Gaming - Page 568

Microsoft today announced the new Xbox 20/20 initiative, which will deliver new Xbox reveals and info every single month throughout 2020.

Microsoft is going all-out with their transparency plans. They've pretty much outlined the entirety of Xbox Series X's hardware (3.8GHz Zen 2 CPU, 12TFLOP 1.28GHz Navi 2X GPU, PCIe 4.0 SSD, etc) and software (DirectStorage, Velocity Architecture, Smart Delivery, etc).

All that remains now is games and info on optimization upgrades, and that info is coming in May. But that isn't enough. Starting on May 7 with the big new next-gen gameplay reveal, Microsoft will host Xbox events every month through the remainder of 2020. Microsoft says that "every month will bring something different," so expect info on services to be sandwiched between big announcements. That means events for the next eight months.

We're about to get lots of new Cyberpunk 2077 info: First in Microsoft's big Xbox Series X third-party showcase on May 7 (CP2077 has a marketing deal with Xbox), then more on June 11.

Today CD Projekt RED announced more Cyberpunk 2077 news is coming on June 11 in a new segment/show called Night City Wire, which is basically analogous to the Xbox Wire. We don't know what exactly CDPR is planning, but we should expect new gameplay footage from the finalized game. It's also likely this reveal is included in the new Summer Game Fest livestream show.

Basically the timeline should go something like this: on May 7, CDPR should talk about how Cyberpunk 2077 will use Xbox Series X hardware to push insane performance, then on June 11, we'll see more gameplay and info to set up the game's incoming September 2020 launch.

Apex Legends fan? Well, you better prepare yourself as the new character Loba is about to get a full reveal in just a matter of hours.

It was recently confirmed that the next Apex Legends character is going to be the little girl we saw in the Revenant reveal trailer. That little girl who watched her father and mother get murdered by Revenant is Loba, and she has now grown up and is tracking down Revenant for revenge.

So far, all we know about Loba is that her story heavily revolves around being a thief, so I think it's fairly safe to assume that her abilities will be related to the loot on the ground somehow. Above is a link to the Apex Legends YouTube Channel, where they will be showcasing the full Season 5 reveal, which will contain a bunch of new content that isn't just Loba. I'd expect cosmetic additions, possibly new changes to the map, gun tweaks, and more.

If you have played and enjoyed the Dark Souls games and decided to pick up Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, then you were most likely not disappointed by FromSoftware's newest title.

Overall, it's a fantastic game it was so good that it won Game of The Year at the last Game Awards. While almost everything about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is amazing, there is one lacking factor, and that's an online PvP experience. The Dark Souls games had invasions online that allowed players to invade people's worlds and force an epic duel to the death mid-campaign. Luckily, a new mod has been created that brings online gameplay to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

This new mod adds support for up to 6 players, one player is the host of the party, and the other gives players are phantoms. There is also a PvP mode that pits players against each other, a co-op mode that allows two players to venture through the story together, a matchmaking system, and, most importantly, invasions. If you are a Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice fan, then it seems this mod is simply a must-have for you. It should be noted that this mod is still in its very early development stages, so expect bugs, crashes, and possibility some instability problems. Download link can be found here.

It was barely two weeks ago that I wrote a story on the latest screenshots from Microsoft Flight Simulator looking breathtaking, but these latest screenshots just continue to play games with my heart. Check them out:

These new screenshots from Flight Simulator have been taken from the Alpha build, and members of the community who are lucky enough to be included in that with Microsoft. The screenshots all have watermarks from the users who took them, with some of them looking jaw droppingly good.

You will need a pretty serious PC to play Flight Simulator when it drops, with Microsoft requiring at least 150GB of storage space and a GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card as the "ideal spec". Yeah, the basic game needs 150GB -- with a 5Mbps internet connection at a minimum, and 50Mbps for the "ideal spec" range.

