Gaming - Page 534

As we get closer and closer to November, we'll hear more and more about Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Series X console, where we'll soon hear more details on the system architecture on August 17.

The news is coming from Lords of Gaming which spotted a presentation by Microsoft that will take place during the Hot Chips convention that takes place between August 16-18. The presentation is being delivered by Jeff Andrews and Mark Grossman, and will kick off on August 17 at 5:30 PT.

That day is going to be very exciting, where between 5:00-6:30PM we'll be getting nerded out details on NVIDIA's new A100 GPU architecture, Intel's new Xe GPU architecture, and then the big Xbox Series X system architecture presentation.

New reports from Dusk Golem says the Resident Evil VIIIage gameplay demo Capcom showed at Sony's PS5 event barely hit 1080p 60FPS on the next-gen PlayStation.

AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem is back with more reports from Capcom. Golem, who typically has inside knowledge with Capcom's in-development plans, says the choppy RE: VIIIage footage during Sony's PS5 event was caused by temporary issues with game optimization on the PlayStation 5.

Sources tell Dusk Golem that REVIII was having trouble hitting 1080p 60FPS on the PlayStation 5, which led to noticable frame issues during the reveal. The Xbox Series X version, however, runs perfectly, no-doubt facilitated by Microsoft's flexible Xbox SDK that lets all PC versions run like-for-like on Xbox consoles. These issues will be smoothed out before launch, though, especially if Capcom is to meet its lofty 28 million game sales target for FY2020.

Fighting legend Yoshinori Ono has left Capcom after 22 years of Street Fighter.

Today marks an end of an era at Capcom. Yoshinori Ono is leaving the company after almost 30 years spent making games. Today Ono announced the news that 2020 will be his last year and thanked fans for their appreciation for the Street Fighter brand--a franchise he's been involved with for over two decades.

"I've been with the Street Fighter brand for a long time, experiencing good times, bad times, and even non-existent times. My heart is filled with appreciation to those players who've been giving warm and king support on the brand especially little over the past decade or so as tall the activities on the Street Fighter brand regained sunshine and grew its liveliness," Ono said.

Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 is expected to help boost total FY2020 yearly earnings to $23 billion.

The PlayStation 5 is forecast to strongly boost Sony's yearly games earnings to $23.23 billion, up 26.4% from the $18.19 billion earned in FY19. Based on the numbers, Sony doesn't see any problem selling all of the PS5 consoles it makes available for the holiday period.

"Sales are expected to increase significantly year-on-year mainly due to an expected significant increase in sales of game software and hardware as a result of the launch of PS5," Sony said in its recent Q1'20 earnings report.

Sony Santa Monica is currently dissecting the PlayStation 5's hardware and architecture for its new games, and teases big advancements from the next-gen system

Like all first-party Sony developers, God of War dev Sony Santa Monica is currently experimenting with the PS5's hardware and software environments. The goal is to learn new tricks while trying to transition old PS4-era iteration, tools, engines, and know-how over to the new generation. According to creative director Cory Barlog, the cross-gen transition between PS4 to PS5 will be a lot smoother, and the high-end 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 SSD will supercharge everything for developers.

"We're inside the guts of the PS5 like a surgeon. It's pretty exciting actually. There's a lot of stuff we've been messing around with, and seeing," God of War creative director Cory Barlog said in a recent interview on the Animal Talking podcast.

Ubisoft has confirmed that high-level exec Tommy Francois has left the studio for good following sexual abuse allegations.

Ubisoft is slowly recovering from sex abuse scandals that've rocked the highest level of the company. Sources say Ubisoft's top brass culture is rife with misconduct, alleging creative forces behind hit franchises like Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, and Rainbow Six took part in sexual harassment and abuse.

Ubisoft has cleaned house since the news broke out, and now confirms that another accused exec has left. This time it's Tommy Francois, who previously helped lead Ubisoft's editorial team, a group that controlled and gate-kept big IPs. This team held all the power over creative decisions.

Halo: Infinite gets demade with old-school Nintendo 64 graphics, and looks absolutely awesome.

What if Halo: Infinite was released in 1996 on the N64? YouTube Hopolee answers the question with a glorious new gameplay demo that channels the early age of 3D polygons. The Halo: Infinite demake recreates the initial Halo: Infinite trailer, complete with a Star Fox dropship and ties to Mario 64.

