lots of optimization across multiple perf targets.

Thanks to a substantial influx of sales, Capcom now puts strong emphasis on PC versions of its games, and it's using the flexible and powerful RE Engine to deliver strong performance across a range of video cards and configurations. Resident Evil Village's PC spec requirements give lots of details on what gamers can expect.

Minimum specs highlight that RE8 is indeed a modern game. To hit at least 1080p 60FPS in-game perf, Capcom requires you to have an Intel Core i5-7500 CPU/AMD Ryzen 3 1200 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a DirectX 12 GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM like an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or an AMD Radeon RX 560 card. Capcom notes the FPS will drop during certain sequences, which is to be expected anyway.

Sony will shut down PlayStation Store access on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable systems between July and August 2021, sources tell The Gamer.

After August, the PS4 and PS5 will be the only place to purchase and download PlayStation Store games. The PS Store and all of its games will soon be inaccessible on legacy hardware like the PS3, Vita, and PSP, sources say. Gamers are encouraged to download any games and content to their hardware while they can.

"PSP's and PS3's [PSN] stores are to be closed on July 2, while the PS Vita store will stay open until August 27. After those dates, you will no longer be able to purchase digital copies of games or DLC for any of the Sony consoles mentioned above," a source told Wario64.