Gaming - Page 540

Square Enix president Yousuke Matsuda makes bold claims about the PlayStation 5's capabilities, and promises big things for the publisher's next-gen Project Athia game.

According to Square Enix's president, the PlayStation 5 can deliver visuals and graphics that are similar to today's PC tech. Well, not really similar, but nearly identical. Matsuda says the PS5 is capable of delivering ray-traced lighting effects that're essentially the same as those found in PC games.

In a recent interview with Toyo Keizai Plus, company president Yousuke Matsuda says the PlayStation 5 has the best console technology and discusses how his team is using the tech to build Project Athia, the publisher's only announced PS5 game.

In the middle of all of the next generation console hype between the soon-to-be-launched PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles, Blizzard has come out and confirmed that even with next-gen consoles coming, World of Warcraft is still not coming to consoles.

There have been rumors for a while and then new data miners found controller support inside of the code for World of Warcraft's new Shadowlands expansion. This led to rumors that World of Warcraft was coming to consoles, but it's just to help people with limited mobility play the game.

A Blizzard representative told Polygon: "We currently have no plans to bring World of Warcraft or Shadowlands to Xbox Series X. The platform was listed on the Brazil Ministry of Justice rating website in error, and the entry has since been updated to reflect that the game is coming only to PC".

We are expecting Activision to have a gigantic announcement for its new Call of Duty 2020 game, which we've reported on before that would eventually turn into Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

A fresh post on Twitter teasing that Dorito's is releasing out some promotional chips with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which hasn't been announced yet. There's no details on COD: Black Ops Cold War (COD:BOCW, I guess?) other than Dorito's seemingly confirming the unannounced game.

TheGamingRevolution tweeted: "These are the two Doritos Double XP promotional images that I was DM'd earlier from an anonymous source for Call of Duty 2020 Black Ops Cold War. I was too worried about copyright issues to post them earlier but since CharlieIntel shared them I (assume?) they're safe".

The Medium is coming from Microsoft and developer Bloober Team, where we've found out some more information on the game as well as the first gameplay footage in a recently released Dual-Reality gameplay trailer. Check it out:

What we found out from this video is that developer Bloober Team said that The Medium runs at 4K 30FPS on the Xbox Series X, which is strange considering it was just earlier this month the developer said Microsoft's new Xbox Series X console had so much raw power it made them feel like mad scientists that could go "a little crazy".

Except... The Medium on that Xbox Series X that lets them go "crazy" runs at 4K 30FPS. Not 4K 60FPS which would be going a "little crazy" and would truly show the raw power inside of the Xbox Series X. 4K 30FPS is what we have with current-gen consoles, and even on mid-range graphics cards in a gaming PC.

New leaked PlayStation 5 photos show what appears to be replacable shell covers, strongly hinting the console will let consumers swap out and customize their consoles.

Despite Sony's extreme secrecy and rigorous controls, someone took a few snaps of a PlayStation 5's case from an overseas assembly line. The pictures showed up on Chinese social forum A9VG and don't show any interesting bits like the SSD, SoC, or motherboard. But there might be more evidence the PS5's shell plates can be popped off and replaced with custom ones with improved designs.

The pictures show more detail on the console's plastic side-plates, which appear to be held in by a series of fin-like hooks. They look a lot easier to remove than the PS4, for example, and this could be by design.

The PS5 is expected to sell 120 million consoles across its first five-year period, eclipsing the PS4's current sales by nearly 10 million units.

Sony has lofty ambitions for its next-gen PlayStation 5. The console is expected to sell 120 million units in 5 years' time, which beats the PlayStation 4's staggering 110.4 million sell-in figure by nearly 10 million. For perspective, it took the PS4 nearly 7 years to accrue these numbers.

Sources close to the PS5's manufacturing plans tell DigiTimes that PS5 sales estimates sit between 120 million - 170 million from now until 2025, which is monumental to say the least.

Ghost of Tsushima is the pre-eminent new PlayStation IP that's amassed tremendous sales and acclaim with its visuals and combat, and now the daring swordplay is getting fine-tuned even more.

Photo Credit: Ira Owens

Sucker Punch is rolling out a new Ghost of Tsushima update that will relent on gamers who want a break, and pour ruthless chaos down on those who want a challenge. The new Patch 1.05 update will add two different modes: The ultra-tough Lethal difficulty amps enemy damage, alertness, and aggression up to 11, aiming to test your mettle and finesse in battle with faster reaction times.