The gameplay is surprisingly well-made. Chief shoots some grunts with an old-school AR, and the warthog is totally drivable. Turns out Master Chief is playing the Craig's Crash Site map--a nod to the infamous Craig brute meme--and flies out of a painting of the glorious brute, Mario 64 style.

Sources tell CNBC that AT&T wants to sell off its gaming division in a massive deal worth $4 billion. Now WarnerMedia is praising its game dev team perhaps in a bid to court more potential buyers.

AT&T may sell off its WB Games division for over $4 billion, and some of gaming's biggest players have expressed interest. Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Microsoft are all reportedly eyeing the buyout.

Now WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar talks up the gaming division's talent, hinting at one of two things: Trying to appeal to buyers, or hinting WB Games is here to stay. Kilar says the gaming division has massive potential for more global reach--which is especially true as game streaming matures.

id Software teases new updates and content coming to Doom Eternal, including the new heaven-shattering Ancient Gods expansion.

The new Ancient Gods expansion is about to rev up Doom Eternal's lore to 666 MPH. The DLC pack expands on the game's robust story arc, continuing directly off from Eternal's events. Doom Slayer completely obliterated both heaven and hell to save the humans in between...but left behind a cosmic imbalance.

Now the "true ruler of the Doom universe" is coming back, and he's not happy. Doom Slayer's next epic battle could be against The Father himself.

Remedy's new unannounced AAA project will tie directly into the new Remedy Shared Universe, and will connect directly to Alan Wake and Control.

Remedy is working on a big new game for next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. It won't be a new Control or Alan Wake game, but it will be interwoven into those two franchise. Remedy is making a new shared universe that tethers key franchises together. Control already confirmed a connection to Alan Wake's Bright Falls with in-game content, and the latest Control expansion, AWE (Altered World Event), directly features Alan Wake.

Not much is known about the new game. It'll be published by Epic Games, and Remedy says it'll be the most ambitious yet. But insofar as scope, tone, or setting, it's a mystery. If Alan Wake or Control are any indication, this new project should be bizarre and peak Remedy.

According to new forecasts from analyst firm DFC Intelligence, PS5 sales will beat the Xbox Series X by over 200%.

Thanks to expansive backwards compatibility, Sony's PlayStation 5 is set to bring the PS4's current sales reign into the next generation. The established 110 million+ PS4 install base is largely expected to transition forward into the PS5 era.

This thinking is basis for major sales forecasts, including those from analyst firm DFC Intelligence. The firm expects the PlayStation 5 to outsell the Xbox Series by 2:1, but no exact metrics are provided outside of its paid report.

Nintendo's Q1 profits skyrocket by over 500% as COVID-19 lockdowns surges hardware and software sales.

Nintendo just reported historic results for Q1'21 with triple-digit increases in net sales, operating profit, and net profits. Nintendo made $989.21 million in total profits (+541%) on $3.32 billion of sales revenues (+108%). These astronomical earnings were driven by strong jumps in both hardware and software sales.

Nintendo sold a record 5.67 million Switch consoles in Q1, up 166% year-over-year and more than double than any other Q1 period since the system's launch. These figures also beat every Q2 period and stack up closely against Nintendo's mighty holiday Q3 numbers. Switch hardware generated 47% of total Q1 net sales, or $1.51 billion.

If you are a huge DOOM fan and want one of the best accessories for the game, then you should be pumped to see noblechairs releasing their official HERO Gaming Chair - DOOM Edition. Check it out:

The new noblechairs HERO Gaming Chair - DOOM Edition will be avail;able to purchase online and through retailers across the world, with noblechairs teaming with Bethesda Softworks on the chair -- the second in their partnership after the Fallout Edition gaming chair.

Noblechairs put some work into the DOOM Edition chair, to make sure it was good enough for Satan himself to sit on. This means we're talking about the chair being pretty much all black, with massive blood red accents all across the chair. I'm pretty sure you're doing some Satanic ritual while sitting on that chair with all of the symbols all over it.

Hitman 3 was announced in June 2020, with IO Interactive saying that in Hitman 3 you play once again as Agent 47 in the "most intimate and professional contract in his entire career". Well, now Agent 47 is entering the world of virtual reality, check it out:

IO Interactive announced the news during Sony's recent State of Play event, that Hitman 3 would have the entire modern Hitman trilogy available for the PlayStation VR when the game launches in January 2021. We don't know much outside of the trailer, which starts off outside of Agent 47 before you take control, and have to assassinate someone.

