Gaming - Page 523

NVIDIA has a surprise announcement, with its GeForce NOW game streaming service now streaming games to iOS... but you can't download it from the App Store.

Why? Because it breaks Apple's guidelines so NVIDIA went around that and is blasting games through to GeForce NOW through Safari, Apple's own web browser. Just like it does with their Chromebook client, with the iOS-based GeForce NOW service currently in 'beta'.

Phil Eisler, general manager for GeForce Now explains: "It'll be brought directly to the browser through a webpage similar to our Chromebook client".

New Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay reveals finalized skill trees that will ship in the game's December launch, including stats, skills, and body modification upgrades.

Today CD Projekt RED revealed new Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay and showcased a bunch of content that'll be in the final game. The footage highlights some new skill info as well as the five stats: Cool, Reflexes, Body, Intelligence, and Technical Ability. These stats are basically like governing attributes (think about Morrowind) that each have their own perk trees.

For example, the Reflexes state contains perks associated with each weapon type: Handguns, Rifles, and Blades. These trees contain passive unlockables.

UPDATE: Activision confirms that only about 30 people will be made redundant as it shifts employees to its Sydney office. The company will not be firing 100 workers, and the localization/customer support positions aren't affected.

Here's a quote from Activision-Blizzard:

"We've been exploring how we might best integrate our capabilities across the business and be efficient as we evolve to meet growth opportunities and stay competitive in Asia Pacific. To that end, we have begun conversations with employees regarding a plan to centralize some roles across the region in our Sydney office. Decisions of this nature are never easy and supporting our employees through this process is our number one priority."

Hitman developer IO Interactive has been working on a new IP for a long time now. Today we finally know what the project is: A new 007 game.

IO Interactive today announced they're developing a new game based around the 007 franchise. The game, codenamed Project 007, will be an origin story prequel that explores James Bond's early past, and it won't be adapted or based from a film. The video game's story will be 100% original.

Project 007 is being developed with IO Interactive's high-end proprietary Glacier engine, which has powered all of its Hitman games. Glacier is also updated for next-generation console hardware and will push the new 7nm SoCs to their limits. MGM, EON Productions, and Delphi are publishing the game alongside IO.

The PlayStation 5 has the Dualsense, but now the Xbox Series X/S consoles have the Razer Wolverine V2.

Razer today announced the $100 wired USB Wolverine V2 controller that brings enhanced precision and control to the new Xbox console lineup. The big selling point of the Wolverine V2 is the mecha-tactile buttons, which reduces actuation by up to 35% compared to existing controllers. The result is more crisp and noticeable button presses and less slip-ups during tense game moments.

One interesting feature is the Hair Trigger mode. This essentially makes the triggers incredibly sensitive, allowing you to shoot more with a more gentle trigger pull. It's ideal for FPS games or maybe even racing titles.

The PS5 can use lots of external USB devices including mice, keyboards, and even wired mics and headsets with sound cards.

The PS5 supports USB accessories like keyboards and mice (Bluetooth or otherwise), but what about audio? Sadly the PS5 won't transmit audio through Bluetooth. But USB is a different story. On a lark, I decided to test this out and hooked up a Blue Yeti mic to the PS5. Not only did the PS5 recognize the Blue Yeti as a microphone to record audio, but it also routed the audio output to the mic itself. It recognized and utilized the mic just like a computer would.

The same is true for wired USB headsets with built-in soundcards. I hooked up a HyperX Cloud II headset to the PS5 and not only did it transmit the audio through the headphones, but the PS5 actually recognized the soundcard and allowed Surround Sound 7.1 output.

Godfall has just launched, but at launch the DXR-powered ray traced shadows weren't available -- and now they are, but only on AMD Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards.

The new patch has enabled ray tracing on Godfall but is restricted to the new RDNA 2-powered Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards. NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card owners will have to wait, with an update in the future to bake in some ray tracing support for you.

This quick update, 2.0.95 is just for PC and enables the ability for players to play Godfall with ray tracing on while using applicable AMD GPUs. Note: players will need to have the latest AMD GPU drivers to enable this. Ray tracing using NVIDIA GPUs will come with a future update.

Following a huge acquisition buyout of 11 new game studios, THQ Nordic (aka The Embracer Group) now owns a staggering 214 game IPs and franchises.

