Gaming - Page 513

uPlay is dead, but Ubisoft is replacing it with something better.

Ubisoft recently announced Ubisoft Connect, an ambitious new multi-platform ecosystem that unifies mobile, PC, and consoles in one seamless infrastructure. Ubisoft Connect is basically uPlay with added features. The new system is designed specifically for upcoming Ubisoft games and next-gen releases, and tethers platforms together with cross-play and cross-save transitions in select games.

Titles like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Immortals Fenix Rising, and Riders Republic will support cross-save at launch via Ubisoft Connect. No longer are your saves exclusive to PlayStation, Xbox, or PC--now they're backed up in the cloud.

Microsoft may soon let you play Xbox games on your TV without owning an Xbox console.

Microsoft might finally be developing a low-cost Xbox HDMI stick specifically designed for cloud gaming. The idea is to have a cheap Amazon Fire TV-like device that plugs directly into an HDTV and allows users to play games streamed from the Project xCloud cloud gaming service. This kind of device was actually in development in 2016 as Project Hobart, but it was scrapped. Rumors swirled that the project had been resurrected in 2019. This was a year after we predicted that a low-cost set-top box or streaming stick could be part of the new next-gen Xbox family.

Xbox gaming boss Phil Spencer now outright says a streaming stick could indeed come to fruition. Microsoft appears to be ready to make good on all the prototypes and strategies that it cut in the past. Now that Xbox is truly a cross-platform webwork of monetized services and subscriptions, and now that Project xCloud is being rolled out, the time is right.

Scorn, one of the weirdest games we've ever seen, will officially launch on the Xbox Series X and PC in 2021.

After years of development, Ebb Software finally has a release window for their ultra-freaky horror shooter Scorn. The game is pegged to launch sometime in 2021 on Series X/S consoles and PC, complete with 4K 60FPS performance on PC and the Series X. The hallowed FPS would make HR Giger and Beksinski proud, but it's skipping current-gen hardware (Xbox One, PS4) and also won't launch on Sony's next-gen PS5.

To celebrate the announcement, Ebb released a new gameplay trailer showcasing Scorn's fundamental gameplay elements. The core loop is shooter-survival based with puzzles peppered in, all set across one of the most authentically-bizarre backdrops in the games industry today. The gun itself transforms during gameplay and becomes a key while also being able to blast enemies. It's also organic and pulses with a kind of hidden life.

First McDonald's, now Sony is teaming up with famed rapper Travis Scott for a new PS5 ad campaign.

Travis Scott is now a strategic creative partner on the PlayStation brand, and to celebrate, Sony released a new ad that spoofs the old Maxell hi-fidelity commercials from the 1980s. You know the one where the seated man is almost blown away by the awesome audio power blasted out by towering speakers.

Sony didn't elaborate what this partnership will entail, but we should expect some Cactus Jack-branded accessories and content for the PlayStation 5 console. Maybe even a few custom faceplates, controllers, themes, and more. Expect Sony to push a ton of advertisements as it ramps up for the big holiday season centered around the PS5.

The new PUBG update for consoles is here giving Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro owners a higher FPS gaming experience.

PUBG's new Console Update 9.1 has a nifty new 'Framerate Priority mode' that lifts the frame rate cap all the way up to 60FPS, and the resolution to 1080p. We could expect the new Framerate Priority mode pushing 1080p 60FPS on the base line consoles in the future, too.

"The Framerate Priority setting has some exciting changes this time around. The frame cap is now lifted to 60 FPS and the screen resolution will be set to 1920 x 1080 to increase framerates. The new Framerate Priority is available on Xbox One X and the PlayStation 4 Pro, and we are investigating ways to bring the lifted frame cap to other console devices as well. Stay tuned".

Epic Games has just pushed out the new update for Fortnite introducing a bunch of Halloween-themed skins, and so much more. But the more important thing here is the file size on PC has been radically reduced.

Fortnite's new 14.40 patch weighs in at 27GB, but once PC gamers have installed the patch it will reduce the 90-100GB installation size down to a skimp 30GB in comparison. This is actually huge, which will also see PC gamers seeing Fortnite loading in much faster, too.

It doesn't compare to the 250GB ceiling that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone on the PC.

Sony reveals what streaming services and media apps will be available on the PS5 at launch.

In a recent PlayStation Blog post, Sony confirms the big apps that'll be ready for the PS5's November 12 launch. Big heavy hitters like HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu are noticeably absent from the list, but Sony says some of these are coming later.