The developer did confirm that every single mission from Hitman, Hitman 2, and the new Hitman 3 will be included and playable in PlayStation VR. We don't know if you'll be able to jump in and out of Hitman in VR and back to the regular TV or display, or if you start Hitman in VR if you have to finish that mission "in VR" or not.

Rockstar Games is knee deep in development of Grand Theft Auto 6, but where will the next entry in the GTA franchise be located? Vice City, according to the latest leaks.

Grand Theft Auto was last rendering the city of Vice City back with GTA: Vice City in 2002, nearly 20 years ago now. The new information on GTA 6 being based in Vice City comes from synthwave musician Pete Brian Rice, who tweeted that "music rights clearing people" working with Rockstar had talked to him and other synthwave artists for a "radio station".

Rice of course quickly deleted his tweet, but not before sites spotted it and began running with the story.

The ancient ones are back to restore cosmic balance in Doom Eternal's newly announced Ancient Gods expansion.

Doom Eternal's deep lore is about to amp things up to 11. When we left Eternal, Doom Slayer had basically upended the entire realm of Creation with his actions. He brought fury to both Heaven and Hell, and massacred everything in his wake. As the prophesied Slayer, he brought disruption to the balance, but also freedom for humanity. But the Makyrs, the interstellar omnidimensional archangels of the Doom universe, want revenge.

"Your victory over Hell's armies pulled humanity back from the edge of extinction, but it came at a cost. An imbalance of power in the heavens requires the true ruler of this universe to rise and set things right. Wage war across never-before-seen realms of the DOOM Universe and fight against new demons in your never-ending battle against the forces of evil."

Filmmaker Philip Shane is making a documentary on the 1993 PC classic Myst, and the project is almost funded on Kickstarter.

There's a new Kickstarter up for a Myst documentary that explores the myst-ical history of the old-school PC game. The documentary will feature in-depth interviews with Robyn and Rand Miller, the original creators of the franchise, complete with retrospectives on the series and what kinds of games they have worked in the past and present, and what their plans are for the future.

Right now the project is 71% funded with $142,000 out of the $200,000 target goal, and has 6 days left. It's an "all or nothing" project, meaning it will only happen if it reaches the funding goal. The documentary will span two timelines: The origin story, which focuses on the development of Myst and Riven, and the present-day era that chronicles current projects that're in development at Cyan Worlds.

Today Rocksteady confirmed years of speculation by announcing a new Suicide Squad vs Justice League game. Sources now say the project won't be ready for a pretty long time.

Rocksteady is set to reveal its new Suicide Squad game during the DC Fandome event on August 22, but don't expect a release date. We could be waiting for the project for another year or two. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who has extensive knowledge of WB Games' in-development titles, that Rocksteady's latest game won't be ready any time soon.

The Suicide Squad game--which will reportedly be a live service GaaS title--originally started development at WB Montreal in 2016. The project was cancelled, and Rocksteady was then charged to make a game based around the IP. It appears Rocksteady added more ambition to the project by injecting Justice League characters like Superman into the game.

New info from WB has ignited hype about Injustice 3, which should be the next game from Netherealm.

Today Warner Bros. revealed a teaser for its upcoming DC Fandome event, which includes high-profile game announcements in the DC universe. Netherealm's Ed Boon will be there, and fans think it could be to announce Injustice 3. It's certainly a possibility given Netherealm has hopped back and forth between Injustice and Mortal Kombat games for years now. Netherealm might be ready to move on from Mortal Kombat 11, which just got a new Aftermath expansion (plus a full game SKU re-release) and is on its third character pack DLC.

As for actual game reveals, Rocksteady today confirmed its new Suicide Squad x Justice League game will be shown at the event. WB Montreal's new Batman game, which could be based around the Gotham Knights comic series, will also be fully revealed.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has broken 5 million sales in five months on the market, which is almost half of the PS1 original's sales figures.

Today Square Enix confirmed a big 5 million sales milestone for its big new Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The figure includes both physical shipments and digital sales. This is good news for the publisher's flagging HD Games segment, which saw sharper declines in FY2019 thanks to underperformance of key titles.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been a boon for Square Enix's business. The game significantly contributed to the massive 300% net sales spike in the HD Games segment, which skyrocketed to $316.91 million in Q1'20 (March 31 - June 30). Digital game sales also shot up 91% to 6.21 million units in the period, driven by Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Secret of Mana.