Gaming - Page 515

If you happened to miss the news, Minecraft's Steve has made his way to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Nintendo has teamed up with Microsoft to bring one of the most iconic characters in gaming history over to the extensive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster. Now, Steve has arrived in a patch released this past Tuesday, and players have found something quite peculiar about him, or more accurately, about his victory pose at the end of a the game.

Above you will see a video of the whole victory pose, and inherently the pose itself is completely harmless, but some people online see things a little differently. In the victory pose Steve chows down on some meat, and then places it down in quite a questionable location. The same goes for Alex, which is a skin variant of Steve. Nintendo has yet to say if they will be changing the new characters victory pose since people have taken the victory pose to the gutter.

Ubisoft has announced the Assassin's Creed Valhalla PC requirements, where you will need 8GB of RAM and 50GB of storage at a bare minimum.

The game requires DX12, has an uncapped frame rate, support for multi-monitor and widescreen monitors, in-depth customization options and most importantly (for benchmarkers and GPU reviewers like myself) a built-in benchmark to test out Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

At a minimum for 1080p 30FPS on the Low preset you're going to require an AMD Ryzen 3 1300 or Intel Core i5-4460 processor, 8GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon R9 380 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 graphics card. If you want to hit 1080p 60FPS with the High preset you're going to need a higher-end Ryzen 7 1700 or Core i7-6700 and an Radeon RX Vega 64 or GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card.

CD Projekt RED just revealed a ton about Cyberpunk 2077's vehicles, confirming tons of customization and a very GTA-style mechanic.

Night City is basically a high-tech crime haven, so it makes sense that cars can be stolen in Cyberpunk 2077. Gamers can yank drivers out of their cars just like in Grand Theft Auto and make away with their ride. The rides themselves have five basic classes with three main bases (or at least that's what was shown) but there's tons of variation and customization options.

"Every single vehicle you buy, every single player vehicle, is absolutely unique in every way. It's got a unique interior, unique exterior, paint job, it'll sound different and it'll also handle different," said Paul Dalessi, senior vehicle artist at CD Projekt RED.

The rumors around the Xbox Series X's blazing hot temps have been disproven, and the console actually runs pretty cool under specific performance demands.

Like the PlayStation 5, the Series X has a mighty cooling solution that combines a 120mm fan, a massive copper-plated vapor chamber heat sink, and a split motherboard design to ensure optimum temps. This design is working well. Various Series X previews have compiled operating temps for the Series X, and the results are pretty good.

According to Venture Beat's Jeff Grubb, the Xbox Series X maxed out at roughly 50C while playing Hitman 2, a backwards compatible game that hasn't been significantly optimized for the hardware. Tweakers.net has more comprehensive FLIR temp readings that show a substantial 27% decrease in overall heat output on the Series X. The test was conducted over 15 minutes of playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on both an Xbox One X and Xbox Series X.

Destiny 2 will run at "true" 4K 60FPS on both PS5 and Xbox Series X, Bungie today confirmed.

Destiny 2's massive Beyond Light expansion will bring next-gen performance alongside a swath of new content. The game's free next-gen optimizations include native 4K 60FPS gameplay on both the PS5 and Series X consoles (1080p 60FPS on Series S), and also sports custom FOV sliders straight from the PC version. This is a pretty big deal that effectively widens your range of vision and it's never been offered in Destiny 2 on consoles before.

Bungie also confirms cross-generation play is supported--PS5 gamers can play with PS4 owners, and Series X/S owners can play with Xbox One players) but full-on cross-play between consoles, PC, and Stadia isn't available yet.

The newly revealed PS5 UI has familiar features found in the Xbox One's old scrapped Snap Mode, including picture-in-picture playback.

The PS5's user interface is filled with all kinds of nifty new tricks. Each game now has an in-depth hub with an Activities section that's integrated with new features like challenges that track your in-game progress. The section lets gamers track their trophy progress in real-time, check out customized challenges that rotate on a timed basis, check out screenshots and shared videos, and get announcements and updates right from the developers.

One of the biggest advancements is how communication and interaction works on the PS5. The console lets you join up with friends and watch their shared streams as you play, complete with a picture-in-picture overlay similar to the Xbox One's Snap Mode. The UI is segmented into "cards" that can be pinned to your screen. Cards include the real-time Game Help section, a new feature that gives you tips on a game as you play, and new party chat systems.

The PS5 has a built-in hint and tutorial system that shows you tips as you play, but there's a big catch.