The following apps will be pre-installed on the PlayStation 5's SSD in the new Media section:

Ontario native Shawn Moore is suing EA on behalf of himself and anyone else who purchased lootboxes in 60 of EA's live games from 2008 to the present day.

The new EA lawsuit goes into great length in detailing EA's monetization practices across some of its most popular franchises, from FIFA and Battlefield to Star Wars The Old Republic and even Dragon Age. The suit likens lootboxes to gambling, and affirms EA is taking part in unregulated gambling-like business that's predicated on compulsive habits.

The argument is that EA's lootboxes violate specific gambling laws, namely the Gaming Control Act included in Canada's Criminal Code. There's multiple counts, but the most damning allege EA has no safeguards in place to protect minors from lootbox purchases and engaging in psychological methods to push consumers to buy randomized in-game items.

The PS5's clean, concise, and functionally-layered UI is designed to give players more control over their gaming experiences. The next-gen PlayStation 5 will respect your time.

Sony recently showcased the PlayStation 5's UI and revealed lots of incremental improvements over the PS4. The next-gen UI is a general evolution over the PS4 in nearly every way. The home page has changed into the Control Center, and the interactive square panes are no longer limited to just games and apps.

Instead, the panes are layered kind of like a deck of cards. Each game has its own card stack. The cards allow gamers to do multiple things, from launching the game outright to tracking in-game adventures, or challenges, via the Activities section that unlock specific rewards.

The Xbox Series X is a well-designed console with a robust cooling solution. Even with special hardware and software, the next-gen system will still get hot when playing demanding games.

According to latest thermal tests from Digital Foundry, the Xbox Series X can reach up to 62C temps when playing Gears 5 in specific sequences. It all depends on how much power is drawn. Thanks to Gears 5's dynamic resolution scaling, the GPU is pushed pretty hard to enable higher-end performance like native 4K with ray-traced visuals with graphics settings that go beyond PC Ultra settings. The more demanding the game is, the more power is drawn, and the more heat is produced.

In order to see how hot the Series X can get, Digital Foundry found a spot in Gears 5 that drew 205W of console power and measured temps with a FLIR camera app during the sequence. Knowing what we know about the Series X's pull-based airflow, the results aren't too surprising. The console pulls air from the bottom to exhaust from the top via a huge 130mm fan.

Gears 5 has been enhanced so much on Xbox Series X that it outperforms PC performance settings.

Gears 5 is among the major first-party games that will push the Series X to its limits. The game is capable of hitting 4K that goes beyond PC ultra settings, complete with ray-traced global illumination effects, higher-end shadows, and native 4K textures. Other optimizations include ultra-fast load times thanks to the PCIe 4.0 SSD, and massively reduced latency in campaign and mulitplayer via the new Dynamic Latency Input mode.

According to tests run by Digital Foundry, Gears 5 utilizes roughly 200W of the Xbox Series X's 315W PSU, accounting for about 63% of max power threshold. This ample power boost is used to push the GPU and other components to higher limits. The result is a PC-level experience from a $500 console.

Watch Dogs: Legion is close to release, with Ubisoft unveiling a new 'Classroom 101' trailer with real actors, and I have to say it's actually great. Check it out:

Ubisoft has built an incredible world with Watch Dogs: Legion, where you can play anyone in London and all of it cooperatively with a friend. The new trailer shows off some "never-before-seen gameplay innovation that allows you to recruit and play as anyone you see".

The developer explains the Team Up with Friends co-op side of Watch Dogs: Legion as: "Join forces with up to three friends in online multiplayer as you freely explore London together or take on special co-op missions, and unique game modes. Enjoy free regular updates adding new online content, rewards and themed events".

The Xbox Series X's new Quick Resume feature is a great new convenient feature for instant play, but you don't want to rely too heavily on it.

Quick Resume is a game changer. It's basically save states that are automatically recorded to console NVMe storage. When you play a game, the console saves your current progress in a state that's independent of an actual in-game save. Quick Resume states are preserved even when the console is rebooted and turned off. This way you can instantly jump back into the game right where you left off. It's an evolution of the Suspend and Resume feature.

There's just one glaring problem with Quick Resume: The Series X doesn't warn you when you're about to overwrite a slot. The Series X/S consoles can suspend up to 6 games in Quick Resume slots. If you play more than six games, these slots may get overwritten with any new games you might be playing. This tidbit comes from a recent Business Insider console preview.

