Gaming - Page 528

Sony has now opened up pre-order registrations for the PS5, but no pricing has been revealed.

Sony is now accepting pre-order registrations on the PlayStation website and you can sign up with your chance to grab a console when they go on sale. All you have to do is enter your PlayStation Network ID and you may receive a notification once pre-orders are live. This is a reservation for a pre-order slot for a console directly from Sony's online storefront, and not an actual pre-order of the console itself.

Not everyone who registers will be selected. Quantities are limited, and you'll only have a certain amount of time to pre-order before your reservation slot expires.

Halo: Infinite now has three third-party developers working on it: Sperasoft, Skybox Labs, and the newly announced Certain Affinity.

Today Certain Affinity announced that it's helping 343i make Halo: Infinite, and is now the third team to assist with the ambitious project. Certain Affinity, whose efforts with Halo stretch all the way back to Halo 2's map packs, has been working on Halo: Infinite since December 2019. The team is presumably working on Infinite's online multiplayer.

"Halo Infinite has huge long-term ambitions, while also giving a respectful nod to the franchise's past. This is an exciting combination. Given our own deep roots and long-time connections to the series, we couldn't be more excited to help 343 realize this vision," said Certain Affinity president Max Hoberman.

As we predicted long ago, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will unify cross-play, cross-progression, and cross-generational play to become the industry's most engaging game.

Black Ops Cold War represents the perfect storm of engagement. Today Activision announced Call of Duty 2020, and it's built around maximum billion-dollar monetization potential: Black Ops Cold War will feature the triumvirate of earnings, complete with cross-play, cross-progression, and cross-gen support.

Read Also: Black Ops Cold War next-gen upgrades cost $10 in new cross-gen plan

Activision isn't offering a free next-gen upgrade path for Black Ops Cold War. Instead, it's selling a cross-gen version for $69.99 that includes a copy of the game across both generations.

Current-gen gamers will have two options in buying the new Call of Duty on next-gen consoles. First there's a $69.99 Cross-Gen bundle on both the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store, which includes both a PS4 or Xbox One copy of the game and a free PS5 and Xbox Series X version when it launches

Anyone who buys the base PS4 and Xbox One game for $59.99 can also upgrade to the next-gen version for $10. This is the exact same cross-gen upgrade plan Activision had with the Xbox 360/PS3 to Xbox One/PS4 generational shift.

A new recap video from Digital Foundry warns gamers not to expect next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X games to load in a blink of an eye at launch.

Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X feature high-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs that can blast data, assets, and content across a high-speed IO pipeline right to system memory. The storage tech is one of the single most exciting innovations that can transform how games are played. But for this to happen, developers must change how their games are made first.

Next-gen games must be built from the ground up to work with this new SSD pipeline, and rest assured that both Sony and Microsoft are indeed doing so. Ratchet and Clank A Rift Apart, for example, destroys loading times on PS5.

Today 343 Industries confirms Halo: Infinite won't be delayed to 2022, and is still on track for a 2021 release and won't be next-gen exclusive.

Contrary to recent rumors, Halo: Infinite isn't being delayed to 2022. 343i community manager John Junyszek confirmed the news today in a Tweet:

"We're seeing lots of fake "leaks" out there, so please don't believe everything you read. There are no plans to change our 2021 release or the devices and platforms we'll be supporting. We're building Halo Infinite to be the best it can be on each device/platform."

Microsoft's secretive The Initiative team is working alongside Gears developer The Coalition on the world's first AAAA game. This could get really, really messy for Microsoft.

If there's one thing I learned from Jason Schreier's book Blood, Sweat and Pixels it's that making games is a near-impossible feat at the best of times. It doesn't matter how big your budget is, or how big your team is; throwing endless cash and talent at a project doesn't mean anything will happen. Plans of mice and men often go awry, and this is extremely apt for games development, which often leads to cancellations, years' of wasted work, and outright closures of big studios (like Visceral Games, for example).

NOTE: One thing I want to get out of the way right now is that this isn't a jab at Microsoft. If Sony were doing something like this, I'd express similar skepticism. But how Sony and Microsoft handle gaming are very different. Sony is all-in on gaming, and Microsoft sees gaming as a side-business at best.