Last night THQ Nordic grew quite a bit. The publisher purchased 11 independent studios ranging from mobile games-makers like A Thinking Ape to noteworthy teams like Shadow Warrior's Flying Wild Hog. Following the buyout, the company's IP library grew by 40 franchises.

At the time of writing, THQ Nordic has 214 game IPs as its disposal. The publisher has 114 total development teams, of which 58 are internal and 56 are external. There's also 4,367 current game developers across both segments.

Microsoft could raise the price of its first-party Series S/X exclusives to $69.99, but for now they're staying at $59.99.

While publishers like Activision, Take-Two, and even Sony are charging a $69.99 premium for next-gen titles, Microsoft still maintains the normal $59.99 MSRP. As it stands, Microsoft isn't ready to announce details. After all, there's no Xbox Series X/S exclusives on the market right now--next-gen Xbox exclusives won't happen until 2022 or thereabouts. Other publishers like EA, Capcom, and Ubisoft have all avoided the price jump. But how long will this last?

At the recent Jefferies Interactive Entertainment conference earlier this month, Microsoft CFO Tim Stuart says it's "about time" for a price increase, but also avoids confirming a $69.99 MSRP for new games. Stuart also says Game Pass is an extra layer of monetization that could help offset a new premium cost.

Kraft pokes fun at Sony and Microsoft with the Philly Series 5, a new cheesecake kit that comes in the shape of a PS5.

Ever wanted to eat the PS5? Sony won't let you, but Philadelphia cream cheese has you covered with the Philly Series 5. It's a $4.99 cheesecake kit that comes with white chocolate and cream cheese that you mix in a special mold and cover with cookie crumbles. Once it's finished, slap on the curved pans for some stylish next-gen cheese action.

This model is right up there with the KFConsole, which can hit 4K 120FPS while it cooks your chicken at the same time.

The new Xbox Series X/S duo has smashed current sales records and is now the best-selling launch in Xbox history. Now we have some figures to accompany this milestone.

A bit ago, Microsoft hailed the Series X/S launch as the best-ever for Xbox hardware. Now reports say the next-gen Xbox duo has sold 155,000 units in the United Kingdom, which pushes it past the Xbox One. According to figures provided by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, the Series X/S had the fourth best UK launch out of the last 3 generations of hardware.

Sadly we won't ever get official numbers from Microsoft. Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently confirmed that sales figures won't be shared again. For Microsoft, services are far more important than hardware purchases. Oddly enough, MS did confirm the Series S is leading over Series X purchases. With the Series S' more affordable $299 price tag, this makes sense.

P.T. isn't playable on the PlayStation 5, but now we actually know why.

I noticed something interesting when checking out my PSN games library on my PS5: PS4 game demos aren't backwards compatible. It's not just P.T. that's unplayable. None of the game demos I had previously downloaded on my account were playable or even downloadable on the PS5, including Resident Evil 7, NieR Automata, FIFA 14, NBA Live 14, Titanfall 2, Doom, Battlefront, NiOh 2, or even Medieval.

This would explain why P.T. isn't compatible on the PlayStation 5. We're not 100% sure why the demos aren't playable or what's stepping in the way of backward compatibility.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is now here, but unlike Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -- the new COD features NVIDIA's DLSS technology -- or Deep Learning Super Sampling. It has some major performance boosts, as NVIDIA shows here:

Yeah, you can see that the GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card -- a card that costs $1499 by the way, can run Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War at 4K and over 120FPS with DLSS "performance mode" enabled. The lower-end and now previous-gen GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER goes from just 39FPS to 76FPS with DLSS enabled.

Now remember this is even with ray tracing enabled which is impressive -- with the new GeForce RTX 3070 going from 46FPS to 85FPS, the RTX 2080 Ti from 50FPS to 98FPS (!!!) and the RTX 3080 from 60FPS to 114FPS (!!!). Impressive gains across the board in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with DLSS enabled.

Oh, you don't have a PlayStation 5? Well, thankfully you're in luck -- there's a PS5 Simulator game that lets you unbox it, and try it out! Check it out:

PS5 Simulator sees your PlayStation 5 delivered to your door where you'll need to grab the package, and unbox it. Once the PlayStation 5 is out of the box, you'll need to plug it into the TV -- with your HDMI cable included, you'll need to plug that in to receive signal from your PS5.

