Gaming - Page 54

In a recent article with IGN, Playground Games has shone a light on the highly anticipated Forza Horizon 6, revealing interesting facts about the title, such as the biggest world the studio has ever created and the need to split into two teams to tackle it.

Playground Games production director Mike Bennett explained that the Horizon infrastructure enabled the developers to overcome challenges, such as the decision to include people within the world without influencing the driving experience. The workaround was to include people, but within walled-off areas that feature Horizon Festival branding.

That way, players get the immersion increase of seeing a populated city, but without the hindrance of inevitable collisions. Additionally, the developers revealed that, because Forza Horizon 6 is set in Japan, Tokyo had to be a focal point of the game, and Playground Games took that challenge very seriously, dedicating a team specifically to creating Tokyo's roads, foliage, terrain, and buildings.

PC gamers took a hit this week after rumors surfaced that Sony was pulling back from the PC market, and now Bluepoint Games' head of technology, Peter Dalton, has provided an explanation of the situation.

For those who don't know, Bluepoint Games was the studio that handled many of Sony's remakes and remasters. For example, Bluepoint was behind the renowned Shadow of the Colossus remake, as well as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, God of War Collection, Demon's Souls (PS5, 2020), and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Sony acquired the company in 2021, but this past February officially closed the developer, reportedly leading to the cancellation of a multiplayer God of War project slated for a 2025 release.

The studio's closure affected approximately 70 employees, and the former head of technology for Bluepoint has now commented on recent reports that Sony is pulling back from the PC market. These rumors, from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, sparked a lot of speculation, given that Sony has made billions from the PC market. Much of the speculation was based on Sony being scared of Project Helix, Microsoft's next-generation Xbox, which is slated to be a console/PC hybrid.

Microsoft is opening the floodgates regarding its next-generation Xbox console, Project Helix. The company has confirmed long-standing rumors that it will play both PC and console games, and will be powered by a custom AMD SoC built to leverage the latest DirectX and AMD FSR technologies.

"It delivers an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance and capability, integrates intelligence directly into the graphics and compute pipeline, and drives meaningful gains in efficiency, scale, and visual ambition," Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, recently said at GDC 2026. "The result is more realistic, immersive, and dynamic worlds for players."

Although that statement might not include technical details, further comments from Jason Ronald and Jack Huynh, SVP & GM of Computing & Graphics at AMD, have outlined the new 'FSR Diamond' technology that will make real-time path tracing possible on a home console. Technology, which until now has been limited to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 and GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs on PC.

Microsoft's Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program was a major win not only for the Xbox One and subsequent Xbox consoles, but also because it kick-started a new 'backwards compatible' era for all consoles by making older titles playable (and often with improved performance) on modern hardware. And even though the program was put on hold as we entered the Xbox Series X|S era, a console that played all Xbox One titles, it's set to make a comeback later this year.

At GDC 2026, Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, said that "as part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past." And since this confirmation arrived as part of a long-form discussion about the company's next-generation Project Helix console, which will also play PC games, it makes sense that this would be a PC-focused update rather than simply bringing more long-lost Xbox and Xbox 360 games to Xbox Series gamers.

"We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come," Jason Ronald also said. Again, as Project Helix is set to be a PC-console hybrid that will run an Xbox-optimized version of Windows 11 focused on gaming, the only way to ensure four generations of Xbox games are playable on Project Helix would be through a mix of emulation and native PC/Helix apps.

New reports say that another Microsoft-owned game dev team may have been working on a new Fallout project, but that game has apparently been cast into the phantom zone.

Veteran games journalist and former Giant Bomb alumni Jeff Gerstmann recently shared an interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit on his podcast show. According to Gerstmann's sources, there was some sort of Fallout project in the works at an internal studio at Xbox before being put on ice. It's unclear who was behind the project, and whether or not it was a traditional game or maybe some sort of new interactive experience for the cloud.

