Gaming - Page 519

CD PROJEKT RED has reminded gamers that if they buy the game from GOG.com then they, the developer, will take 100% of the sales -- versus taking just 70% from other platforms.

In a new tweet the team said that if you purchase Cyberpunk 2077 through GOG.com then they will get all of the sales, which is what a lot of gamers like to support. Other platofrms like Steam, Xbox, PlayStation -- even Google, Apple, and others -- take 30% at times. This means CDPR takes 70% from those platforms, but on GOG.com they get 100%.

Not only that, but if you pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 before December 10 then you will also get a 30% code for official merchandise on the CD PROJEKT RED store. That is a great bonus, and a very nice incentive to buy the game from GOG over other platforms.

Cyberpunk 2077 is right around the corner -- if you can believe it, after all these years and now many recent delays -- with a large 43GB update coming right after its launch.

The game launches on December 10, with a day one update expected but that will be a separate update to the larger 43GB update for Cyberpunk 2077. YouTuber 'DreamcastGuy' has his hands-on Cyberpunk 2077 right now, and shared a screenshot of the update for Cyberpunk 2077 which weighs in at 43.5GB.

But in comes CD PROJEKT RED public relations manager, Fabian Mario Dohla, tweeted a reply: "It's an update but - fun twist - not the update we'll have for launch".

Our DualSense controller is now afflicted with stick drift after 3 weeks of play. We don't know how to fix it, but we can confirm these popular internet "fixes" don't actually work.

The PS5's DualSense controller really is a game-changer...when it works. The haptic feedback, advanced rumble, and new adaptive triggers really add a new level of immersion to play. None of this matters if your sticks start to drift. You simply can't play a PS5 game when you're fighting the camera the entire time, and the DualShock 4 isn't usable with PS5 games. So you're left with two options: send the controller into Sony for repairs, or buy another controller from the store.

Lots of people are reporting DualSense stick drift, and we're one of them. Our DualSense's right stick has started to severely drift, causing most games to be unplayable. Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Black Ops Cold War, and even Spider-Man Miles Morales have turned into exercises of frustration.

Saves made on the PS5 version of Spider-Man Miles Morales are only compatible on PS5, and can't be migrated or imported to PS4.

I recently bought the PS4 version of Miles Morales to get two versions for the price of one. Why not? Grab the PS4 version and get a free PS5 version. Since I own both a PS4 and PS5, I figured I could trade off with my girlfriend; she could play the PS4 version, upload the saves, and I could pick up right where she left off on PS5 (and vice-versa).

Unfortunately that's not possible. Miles Morales supports PS4 to PS5 save migrations, but you can't do the reverse. Any saves you make in Miles Morales on PS5 are locked on PS5. These saves can be uploaded to PS Plus, but you can't download them to the PS4's HDD. The saves simply don't show up on PS4's PS Plus cloud download section.

New Dragon Age 4 content will be shown at The Game Awards 2020 on December 10. Hopefully we'll get some gameplay this time?

Dragon Age 4 is a long ways away and probably won't release before 2022. BioWare did show off a tantalizing glimpse of prototype in-game footage a bit ago, complete with some amazing lighting and motion effects, combat animations, and environments. We could see more of this kind of footage at The Game Awards.

Like all of EA's new games, Dragon Age 4 will be powered by DICE's next-gen Frostbite engine, which includes all kinds of upgrades like lighting/shadows, real-time destructible environments, and more. We expect Dragon Age 4 to be exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series and not release on PS4 or Xbox One.

Warzone is an absolute money-making juggernaut for Activision, and the F2P battle royale has now surpassed 80 million players in less than a year's time.

Today Activision confirmed some epic stats for Call of Duty. The franchise has made over $3 billion in sales and mTX so far in 2020, and Warzone has hit 85 million active players on all platforms. It took Warzone 269 days (or roughly 9 months) to hit the 85 million player milestone.

Warzone remains an extremely important part of Activision's new tethered business model. Warzone will be the connective tissue that links all mainline Call of Duty games going forward, offering a free-to-play entry point with cross-progression, cross-saves, and cross-play. More importantly, Warzone is also another microtransaction avenue for Activision.

Activision's new four-part plan has created one of the most powerful billion-dollar revenue models in the industry. This is the future of Call of Duty, and the future of major Activision-Blizzard games moving forward.

The Call of Duty franchise has raked in an incredible $3 billion in combined sales and monetization revenues throughout 2020, Activision today confirmed. These monumental earnings are made possible by the new Call of Duty ecosystem that connects four microtransaction-driven points together: CoD Mobile, two simultaneously-updated mainline premium games (Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare), and Warzone, the F2P battle royale that links the premium games.