Activision may follow 2K Games' lead with NBA 2K21's Mamba Edition and sell a cross-gen bundle of Black Ops Cold War instead of free next-gen upgrades.

Activision probably won't have a free next-gen upgrade path for Black Ops Cold War. New leaks confirm a new ultimate edition that includes cross-gen versions, likely for a higher MSRP of at least $80 (or even $99.99). The leaks suggest anyone who buys the PS4 or Xbox One versions of Cold War will have two options to get next-gen versions of the game:

We're not sure if the next-gen PS5, Xbox Series X version of Cold War will be $69.99, but it's likely. If this happens we should see other publishers follow suit. Call of Duty is a trend-setter in the gaming sphere that other publishers imitate.

SEGA expects 2020 will be an 'extremely difficult period' due to coronavirus disruption, and forecasts 2.5 billion yen ($23.2 million) extraordinary losses.

SEGA is in trouble. The company is warning investors that COVID-19 is significantly negatively impacting all areas of its business outside of physical and digital gaming. SEGA arcades and pachinko are a big part of its business--or they were before coronavirus. It also operates resorts, but in 2020, both resorts and arcade segments are expected to incur -6.5 billion yen ($60.4 million) and -9.5 billion yen losses ($88 million), respectively. SEGA has already shut down its well-known Akihabara arcade in Japan.

The reports could be right, and Sony's next-gen PS5 could launch on Friday, November 13, 2020 after all.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will release on November 13 and is coming to next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. SEGA's new cross-gen Yakuza: Like a Dragon game also launches the same day. Is this a coincidence? Maybe. But maybe it indicates the PS5's launch date.

Why would we think this? We already know the Xbox Series X is targeting an early November 5 launch, so we'll see most cross-platform games hold off until the PS5 releases just to make sure they're hitting both platforms with a simultaneous launch. I doubt we'll see many cross-gen titles release early on Xbox Series X and then later on PS5, especially if the games launch in November. Better to just wait until the PS5 launches and not fracture the release.

Secretlab has just announced another member of its DC character gaming chairs, introducing the new Joker Edition gaming chair during the recent DC FanDome event.

The new Joker Edition gaming chair follows up on the recent Dark Knight Edition and Birds of Prey Edition gaming chair, launching in both the OMEGA and TITAN models. It has a super-unique design, which is -- in the perfect explanation from Secretlab: "the perfect choice for fans looking to pay tribute to the Clown Prince of Crime's exuberant brand of anarchy while enjoying the perfect blend of both comfort and style".

Secretlab has captured the energy and feel of the Joker in its new chair, using his signature suit and color scheme in all its glory in this chair. The jester's hat is even stitched into the wings with matching purple thread -- it looks so good.

Rockstar Games is probably knee deep in developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but now parent company Take-Two Interactive has just renewed the domain for the official GTA 6 website.

We should begin to hear more about Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2021, but we've been hearing more and more lately with the last news on GTA 6 being that it could be a next-gen Vice City revival. Rockstar and Take-Two renewing the GTA 6 domain makes sense, and it is a normal move a company would do leading up into the announcement of the game.

It wasn't just the GTAVI.com that Take-Two renewed its domain for gtavicecityonline.com, reports GamesRadar -- making the recent rumors of GTA 6 being in Vice City make sense -- it looks like it's not GTA 6 in Vice City, but rather GTA: Vice City Online?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone Season 5 just dropped, but Activision and Infinity Ward don't seem to need sleep -- announcing Season 5 Reloaded. Check out what to expect:

Season 5 Reloaded continues to 'explosive arrival' of Shadow Company to Verdansk, with the new Games of Summer introducing challenges to all Operators and their skills. The Season Five Reloaded patch drops on August 24 @ 11PM PT -- with the Games of Summer beginning on August 28.

You can read all about the new Season Five Reloaded update and Games of Summer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone on the official Call of Duty blog.

Corsair is about to go public with a big initial public offering (IPO) of its shares, and will soon be traded on a public exchange. Now its earnings for the last few years have been revealed.

New Form S-1 filings reveal Corsair's earnings performance before and after its Elgato acquisition, and the results are surprising. Up until now, Corsair's financial data has been private and its investors have been internal. But now that it's going public, Corsair is revealing its earnings to attract potential investors for its new IPO subscription.