I'm far more comfortable with a Hollywood star being inserted into a game franchise with deepfake technology than I thought, with this new deepfake of Nathan Fillion being inserted into Uncharted 4 as Nathan Drake thanks to deepfake tech. Check it out:

Firefly star Nathan Fillion was born for the role of Nathan Drake in Uncharted, with plenty of fans of Fillion, Firefly, and Uncharted wanting him for the role in the movie. There's an Uncharted movie that is coming, with Spider-Man and Avengers star Tom Holland -- who is no stranger to being deepfaked into something, where he was deepfaked into Back to the Future with Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. recently.

Some will remember back in July 2018 that Nathan Fillion starred as Nathan Drake in "UNCHARTED -- Live Action Fan Film" directed by Allan Ungar. It was a short fan film that went for just under 15 minutes and racked up over 7.5 million views in that time. It showed that Fillion was born for the role, but now he has been "officially" deepfaked into Uncharted 4 with some great results.

Unreal Engine 4 has never looked better than it does right now, with Dekogon Studios revealing some rather incredible pieces in its portfolio of Unreal Engine 4-based environments. Check it out:

This one is a 90s high school science class room and it looks absolutely stunning. The team at Dekagon Studios built each asset for "realistic AAA quality visuals, style, and budget". It features a huge library of 461 Meshes, high quality and fidelity textures of up to 2K, fully baked lighting, and it's optimized for games.

Seriously, the detail right down to the crinkles that are on the paper on the poster of the planets on the back wall is just so damn good.

AMD is ramping up production of the 7nm custom Navi- and Zen 2-powered SoCs used in next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Both Microsoft and Sony plan to ship their next-gen Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles on time in Holiday 2020, and mass production of each system's custom Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU-powered SoCs will soon begin to make it happen. In a recent earnings report, AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed production will start in Q2 2020 (April - June) in preparation for next-gen console launches later this year.

The company expects Q2 revenues to increase as Microsoft and Sony place high-volume chip orders ahead of launch, and then semi-custom earnings to spike further as both companies rev up for 2021 console supply. Sony and Microsoft make the orders 1-2 quarters ahead of time. Hardware availability may be constrained, however: Sony, in particular, plans to ship 5-6 million PlayStation 5 consoles in 2020, down 1-2 million units from the PS4's launch in 2013.

E3 2020 might be dead, but the annual EA Play show is continuing as a digital-based stream, and you should be excited.

Today EA confirmed its EA Play event will go live on June 11, 2020. This show could be a pretty big deal for Electronic Arts. The company is working on a number of high-profile games right now, all of which could be enhanced for next-gen consoles. EA plans to ship 8 major AAA games between 2020 and 2021: four sports games, and four "other titles that draw from the breadth of our IP."

Many of these tantalizing projects are a ways off (Battlefield 6, for example, won't be ready until 2021), but we could see some teasers, announcements, and/or gameplay. Dragon Age 4 was shown off at The Game Awards 2018 so it's high time for some fresh info.

id Software finally speaks out on the big Doom Eternal soundtrack controversy and sets the record straight.

Fans aren't happy with id and Bethesda right now, and it all stems from a fallout between Doom OST creator Mick Gordon and id. The consensus is Bethesda shafted Mick Gordon by mixing his tracks and "ruining" the OST. But the real story is far more involved, and the truth is not any one person is to blame. id Software executive producer Marty Stratton reveals what actually happened and why.

According to Stratton, id's relationship with Gordon is quite complicated. Gordon is the reason for the soundtrack's delay. The rocker requested a 4-week extension, which ended up turning into a 6-week extension, and id was concerned the deadline wouldn't be hit. So Mick suggested a team-up with id's audio designer to help fill in the tracks. id didn't butcher Gordon's OST. The truth is, Gordon's OST wasn't actually finished in time, and had to depend on tracks and content created by id's lead audio designer.