A new dynamic lighting system is to blame for Halo: Infinite's controversial graphics, but the fix may not come until sometime after the game launches in November.

Halo: Infinite was supposed to be the Xbox Series X's golden ticket to sales. The recent gameplay demo was hyped to no end, and everyone expected a next-gen spectacle. What viewers got instead was something that looked like a current-gen game, complete with unfinished-looking textures bereft of high-end detail. The reality is that the textures are indeed finished and rather high quality, but they were hidden in shadow and we couldn't really see them.

Infinite's dynamic lighting system, a new global illumination system built into the game's specially-designed Slipspace Engine, is the culprit. Dynamic lighting is great for reducing iteration time and reflecting/absorbing light in real-time, but it also creates environments where shadows can obscure models. That's what happened in the trailer, and why everything looked so wonky.

On the heels of major AAA game delays and heated misconduct controversies, Ubisoft is bouncing back by generating consistent strong revenues in Q1'21.

Ubisoft recently announced its Fiscal Year Q1'21 results for the period ending June 30, 2020, and the results are pretty stellar. The company exceeded its internal sales forecast by nearly $67 million.

The publisher comes swinging out of the gate where it counts most: Digital earnings. Digital Net Bookings generated €355.4 million ($317.32 million), up 21.5% YoY and comprising a massive 86.7% of Ubisoft's total sales revenues for the quarter.

Glumberland's new game Ooblets is one of the best releases of 2020 and will cure your coronavirus woes. But it also comes with some grinding, curiosity, and strategy. Here are a few basic tips and tricks to get you up and running.

If you love Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Harvest Moon, then you really need to try Ooblets. It's available in early access right now on the Epic Games Store for $19.99 and I can honestly say it's worth the investment.

But Ooblets requires some basic understanding in routine-based sims, so we've put together a handy quick-start guide so you can jump in without too much trouble.

PC gamers from around the world want to see DOOM playable on as many devices as possible, and now that quest has made its way to getting DOOM running inside of games.

Thanks to Reddit user uDrunkMate, DOOM is now completely playable via a virtual PC inside of Mojang's creative title Minecraft. uDrunkMate has created a mod that allows players to order PC parts from a satellite orbiting around Minecraft; players can then build a computer and boot Windows 95 and other operating systems.

The mod takes advantage of another mod called VirtualBox, which is a free and open-source virtual machine software that is designed to run operating systems such as Windows 95. As you may have probably already imagined, there are some limitations when trying to play DOOM inside of Minecraft, and some of those limitations are frame-rate issues, as well as the fact that you have to play on a screen within a screen.

Halo Infinite was revealed a couple of days ago, where it was shown off on a gaming PC with specs similar to an Xbox Series X -- but the graphics just looked sh*tty.

I wrote an article titled 'Halo Infinite boss talks criticism of sh*tty graphics on Xbox Series X' and my personal Twitter went nuts, and I even got hate email. Strange, still -- the graphics were shit and I'll stand by that until I die. Ray tracing and a couple of more months under the development knife might help, maybe... but for a first showing of a next-gen Halo on the next-gen Xbox?

Not good enough, Microsoft.

Microsoft's rumored cheaper next-gen Xbox Series S console may come with a snazzy white paintjob similar to the Xbox One S.

Apparently someone got a hold of a new white Xbox controller that matches the peripheral that ships with the Series X this November. If genuine, the controller could hint at a few things. First off, there's obviously a white next-gen Xbox controller that'll be sold separately. Two, Microsoft may sell an all-white Xbox Series X, but this is less likely because of branding. And three, the white controller will be shipped with the Xbox Series S, the rumored all-digital next-gen Xbox that could be $150 or more cheaper than the Xbox Series X.

The latter makes a lot of sense. If the Xbox Series S (codenamed Lockhart) does exist and ship in 2020 or 2021, then Microsoft will want to clearly delineate between the two systems with color schemes. Microsoft did this with the Xbox One S (white) and Xbox One X (black) at launch, then changed up the color schemes a bit after release.

