Gaming - Page 507

EA plans to bring Apex Legends to every platform known to man, including Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Now we have an idea of when it's dropping on Nintendo's handheld-console hybrid.

EA might've accidentally leaked Apex Legends' impending Switch port for a February launch. The news comes from a now-deleted post from Apex Legends' Japanese YouTube video that said: "And on February 2nd, it will be possible to play on Switch at the same time as the start of Season 8!"

The last we heard about Apex's Switch port was back in October 2020. Respawn only confirmed the version was in development and said it was "coming soon." Neither EA nor Respawn have officially announced the launch date.

Bloober Team revealed the full PC spec requirements for their new ultra-creepy horror game The Medium, ranging from 1080p 30FPS minimum and 4K 30FPS with ray tracing.

The Medium is set to bring Beksinski-style terror to gamers later this month, and now PC users can see how their rig stacks up. The game requires a minimum R9 390X GPU or an GTX 1650 SUPER or GTX 1060 for 1080p 30FPS at low presets, complete with an Intel Core i5-6600 CPU or Ryzen 5, 8GB of RAM, and 50GB of install space.

Minimum specs for ray-tracing require an RTX 2060 Super with 8GB of VRAM, an AMD RX 6800 with 16GB of VRAM, an Intel Core i5-9600 or an AMD Ryzen 3700 X, and 16GB of RAM.

What if Naughty Dog talent had sway over the next Half-Life game? What if the next sci-fi shooter (maybe Half-Life 3) was incredibly dramatic and with over-the-top action sequences? Sounds far-fetched, but Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann wants to do something with Valve's franchise.

On Twitter, The Last of Us II and Uncharted director Neil Druckmann was asked what IPs he'd like to make games for. The answers are pretty surprising. There's Cowboy Bebop, The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Hotline Miami...and Half-Life. This probably won't happen considering how protected Valve has been over the franchise.

Then again, stranger things have happened in the games industry. We didn't think Microsoft would buy out Bethesda, and Valve themselves bought out Campo Santo, the indie dev behind Firewatch, years ago. What if Valve recruited Druckmann to help with a Half-Life spinoff project, maybe a VR sequel that also helps set the stage for Half-Life 3?

New Sumo Digital job listings have gamers guessing on a possible Crackdown sequel.

Crackdown 3 was hyped up for the Xbox One X, but the game came and went with little fanfare. Now it looks like Microsoft could try again, and Sumo Digital could be helping out. According to new job listings from Sumo Digital's Sheffield branch, the developer is hiring over 80 people for a handful of new projects. The positions range from higher-level senior leads to executive producers and hint these games may still be in early phases of development.

Various job listings confirm Sumo Digital Sheffield is working at least two new games: One is a AAA game set in an established open-world franchise, and another is a brand new third-person multiplayer IP. Fans speculate the former could be Crackdown 4 for Microsoft. The other is harder to define, of course.

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best looking games ever made, but a new lighting mod wants to bring back the look and style that CD PROJEKT RED showed off... during the E3 2018 build of the game. This is what I'm talking about:

The new Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2018 Lighting mod uses unused files in the game, and attempts to restore the look anf style of the lighting from the E3 2018 build of the game.

The modder explains: "I made some changes to the main env, to bring the same look we had in 2018 (not everyone likes it) but, as usual, CDPR leaves many unused files within its builds and this helps us a lot in terms of modding. Before we had to use a command to have such lighting, but ner everyone could use it because of DLSS and several other problems, like mirrors, inventory etc. But now everyone can use".

EA DICE is hard at work at whatever Battlefield 6 eventuates into, but according to Tom Henderson in the video below, the game will be a "soft reboot" of Battlefield 3 and heavily inspired by it.

Battlefield 6 will not only be inspirted by Battlefield 3, but it will have huge large scale battles with support for up to 128 players -- something we heard rumors of a few months ago now. At the time, we heard that 32 v 32 would be the norm for BF6 while previous-gen console versions in the PS4 and Xbox One will only support up to 32 players.

It wouldn't be a new Battlefield game if DICE didn't add that all-important battle royale mode, which is another thing that Battlefield 6 will have. So we're looking at a Battlefield reboot + 128 player support + next-gen graphics + hopefully next-gen destruction + battle royale. The last few Battlefield games have been disappointing to me, so I'm hoping DICE actually blows us away and brings Battlefield back to the top with Battlefield 6.

YouTuber and known leaker Tom Henderson is back again with more Battlefield 6 info, and it's possible the game could also release on PS4 and Xbox One consoles alongside next-gen systems.

Battlefield 6 may not be a next-gen PS5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC exclusive after all, and could be a cross-gen release. "I was told the next Battlefield will also be coming to last-gen consoles, that being the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One," Henderson said in a recent video.