Sony is adding lots of value to PS Plus. First there's the PS Plus Collection on PS5, and now subscribers get access to a new in-game help system that effectively shows you how to beat certain segments of the game with real-time videos, screenshots, and tips. It's called Game Help, and it's a big part of the PS5's new Activities section.

The new Game Help feature is exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers so that means you have to pay to used it. The idea is simple: Gamers can access an on-screen menu and get real-time hints on how to beat certain areas of a game. It's a move that could wipe out walkthrough websites and videos in one swoop.

American rapper Logic has just slapped down a huge $220,000 on an ultra-rare Pokemon carrd, as he was the leading bidder on a PSA 10 Base 1st Edition Charizard card.

Logic, whose real name is Robert Bryson Hall II, posted on Instagram explaining: "When I was a kid I absolutely loved Pokemon but couldn't afford the cards. I remember even trying to trade food stamps for theirs and now as an adult who has saved every penny he has made being able to enjoy something that I've loved since childhood now as a grown man is like buying back a piece of something I could never have. It's not about the material, it's about the experience".

Cardhops explained on Twitter: "A PSA 10 Base Set 1st Edition Charizard just sold at auction with an ending bid of $183,812.00 via @IconicAuctions. Including the 20% buyer's premium, the total transaction value exceeds $220k. As of now, this is the highest known sale of the card".

Ken Levine is the director behind the infamous BioShock, with his new studio Ghost Story Games working on a new sci-fi immersive shooter with FPS + RPG elements.

Well, that game is in the "later stages of production" according to a new job listing from Ghost Story Games looking for a new senior producer on its in-development game. The studio has less than 35 people working for it, noting that the team is "working on a new immersive sci-game game with RPG elements".

The job listing teases that the game is in the "later stages of production", after the studio formed in 2017. The studio adds: "We are known for having genuine open communication with a flat structure. You're welcome to join any meeting, walk up to (or Slack) anyone and have your voice heard. Team-based decision making is important to us, regardless of your position--every opinion counts and matters!"

Gears 5 was meant to be a hugely improved release on the Xbox Series X, but thanks to some new screenshots from the Xbox Series X version of the game, it seems not.

There were 4 photos shared on Twitter here, so I grabbed them and have some side-by-side comparisons (compared to the Xbox One X on top, and Xbox Series X on bottom). It makes it easier to look at Gears 5 in a side-by-side comparison between the two flagship Xbox consoles. Check them out below.

This is what we were told to expect from the Xbox Series X version of Gears 5:

I truly didn't think I'd ever see the day that I'd be writing about DOOM Eternal running on a fridge, but here we are. Check it out for yourself:

DOOM Eternal is running there on a Samsung smart fridge, through a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 smartphone, and streaming through Xbox Game Pass. Richard "Twisted420" Mallard is behind the video, noting that there is a "bit of a latency" which is to be expected, but hey -- DOOM Eternal is running, playable on a damn fridge.

Better yet, it's not just DOOM Eternal that you can play through your smartphone and Xbox Game Pass, and onto a smart fridge. There are 100s of games that you can play, with Twisted420 scrolling past a bunch of them. You won't want to do this of course, but hey -- it's a super cool thing to see.

CD Projekt RED has been crunching on Cyberpunk 2077 since 2019, sources tell Bloomberg.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest game CDPR has ever made. It represents tens of millions in monetary investment and countless man hours of work--not to mention the engine optimizations, tech advancements, and other behind-the-scenes tweaks to make the FPS mechanics and physics work properly. The game is almost done and nearing its November 2019 release date, but this push has required a lot of overtime from developers.

A recent post on 4Chan alleges CDPR devs have been "crunching non-stop" since May 2019, working 16 hour work weeks in a rough push colloquially known as the "death march". The reports have now been corroborated by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who verified the user as an ex-CDPR employee, and also says more devs are sharing similar stories.

BioWare's upcoming Mass Effect remaster trilogy has been rated by the Korean classification board, hinting at an incoming N7 Day reveal.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been spotted on new Korean ratings board data sheets. The game is expected to be a three-part collection that includes Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 in one SKU, complete with remastered graphics and tweaked performance for current-gen console hardware.

It's worth noting the game isn't technically searchable on the Korean ratings board and is instead included in a .CSV file listing all recently classified games. The Mass Effect Legendary Edition was actually rated in September. Sources tell VentureBeat that the trilogy remaster has been delayed to 2021 due to specific issues with the first game, but we could still see an announcement on N7 Day next month.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has its new v1.9.5.0 update pushed out, and while it fixes some niggly issues -- gamers as a whole, aren't happy with the new small update.

