Gaming - Page 554

EA recently announced Star Wars: Squadrons a few days ago, where you can read everything you need to know on it here, but the developer has confirmed it will have support for flight stick controllers on the PC.

HOTAS owners will be able to enjoy Star Wars: Squadrons on the PC with their hands-on throttle and stick (HOTAS, baby). If you want the ultimate Star Wars: Squadrons experience, it'll be on the PC with full flight stick controller support that should seriously teleport you into the world.

The news was confirmed by Star Wars: Squadrons creative director Ian Frazier, who said on Twitter: "Yes, we fully support joystick on PC, including full HOTAS rigs with a throttle". Frazier said that he had to double check that, adding that "Well hey, double checked and apparently I AM allowed to tell you that without being tackled by PR!"

Warner Bros. just announced a new digital convention event called the FanDome, a huge 24-hour showcase that will reveal tons of new comics, films, TV shows, and of course video games.

WB Montreal's new Batman game is set to be revealed during this new Fandome event. It's about time, too. I've been writing about the game for years now, and it's been many months since WB Montreal did that "cape of the night" teaser. Now WB confirmed that new DC games will be shown during its digital Fandom con:

"Accessible for 24 hours at DCFanDome.com, the global event will immerse fans into the DC Multiverse, with new announcements from WB Games, Film and TV, and comics," reads the press release.

Earlier today reports broke out the PlayStation 5's front-facing USB Type-A port would be charging-only, but it actually supports both power and data.

The PlayStation 5 has two front USB ports: A SuperSpeed USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1) port that's available for newer peripherals, faster charging, and quicker data transfers of up to 5Gbps as denoted by the trident symbol; and a USB Type-A 2.0 port for charging legacy hardware and transferring files/data.

The confusion surrounded the USB-A port's spark symbol (not to be confused with the Thunderbolt symbol, which is a lightning bolt with an arrowhead on the end), which users thought was charging-only. But actually the symbol denotes power pass-through, which means the PS5 can charge devices even when it's powered off.

UPDATE: Amazon France has confirmed the listing is fake.

"The screenshot showing a PS5 product page on amazon.fr with a price of 499€ and a release date on November 20 is a fake and is not coming from our website," an Amazon France spokesperson told TechRadar.

According to a now-deleted Amazon France listing, the PlayStation 5 could cost $500 and launch late November.

Sony's new PS5 is turning heads with its rather strange and unique case design...and it looks even more odd laying down.

Although it was mostly picture as a vertical console, PlayStation 5 can definitely lay flat. Now Amazon just released a huge high-res picture of both the PS5 standard and PS5 digital editions laying down.

The result is a really close look at what to expect from the system's asymmetrical design when on its side, but we still don't have any exact dimensions, and there's still no Amazon listing up.

Seriously, the team at BossLogic have created another custom design influenced by a game -- a mock up of what they think a Miles Morales PS5 console would look like.

The console looks good, but is very minimalist compared to this fan made on that I spotted on Reddit. Seriously, check this out -- if the PlayStation 5 had that Spider-Man red glow throughout and the entire Spider-Man logo on top of the PS5 lit up -- wallets worldwide would cry.

There are a ton of positive comments on the custom PS5 on Reddit, I'd love to see a video mock up of this now.

Ratchet and Clank on the PlayStation 5 looks absolutely hands-down amazing. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart was a gigantic star in the huge PlayStation 5 reveal a few days ago, with native 4K graphics and real-time ray tracing technology showing off the PS5 in all its next-gen glory.

The graphics in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart look better than the CG movie, with the game running in real-time on the PlayStation 5 versus VFX machines in a cluster. Sony's use of a super-fast SSD inside of the PlayStation 5 is going to be heralded as one of the best things to happen to consoles, and that's something Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart developer Insomniac Games played a big part in.

The developer is able to deliver delicious 4K visuals with hardware-accelerated ray tracing all in real-time without loading screens whatsoever, and it's all thanks to the ultra-fast SSD inside of the PlayStation 5. But seriously, those graphics are where the story is -- they're sublime.

DEATHLOOP will be launching on the PlayStation 5 and PC in late 2020, with developer Arkane Lyon and publisher Bethesda Softworks teasing a new gameplay trailer for DEATHLOOP during the launch of the PS5. Check it out:

The gameplay trailer shows Colt, who packs some mystical powers that see him push enemies away, or himself up to targets and spots for an even better kill. Colt is joined by Juliana, in an endless loop of death -- both assassins at the top of their game with a bunch of superpowers thrown into the mix.