If Nintendo won't do it, modders will: Mario 64 has been ported to the PC with full native 4K resolution support, ultra-wide monitor support, and ultra-smooth animations.

Remember when 64 bits and polygons were all the rage? Now that classic era has been reborn in high-end PCs, and skilled modders have successfully ported Mario 64 onto PC with Unreal Engine 4. This isn't emulation like the Super Mario Odyssey 64 mod, but a literal native port that uses reverse-engineered decompiled code from the N64 game. The project was built in Unreal Engine 4 with DirectX 12 support, which allows for high resolutions like 3840 x 2160, support for 21:9 aspect ratios, and compatibility with other graphics overhaul mods and shaders.

The results are smooth animations, high-def textures and graphics (even if they're polygonal), and a generally all-around improved experience. If Nintendo officially released Mario 64 on PC, it'd look and play something like this.

Streets of Rage 4 is local co-op only on GOG.com, and won't get online functionality, developer LizardCube confirms.

Streets of Rage 4 is all the rage right now, and there's tons of places to buy it. But if you want to play online with friends, you'll probably want to avoid the GOG version. The game is offline-only on GOG and can only played singleplayer or via local co-op. The devs say online play with friends simply won't be added to the game: "Hello, unfortunately the GOG version of the game won't be supporting online features," LizardCube wrote on Twitter.

The GOG storefront listing warns players about the missing online features, which is great, but it also hints online functionality could be added later on. "Please note that at this time, the DRM-Free version supports local co-op only with up to 4 players. The 2-player online mode is not available," reads the GOG storefront listing.

The Last of Us 2 has gone gold and is ready to ship. After years of development, crunch, and passionate work, Naughty Dog's most ambitious project to date is finished. The milestone is pretty emotional for the dev team, especially creative director Neil Druckmann.

Games take a long time to make, so when you finally submit your gold master, it's a big event for any studio. In a recent Instagram post, Naughty Dog dev Neil Druckmann highlights what this means for the team and shares the kinds of feelings that surround a game's launch. He also talks about the leaks and mentions gamers just aren't prepared for the sequel until they play it.

"We have gone gold. Back in April we told you that due to the state of the world which was way beyond our control we had to push the game, which gave us a few extra weeks to polish," Druckmann said. "Now that we have a release date, we've submitted our gold master. That means the executable has been put on the PlayStation Network and you're going to have our game in just a few short weeks."

Hello there! Today's Star Wars Day, and Respawn just released a free content update for Jedi: Fallen Order that lets you set up your own horde mode battles on-the-fly.

The new Jedi: Fallen Order update is pretty ambitious. It centers around the Jedi power fantasy combat Respawn baked into the game--it's easy to use but hard to master--and basically lets you test your ultimate lightsaber skills. In Combat Challenges, players can jump into quick offline matchmaking-style arena battles against a set number of foes. It's basically a survival horde mode where you try to complete objectives like no healing or not taking damage and, of course, destroy everyone in your path.

The second mode, the Battle Grid, basically lets you create and plot out your own battles. It's like Fight Club, only in Star Wars. You can pick what enemies you want to fight, where you want to fight them, and lay out a progression scheme point system. Respawn is basically letting you make your own game here, and the grids can even be saved for later use. It's a great way to keep engagement flowing in a singleplayer-only game.

As gamers around the world prepare for the release of the next-gen consoles, some people are wondering if popular titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone will be supported.

Short answer: of course, they will. Infinity Ward and Activision would never miss a chance to get its newest title onto that juicy next-generation hardware, especially considering the massive hype surrounding both consoles. Infinity Ward has recently confirmed this news as Taylor Kurosaki, Infinity Ward's Narrative Director, spoke to GamerGen and said that the goal is to support Warzone for "quite some time".

