Gaming - Page 579

I've taken a short break from Half-Life: Alyx to interact with the real-world again, as I have two kids staying home from school right now, and a job to do -- and that job, is to write more news about Valve stuff. Check out my Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide right here.

Now that Half-Life: Alyx is in the wild, Valve is returning to talking to the media in a big way, where Chris Remo and Robin Walker from Valve sat down with IGN. They talked about all things Half-Life: Alyx, Portal VR, Left 4 Dead 3, and more. Left 4 Dead is another game close to my heart, as it was just pure 4-player mayhem in an amazing setting when it was released.

Fun fact: Left 4 Dead was the first game I played with NVIDIA's 3D Vision glasses at the time, and utterly loved it. This was in the days before VR, and it was one of the driving forces of making me believe VR would take off eventually -- and now it has, with Half-Life: Alyx.

Just like Doom Slayer smashes demon skulls, his new pivotal hell-razing FPS sequel has likewise smashed franchise sales records.

Doom Eternal is the top-earning Doom game of all time at launch, Bethesda today announced. "Doom Eternal has quickly broken the franchise record for opening weekend sales, doubling the launch revenue of DOOM (2016). DOOM Eternal was the best-selling game on Steam for the week and immediately soared to over 100,000 concurrent players on the platform," reads a press release issued out by the publisher.

It's possible the recent coronavirus outbreak gave Doom a popularity boost. As if it needed one, though: Doom is household name in any gaming corner. But consumers are more likely to buy video games now that they're working from home thanks to COVID-19 quarantines.

Half-Life: Alyx is the most amazing gaming experience I've ever had, so expect a full review or a detailed article from me once I've finished the game. It is truly amazing, so it doesn't surprise me that it is breaking Steam records. Here is a Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide, where I recommend PC hardware and VR headsets to play the game.

Valve launched Half-Life: Alyx barely 24 hours ago on March 23, and it quickly broke the concurrent user record for a VR game on Steam. Half-Life: Alyx hit a peak concurrent player count of 42,858 -- absolutely smashing the record of Boneworks, with a peak of 8717 when it launches in late 2019.

Remember that Half-Life: Alyx is a VR exclusive title, so that is a really big deal -- 43,000 people playing at once, all wearing VR headsets for a game made in VR only. It also doesn't mean that VR users were able to enjoy the next chapter in the Half-Life saga, as there were a huge 300,000 people watching on Twitch at its peak.

It's very likely the next-gen Xbox Series X console could be delayed due to coronavirus' significant worldwide economic disruption. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella finally comments on the system's possible delay.

The games industry is booming right now thanks to stay-at-home COVID-19 quarantines. But gaming is far from safe. The virus is expected to force game delays as well as push back 2020's new console hardware generation, which depends on overseas Chinese factories and critical international shipping routes to function.

Will Microsoft delay the Xbox Series X? Maybe.

What if consoles could let you suspend and resume a custom save state? Sony's PlayStation 5 might actually revolutionize how save states are handled.

A recently published Sony patent could hint at a new era of save states, customization, and overall user control on the PlayStation 5. The new feature is kind of like the Xbox Series X's Quick Resume functionality with a twist: Instead of the OS automatically bookmarking the segment you last played, you can actually set the save states yourself.

The patent, which is titled Dynamic Interfaces For Launching Direct Gameplay, refers to the save states as "templates" and basically outlines a new kind of save that's not just limited to gameplay. Users can set the console to boot to a multiplayer menu, for example, or directly into the last-played game segment that's been marked. Imagine being able to boot up right into a boss fight without having to run through the entire level again, or get another try at a tough puzzle.

Modder GmanModz jams an entire Nintendo 64 console into a portable Game Boy Advance SP-style case, complete with full cartridge support.

Introducing the N64 SP, a new Frankenstein fusion that packs Nintendo's old-school 3D console into a portable form factor. The N64 SP has a fully-fledged Nintendo 64 motherboard with a 5-inch LCD screen with VGA input in a custom 3D-printed clamshell chassis. The system features a 4,250 mAh battery for roughly 2 hours of play, and even supports USB-C PowerDelivery for play-as-you-charge gaming and faster recharge rates.