You will get to use, or throw around the PS5 Dual Sense controller, and plug it in to charge remember -- they don't ship with a full battery.

If you haven't already received your pre-ordered Xbox Series X, or aren't on a new pre-order list -- then you will be waiting at least 6 more months to buy Microsoft's latest and greatest console.

In a new interview with Xbox CFO Tim Stuart at the recent Jefferies Interactive Entertainment Virtual Conference, who said: "I think we'll continue to see supply shortages as we head into the post-holiday quarter, so Microsoft's Q3, calendar Q1. We're gonna have more demand than we do supply, and I'll apologize in advance to people for that. I think we're gonna live in that world for a few months that we're going to have a lot more demand than we do supply"

"When we get to Q4, all of our supply chain [is] continuing to go full speed heading into kind of the pre-summer months. And that's where I start to - I expect to see a little bit of the demand - the supply profile, meeting the demand profile".

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the best-selling game in the franchise so far, beating first week sales of Origins, Odyssey, and all prior titles.

Ubisoft's new Viking-themed Assasssin's Creed is absolutely killing it right now. The publisher announced that Valhalla had the best release sales out of any other game in the series, and was the biggest PC release of all time. Valhalla's PC launch wasn't just better than other AC games--it was better than every other Ubisoft game.

Ubisoft didn't confirm sales, but the game's cross-gen availability had a lot to do with its success. Valhalla is a must-have launch game on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, especially when playing in 4K 60FPS. The ultra-fast loading, amazing graphics, fluid gameplay, and dazzling 9th century historical recreations make it a picturesque proof-of-concept next-gen title.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest game CD Projekt RED has ever made. Luckily its storage footprint doesn't make the game's scope.

According to new leaked images, Cyberpunk 2077 will ship on two Blu-ray discs on PS4. The back of the box says a minimum 70GB install for both discs, but the game is expected to get bigger with day one updates (and post-launch DLC).

All things considered this install size isn't so bad. Games like Final Fantasy XV (79GB), Final Fantasy VII Remake (85GB), and Red Dead Redemption II (105GB) all command huge space requirements. Cyberpunk 2077 is monumental in features and overall size, and has a huge dynamic GTA-style city with reactive NPCs, lots of gunplay, and branching questlines.

CD Projekt RED just released new gameplay footage showing what Cyberpunk 2077 will look like on Xbox Series X. The results are pretty fantastic.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest, most grandiose project CDPR has ever made. It has dynamic, living breathing cities full of robust NPCs and locales, high-end graphics and effects, and what looks to be frenetic FPS action. Now we get a taste of what to expect from Cyberpunk on next-gen.

The new footage really makes two points clear: Cyberpunk 2077 is a huge game that consistently reacts to your choices on an NPC and global environmental level. The places and the people in those places consistently change based around how you play the game. A quip in a dialog sequence can lead to all-out mayhem. Siding with the corpos for a specific quest can make other factions shun you.

Today Sony released a new firmware patch for the PlayStation 5. Sadly, it didn't fix the download bug for the season's hottest shooter.

The PS5 has been updated to system software v20.02-2.25.00.02-00.00.00.0.1 (what a name, right?). This is the first firmware patch released since the PS5's launch on November 12, and it clocks in at roughly 868MB. Sadly, one of the PS5's biggest issues has yet to be fixed. The Black Ops bug still runs rampant.

Right now there's a glitch that prevents PS5 owners from downloading the next-gen PS5 version of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. Without a system factory reset, gamers can only download, install, and play the PS4 version of Cold War, which hasn't been optimized for high-end PS5 performance.

Activision, Take-Two, and Sony are all pushing a new $69.99 standard price for PS5 games. Now Sony's Jim Ryan says this $10 hike is a justified trade off for the hours of play offered by the higher-end experiences.

Game prices are rising for the first time in over a decade. PS5 and Xbox Series X games are jumping to $69.99, a sizable 17% premium over the last few generations. Publicly, companies have had two reasons behind the hike: rising development costs, and amazing interactive content. Sony believes the latter is enough to uphold the price hike. Fans seem to disagree.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan not only defends but seems to assert $69.99 is the new norm for the bigger AAA PS5 exclusives. When asked if Ryan thought the price hike was fair, he said: