Gaming - Page 575

Dead Island 2 is still happening, and it should release on both current-gen systems and next-gen consoles like the PS5, Xbox Series X.

Dead Island 2 isn't dead. It did go through development hell for a while and changed hands three times--first Yager Interactive was on the project, then Sumo Digital stepped it, and now Homefront dev Dambuster Studios is at the helm--but it's still in the works. THQ Nordic is now calling the shots after buying Deep Silver, and the company strongly hints Dead Island 2 will be out by March 31, 2021.

That puts the sunny zombie sequel firmly in next-gen console territory. A new art director job listing indicates Dambuster plans to release the game across both gens, but in the Xbox Series X's case, it should just be an enhanced Xbox One version considering Microsoft isn't making next-gen exclusive titles.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake physical copies take a substantial time to install on PlayStation 4, so be ready for a wait.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a huge game. It clocks in at over 100GB across two full-sized 50GB Blu-ray discs, and can take over an hour to install on PS4. Similar to Red Dead Redemption 2, one disc is a Play Disc, and the other is a Data Disc. And like RDR2, FF7R takes even more time to install from a disc than it would to download on a modern internet connection.

Interestingly enough, Square Enix will let you play Final Fantasy 7 Remake even if you haven't fully installed the Data Disc. You can play up to the ending of Chapter 1 on the Play Disc before you're prompted to install the Data Disc. It's a nice touch but it's still better to buy digital for this one.

Sony officially unveiled its slick new DualSense controller for its upcoming next-gen PlayStation 5 console just days ago, but what would the new PS5 look like against that new DualSense controller design?

That's where our good friends at LetsGoDigital come into play, with their in-house designer Snoreyn whipping up some gorgeous new renders of the PlayStation 5. He whipped up an awesome-looking PlayStation 5 retail box concept that makes me really hope Sony was paying attention and make it just like that.

The new PlayStation 5 concept renders come in both black and white, with a gorgeous LED at the top. On the back we have a bunch of connectivity bet ween HDMI, Ethernet, digital optical audio, power, and USB ports. Around the front will be the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. I just don't know which PS5 render I like better -- black, or white?

Yesterday Sony announced the PlayStation 5's official next-gen controller, the DualSense. But the released images didn't show a critical feature gamers were curious about: The included AUX headphone jack. Luckily Sony has swooped in to make clarifications.

Yes, the PS5's new DualSense controller will have a headphone jack. All of your old headsets should still be compatible with the PS5's audio output function. "[The DualSense] still has an audio jack so you can plug in your own headsets like DualShock 4,"PlayStation product manager Toshimasa Aoki said on Twitter.

This inclusion makes sense. The PS5 is built around carrying its legacy forward and won't leave PS4 gamers behind: Not only will the PS5 support PS4 games, but it'll also support current-gen peripherals like headsets, DualShock 4 controllers, and the PlayStation VR headset.

To help keep people at home (and to hopefully get money from forgotten subs), Google is giving away a free two month trial to Stadia Pro. But it's not all that easy to sign up.

Google just announced a free Stadia subscription offer in a recent blog post. There's just one problem: The post leaves out how you actually sign up for the trial. Going to the Stadia.com website only gives you an option to either buy the $129 Founder's Edition, or to sign up using an invite code.

To actually sign up and get your free trial you have to download the Stadia app to your phone. You'll have to do this anyway because Stadia is locked behind the app (yes, it's annoying). Click on the free trial button, tie your Google account to Stadia, and enter some credit card info. Be mindful of the date because Google will charge you $10 a month in June if you forget.

Cyberpunk 2077 is still planned for a September 2020 release and CD Projekt RED is confident the game won't be delayed.

CDPR delivered some good news in its latest 2019 earnings report: Net earnings are up 44%, profits are up 60%, and development on Cyberpunk 2077 is going well even as devs work from home. The big worry is that COVID-19 could delay Cyberpunk 2077 and other major games because of massive interruptions to daily work schedules. But CDPR strongly indicates their ambitious sci-fi FPS-RPG mash-up will hit its intended 2020 launch.

"We're giving it our all, and thanks to the tools at our disposal we have been able to maintain full continuity of our efforts," CD Projekt RED Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz said in a recent investor's presentation.

The Witcher 3 has sold roughly 28 million copies worldwide since 2015, and its Switch port is coming out swinging.

CD Projekt RED just announced its 2019 earnings report and showed a surprising sales spike for its RPG magnum opus. Thanks to some clever pixel-counting from Twitter sleuth DarkDetectiveNL, we have an idea how much Witcher 3 has sold on each platform. The White Wolf only just slashed onto Nintendo Switch last October, but the Switcher has sold roughly 700,000 copies to date.

