Gaming - Page 51

OG id Software dev Sandy Petersen shares a rare glimpse at what it was like making Doom on Atari's ill-fated Jaguar console.

Back in 1994, Atari released the world's first 64-bit video games console. It was called the Jaguar, and it would end up being the last home system that Atari ever produced. Before its demise, though, the jungle-cat console ushered in some pretty potent game experiences for the age. One of these games was a fully-fledged port of id's Doom, which was the hottest PC game at the time.

The Atari Jaguar port of Doom is regarded as one of the best console adaptations of the classic FPS, and a lot of that comes down to the work that level designer Sandy Petersen did in this particular port. In a recent post on Twitter, Petersen chronicles the experience in a rare look at past of obscure and offshoot video game consoles. In the thread, Petersen notes that it was John Carmack's decision that id would make Doom for the Jaguar--according to Petersen, Carmack was utterly infatuated with Atari's new 64-bit system on an architectural and systems level. The idea of making millions of dollars in sales never really fazed Carmack, and his interest was mainly with the technology itself.

Halo Studios may be planning to remake the full Bungie-made Halo trilogy in Unreal Engine 5.

Halo: Campaign Evolved may just be the beginning of a series of multi-platform remakes. New reports indicate that Halo Studios is also planning to remake Halo 2 and Halo 3 within UE5. The news comes by way of Rebs Gaming, who has investigated recent rumors of a Halo remake trilogy, with his own sources sharing enough information to lead to the conclusion that the reports are likely true.

While Halo Studios has yet to confirm any future remakes outside of the already-announced Halo: Campaign Evolved, re-releasing the full trilogy does make a lot of sense on a business level. The key to this news is that only the campaigns will be remade, not multiplayer, which leaves the runway clear for a fully-engaged and -aligned user base for the next Halo MP experience.

Another former Rockstar Games developer says that the studio won't charge $100 for Grand Theft Auto 6...but the big-budget sequel could be crafted using AI.

Speculation says that GTA 6 could end up being the world's first $100 video game. While it's possible that Rockstar could release a $100 version of GTA 6, such as a deluxe edition, multiple industry figures don't believe GTA 6 will cost $100 by default. Instead, the popular belief is that GTA 6 will be priced at the new $70 industry standard and that Rockstar will instead rely on GTA Online's microtransaction revenues to augment post-launch sales. This seems like the more likely path, seeing as GTA Online typically earns $100 million every quarter, per our Grand Theft Auto franchise earnings analysis.

Now we have another former Rockstar developer weighing in to discuss GTA 6's price, with previous technical director Obbe Vermeij sharing that he doesn't believe Rockstar will charge $100 for the new game. That being said, GTA 6 is seen as one of the most expensive video games to produce in history with an estimated budget of $2 billion, and Vermeij believes Rockstar will heavily use AI in the production of the game in a bid to reduce costs and automate some of the more tedious tasks.

The new Avatar movie has helped reinvigorate sales of Ubisoft's adventure game set in James Cameron's franchise.

James Cameron's new Avatar: Fire and Ash film is a mega-hit across the globe, and viewers are looking to experiences like video games to further their engagement with the franchise. Data from SteamDB indicates that concurrent players in Ubisoft's Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora game are up an astronomical 553% thanks to the film's tremendous acclaim.

According to the data, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora had just 1,911 players a day before the new Avatar film was released, and the game ultimately jumped to an all-time high of 12,496 users just two days ago. It's also worth mentioning that Frontiers of Pandora is on sale for just $20 on Steam, and the spike of users does reflect new buyers, as the Avatar game is currently #11 on Steam's best sellers charts.

How's this for a blast from the past: Remember ePSXe? It's now received its first major update in nearly 10 years.

Two days before Christmas, the creators behind the original PS1 emulator ePSXe issued a new version update that adds an important new feature. ePSXe v 2.0.18 introduces native support for CHD-based image files, with the emulator now being able to better open and run .CHD files alongside the more traditional .ISOs. The advantage of supporting .CHD is that the files are often much smaller and the format itself is lossless, which can lead to better quality experiences.

The release has garnered attention within the emulation community; however, some note that not all that much has changed in between the releases.

CD Projekt has officially parted ways with its proprietary storefront GOG.com, selling the business to company co-founder Michal Kicinski.

GOG, aka Good Old Games, is changing hands. CD Projekt has sold its GOG digital games storefront to Michal Kicinski for roughly $25 million in a full-circle business deal; Kicinski was one of the original co-founders of CD Projekt, which started out as a software distributor in Poland, and he also was a co-founder of the GOG store. Launched in 2007, GOG was aimed at preserving classic PC games--a mission statement that hasn't changed today, and won't change now that GOG is technically under new ownership.

CD Projekt is adamant that nothing will actually change for the end user. GOG will still preserve old games, and everything sold and made available on the store will still be DRM-free. Plus, CD Projekt's upcoming games like The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 will still release on GOG.

Instead of releasing Helldivers 3, the devs at Arrowhead aim to just keep updating Helldivers 2 with a bunch of new content--kind of like what Bungie has done with Destiny 2. Now we have an idea of what kinds of things could show up in the game in the coming years.

If Arrowhead has their way, Helldivers 2 could become the next Destiny 2 (but in a good way?). The idea is to add so-called sequel-level features into Helldivers 2 without having to actually launch a brand new separate product. Johan Pilestedt, Arrowhead's previous CEO who moved to Chief Creative Officer so he could have more control over how Helldivers 2 evolves, outlines some of the content that could show up in lieu of a sequel.

In a recent video interview, Pilestedt says he'd like to see additions like 8-player missions and more organic social play set in a massive open-ended map--areas so big that players could run into other squads while exploring.

The out-of-control DRAM crisis will have some major flow-on effects in the years to come, with reports that the next-gen PlayStation 6 and Xbox Next consoles might not release in their expected 2027-2028 timeline, with major issues in DRAM supply and skyrocketing prices.

In a new report published by Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, console manufacturers Sony and Microsoft are in quite the pickle regarding their respective next-gen consoles because of mammoth RAM price increases. Tom reports that the situation has Sony and Microsoft debating their PlayStation 6 and Xbox Next console releases past their 2027-2028 release window.

Tom writes: "RAM manufacturers will be able to build out their infrastructure to produce more RAM" that would see prices dropping". Tom explains: "While consoles have traditionally been subsidized to a certain extent in the past, it seems like RAM availability and price increases will mean that the next generation of consoles, which were already believed to be much higher in price than previous generations, could be extortionate".

Halo Studios has hired a new chief of staff who also has an AI consulting business--a development that could indicate wider usage of AI (generative or otherwise) at the Halo developer.

The latest report from Rebs Gaming indicates that Halo Studios is indeed gearing up to use AI in the development of new Halo games--if it isn't already. The video notes that Halo Studios has also hired a new chief of staff, Angela Hession, an 11-year veteran at Microsoft who has a robust background in trust and safety (she also was a principal product lead on HoloLens). What's interesting about this hire is that she also runs her own AI consulting firm, Hession Consulting AI, whose landing page reads: "We help technology, gaming, and commerce leaders integrate trust, operational transformation, and future-ready strategy so they can grow fast without triggering tomorrow's crises."

There's also some interesting stats on Hession's previous experiences, with the AI consulting firm's site mentioning Hession's previous experience as a strategy and operations director (or a chief operating officer) at Microsoft, in which she managed a "$500 million business unit" related to Xbox services. The site notes that Hession managed to find cost savings for this Xbox-related business.

Back in the mid-2000s, Rockstar Games almost took Grand Theft Auto globetrotting with multiple worldwide locations and settings for the series.

It's been decided for years now that GTA will stay in the United States--after all, there are so many opportunities for deep satirization with locales like Liberty City (New York), Los Santos (L.A.) and Vice City (Miami). But this wasn't always the case, and in the mid-2000s, Rockstar floated the idea of a mainline game set in other countries.