The N64 SP's small form factor was made possible by clever rewiring of a stubborn Nintendo 64 circuit. Up until now, modders weren't sure if they could rewire the PIF chip--the chip that interfaces with controllers--to another part of the mobo or not. GManModz found a way to move the chip and significantly reduce motherboard surface area enough to fit into a custom-designed portable case. There's even a means to bypass the analog audio for digital, which improves the sound tremendously.

Konami squashes recent rumors that two new Silent Hill game projects are in the works.

Rumor has Sony Interactive Entertainment is funding two new Silent Hill games with Konami's blessing: A soft reboot of the franchise with upgraded next-gen visuals, and a revamp of Hideo Kojima's cancelled Silent Hills project. The info comes from multiple sources close to Konami's plans. But now Konami counters and says these reports are false.

"We're aware of all the rumors and reports but can confirm that they are not true. I know it's not the answer your fans may want to hear," the Konami spokesperson told Rely on Horror, the very same website that broke the original Silent Hill news.

PlayStation Network downloads are about to get slower in Europe, but Sony promises the drop will be negligible.

Amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Sony is lowering game download speeds in Europe to help offset the enormous strain on internet bandwidth. Sony joins other major service titans like Google, Netflix, and Disney+ who are all lowering bitrates and streaming visual quality to lessen bandwidth usage.

As millions of consumers are work from home in self-isolated quarantine, digital entertainment like gaming and streaming is helping everyone stay sane. Everyone is using these services around the clock, and with no end to the COVID-19 spread in sight, ISPs are planning bandwidth-saving countermeasures for the long haul.

Why hasn't Valve released Half-Life 2: Episode 3 yet? Why did it take 12 years for a new Half-Life game? The secretive company gives two answers: One, Half-Life games are meant to illustrate tech advancements, and two, the planned episodes basically turned into sequels.

Half-Life: Alyx just released today. It's the first new Half-Life game in the last 12 years, and it's a VR-exclusive game. Although Valve says Alyx is just the beginning and more Half-Life games are on the way, it could still be a while before Half-Life 3 happens. Before we jump the gun and talk about Half-Life's future, let's talk about its somewhat troubled past.

In a recent interview with IGN, Valve today revealed a ton of info about its game development practices. Valve talked about Half-Life 2: Episode 3, about why there hasn't been a new Half-Life game for so long, and what we can expect from future games. That first part, though, is the most interesting, and it shows Valve's billion-dollar Steam platform doesn't make it immune to the issues that plague game developers everywhere.

Splash Damage, the team behind Brink. Gears of War 5's multiplayer, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC, is making a new exclusive game for Stadia.

Google today announced another marquee exclusive for its fledgling game streaming service. Splash Damage will helm development of new mystery game but there's no actual info on what it could be. The studio has worked on a number of high-profile IPs ranging from Batman to Halo, but a lot of these have been shooters, so the new title could be an engagement-driven FPS that taps into Stadia's novel features like screen mirroring.

"We're thrilled to finally announce that we're working on an exclusive title in partnership with Google Stadia," Splash Team said on its website.

Don't let it's cute and demure nature fool you: Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a beast that's already dominating sales charts.

Nintendo's new enamoring Animal Crossing Switch game has come swinging out of the gate. Tom Nook's island adventure has conquered the UK physical game sales charts with megaton numbers that dwarf all previous games in the franchise. According to the Gfk Top Ten charts, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the best-selling physical game in the UK for the week ending March 21. In just one day of availability, Animal Crossing stole the lead.

We don't have exact sales figures for color or contrast, but Gfk says New Horizons outsold New Leaf by more than 300%. It's the best- and fastest-selling Animal Crossing game in the UK to date. Bear in mind this only includes physical sales and it's only for the UK region. Total combined sales could be far higher as the entire world battens down the hatches amid COVID-19 and needs something bright and sunny to distract it.

Worldwide digital games market revenues hit $9.2 billion in February 2020 driven by strong mobile games earnings, analyst firm SuperData reports.

February 2020 was an interesting time for the digital games market. Mobile took the lead with a substantial 16% spike in earnings, contributing the lion's share of the total $9.2 billion earned in the month. PC and console spending was down quite a bit due to the absence of heavy-hitters like Anthem and Apex Legends. PC spending was down 6% YoY and console dropped a staggering 22% year-over-year, the firm reports.

The top 10 charts for each segment are predictable enough. We see a number of F2P games dominate the PC charts, with games like Dungeon Fighter Online and CrossFire being popular in Asia. League of Legends secured the top spot for digital earnings in the month.