Henderson also says the 128-player mode will be only available for select maps, and 32v32 will be the standard. the 64v64 maps and game types will also be exclusive to next-gen consoles and PC; PS4 and Xbox One won't be able to support them. Sources also told Henderson that this year's Battlefield will have graphical downgrades and reduced destruction, which is to be expected from the limited Jaguar-based SoCs.

A new patent filed by Take-Two Interactive in October 2020 sheds light on possible next-gen NPC tech in Grand Theft Auto 6.

The patent itself is immensely technical and describes new advanced methods to improve in-game NPC movement schemes and virtual navigation. The documents are actually pretty illuminating and highlight how NPC systems actually work in Rockstar's games; the NPCs and vehicles move linearly across nodes throughout the game world.

The information is admittedly difficult to decipher, but the main gist seems to be that Take-Two (and by extension, Rockstar Games) wants to find ways to enhance its NPC systems to allow more immersion and realistic interactions. This ranges from how characters move, what they do, how they collide and interact with the game world, and how NPCs drive across huge metropolises. The document specifically focuses on vehicles and strongly indicates that Grand Theft Auto 6 (and other Take-Two games) will have next-level NPC AI, especially when it comes to vehicles.

Want to move your captured screenshots and video to a USB stick or external device? Here's how to do it.

Unlike the PS5, the Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X consoles don't let users easily transfer/export screenshots to USB sticks. Instead, the sticks or external USB devices have to be formatted and configured as separate storage. Here's how to do it so you can auto-save your captures to a USB device and not have to mess around with the confusing and awkward Xbox LIVE/One Drive sharing features.

First you'll need a USB 3.0 device. Older USB 2.0 drives aren't compatible (again this is unlike the PS4 and PS5, which both allow you to use older drives to store console-generated media). Then you'll need to properly format the drive. Here's a step-by-step guide with pictures.

Todd Howard is working on a ton of projects right now, but Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 are the most important of the bunch.

Bethesda Game Studios and its publishing branch, Bethesda Softworks, are developing a multitude of new games including a new Indiana Jones game with Lucasfilm, two big new RPGs Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, a new game that could be Fallout 5, and it's even helping on a new Fallout TV show.

Bethesda's main star, Todd Howard, is particularly very busy as executive producer on a handful of these projects. But according to Bethesda exec Pete Hines, Howard's main focus is on Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. The new Indiana Jones game won't take Howard's eyes away from the RPG mainstays the company is known for. Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 come first above all else.

Ubisoft finally fixes major Assassin's Creed Valhalla quest bugs that prevented gamers from progressing or complete missions.

A new Assassin's Creed Valhalla patch 1.1.1 update has fixed a ton of quest bugs that've plagued the game since its November launch. The game released with a ton of mission bugs that simply prevented players from moving forward, including a multitude of side missions.

The update makes a bunch of changes and optimizations, including tweaking sets, abilities, and boosting textures on base PS4 consoles, but the biggest alteration is the quest fixes. I myself have encountered a few quest glitches like the missing key in A Rivalry For the Ages. Luckily, this has been fixed (along with a ton of other objectives).

Microsoft still has a number of Xbox exclusives that haven't been announced yet, a DICE developer says.

The next few years will be exciting for Xbox fans. There's lots of high-profile first-party games in the works, including a new Fable reboot, a bunch of new games from Bethesda, and a fully-fledged new fantasy RPG from Obsidian, and more games that push Microsoft's new emphasis on RPG dominance. 2021 in particular should be a horizon-pushing year, just like Microsoft's Phil Spencer recently asserted.

According to a DICE developer, Microsoft will reveal a lot of new Xbox exclusives in the coming months. We don't know exactly when these games will release, or exactly when they'll be revealed, but they're on the roadmap. "There are quite a few things that are not yet announced," the DICE dev said on the ResetERA forums.

Square Enix could re-release Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PlayStation 5 and PC in 2021, a new rumor suggests.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake's PS4 exclusivity is set to end in April 2021, and Square Enix is likely to re-release the game on Steam sometime later this year. A new rumor suggests the publisher could also re-release a full-priced next-gen port this year as well. This is a fairly obvious game plan for Square Enix especially given the company's lower-than-expected 2019 results.

The rumor comes from ResetERA's KatharsisT, who's fairly well known for accurately predicting industry moves.

Bloomberg recently claimed the Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2018 trailer was almost entirely fake. Now CD Projekt RED is stepping in to comment.