In a new interview with GamesHub, former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij laid out some of the other cities that could've shown up in a GTA game. According to Vermeij, GTA Tokyo almost happened.

CD Projekt RED could release a new Witcher 3 expansion to spark sales and drum up excitement for The Witcher 4.

The Witcher 4 is in full production, and will kick off a new saga for the medieval fantasy franchise. CD Projekt's new arc will be a multi-game trilogy centered around Ciri, but there's still a lot of questions about story and theme. One way to solve this problem could be a surprise new paid expansion for The Witcher 3.

According to reports from Polish news site Strefa Inwesterow, Pekao analyst Emil Poplawski believes CD Projekt could release a new Witcher 3 expansion that essentially sets the stage up for Ciri's new adventures. The new expansion could be $30, which is quite the premium--other expansions like Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine were $10 and $20, respectively.

Activision could release Call of Duty on Nintendo Switch sooner than expected, but it remains unclear which platform the game will drop onto--the Switch 1, Switch 2, or both?

Back in 2023, Microsoft signed a legally-binding 10-year deal to release new Call of Duty games onto Nintendo platforms. The landmark deal was part of Microsoft's efforts to assuage regulators' worries that the $35 billion Call of Duty franchise wouldn't be made exclusive to Xbox--Microsoft made similar arrangements with NVIDIA and Sony.

Since then, three Call of Duty games have released, and none of them have appeared on the Switch. Apparently, that's going to change soon. According to Windows Central's Jez Corden, the first COD game planned for Switch is almost finished and could release in just a few months. This is an extremely interesting development that could hint at multiple Call of Duty games coming to the Switch in 2026.

Cyberpunk 2 could be out in 2030, right in time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Cyberpunk 2077.

Polish analyst firm Noble Securities has made predictions on CD Projekt's upcoming Cyberpunk sequel. The group believes Cyberpunk 2 will be out by 2030 with multiplayer in tow, and based on what we know about the game, this feels like a valid prediction. Back in 2017, we reported that CD Projekt had received a multi-million dollar grant from the Polish government to add online multiplayer elements to Cyberpunk 2077. That didn't happen, and the online components had instead been moved to Cyberpunk 2.

Another prediction: CD Projekt will spend 1.5 billion PLN on Cyberpunk 2's development, which is about $419 million. This is a huge sum for any video game, but bear in mind that CD Projekt positions its games to sell for years--in The Witcher 3's case, for over a decade.

Over 201 million of EA's total ~203 million investors have voted in favor of selling all outstanding shares to a group of buyers led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

It's official: Electronic Arts, one of the last big AAA publishers in the video game industry, is going private. EA shareholders approved the megaton $55 billion buyout with a vote on December 22. According to the SEC filing, 99% of shareholders voted yes on the deal, with 1.9 million voting no.

The buyout is being financed by a trio of big investors, but the principal funding will come from Saudi Arabia's PIF. As a result, it's estimated that the Saudis will receive a staggering 93% stake in EA. As part of the proposal, EA's management will remain intact and CEO Andrew Wilson will still lead the company.

Hitman developer's new James Bond game has been delayed by a few months, and is now set to launch in May.

007 First Light has officially been pushed back by two months from its original March 2026 release, and is now coming on May 27, 2026 to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2.

IO Interactive says that 007 First Light is currently playable from start to finish, and that the extra time will allow the studio to polish gameplay to ensure it's up to par with what audiences expect from such a prestige entertainment brand. The studio also reminds fans that they are an independent developer-publisher tackling the James Bond game on their own, putting greater emphasis on first impressions and launch sales.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 D graphics card has been tested by ASUS China's Tony Yu, with ASUS's new high-end ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor, ready with its 5K resolution of 5120 x 2880 @ 180Hz.