The visual style of the game helps it with performance on the PS5, with Arkane Lyon announcing that DEATHLOOP would be running at 4K 60FPS on the PlayStation 5. The developers also confirmed that they will be tapping the new haptic feedback and adaptive triggers on the new DualSense PS5 controller.

One of the most bizarre games shown off during Sony's recent PlayStation 5 event was from Capcom, with a new game called Pragmata. Seriously, you need to check this trailer out:

Pragmata was the very last game Sony showed off during its PlayStation 5 event, where it first looked like we were being introduced to Death Stranding 2 and I was instantly almost jaw dropped to the ground that Hideo Kojima had somehow managed to clone himself and the mad man pulled it off - Death Stranding freaking TWO for the PlayStation 5 launch.

Well, it's not Death Stranding 2 but at first you would be easily tricked into it -- until the astronaut fires a flare-like gun into the sky and glances over at the digital echo left behind. The echo turns into a little girl, who is watching a planet in the sky -- a robotic/holographic cat walks up to it with a translucent skin and its digital innards on display.

Today CD Projekt RED announced an interesting initiative: They're giving away a free PC copy of The Witcher 3 to anyone who already owns it on consoles or PC.

"If you already own the game on any PC or console platform, you can claim the GOG.COM copy for free with GOG GALAXY 2.0. You can expect even more events like this in the future," reads a press release sent out today. Sadly Nintendo Switch isn't eligible for this promo.

There's some catches, though. You'll get a copy of whatever version of the game you have. So if you own The Witcher 3 base game, plus the expansions, you'll only get The Witcher 3 on GoG Galaxy 2.0. You'll have to own Witcher 3 GOTY to get a copy of it on GoG.

Gran Turismo 7 will be the first major demonstration and spectacle of what the PS5 can do, and Polyphony aims to push Sony's next-gen console to its limits.

Sony's new first-party PS5 games will be the trendsetters when it comes to console hardware capabilities, and Sony says that Gran Turismo 7 in particular will leverage all of the system's new powerful tricks.

We'll see hardware-based ray tracing completely redefine in-game lighting, shadows and reflections, the Navi RDNA 2 GPU enabling high-end enthusiast-grade resolution and FPS gaming (GT7 could be the PS5's first-ever 8K game), instantaneous loading and ultra-fast data streaming thanks to the PS5's immensely fast 5.5GB/sec PCIe 4.0 SSD, and new immersive interactivity with 3D audio and the DualSense controller's new haptic feedback.

The new LEGO Super Mario sets are terrifying both for your psyche and your wallet.

Legos have always been expensive, and those massive . Then again, so have Nintendo products, which hardly ever really go on sale (especially the games). So when these two wallet-destroying forces combine, we get a collection of Mario Lego sets that cost roughly $580 to completely own, which is over $200 more than a Switch and $300 than a Switch Lite.

There's 16 Mario sets in all, and each one adds new characters and "levels" for the interactive Lego-game mashup. No one has to buy all the sets, of course, but you know people will. It's a neat idea that brings Mario's platforming escapades into the 3D realm with everyone's favorite brick-building toys, but this comes at a steep cost.

Epic Games is just about to wrap up a $750 million funding round, which would push its total valuation to roughly $17 billion.

Epic Games will soon be valued at an incredible $17 billion, sources tell Bloomberg. Once the new investments pass, Epic's value will have gone up $2 billion since 2018, where its valuation sat at $15 billion.

Fortnite, the game's industry's most popular battle royale of all time, has continued to grow and is the main driver for Epic's earnings. The company earned an estimated $3 billion in operating profit in 2018 alone thanks to strong Fortnite revenues and Unreal Engine royalties. The newly formed Epic Games Store is also turning heads and generating monthly revenues.

Unlike the PS4 Pro which sounds like a jet engine taking off, the PS5 should be pretty silent even when belting out new higher-end games like Gran Turismo 7.

The PlayStation 5 was designed from the ground up with cooling and noise in mind. In fact, Sony completely changed the CPU and GPU clock speed management to variable frequencies in order to maintain a constant PSU wattage, which would ensure the fans don't rev up to supersonic speeds. The console's ample ventilation, unique chassis, and slight V-shape will work in tandem with this new CPU/GPU variable clock scheme to keep the system cool.