Thanks to a recent graphics controversy, Halo: Infinite is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The game isn't the next-gen spectacle we all expected, nor does it seem like a system-selling game. But a closer look at 343i's new engine and lighting systems reveals the reason the game looks decided last-gen.

Why does Halo: Infinite's gameplay look so bland? Why does it look like a last-gen game? It all has to do with the game's new dynamic lighting system. Halo: Infinite is a huge open-world game now, and it has a fluctuating lighting system that blankets the entire world. There's no tightly-designed linear levels, meaning the lighting system isn't fine-tuned, but more spread across a bigger area.

A new deep dive from Digital Foundry uncovers some of Infinite's issues, challenges, and advantages with its new dynamic lighting system.

Halo: Infinite's graphics have caused lots of controversy and didn't really show off the Xbox Series X's raw power. But that will change from now until release, Microsoft promises.

Halo: Infinite was supposed to be the Xbox Series X's killer game, the system-selling launch title that mimicked Combat Evolved's legacy decades ago. Instead the latest gameplay demo has fans divided (but need I remind you Microsoft doesn't care if you don't buy an Xbox Series X?). The graphics aren't the wow-ing spectacle we expected from an explosive next-gen hit. 343i and Microsoft have since gone into damage control mode in an effort to ameliorate the negative buzz.

"We're in the middle of a global pandemic. It's July, we're far from [Halo Infinite's release in] holiday, you're seeing a work-in-progress game," Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg said in an interview with Inside Gaming.

Halo Infinite was recently shown off in -- well, I guess "all it's glory" during the recent Xbox Series X event, but man did those graphics suck.

I mean, I even personally tweeted out my disappointment in it. Now, people will say "oh but you work for TweakTown and review all these awesome graphics cards, etc". Yes, that's right -- but I also purchased an Xbox on day one, a new TV and 5.1-channel audio system for it on launch.

The graphics on the original Halo were better than most games on the PC at the time, with some beautiful lighting effects, shading, and so much more going on under that Xbox hood. Fast forward close to a decade and we have Crysis, fast forward over an entire decade and we have... Halo Infinite.

You can't check out Norman Reedus's penis in Death Stranding because it technically doesn't exist.

A new Death Stranding camera hack reveals some interesting details about Sam Porter Bridge's junk. Kojima Productions didn't render an in-game model for Sam's penis in the game. He's as smooth as a mannequin down there.

The revelation comes from Lance McDonald, who discovered a camera glitch that lets gamers see behind the glass during Death Stranding's shower scenes.

With the recent Xbox games showcase, Microsoft didn't make a good case for the Xbox Series X. That's because it really doesn't care if you buy the new console or not. For Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass is the most important thing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Microsoft doesn't really care about hardware. It doesn't care if you don't buy an Xbox Series X in 2020 or 2021. The Xbox division is more concerned with delivering content through access points because that's where the real money is. That means making content, services, downloads, and purchases available where you already are versus trying to force you to buy a console.

This is the natural evolution of the games industry--to spread ecosystems across all platforms and break the boundaries of consoles--and Microsoft is doing it better than anyone else.

Unlike Halo 3, the latest Halo: Infinite game won't have four-player split-screen co-op.

Halo: Infinite will indeed have local split-screen co-op in campaign mode, but it'll be limited to two players on the same console. Four-player co-op will only be available online, and you'll of course need Xbox LIVE Gold to play with others on the network.

343 Industries head of design Jerry Hook confirmed the news today on Twitter: "Hey everyone I saw some reports of campaign supporting 4 player Split screen for campaign and just want to correct. Halo Infinite will be supporting 2 player split screen and 4 player online co-op for campaign. Sorry about the confusion."

Microsoft makes big promises that its next-gen Forza game will hit native 4K 60FPS with ray-tracing enabled, a feat that requires some serious technical wizardry.

Turn10 is known for pushing Xbox hardware to its limits. Forza 7, for example, hit native 4K 60FPS on the Xbox One X, an older Jaguar-based SoC refreshed to 14nm with Polaris and splashes of Vega. So imagine what they'll be able to do on a 7nm SoC with a 12TFLOP Navi GPU complemented by other synergized components? On Xbox Series X, Microsoft promises the new Forza will deliver native 3840 x 2160 resolution at 60FPS with ray tracing turned on.

We have no idea how they'll hit this kind of perf, but we do know the console's new Velocity Architecture will play a big part.