ASUS's new ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor is one of the first "mainstream" 5K monitors, with its 27-inch panel and its 5K high-refresh "dual mode" function that knocks the native 5120 x 2880 resolution down to 2560 x 1440, and drives up the refresh rate of 180Hz to an uber-smooth 330Hz.

Tony mentioned that Windows scaling really helps the ASUS ROG Strix 27 Pro gaming monitor, as the 27-inch panel at 5K has an impressive 218 PPI, with the ASUS China boss using 200% scaling that makes everything better on the eyes, especially text. One of the biggest things to point out with the 5K monitor over a 4K monitor is that the 5K panel has around 78% more pixels than 4K, making it harder on the GPU.

Vince Zampella, one of the co-creators of Call of Duty and its development studio Infinity Ward, has died in a car crash while driving his Ferrari this weekend.

Zampella is the boss of Respawn Entertainment, and the former CEO of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, and also released the latest Battlefield 6 to success, was involved in a single-car crash on the scenic road north of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains. NBCLA reports that Zampella was driving his Ferrari when it veered off the road just exiting a tunnel, hit a concrete barrier, and the passenger was ejected out of the car, explains the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

The CHP said that Zampella was trapped in his car as it caught fire, dying at the scene, while his passenger died at the hospital, authorities told NBC4 Investigates. There aren't many more details just yet, with a witness providing a video of the crash that involved the 2026 Ferrari 296 GTS to authorities, showing Zampella crashing into the barrier just after exiting the tunnel.

Video game prices aren't expected to increase in 2026, but microtransactions might be a different story.

In-game purchases could get a price hike next year as the games industry seeks greater shareholder returns. The market is currently stressed due to consumer spending habits, rising software and hardware production costs, and economic unknowns like tariffs and trade disruptions. As a result, big players like Microsoft have conducted three price increases throughout 2025 alone--two Xbox Series MSRP bumps and a $10 increase to Game Pass.

Software, however, has stayed at $70 (which in itself is a relatively new baseline price that was set just five years ago). Ampere Analysis analyst Piers Harding-Rolls believes that games will stay at $70 throughout 2026, but Nintendo's new $80 price ceiling could give companies more wiggle room.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost $70 and not $100 at launch, former Rockstar animator Mike York predicts, with the rationale that there's simply no reason to damage consumer goodwill with such a dramatic price hike.

$70 games have been here since Sony and Microsoft kicked off Gen 9, and then Nintendo just raised frontline prices of its big tentpole Switch 2 games to $80 (although few games have actually launched at this price). Ever since Epyllion's Matthew Ball postulated on GTA 6 launching for a $100 base price, there's been lots of speculation that Rockstar and Take-Two could just follow through and actually charge that for the game.

The idea would generate tons of upfront revenue, sure, but that's already expected to happen. As we know from our GTA franchise earnings calculations, there's a lot of money to be made from GTA Online post-launch. It's believed that GTA 6 could have some sort of $100 edition, but the base standard version of the game would still retain normalized pricing. That's the thinking that former Rockstar Games animator Mike York has on the topic, with the developer telling Esports Insider that he believes GTA 6 will launch at $70 because Rockstar has no real need to be "greedy."

Microsoft has denied reports about a steep profit goal for its Xbox games division, telling CNBC that the recent Bloomberg reports aren't factual.

Microsoft has apparently delivered rare comments on the profitability of its Xbox business. The $3.61 trillion market cap company has denied rumors about profit target mandates within Xbox. Back in October, sources told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier and Dina Bass that Microsoft was pressuring Xbox to deliver a 30% accountability margin--Microsoft's own internal term for a profit margin. Now Microsoft tells CNBC that the profit margin reports are inaccurate.

Achieving that kind of margin would be a significantly high goal, especially considering Microsoft's now-inflated revenues. Buying Activision Blizzard King added several billions of dollars to Xbox's yearly earnings; Microsoft's gaming revenues went from $15.48 billion in FY23 to $21.52 billion a year later following the integration of Activision.