Last year, it was reported that there were multiple new Fallout games in development, and one of them turned out to be the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition that we predicted. The other is expected to be Fallout 3 remastered, which was recently outed by a McFarlane Toys product listing, yet Bethesda hasn't announced any concrete details, only confirming that it has hundreds of people working on Fallout, including Fallout 76.

NCSoft is moving away from MMORPGs, instead leaning towards casual mobile games as it faces harsh scrutiny over 2024's annual losses. The company is also making a pledge to ease the pay-to-win microtransactions in its online games.

South Korean MMORPG-maker NCSoft has announced ambitious earnings targets and the plan it will take to get there. NCSoft promises to make 5 trillion won (about $3.4 billion) in revenue "with a 15% return" by 2030, and to make it happen, the company is making big investments into mobile games while also trying to improve its relations with fans and players.

NCSoft is already taking action with a major ownership stake purchase in German mobile games company JustPlay, with the Korean group buying a 70% stake worth $202 million. NCSoft will use JustPlay's expertise to fuel its mobile strategies. It's also been reported that the Korean live service giant purchased a 67% stake in another mobile games company, the Singapore-based Indygo Group, for $104 million.

Nintendo's latest Pokemon game is a huge hit, selling over 2 million copies in just a few days' time.

Pokemon's new worldbuilder spin-off Pokopia is a certified best-seller, amassing 2.2 million copies in 4 days on the market. Numbers-tracker Pierre485 puts Pokopia's performance in context, noting that Super Mario Odyssey sold 2 million copies in 3 days, Pokemon Legends Z-A sold 2.9 million copies in 4 days, yet the record-holder is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, which amassed 10 million copies sold in 3 days.

"We are pleased to announce that global sales of Pokemon Pokopia for the Nintendo Switch 2 system have surpassed 2.2 million units (including 1 million units sold in Japan) in the first four days since its worldwide launch on March 5, 2026," Nintendo announced.

After lackluster sales and a confusing ad campaign, Microsoft now doubles down on Xbox consoles, saying that they are core, integral parts of the brand's DNA--in other words, consoles will "always be around."

Microsoft has made a clear commitment to support and invest in the Xbox ecosystem, and at GDC 2026, the company delivered much-needed clarification that showed a more cohesive plan for the future. The next generation of Xbox is centered around Project Helix, ambitious new hardware that's designed to play both Windows PC and Xbox console games in a single device--all powered by new, thoughtfully-designed silicon and performance-accelerating tools for developers.

During Xbox's keynote speech at GDC, Xbox hardware VP Jason Ronald reiterated the importance of consoles while also touching upon Microsoft's other focal points--handhelds and accessories.

Sony and LEGO are reportedly teaming up to release a set based on the original PlayStation console from 1994.

A new specialty PlayStation LEGO set has reportedly been unearthed by renowned leaker on Instagram. The set itself is modeled after the first PlayStation system released in the 90s and will come with at least one controller. PlayStation LEGO set leaked, coming in Holiday 2026 with $160 price tag

The design of the PS1 is somewhat straightforward, with the main contours coming from the controller, which may be the OG non-analog controllers and not the DualShock revisions released later.

As it lays out the future of Xbox gaming at GDC 2026, Microsoft also pledges to support four generations of games and content from previous consoles.

Microsoft unveiled tons of new details about its next-generation Project Helix console at this year's Game Developers Conference, including some technical information as well as assurances on the "future of play." Project Helix will play both Xbox console and Windows PC games in one device, Microsoft says.

The past is just as important to Xbox, though, and hardware VP Jason Ronald hints at "new ways to play" these yesteryear titles in a recent blog post. "We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come. As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past."

Renowned leaker KeplerL2, who gained notoriety in the GPU-watching community for posting early device IDs, memory configurations, die names, and accurate performance estimates, recently revealed in a forum post when Sony and Microsoft anticipate releasing next-generation consoles.

KeplerL2 has been a very strong leaker within the GPU community and has obtained most of the early information by scrubbing GPU drivers, which can include hardware identifiers for unannounced products. From this information, KeplerL2 can detail other aspects of the product, such as core counts, product segmentation, and more. KeplerL2's digital detective work and validated breadcrumb information have led multiple media outlets to dedicate coverage to advancements in the GPU space and to validate KeplerL2's predictions.