Asobo Studio says that the new Flight Simulator v1.9.5.0 update fixes people crashing to the desktop, while crashes using the VFR map in-flight, and smart cam mode-related crashes mostly fixed. The developer says that the "Autogen buildings height has been reviewed", while players noted gigantic skyscrapers throughout the countryside.

Flight Simulator's new update has also had some changes made to the aerodynamics, with Asobo explaining "autopilot pitch oscillation has been reduced on some planes" while UI elements get a slight touch up. Asobo has also performed some unknown quality of life improvements to the Flight Simulator marketplace, too.

We already knew that Insomniac Games would be pushing Spider-Man: Miles Morales on the next-gen Sony PlayStation 5, where the developer said it would be running at 4K 60FPS at the time, but didn't detail exactly what would be happening.

At the time, we explained: "new Spider-Man game will run at 4K 60FPS on PS5 via an optional Performance Mode, hinting at higher resolution for the other mode. Insomniac didn't clarify if this was native 4K resolution, though". But now we know exactly what is going on under the hood thanks to a new exclusive preview from Game Informer.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be running at a dynamic 4K 60FPS on "Performance Mode", where the 'dynamic 4K' means we're looking at it rendering at a lower resolution and being upscaled. But then there will be "Fidelity Mode" that will offer true native 4K but with ray tracing and at just 30FPS.

CD PROJEKT RED is very slowly drip-drip-drip revealing Cyberpunk 2077 more and more before its huge launch on November 19.

The latest reveal is a tease of North Oak, which will be a part of Night City in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. North Oak is the newest part of Night City, with it being the 'exclusive residential district' that is free from poverty and gangs that plague the city in Cyberpunk 2077.

North Oak was created after the 'Nuke Incident' and the destructrion of the Arasaka Twin Towers complex, where North Oak became a site of temporary refugee camps for around 25 years. You can read up on the back story of North Oak, and everything else Cyberpunk 2077, right here.

Burger King might've just revealed the PS5's startup sound with a new giveaway promo.

Sony is teaming up with Burger King to help drive up burger sales and build massive hype for the PS5. A new leaked promo offers the chance for a free PS5 with every 2 for $5 deal at Burger King. The catch is you have to use the BK App to buy the food, which means digital payments with a debit or credit card. The giveaway appears to be for a digital-only PS5.

This promo isn't really a surprise though. Earlier this morning the fast food chain teased giveaway with a Tweet that might've confirmed the console's OS bootup sound. A weird way to reveal something like this, but then again nothing about 2020 has been ordinary.

Apex Legends for the Nintendo Switch has been rated by the ESRB, confirming an arrival on Nintendo's mega-hot platform.

After avoiding Nintendo's handheld-console hybrid for quite a while, EA is starting to warm up to the Switch. The publisher is bringing Apex Legends over to the Switch in a bid to tap the platform's huge 61.44 million install base, complete with in-game monetization.

Neither Respawn nor EA have made an official release date announcement for Apex on Switch, but earlier this month the studio confirmed the port was still in development. We should expect cross-play at some point but cross-progression might be iffy. Also expect a paid Switch Online account to be required too.

Rockstar Games has purchased majority interest in Halo and Crackdown 2 developer Ruffian Games for an undisclosed amount, and formed the brand new Rockstar Dundee branch.

According to recent document filings, Take-Two Interactive subsidiary Rockstar Games has purchased majority stake in Ruffian Games via an acquisition takeover. Ruffian is now officially called Rockstar Dundee, named after Ruffian's location in Dundee, Scotland, and joins Rockstar's international webwork of dev studios. At the time of writing, Rockstar Games now has 10 worldwide studios.

The buyout wasn't explicitly announced since Rockstar is technically a private company within Take-Two. The acquisition gives important clues in what's next from Rockstar and it's likely the takeover was planned as far back as 2019. Last year, Ruffian confirmed that it's helping Rockstar develop multiple new games.

Ailing retailer GameStop teams up with Microsoft to power its online infrastructure, employee teams, and solidify a future in a digital-driven landscape.

GameStop has been in trouble for years now. As of June, the company owes a staggering $417 million in debt and its recent storefront transformations have been disrupted thanks to COVID-19. Now the retailer is pivoting more towards digital ecommerce without giving up on physical console, hardware, and merchandise sales.

GameStop recently announced a strategic multi-year partnership with Microsoft that will help it transition more towards ecommerce. Microsoft's Dynamic365 software and cloud suite will power GameStop's business data infrastructure, arming the retailer with robust, flexible, and efficient tools to manage sales and other key data points.