According to the Form S-1 filing, Corsair made over $1 billion in net revenues in 2019, a year after it purchased Elgato Gaming for an undisclosed sum. The company made a net income loss of -$8 million in 2019, however, due to higher expenses and higher income taxes.

EA is being sued for FIFA Ultimate Team lootboxes, which allegedly violate California's gambling laws.

The new lawsuit, Ramirez vs Electronic Arts (5:20-cv-05672) makes a big case out of a simple premise: EA's Ultimate Team lootboxes are unregulated gambling.

The lawsuit, which has been filed by attorneys Tim Blood from Blood, Hurst & O'Reardon and Andrew J. Brown on behalf of California plaintiff Kevin Ramirez and over 100 unnamed people, aims to set new precedent for EA in a jury trial. The goal with the trial is to force EA to change its "predatory and unlawful practices" concerning lootboxes and regulate them as gambling, collect damages, and force EA to pay for attorney fees.

Modder Cedricishappy makes a fully functioning Game Boy Advance out of a small watermelon, and takes it on the go to freak everyone out.

We've seen some crazy creations, like Shank's portable Wii made out of an Altoids tin. Now we have the Melon Boy, a bizarre and ridiculous creation that packs in an emulated Game Boy Advance into an actual watermelon. Well, a hollowed-out watermelon shell, of course. But a watermelon nonetheless.

Cedric's watermelon creation is absolutely hilarious and is something you'd dream up in the throes of boredom. It honestly looks like something out of Ren and Stimply. The world's most awkward handheld has a bunch of buttons on the front rind and is powered by a saran-wrapped Raspberry Pi on the inside.

Diablo and Diablo II have some of the most addictive loot-finding in any game ever made. This was by design, and fed the core gameplay loop from day one.

In a recent interview with Ars Technica, original Diablo designer David Brevik talked about the game's legendary RNG randomization and how it was designed to keep gamers playing. Diablo was always built from the ground up with two simple ideas: Instant action, and tons of loot. The loot idea was based around old PC games like Moria, but on a deeper and more robust level. Diablo set the bar for ARPG loot systems, which basically turned every single enemy into a walking slot machine, and Diablo II kicked things up a notch.

"For Diablo, there was a lot of technical things we had to overcome for things that were different than games at the time," Brevik said.

Unity Software is about to start publicly trading its shares with an IPO, but no terms have been defined.

Today Unity Software, the company behind one of the most-used 3D engines in gaming and entertainment, filed an Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Form S-1's are filed when any private company wants to start publicly trading its shares on an open exchange. The form reveals tons of info about Unity's business, including revenue losses, risk factors, and the sizable market that Unity currently occupies.

The filing doesn't outline how many shares will be delivered at what price, however. Those terms will be announced in a press release. We do know that Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are underwriting the IPO. The form indicates Unity will have a capitalization of $1.2 billion and 238,366,733 shares of common stock outstanding after the IPO.

Fall Guys is set to rake in tons of microtransaction cash when it releases on mobile devices in China.

Fall Guys, gaming's biggest new indie sensation, is coming to China's $36 billion mobile market. The game is being developed by Billibilli, but the official product page has been scrubbed, presumably due to an earlier-than-expected announcement. Neither Mediatonic, the developer of Fall Guys, nor publisher Devolver Digital have confirmed a mobile release just yet.

China represents a boon for a game like Fall Guys, which has exploded onto the market with 2 million sales in just 6 days. The game is buy-to-play on PC and PS4 alongside a free download for PS Plus subscribers, and features in-game microtransactions via a premium currency that unlocks new outfits.

Nintendo plans to release a new Switch model in early 2021, sources tell Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News.

Nintendo is ramping up internal production on a new Switch SKU, sources say, and Macronix will supply the internal flash memory. There's no concrete information on the device, but based on the reports, it seems like the new Switch isn't meant to be a next-gen contender with 4K support and higher-end specifications.

Instead it should be an upgrade over existing models with a better display and more enhanced interactive features, which indicates better built-in haptics, sensors, and possibly new-and-improved JoyCon controllers. There's been no real indications on a next-gen custom Tegra SoC solution being developed alongside NVIDIA to power a higher-end Switch+ or Switch Pro model, and Nintendo has said it cares more about fun than powerful hardware.