More specifically, Kurosaki means that Warzone will be supported for the next-generation of consoles, solidifying the longevity of the battle royale. Here's what he said, "I know that our plan is Warzone is going to be around for quite some time, so as soon as those new systems are out and available, I'm sure we'll support them". It can be assumed that Modern Warfare will also come with support for new systems, as it would be awfully strange for Activision/Infinity Ward to not support it.

Are you prepared to Destroy All Humans? Well, you should be because the remake of the cult classic title is launching in just a couple months.

According to a new post by the official THQ Nordic Twitter account, the remake of the classic PS2 title Destroy All Humans! will be launching on July 28th. THQ Nordic released the above trailer that reveals the release date of the title, as well as some cool gameplay that shows what players have in store for them if they decide to pick up the title.

If you have never played Destroy All Humans! then here's a quick synopsis of the game. Players control a small big-brained alien that has the capabilities of basically doing whatever he wants to the inhabitants of Earth. Players will assume the role of the alien and cause mayhem on humans by removing their brains, abducting them, blowing them up, confusing them, and of course, blasting them with a futuristic ray gun. The game is based in the 1950s and has been upgraded to 1080p for the remake. If you are interested in pre-ordering the title, you can check out the pre-order options here.

343i teases our first glimpse at Halo 3 running on PC, and it looks pretty good.

Halo 2 isn't even out yet on the Master Chief Collection's PC port, but 343i is already showing off Halo 3. It looks like we'll get the full MCC on PC in 2020 after all. The screenshots are admittedly sparse, but they do showcase some impressive lighting effects and textures that've been re-touched from the Xbox 360 original. The visuals don't look as dramatic as, say, Halo 2: Anniversary, but these are in-development screens and not finalized images.

Halo 3: ODST is also on the way. This is a pretty big deal for me because I loved the Firefight mode (I still play it to this day on Xbox 360) and am psyched to try it out on PC with higher FPS and response timings.

Fans are petitioning EA to keep Battlefront II with new content, and they're even willing to spend money on it.

Battlefront II has officially been retired into maintenance mode and won't be getting new updates. That means engagement will stagnate, and the playerbase will eventually fall off. Some fans aren't happy about it, and are petitioning EA to consider selling DLC instead of giving it out for free as part of the games' current microtransaction-funded business model.

At the time of writing, the petition has 6,800 signatures. Every signature represents a gamer willing to spend money on new DLC, and the petition praises DICE for saving Battlefront II from the clutches of loot box controversy.

Call of Duty's new Warzone battle royale will get updates and content from all new future Call of Duty games, including this year's Vietnam-based shooter.

Warzone is the biggest thing Activision has ever made. It's the perfect storm of engagement: Not only does Warzone come baked into a premium-priced full Call of Duty game, but it's a free-to-play standalone download with monetization. The most powerful part of Warzone is how it connects F2P and buy-to-play (B2P) gamers together in one ecosystem. Progression and unlocks are shared between Warzone and MW's multiplayer. Warzone is also a big melting pot for Call of Duty's characters, locations, mechanics, and maps--it's the ultimate Call of Duty multiplayer game.

It's a 150-player playground that serves as the connective tissue that holds all Call of Duty games together, while monetizing nostalgia amid one of the most powerful gametypes in the industry today.

Great news for Star Wars nerds: The original 2004 Battlefront now has official multiplayer on Steam.

Now's the perfect time to relive some old-school chaos with the original Battlefront on PC. Battlefront II is retired into maintenance mode and Steam just added full online server play to Pandemic's original all-out war shooter. This is a pretty big deal for Battlefront fans who yearn from the classic insanity the originals have to offer; the ship combat, the explosive firefights, the nostalgic graphics and emphasis on gameplay rather than fancy graphics or visuals. No microtransactions, no insane progression grind, just plain fun.

This is the first time Battlefront received official online support since GameSpy, the original server infrastructure host, closed down in 2014. Since then gamers had to get creative and install hex editors and connect to unofficial servers of their own. Now Valve has taken over and switched on servers to host one of the best shooters ever made.