Darkest Dungeon II will launch in early access exclusively on the Epic Games Store in 2021, developer Red Hook Studios today announced.

Red Hook Is hard at work on Darkest Dungeon II and starting in 2021, the team will use fan feedback to help shape the game over time. There's no word on a finalized release date but we do know the sequel will be in full 3D with the signature gritty visual style intact. The latest teaser trailer actually shows off the kind of Unity-made 3D models and effects we can expect from the final game.

Darkest Dungeon II will be an Epic exclusive--or at least the early access portion will be--in a deal that benefits Red Hook with extra funding. The team plans to share more info in the coming months, but for now be sure to wishlist the game on the Epic Store.

The Xbox Series X can significantly reduce input latency in optimized games running at 120FPS, including Gears 5.

Gears 5 will be one of the major spectacles that pushes the Xbox Series X to its limits. The game is already able to hit native 4K resolution with perf equivalent to an RTX 2080 GPU at High settings, but now The Coalition shared some more impressive tweaks. The Series X can already reduce input latency thanks to its new Dynamic Input Latency feature, which helps match up button press timings with on-screen effects, but developers can also scale their games to better use this feature.

Armed with the Xbox Series X's power, Gears 5's input latency will be reduced by up to 57% in versus mode and 36% in campaign. The biggest reduction is at 120FPS, which makes sense given the higher refresh rates over HDMI 2.1. The result is a gameplay experience that reacts quickly and naturally to your inputs, button presses, and movements, especially in competitive game modes where it's needed most.

Irreverent indie publisher Devolver Digital has acquired Croteam, the Croation dev team behind Serious Sam and The Talos Principle.

After years of dating, Devolver Digital has finally put a ring on Croteam. The publisher has bought out the Serious Sam dev for an undisclosed sum, finally giving the studio much-needed permanence in an unpredictable market. Devolver confirms that Talos Principle 2, new Serious Sam games, and fresh new IP are all currently in development at Croteam.

2K Games was caught trying to over-monetize its fan base with forced in-game ads in NBA 2K21. Fans pushed back, and now the publisher is fixing the issue.

NBA 2K21, a $70 next-gen game, recently introduced post-launch advertisements to monetize its fans. The unskippable in-game ads were stealthily added one month after launch and popped up in pre-game loading scenes. 2K Games has responded after lots of pushback from fans, claiming that the ad placement was an error that will be fixed soon.

"As many are aware, in recent years ads have been integrated into 2KTV segments. Yesterday's 2KTV ad placement impacted our players' experience in a way we didn't intend, as these ads are not meant to run as part of the pre-game introduction. This will be fixed in future episodes. Thanks for your continued feedback," 2K Games said.

Halo: Infinite won't release with the Xbox Series X, but you can still get some Halo action in with a free copy of Halo 5: Guardians.

As part of the recent Monster Energy x Halo promo, gamers can get a free digital copy of Halo 5 simply by signing up for a Monster account. Just go to this link, sign up, and verify your account over email. You'll get a code to redeem a free copy of Halo 5: Guardians for Xbox One on the Microsoft Store.

Now here's the kicker: The terms say a game disc is required to play the game...so it appears it's not a "free" copy after all.

Atari revealed new concepts for its ambitious hotel and resort business, which is set to launch in 2022 across eight major cities.

Get ready 80s gaming fans--Atari has teamed up with GSD Group and architectural experts at Gensler to create a new kind of hotel. The idea is to make a kind of Atari interactive museum-resort that blends comfortable amenities with tons of interactive and gaming experiences. The gaming attractions range from esports venues, and fully-fledged arcades with Atari classics, to new-age gaming and even virtual reality demos.

Expect to see things like Pong, Asteroids, Centipede, Pac-Man, and other iconic games in a playable arcade, complete with 80s pop culture decorations on the walls. You will also see the new Atari VCS console in playable form, with old-school games and new-school exclusives alike.

Cyberpunk 2077 has so much going under the hood that the smaller things like full lip-sync for every single voiced character in all dubbed 10 languages needs to be highlighted.

The team at CD PROJEKT RED has used artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that hasn't been done at this level in a huge AAA game, ever: full lip-syncing of every single voice character in all 10 dubbed languages is a huge point for Cyberpunk 2077.

CDPR used the "JALI" artificial intelligence to provide lip-synced dialogue across the 10 languages, with AI handling the heavy lifting with the thousands of characters with voice lines in Cyberpunk 2077.