Now, KeplerL2 has taken to the neoGAF forums to share an update on the PS6, PS handheld, and the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Project Helix. KeplerL2 wrote that Sony and Microsoft are both currently on track to release their new consoles sometime throughout the holiday season in 2027. Additionally, the leaker revealed that Sony is also targeting this release window for the PS handheld.

It wasn't long ago that Microsoft rolled out "This is an Xbox" marketing to demonstrate its future vision for the Xbox brand: that every device is technically an Xbox.

The marketing campaign generated more confusion than intrigue, as Xbox fans wondered why they would ever get an actual Xbox if Xbox titles are available on every platform. Microsoft and the Xbox brand are still suffering from that brand hit today, and now we have discovered that Xbox is attempting to silently remove that marketing from the internet as Game Developer attempted to revisit the "This is Xbox" landing page on the Xbox Wire website, which is Microsoft's Xbox-focused news repository.

Game Developer discovered that the landing page only provided a 404 error message and a bland screen. Upon searching Xbox News Wire for "This is an Xbox" within its search, the only article that popped up was one regarding the ROG Xbox Ally. The removal of this press release is somewhat telling considering the recent reporting that the "This is an Xbox"marketing campaign was championed by outgoing Xbox president Sarah Bond, and was one of the reasons for her departure.

Valve announced the Steam Frame and Steam Machine in November last year, and since then, users have been waiting to see where each device will land in terms of performance. Now, Valve has revealed the requirements for a title to receive the Steam Frame Verified and Steam Machine Verified labels.

For those who don't know, Valve has a Steam Deck Verified label, which means the title has been tested by Valve to run smoothly on the device. Additionally, the title would meet all of Valve's requirements, including full controller support, performance at the device's native resolution, and performance targets. The idea is that a Steam Deck owner can browse the Steam Store, discover a title with the Verified badge, and begin playing without having to worry about any settings tweaks or changes.

The same system is being expanded to the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and according to Valve, the Steam Machine Verified badge requires at least 30 FPS at 1080p. The Valve slides reveal that Steam Machine Verified is simply an extension of Steam Deck Verified, and that titles that are Steam Deck Verified will also be Steam Machine Verified, as long as they maintain the same input expectations as the Deck. Additionally, the slide states that Valve will not be testing display resolution or legibility, and that an updated API to detect hardware is also required.

BlizzCon 2026 will see the in-person return of Blizzard Entertainment's long-running celebrations of its franchises, games, and community, later this year. With the event scheduled to take place on September 12-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, there's some great news for fans of some of Blizzard's older, classic games.

With the company planning a robust "esports slate" for the event, the first competition-based announcement of the show is the confirmation that it'll be home to the first-ever Blizzard Classic Cup. This will include "all-star teams" battling it out across a wide range of classic Blizzard games, including the real-time strategy masterpiece that defined esports - StarCraft.

First released in 1998, StarCraft was the sci-fi-themed follow-up to the iconic Warcraft II, expanding the scope, speed, and intensity of the studio's real-time strategy games. And its robust multiplayer mode made it a phenomenon in Korea, where it drew large crowds and created celebrities. Professional StarCraft defined the modern era of esports, so it's great to see it making a comeback at BlizzCon 2026.

Crimson Desert developer and publisher Pearl Abyss has released the full PC specs and hardware requirements for the game's upcoming March 19, 2026, launch, and the good news is that it's a massive AAA-style open-world game that will be playable on a wide range of rigs. In fact, based on what we're seeing here, aside from unforeseen bugs or other performance-related issues, it's shaping up to be an optimized day-one release.

As expected for a game that will feature a 60 FPS Performance mode (with AMD FSR 3) on the ROG Xbox Ally X, the minimum PC GPU requirement for 1080p at 30 FPS (upscaled from 900p) is a GeForce GTX 1060 or a Radeon RX 5500 XT. Bump that up to running the game natively at 1080p with Low settings, and the GPU requirement changes to either a GeForce GTX 1660 or a Radeon RX 6500 XT.