A new scathing report from Bloomberg shines light on what went wrong with Cyberpunk 2077's development. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier spoke with 20 CD Projekt RED developers and uncovered a more realistic picture on the game's troubled creation and release. The report alleges CDPR suffered from mismanagement, delusions of grandeur from lofty ambitions, and an unwavering faith that everything would work out in the end despite warnings from developers.

The report reveals how Cyberpunk 2077 nearly buckled under the weight of its own ambitions. Particularly interesting was the assertion that the E3 2018 demo was almost entirely fake, and that journalists--and gamers--had been misled and misdirected away from the game's core problems. It's these problems that are now made bare and apparent, the very issues that've led to controversy, mass refunds, and even class-action lawsuits.

We've only had a very, very brief tease of STALKER 2 so far with the Unreal Engine 4-powered "official in-engine gameplay teaser".

But now we know that STALKER 2 has a new protagonist, a lone stalker called Skif. GSC Game World explains the new protagonist in STALKER 2: "You're seeing this world through the eyes of a stalker named Skif -- remember the codename, you will hear it a lot. Following the steps of its predecessors, STALKER 2 introduces a completely new main protagonist. His actions will shape the new grand chapter in the history of the Zone".

Read more: This is our very first look at STALKER 2 -- with in-game footage shown

CD Projekt management knew how bad Cyberpunk 2077 performed on last-gen hardware and knew about many of the core issues, glitches, and bugs, anonymous sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

Just days ago In a recent apology video, CD Projekt Group CEO Marcin Iwinski told gamers that the studio didn't really know about many of Cyberpunk 2077's bugs, including just how bad the game performed on PS4 and Xbox One. Now anonymous developers say otherwise; CD Projekt management not only knew about the issues, but they chose to release the game anyway instead of delaying the game further.

"Every change and improvement needed to be tested, and as it turned out, our testing did not show a big part of the issues you experienced while playing the game,"Iwinski said.

Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in late 2012, but the game didn't start principle development until four years later in 2016, sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. Top CDPR devs originally wanted Cyberpunk to follow The Witcher 3, but this was shot down by the game's director.

A big part of Cyberpunk 2077's controversy is that gamers 'waited 9 years to play it.' That's something I've heard a lot, but it's not entirely accurate. Cyberpunk 2077 has only been in full development for the last five years. Sources familiar with CD Projekt RED and Cyberpunk 2077's development say the studio didn't start really working on the project until 2016, the same year CD Projekt received a hefty $7 million dollar grant from the Polish government to fund the game. In the grant application from 2016, CD Projekt said Cyberpunk 2077 would feature "real-time AI" that roam "living, breathing cities," and there was multiple mentions of flying cars and even "seamless multiplayer."

These ambitious features didn't manifest into the final game the way CD Projekt had hoped. The seamless multiplayer was so big it was separated and will now release as a standalone game. Sources also said that Cyberpunk 2077 was essentially rebooted in 2016, and that several high-profile developers wanted the game to follow The Witcher 3's footsteps in a number of ways.

Google first revealed Stadia's save-state sharing feature in March 2019. Now it's finally rolling out, and it has big potential.

Stadia's save-state sharing feature essentially lets gamers create and share their own custom gameplay demos. You can record a clip of a game that's actually playable, similar to a custom save state in an emulator. Think of it as a captured video that you can actually play. This is a great way to let gamers try specific portions of a level or mission without having to spend the time to get to that point.

Here's how it works: Let's say you beat a tough boss, and want to challenge a friend to beat your progress or your time. You can create a link to your singleplayer game save and share with a friend, who can click it and enter your game session remotely.

As of February 2021, Bungie will be officially done with the Halo franchise once and for all.

Bungie hasn't made a new Halo game since 2010's Halo: Reach. Even after all that time, Bungie has kept the Bungie.net stat tracker up and active as a kind of lighthouse for nostalgia, allowing gamers to check out their legacy games, files, and in-game performance. That's coming to an end soon.

Bungie recently confirmed the old-school Halo tracking site will go offline on February 9, 2021. All the stats and content will be permanently lost to the ether.

Activision-Blizzard expects to make a historic $7.765 billion in 2020, driven by spending surges in its biggest games. Analyst numbers indicate could actually beat this estimate.

As of September 30, 2020, Activision-Blizzard forecasts $7.675 billion in net revenues for the 2020 calendar year, up a whopping $175 million from 2018's all-time highs. The company's Q4 performance might skyrocket it past these internal estimates.

While Activision-Blizzard's Q3'20 was no slouch (it hit a 10-year operating profit high, Activision segment earnings were up 270% to $773 million thanks to Warzone), Q4'20 could be a real home run. According to the NPD Group, two Call of Duty games dominated 2020's sales revenues charts: Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare were the best-earning games in the U.S. in 2020.