Now we're hearing even more from Sony execs about the PS5's silent and cool operation. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Sony Europe exec Simon Rutter says "a great deal of effort" went into making the PS5's robust heat mitigation.

Publishers seem reticent on wide-sweeping Smart Delivery support on Xbox Series X, and may push towards re-selling separate next-gen SKUs for specific games.

Microsoft is making a big deal out of Smart Delivery, a concept that's not entirely new but quite simple. And they really should. Smart Delivery is a consumer-friendly idea that carries your games across multiple Xbox console generations.

The idea is simple: You buy a game once, and you can play it on any Xbox console, including Xbox Series X.

Sony's next-gen PS5 might let owners customize their consoles with skins or even replacable outer coverings unique side casings.

Sony UX designer Matt MacLaurin might've hinted the PS5 will have swappable custom panels that gamers can buy to customize their console, somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's faceplates. In a now-deleted comment on LinkedIn, MacLaurin said: "You will definitely be seeing special editions. This is also customizable in ways previous gens weren't."

This could mean many things, insofar as customization--could the PS5's outer glowing light strip be capable of full RGB? Might we be able to pop off the oddly-shaped side panels and place new custom ones back in? Maybe gamers will get an all-back PlayStation 5 at launch after all?

Sony's ambitious PS4 backwards compatibility support on the PS5 is going smoothly, SIE boss Jim Ryan says.

Microsoft is the uncontested leader in backwards compatibility, and four generations of Xbox games are playable on the Xbox Series X. But Sony also has big ambitions. Sony plans to support the "overwhelming majority of the PS4's 4,000 games library" on the next-gen PS5, but each game has to be added on a title-to-title basis. Thankfully, progress on this compatibility process is going smoothly.

In a recent interview with CNET, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan gave a quick update on PS5's backwards compatibility. The console was built with PS4 support in mind, and devs are currently updating their PS4 games to run on PS5.

Today EA announced Star Wars Squadrons, the EA Motive's ambitious spacefighter sim that combines cross-play, online and singleplayer content, and spans multiple Star Wars generations.

Star Wars Squadrons is a lot like Rogue Squadron and Battlefront mixed together. EA Motive's new game is a first-person starfighter that hearkens back to the old Tie Fighter and X-Wing PC games of yore, and lets gamers play both on the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire sides. Each side has five pilots, hinting at five ship variants. Below are the confirmed ships in Squadrons:

Star Wars Squadrons has two modes: A fully-fledged singleplayer campaign, and 5v5 online multiplayer. The online component is a live game that'll shift over time--EA refers to it as an "evolving battlefield"--but there's apparently no microtransactions this time. There is a robust level-up and ranking system that'll let you upgrade your ship over time, as well as customize it via cosmetics.

Red Barrels' new Outlast game is a grim, bloody and ultra-frenetic hellfest where you scramble to survive in the dark.

A bit of new Outlast Trials footage dropped during the PC Gamer show that haunts my sleep. It's a kind of hellish mixture of SAW's macabre torturous machinations with Hostel's brutal cruelty, with Manhunt's merciless murdering thrown in. There's not a whole lot of new content or gameplay thrown in here, but we do get the general gist of the game through some grisly scenes.

You're a test subject in a horrifying Cold War experiment to see the limits of human survival and shock trauma. We're not sure if you're an American who's been captured, or a Communist who's being put through the hellish test on American soil. You get special night-vision goggles literally drilled into your head and are set to roam around a black-as-night underground maze full of brutality, similar to The Descent.

The PS5's custom 12-channel PCIe 4.0 SSD has been hyped up to no end, and now we finally see proof of how the new storage tech will revolutionize console gaming.

Sony's PS5 SSD is the kind of storage The Flash would be proud of. It rockets data at 5.5GB/sec speeds, and can hit 9GB/sec compressed data rates and up to 20GB/sec with deeply compressed assets. This kind of speed can shoot data, assets, and content through the system to be processed and rendered on-screen. The practical use-case enables instantaneous, interruption-free gaming. And the new Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart game showcases what the SSD can do.

The latest PS5 event showed off lots of games that the system's new tricks, from the ray-traced visuals in Gran Turismo 7 to the elimination of loading screens in Ratchet and Clank. Thanks to the SSD's efficient pipeline, blazing fast speed, and the PS5's architecture, gamers will seamlessly transition between worlds within less than a second.