Gaming - Page 497

Microsoft's Phil Spencer brainstorms about id's powerful id Tech 7 engine being used to power other internal games outside of id Software's repertoire.

The id Tech 7 engine is pretty amazing: It can hit an insane 1,000 FPS on PCs, and id says there's "no upper limit" on frame rates. The engine is ferocious, flexible, and future-proofed for next-gen hardware, and has been used for a multitude of games like Wolfenstein, Fallout 4/Fallout 76, and RAGE 2. Now that Microsoft owns id, the potent engine could help power other games from Xbox's 23 studios.

In a recent Bethesda/Xbox event, Phil Spencer daydreams about id Tech being used for other projects outside of Bethesda's ring of devs. id Tech 7 could be the basis on which multiple titles are made, not unlike how EA uses Frostbite to unify most of its games.

Shortly after Fallout 76's disastrous launch, Bethesda's Todd Howard reached out to Microsoft for advice on how to save the game, the dev reveals in a new video.

Fallout 76 was a mess when it released in 2018, but Bethesda got help from an unlikely source: Microsoft. Todd Howard actually contacted Phil Spencer for advice on how to proceed with the live game, and Spencer's teams worked with Bethesda to pare back Fallout 76 and inject features where needed. This led to massive overhauls that breathed new life into the game, including the Wastelanders expansion that added critical NPCs to the experience.

"When that game launched, the litany of issues we had...we let a lot of people down. There was very little we didn't screw up, honestly. One of the people I called was Phil, and I said 'Hey, you know there's so many things we're dealing with...what advice do you have?'" Howard said.

We'll finally get new updates on Dying Light 2 next week on March 17, Techland today announced.

It's been many months since we've heard about Dying Light 2, the ambitious open-world sequel from Techland. That will change next week when the studio holds a new stream focused on Dying Light 2's "development process." The game, which is purportedly 400% bigger than Dying Light, has been in development hell leading to an indefinite delay.

The new event is likely a reaction to scathing reports of Techland's upper management, namely a CEO who rules the studio with an iron fist. Similar to George Lucas, reports allege that Techland CEO Paweł Marchewka often changes the scope of projects mid-way through development.

All of Bethesda's new games are coming to Game Pass, but some of them could be unique and interesting passion projects that wouldn't have taken off in the past.

Game Pass isn't just great for business, it's also great for creative freedom. The flexible subscription model emboldens developers to try new things they might not have attempted in the past. In a recent roundtable discussion with the Xbox team, Bethesda's Todd Howard discusses how he's excited about experimenting with new games that may not have done well or found an audience on the traditional market.

"The thing about the future there on Game Pass...the thing about consumers is they see Game Pass as 'gimme games.' But as a creator, it really unlocks the things you really wanted to do. Things like 'will this find an audience' or certain types of games that maybe in the past could kind of get lost sometimes," Howard said.

Xbox Game Pass is already the epicenter of Microsoft's gaming business. Now with Bethesda's games, the service will help skyrocket Xbox's yearly revenues.

Xbox gaming is already on track to earn more money this year than it ever has before. The recent ZeniMax buyout should be immediately accretive and add another layer of earnings potential for Xbox in the 2020-2021 year and beyond. How? It's simple: Adding value to Xbox Game Pass.

After the $7.5 billion ZeniMax acquisition closed, Microsoft made its first move: Boosting Game Pass value with new content. It's a logical move, as content drives subscriptions. Tomorrow, 20 of Bethesda's best games will be available on Game Pass.

Today Microsoft answered the $7.5 billion-dollar question once and for all: Yes, future Bethesda games will be exclusive to the Game Pass ecosystem.

Microsoft's huge $7.5 billion ZeniMax Media buyout was based on one overriding goal: To beef up Game Pass by providing tons of value. Content drives subscriptions, and Game Pass has materially affected Xbox's billion-dollar earnings every year since it was launched.

In a recent roundtable discussion, Microsoft's Phil Spencer makes things pretty black and white in terms of exclusivity:

EA has partnered with Silver Rain Games to make unique new experiences that could blur the lines between films and games.

EA could be branching off into new experimental realms with its EA Originals label. The publisher today announced it has teamed up with Silver Rain Games, the gaming division of Silver Rain, who developed the HBO show Raised by Wolves. The partnership aims at "generating thought-provoking and innovative games and content across different mediums of entertainment," EA says, and it's possible the team will draw upon its film expertise to fuel new indie titles.

Silver Rain Games, a team of 20 developers working entirely remotely, is currently working on a new IP. Not much is known about the project and the press kit has been removed from its website. The EA Originals label will help guide and fund the project, which might be something rather novel for the industry akin to Netflix's experimental Bandersnatch choose-your-own experience that game-ified film. EA has been pushing into new gaming fronts with its SEED division, an R&D branch that delves into AI, machine learning, and more.