PC still leads with a healthy 12 million cumulative sales, and PS4 is in second place with 10 million, which is to be expected given its massive 108 million-strong install base. Xbox One lags at 4.3 million, and the Switch is heating up with roughly 700K copies.

Have your credit card linked to your Nintendo Account? Remove it, or add two-factor authentication to protect yourself.

Hackers are breaking into Nintendo Accounts and stealing credit card info, leading to fraudulent charges and hijacking of sensitive data, Nintendo Japan reports. We're not sure if this is just isolated overseas in Japan or of it's more widespread, but the millions of people staying at home worldwide due to COVID-19 are prime targets for theft. Gamers are more eager to buy digital games from the eShop, and that means using credit and debit cards.

Nintendo obviously doesn't want you to remove your credit card from your Nintendo Account--then you'd be less likely to make impulse buys--but it does encourage two-factor authentication. It's a pretty simple process and involves installing Google Authenticator to generate a random code every time you want to access your account info or make a purchase.

It appears that gamers Down Under are getting hurt by the coronavirus restrictions, with 3 gamers in Victoria, Australia being fined $1652 AUD ($1018) for playing games in a lounge room.

Victoria Police have been doing spot checks throughout the state to make sure that Australians are following their (very strict) coironavirus lockdown rules, where 3 gamers who don't live together, were in a lounge room at one house and were fined for breaching the coronavirus lockdown rules.

Victoria, Australia is currently under stage 3 restrictions, meaning no more than two people (except for members of your immediate household) can gather together. These rules were introduced by the Victorian government on March 31.

Call of Duty players will be glad to know that Season 3 has just been dropped by Activision, and as expected, it comes with a bunch of new features to enjoy.

According to a new trailer dropped onto the official Call of Duty YouTube Channel, Season 3 will add the highly anticipated four-player squads mode to Warzone. We already knew that Activision was planning on increasing the squad size, as Infinity Ward co-head, Patrick Kelly teased back in early March that the developers were planning on adding larger squads and ultimately 200 player matches.

As for Season 3, Infinity Ward and Activision are pumping out some fresh content for both Warzone players and Modern Warfare players. Warzone players will be able to use some new weapons and skins, which include silenced and non-silenced versions of every weapon type. There will also be brand new guns and blueprints inside in supply boxes. As for Modern Warfare players, Infinity Ward is introducing three new 6v6 maps, some are remastered of old classic maps, and some are down-scaled maps from Ground War. Season 3 will begin on April 8th for every platform the games playable on.

Sony just revealed the PlayStation 5's new DualSense controller, and it's so transformative that it's kicking off a new generation of controller design. But how does it compare to the PS4's DualShock 4?

Side-by-side comparisons show just how much the PlayStation 5's new DualSense controller has changed over the DualShock 4. The Dualsense is an upgrade on almost every level. It's shaped more like an Xbox controller with are more ergonomic fang-style grip, its buttons are thicker and more tactile--not to mention enhanced with new adaptive triggers--and it packs a boosted battery. There's also USB-C for improved and convenient charging.

Microsoft says it's being careful about the Xbox Series X's price this time around. It's not eager to re-live the infamous E3 2013 catastrophe.

In a consumer industry, cost is king. Microsoft and Sony understand that console sales rely on costs. So how much will the Xbox Series X be priced at? No one knows for sure, but Microsoft says it's willing to adjust and be flexible.

"We're going to make sure we stay agile on our pricing and that we have a good plan going into launch," Phil Spencer said in a recent IGN Unlocked interview.

Sony today officially announced the PlayStation 5's next-gen controller. It's called the DualSense.

The PS5's new DualSense controller is quite futuristic, and looks kind of like those weird old-school PS3 controllers merged with a PS4 system, and pretty much has all the features we've been reporting on for a while now. The DualSense has special rumble feedback and adaptive mechanisms in the triggers to simulate fine-tuned haptics; things like pulling a bow string will feel different than revving up a car, for instance. The DualSense has a built-in mic, USB-C charging, a bigger battery, a new Create button that could fold into the awesome create-your-own-game-demo feature we reported on, and a lot more:

"DualSense marks a radical departure from our previous controller offerings and captures just how strongly we feel about making a generational leap with PS5. The new controller, along with the many innovative features in PS5, will be transformative for games - continuing our mission at PlayStation to push the boundaries of play, now and in the future. To the PlayStation community, I truly want to thank you for sharing this exciting journey with us as we head toward PS5's launch in Holiday 2020. We look forward to sharing more information about PS5, including the console design, in the coming months," said Sony's Jim Ryan.