Warzone and mainline CoD games are now strategically interwoven with cross-play, cross-progression, cross-saves, and cross-monetization, making Warzone the most important thing Activision has ever done.

Star Wars and X-Men star Oscar Isaac with portray the iconic and gruff Snake in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid film adaptation.

According to Deadline, Oscar Isaac just landed his dream role. Isaac is slated to play Solid Snake in Jordan Vogt-Roberts' new Metal Gear movie--a role that Isaac publicly expressed interest in. The film may be a long ways away, though. Isaac is currently working on a laundry list of films and adaptations, and will star in Marvel's new Moon Knight movie.

Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly will pen a script cemented in Hideo Kojima's vast, espionage-driven story arc. Avi Arad, who has been attached to innumerable Marvel and Spider-Man projects, will produce. There's no official details on which game the film will adapt, or who will play which characters alongside Isaac.

Dreams do come true: 8-year-old Joseph Deen just became one of the youngest esports pros in history.

esports group Team 33 just spent $33,000 to add 8-year-old Fortnite pro Joseph Deen, aka Gosu33, to their roster. Gosu actually started training with Team33 when he was just six years old (when I was six I was getting tormented by NES games, not competing against high-level competitors) and built up skills in the last 2 years.

"It's a dream come true!" says Joseph Deen, when asked to comment on his new signing. "While many other teams didn't take me seriously due to my young age, Team 33 scouted me through Fornite games and let me train and learn with them daily. I couldn't be happier today to become an official member of the team."

Sea of Thieves has broken another big milestone and now has more than 11 million pirate adventurers logging in worldwide.

2020 has been a big year for Microsoft's online swashbuckler Sea of Thieves. Between Steam, Windows 10, and Xbox consoles, Sea of Thieves now has 11 million people playing across the globe. RARE didn't give exact figures on how many of these are Game Pass players, but the devs did outline what's next for the game.

"2020 has had more players so far than 2019, and 2019 had more players than 2018. It's been great to see this continued grow of the game as more people come in from all over the world," said executive producer Joe Neate.

Cyberpunk 2077 is right around the corner, with CD PROJEKT RED detailing the pre-load times for gamers across the world.

If you are playing Cyberpunk 2077 on the PC then you will be able to pre-load the game earlier if you ordered the game from GOG -- on December 7 at 3AM PST (6AM EST, 11AM GMT). Steam players will have their pre-loads begin on the same day, but later at 9AM PST, 11AM EST, 4PM GMT.

Xbox gamers can pre-load now, while PlayStation pre-loads start "two days prior to the release date".

Ever wonder why Cyberpunk 2077's main advertisements, game cover art, and assets are yellow? CD Projekt RED's senior designer answers.

CDPR senior graphic designer Irina Moraru recently designed two snazzy Cyberpunk 2077 skins for Alienware's m15 and m17 gaming laptops. We got ahold of a Q&A session with Moraru that revealed some interesting details around Cyberpunk 2077's main design process, especially when it comes to the hero art (main cover art used in promos, videos, and games). Moraru says yellow is the developer's "most important element" that catches your eye right away.

"Besides the logo, yellow is our most important brand element. It grabs people's attention and creates an immediate association with Cyberpunk 2077," Moraru said in the Q&A.

After 23 years with BioWare, Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah is leaving the studio alongside general manager Casey Hudson.

Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah are leaving BioWare. Both say new projects like Dragon Age 4 and the next Mass Effect are "in good hands".

Darrah, who had been with BioWare for 23 years, served on executive producer on the Dragon Age series and helped course-correct troubled games like Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. Darrah's departure is an end of an era for BioWare, and his departure punctuates others like James Ohlen, who left BioWare in 2018 after 22 years with the studio, and creative director Mike Laidlaw, who left in 2017 after 17 years of Dragon Age games.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War currently takes up a whopping 145.8GB on PS5 without Warzone installed. That's about 21% of the PS5's total SSD storage memory.

Earlier today I tried to install Red Dead Redemption 2, a huge 100GB+ game, on my PS5's internal SSD. I received a message that my PS5's SSD was full. I knew it'd happen eventually...but I didn't think it'd happen so fast. It turns out next-gen games are just as big as current-gen games, especially Black Ops Cold War.

The latest Call of Duty requires a huge 145.8GB with multiplayer and campaign installed...and that's without Warzone.