Denuvo anti-cheat is now the official security tool for PlayStation 5 games, and will be used to protect online games for the platform.

Today Irdeto and Sony announced a partnership to bring Denuvo anti-cheat to PS5. Developers will have access to Denuvo's anti-cheat solution for next-gen PS5 and backwards compatible PS4 titles to help keep out cheaters, scripts, and other exploits.

This isn't to be confused with the controversial Denuvo anti-tamper, the DRM that has impacted FPS performance in a few games. The solution is a win-win for everyone involved: Devs get to secure their online-driven games, which will help player retention and consequently player spending. This is great for Sony because they get a cut from all microtransactions and game sales on the PlayStation Store.

Blizzard has just pushed out a new update for Overwatch which has a very special upgrade for next-gen Microsoft Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S console owners: 120FPS support.

The new update has Xbox Series X/S enhancements which offer up different graphics options, with varying frame rates on offer. The new "Resolution" mode will run at the highest resolution, always - "at the cost of some image quality" says Blizzard. In this mode, the Xbox Series X pumps away at 4K 60FPS while the Xbox Series S is at 1440p 60FPS.

Overwatch's new "Balanced" mode prefers image quality at the cost of resolution, with higher-fidelity graphics on both consoles with the Xbox Series X at 1440p 60FPS while the Xbox Series S is at 1080p 60FPS. But if you want that huge 120FPS frame rate -- which is glorious in Overwatch -- the "Framerate" option guarantees 120FPS all the time but at the cost of image quality and resolution.

Epic Games has just purchased Capturing Reality, the company behind one of gaming's leading 3D scanning software platforms.

Epic's latest acquisition will help developers ramp up projects for Unreal Engine 5, the new toolset that's built for next-gen console and PC hardware. The billion-dollar games titan now owns Capturing Reality, the team behind the RealityCapture software suite that is built specifically for 3D scans.

The idea is to make it easier for developers to add high-quality photogrammetry scans into their games. Unreal Engine 5's potent Nanite virtualized micropolygon geometry supports cinematic-quality 8K resolution scans, which can be uploaded via Epic's newly-bought software suite.. Nanite allows developers to replicate tons of in-game assets into a scene without any real work or input, and have UE5 render everything in real-time.

GameStop announces that e-commerce is the future of its business, and plans to double-down on distribution and fulfillment of shipped video game products.

GameStop wants to morph from its brick-and-mortar roots into an e-commerce titan. In a sense, the company wants to become the Amazon of video gaming while still maintaining physical stores. To help usher in this new digital age, GameStop has formed a fresh team of executives, the Strategic Planning and Capital Allocation Committee, which is led by Chewy billionaire Ryan Cohen. GameStop stock jumped by 25% to $193.72 in after-hours trading following the announcement.

As head of the committee, Cohen will lead two other seasoned marketing and investment execs, Alan Attal (previous Chief Marketing Officer, Chewy), and Kurt Wolf (capital investor), who will help raise money and lay out the company's future moves. As of October 2020, GameStop had $2.269 billion in liabilities, including $244 million in long- and short-term debts.

Renowned PC modder Nhenhophach created the world's first water-cooled PS5 to hit low temps in demanding 4K workloads.

The PS5 stays pretty quiet and cool by itself, but modders have taken things to a whole new level with a specially-built water-cooled PS5. The console sports a fully customized waterblock, two thin 120mm Noctua NF-A12x15 Chromax fans set in 240mm radiator, an Alphacool pump, and other vital additions like new thermal pads (Sony has been criticized for the PS5's stock thermal padding).

So did the setup reduce temps? The water-cooled PS5 hit roughly 51C while playing Astro's Playroom for 1 hour on a 4K display, which is pretty good. The PlayStation 5 already has great cooling thanks to its dual-sided 130mm axial fan and unique chassis, which is specifically contoured to direct air into critical components. The liquid-cooled thermal compound was also removed in favor of a direct CPU cooler.

Microsoft now officially owns ZeniMax Media, which includes Bethesda and a ton of other studios. So what's next? How will Microsoft leverage these studios and IP treasure troves to bolster its business?

On paper, the Microsoft x Bethesda buyout is a match made in heaven. The two companies have a mix of singleplayer and live-based games set in blockbuster IPs. They've been working together for almost two decades, stretching all the way back to the Morrowind days, and Bethesda's teams are innovative while Microsoft has significant game-making APIs, tools, and frameworks.

The business rationale is likewise appealing. Microsoft has spent years developing a cross-platform service infrastructure that binds PCs and consoles together, and set up a billion-dollar digital empire centered around a cohesive network. Now that the foundation is built, Microsoft needs content--a lot of content. That's why it bought Bethesda, who commands over 10 mega-hit franchises.