Yes, even though the game ships with DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation support, and supports real-time ray tracing, it'll run just fine without upscaling. However, when it comes to playing at 1080p 60 FPS or 4K 30 FPS with Medium settings, the 'Recommended' spec, you'll need a GeForce RTX 2080 or Radeon RX 6700 XT.

With 25 years behind it, Xbox is targeting the "future of play" and is using deep analysis of player behaviors to help define the next generation of its gaming business.

At GDC 2026, Microsoft today revealed tons of new details about the future of its Xbox business. Starting with Project Helix, its next-gen hardware, the company revealed advanced tech upgrades like a high-end AMD chip with AI built right into the silicon, enabling new functionalities like GPU-generated workloads, potential reductions or eliminations of CPU bottlenecks, raytracing that's an "order of magnitude" better than current tech, and powerful new DirectX optimizations like Deep Texture Compression.

Throughout the keynote speech, Xbox VP of Next Generation Jason Ronald asserted that Microsoft is focusing on the "future of play," saying that gamers don't really attach their identities to a platform any more. "The days of people defining themselves as a console, PC, or mobile gamer don't really exist any more," Ronald said, as per IGN.

Xbox's Full Screen Experience (FSE) has been renamed, and it's coming to all Windows 11 PCs starting next month.

Released first on the ROG Ally and Ally X handhelds, the Full Screen Experience was a window into Microsoft's so-called "future of play," a vision that unifies Xbox and Windows together. While the hybrid Project Helix next-gen Xbox will be the physical manifestation of this plan, Microsoft is still rolling out its simulated Xbox environment to all Windows 11 users, likely in a bid to test and tweak the software in preparation for Helix.

Xbox Mode, aka FSE, will start to roll out to Windows 11 users starting in April, Xbox exec Jason Ronald says: "After debuting an early version with the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, today I'm excited to share that we are bringing the same innovation to Windows 11 with Xbox mode that begins rolling out in April, starting with select markets."

Valve is being sued by New York Attorney General Leticia James on allegations that in-game lootboxes break the state's gambling laws. Now the company has issued a lengthy response letter that presses back against the AG's allegations.

The NY Attorney General's lawsuit against Valve, whose press release loudly proclaims "Attorney General James Sues Game Developer for Promoting Illegal Gambling Through Video Games," seemed to come out of left field and caught the gaming world off guard.

It's been weeks since New York made the lawsuit public, and Valve has now published a statement refuting some of the claims and providing interesting context on the interactions that preceded the legal complaint.

Project Helix's earliest alpha versions won't be out until 2027, Microsoft has confirmed at GDC 2026.

Microsoft has revealed key technical details about its next-gen Xbox console, codenamed Project Helix, at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The company has re-confirmed the hardware hybrid was designed to play both Xbox console and Windows PC games in one device, and that it is powered by next-gen AMD silicon with advanced ML neural rendering as well as powerful new DirectX technologies like Deep Texture Compression.

It's also been revealed that Project Helix's earliest hardware iterations won't be sent out to developers until next year.

Microsoft's Jason Ronald reveals new details about the next-gen Project Helix console at GDC 2026, as per a recent live stream.

Microsoft confirming key details about its next-generation Project Helix console PC to game developers at this year's GDC event. During the keynote stream, Xbox hardware VP Jason Ronald highlighted some of the new features of Project Helix, revealing a high-end device that seems to empower developers with new hardware-based efficiencies and tools to craft their worlds.

Ronald confirmed that Project Helix would have next-gen raytracing performance, powered by a new AMD SoC that was co-designed from the ground up specifically with new, forward-thinking versions of DirectX in mind. Project Helix's main goals seem to be alignment on a hardware, API, and software level, complete with attractive features like Windows 11's powerful DirectStorage alongside Project Helix's new Deep Texture Compression technology--a combination that could be the key for true next-level texture streaming and loading times.