It's true gaming doesn't make nearly as much as Microsoft's other segments, but Xbox is a continual source of guaranteed revenues that are important to the company.

Game Pass and an expanded ecosystem of cross-platform integration has given Microsoft high confidence in gaming. In 7 years, Microsoft went from possibly shutting down Xbox to transforming it into an $11 billion/year segment. This radical turnaround has given Microsoft a taste of gaming success, and now they want more billion-dollar earnings. "In gaming, revenue exceeded $11 billion, as we continue to expand our opportunity to reach the world's 3 billion gamers," Microsoft reports.

In a recent annual shareholders meeting, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company is "very, very much focused on gaming". The Xbox brand isn't going anywhere, especially now that it's a money-making service that bridges consoles, PCs, and mobile phones. Nadella reiterates Microsoft's emphasis on cross-platform reach, and how Xbox consoles aren't the center any more.

Cyberpunk 2077 will ship with a powerful and flexible photo mode to capture all those epic Night City moments.

Every single time I watch a Cyberpunk video I think "I sure hope this game has a photo mode." Today CD Projekt RED made my dreams a reality. Not only does Cyberpunk 2077 have a built-in photo mode option, but it's pretty robust and looks almost as dynamic as Miles Morales' editor.

The new photo mode trailer showcases what kinds of captures you can take. The possibilities are pretty endless. You can change V.'s pose, adjust the frames, touch up effects like exposure and depth of field, and there's even a save/load option that could let you save presets and lock them in for easy access later. Or it could let you save or load the game directly from the photo mode editor?

Lots of original Destiny players have moved on to other games. Bungie has a plan to win then back by catering new content to core fans.

For a while, Destiny 2 has a rocky road. Bungie has spent tons of time and man-hours righting the ship and focusing more on what core gamers actually want rather than trying to attract new players. This re-focusing is imperative for any live game that loses its way--an inevitable fate for most big online games. Even Destiny 1 went through the same metamorphosis with the The Taken King. With its return to classic areas like the Cosmodrome and soon the Vault of Glass raid, Destiny 2's big new Beyond Light expansion is basically the sequel's The Taken King equivalent.

Now in a recent interview with The Washington Post, Bungie execs re-affirm the studio's commitment to the Destiny faithful.

Fortnite's big new Chapter 2, Season 5 Zero Point update is bringing some big characters

Galactus just tried to absorb the Zero Point, but Iron Man foiled his plans by making billions of battle bus clones and blowing him up. Now gamers go through The Loop from the Zero Point into another battle map littered with bounty hunters from a ton of different realities, ranging from Mando and Baby Yoda to Mancake, a hunter with a head made of flapjacks. There's also Leka, a hunter lifted right out of anime and a Roman gladiator with two cruel flails.

Somehow, PlayStation icon Kratos is also joining the fray. It hasn't been announced just yet but Sony did release a teaser. Click here to check out all the latest skins included with Season 5.

Microtransactions and live service purchases are the bedrock of digital gaming. Traditional publishers like EA, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and especially Activision all make hundreds of millions (and even billions) on mTX every year. Others like Tencent further dominate with a smorgasbord of mobile titans. SuperData's latest Black Friday figures illustrate just how important mTX is to a digital games economy dominated by F2P games.

According to SuperData's latest report, in-game purchases make up a whopping 88% of 2020's digital games industry revenues. Mtx and in-game purchases made up $92.6 billion from January - October 2020. Full game paid downloads made just $11.6 billion. Players spent nearly 8x more money buying things in games than they did on the games themselves, and microtransactions made up about 88% of 2020's current digital revenues.

These figures aren't all that surprising given how F2P games typically lead the charge. Mobile is on top, followed by consoles and then PC. F2P games like Fortnite, League of Legends, Genshin Impact, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Roblox pull in tremendous revenues from in-game purchases every year on all platforms.

Sony recently promised that more PlayStation 5 consoles will be shipped out before the end of the year. Some regions aren't included in this re-stocking plan.

The PS5 is the biggest console launch in PlayStation history and the systems are flying off shelves. Supply is more than constrained: scalpers are hoarding thousands of PS5s and consumers are lining up outside of stores for the chance to buy a system. Sony says more PS5s will be shipped to global worldwide regions, but some Oceanic countries will have to wait until 2021.

Sony confirm that all PS5 stock has been sold out in Australia and New Zealand and no more systems will be available until next year. "SIE Australia and New Zealand are pleased to have fulfilled all PS5 stock available to Australians and New Zealanders in 2020. We look forward to making more stock available in 2021," said in a statement to Kotaku Australia.