Microsoft now officially owns ZeniMax Media, and has access to all IPs as well as Bethesda Softworks. So what's next? A new video presentation set for this Thursday should reveal more on what's to come.

One of the games industry's most high-profile acquisitions has just closed. Microsoft has purchased ZeniMax for $7.5 billion and will soon share its plans on the next move. Sources tell VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb that Microsoft will hold a presentation this Thursday, March 11 to highlight more details.

Today's confirmation from Microsoft did outline some of its immediate plans. More Bethesda games are coming to Game Pass, for one, and for two, Microsoft also confirmed some of ZeniMax's upcoming titles will be exclusive to Xbox and PC. Again, we don't know which ones, but the truth is Microsoft and Bethesda have been pretty close for years now (the studio provided critical feedback for the Xbox Series X, and has been partnered with Xbox since the early 2000s).

Microsoft officially confirms some of Bethesda's new titles will be exclusive to Xbox consoles and PC, and kept off of the PlayStation platform.

Today Microsoft announced it has acquired ZeniMax Media and all of its subsidiaries, which includes eight studios (Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios). Content and IP were the major motivations for the $7.5 billion buyout, and Microsoft plans to add value to the Xbox ecosystem by making certain games exclusive to both Xbox consoles and PC.

"As we shared previously, it's vitally important that Bethesda continues making games the way it always has. We look forward to empowering Bethesda's creative teams to reach even more players around the world, helping make future Bethesda titles the biggest and most popular games in their history. Xbox and Bethesda have long shared a common vision for the future of gaming. Both as fans and as creators, Bethesda understands the potential of Xbox Game Pass," Phil Spencer said in the announcement.

Elder Scrolls Online kicks off its new Gates of Oblivion story arc with its first major DLC, Flames of Ambition, which is out now on PC. Here's what you need to know.

The gates of Oblivion have opened anew, and Molag Bal is back for revenge. The new Flames of Ambition DLC for Elder Scrolls Online starts the epic year-long Gates of Oblivion story arc, which will be spun in four major expansions across 2021.

The big selling point of the Flames of Ambition DLC is its two new dungeons, The Cauldron and Black Drake Villa, both of which come with four new gearsets apiece (check below for full stats).

V1 Interactive, the lesser-known indie studio behind the ever lesser-known FPS/RTS mashup Disintegration, is shutting down.

Lots of gamers didn't know about Marcus Lehto's new game, Disintegration. The project was published by Take-Two's Private Division, a very new subsidiary, and mostly fell off the radar for multiple reasons, whether it was publicity or loss of traction during an immensely competitive 2020 period. Not many people knew about the game, or that Lehto, the co-creator of the Halo universe, was even making a new game let alone started up a new studio.

As a result, Disintegration was a commercial failure and simply didn't take off. The new IP floundered, and V1 Interactive pulled online play just five months after release because it was simply not worth paying to keep the servers active. Now less than a year after the game launched, the studio is closing down.

Worldwide regulators have approved Microsoft's buyout of ZeniMax Media, solidifying one of the biggest acquisitions in gaming history.

Both the SEC and the European Commission have greenlit Microsoft's $7.5 billion buyout of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media. Today, the European regulation board endorsed the takeover today with "unconditional approval" under Article 6(1)(b):

"The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity's limited market position upstream and the presence of strong downstream competitors in the distribution of video games. The transaction was examined under the normal merger review procedure," the European Commission said in a press statement.

In a strange twist of fate, Google's fledgling game-streaming service Stadia can now be run on Xbox consoles.

Xbox has transformed from a closed ecosystem into one of the most open platforms in gaming, complete with cross-publisher subscriptions, the industry-defining Game Pass, and even emulator support on Xbox Series X/S consoles. Now that openness is expanding to Stadia.

Xbox owners in the new Skip-Ahead testing program are now able to run Stadia on their Xbox consoles and play games via controller support. This is due to the new Chromium-based Edge browser that's offered in the update, which allows compatibility with Google services like Stadia as well as other extensions and plugins. The functionality is particularly interesting as Microsoft's own streaming service, Project xCloud, doesn't yet stream games to Xbox consoles.

A new job listing for a backend cloud developer hints that Digital Extremes could branch out to new streaming platforms.

Now that Tencent owns the company, it appears Digital Extremes is exploring new cloud-based gaming opportunities. The Warframe studio has opened up a new internal division focused on cloud experiences, and is currently looking for a senior backend dev to help fill out their ranks.

Here's the excerpt from the job listing: "Digital Extremes is seeking a Senior Back-End/Cloud Developer to join our team with experience in game development for our external project endeavors; this is a specialized role, and we're trying to find just the right person to fill it. This posting is for a new internal team working with cutting edge technologies, in an exciting novel area of development for the company."