Project xCloud will let anyone anywhere instantly sample Xbox games before they buy, making it a tremendously potent tool for Microsoft's ecosystem.

Xbox Game Pass is one of the most powerful services in the industry right now. It's an all-you-can play subscription that gives you access to a pool of full games to download and play at any time. Because access isn't permanent and dependent upon a continual monthly fee, Game Pass has sparked full game sales as players buy the games they want to keep forever. But Game Pass is missing something big: Instant access.

That's where Project xCloud, Microsoft's new cloud game streaming service, comes in.

League of Legends dev Riot Games just made a new shooter called Valorant, and gamers are really curious if it's good or not.

Valorant aims to usurp the current FPS market. With 120Hz tick rate servers, ultra-accurate aiming, and Overwatch-like hero abilities in a 5v5 setting, Valorant is attracting major FPS enthusiasts and pros everywhere. The game isn't out yet, but Riot is holding a huge closed beta with some of the most popular streamers, and gamers are tuning in en masse.

At the time of writing, Valorant has over 1.7 million viewers across the globe. This is huge for any game, but it's well-timed on Riot's part now that everyone's home over COVID-19 quarantines.

It looks like Apex Legends will soon have console crossplay support, with developer Respawn saying it is "important" for the battle royale game.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Respawn's chief operating officer and general manager for Apex Legends, Dusty Welch, said that crossplay for gamers on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is "important". He said: "I think on crossplay we see it's something that is kind of expected in the industry and is important to a game like ours".

Welch added: "Chad [Grenier, Apex Legends' director] and I are obviously big fans of playing our game at work and in our free time - and we go home on a Friday or weekend and want to play with each other and we're on different systems. On a personal level, yes, we'd love to do that and party up on the weekends. I think it's an important thing to get to".

We all know the next-gen console wars later this year, and possibly in 2021 if the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X launches are postponed due to the havoc that coronavirus is having on the world, are going to be wild.

Well, now we have Crytek rendering engineer Ali Salehi being intervewed by Persian gaming website Vigiato, where he talked about the power differences between the next-gen consoles. Salehi said that developing for the PlayStation 5 was extremely simple, and that reaching the peak performance on the PS5 is much easier than on the Xbox Series X.

Salehi said: "The developers are saying PS5 is the easiest console they have ever coded on to reach its peak performance. Software-wise, coding for PS5 is extremely simple and has so many abilities that make the [developers] so free. In total, I can say PS5 is a better console".

Microsoft is holding an Inside Xbox showcase tomorrow, April 7, 2020 at 5PM EST, and we can expect new gameplay footage and light Xbox Series X discussion.

Tomorrow's Inside Xbox won't be special. Don't expect a big E3-level extravaganza with tons of hardware and game reveals. Instead, Team Green will dive into previously announced games like Obsidian's weird Honey I Shrunk the Kids-like game Grounded and Gears Tactics.

The real highlight should be the Xbox Series X tech discussion with Microsoft's Jason Ronald. The Xbox Wire is careful to say new console info won't be revealed at the event, though. Ronald will instead deliver more color around the Xbox Series X's new hardware, OS, and software functionalities and expand on how they create a true next-gen gaming ecosystem.

Games like off-roading racing sim Dirt Rally 2.0 and billion-dollar megahit Candy Crush are using in-game banners to promote global stay-at-home orders.

UK game devs like King and Codemasters are using in-game real estate in a unique way. These devs have replaced in-game ads that appear on signs, billboards, and banners with the coronavirus-combating mantra "stay at home, save lives." Dirt Rally 2.0 in particular has an opportunity to reach millions as part of this month's free PS Plus offering. It's refreshing to see these devs to their part in trying to convince consumers to stay in place and avoid transmitting or contracting the COVID-19 virus that's killing thousands.

"We came to realize that technology within our games, which enables the remote updating of banners within the virtual environment, could be repurposed to assist with the coronavirus communication effort," Codemasters told Forbes.

No Man's Sky has gone so far. Where can it go from here? How about zooming around planet surfaces with your own armored core suit?

Hello Games shows no signs of stopping with No Man's Sky updates. The game has already tremendously evolved with eight major updates, and now the ninth is on the way. It's called EXO, and it lets you build your own custom mech exosuits to roam around the wilds.

No Man's Sky's new EXO update has been leaked by German retailer JoyBuggy, confirming hulking mechsuits are coming to the game. At the time of writing, the video has been made private, but we saw snippets of it before it was locked. Exact details of the EXO update aren't known, but you'll be able to build your mech and roam around with friends on various planets.