Counter-Strike: GO accelerated quite a bit in February 2020, a month before the coronavirus hit--and a month before Warzone stepped in with its massive playerbase.

Counter-Strike won't ever die. After eight years on the market, it's going stronger than ever. According to the latest report from SuperData, Counter-Strike had an incredible 24 million monthly active users (MAUs) in February 2020. Those are record breaking numbers, and the shooter went on to break even more records in March thanks to the coronavirus quarantines.

With 24 million MAUs, that means Counter-Strike accounted for roughly 27% of Steam's total monthly active users. Valve's last-reported MAUs for Steam sit at 90 million.

Now that there are millions of kids at home with forced stay-at-home orders by some governments over coronavirus COVID-19, the Polish government is doing something really interesting, and really awesome.

The Polish government has created a public Minecraft server, and is encouraging kids across the country to jump into their server. Poland has shut down schools, museums, cinemas, and other places as of March 11 -- but with millions of bored kids at home, the country is wanting to keep them occupied, and educated.

They've since launched Grarantanna, a new learning hub inside of Minecraft that isn't just for young kids -- but also high schoolers, and college kids that want to jump in and collaborate. Each player has their own 60x60 plot to do whatever they want with, and better yet the best creations in Grarantanna will be showcased, and a reward given on March 30.

DOOM Eternal has been for the last few days now, but I had an early key from my friends at Bethesda that allowed me to get many hours of slaying demons in glorious 4K -- and 8K, with some 8K benchmarks coming in the next 24 hours.

On my mission of slaying as many demons as I could, you get a little downtime in the Fortress of Doom -- where the DOOM Slayer himself is a PC gamer. I spotted an Alienware-like gaming PC in the Fortress of Doom and decided to take some screenshots of the system itself, and compare it to the Alienware Area 51 desktop gaming PC.

That's not the only PC that the DOOM Slayer has operational in his Fortress of Doom, with an older PC that would be capable of playing the original Doom, if anything.

Half-Life: Alyx pre-loads have started on Steam, and if you haven't read it already -- I have an extensive Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide that goes over the PC hardware and VR headsets that I recommend using to play what should be the best VR game of all time.

But when exactly does Half-Life: Alyx unlock in your particular time zone? Let's find that out. We know that the game will unlock for US gamers on Monday, March 23 at precisely 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT, which equates to:

We know that Half-Life: Alyx is a 48GB download, while the game requires 67.3GB of storage space. If we compare that to Half-Life 2 which used up just 6.4GB of storage, Half-Life: Alyx is a gigantic upgrade of over 10x in storage space required.

If you're stuck at home here's a list of disaster / end of the world movies you should watch, and if you have a VR headset then you really need to grab Half-Life: Alyx which unlocks on March 23 -- but GOG is stepping up with a new Stay at Home game bundle, too.

GOG has announced its new Stay at Home game bundle that includes a huge 27 free games, with GOG.com explaining: "Even if the sun is shining and the flowers have already started to bloom where you live, health and safety are on everybody's mind right now. Closing the shades and playing video games can be one of the good ways to relax and pass the time when you stay at home. We're here to help you choose your next great adventure with this selection of free games from our catalogue and a massive Spring Sale running until March 30th".

Not only does GOG have 27 games for free with its Stay at Home game bungle, but they also have their huge Spring sale on right now which has some great games on the cheap. These games include XCOM 2, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Dragon Age: Origins, Stardew Valley, and more.

We all know the effects that coronavirus COVID-19 is having on virtually everything on Earth right now, with the F1 season being cancelled over the outbreak.

But never fear -- as the organizers of Formula 1 have announced the new F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix series, which will see a "number of current F1 drivers" playing Codemasters official F1 2019 game. The drivers will play it on the PC, and have the games streamed across the world on the internet.

It all starts this weekend with the Virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on March 22, with the organizers explaining that every "subsequent race weekend will see the postponed real-world Formula 1 race replaced with a Virtual Grand Prix, with the initiative currently scheduled to run until May".

We are just hours away from Half-Life: Alyx releasing, with Valve unleashing the first new game in the Half-Life universe in 13 years on March 23 -- in VR only.

Valve has now opened up the pre-loading floodgates on the game, with Half-Life: Alyx pre-loading right now on Steam with a download that weighs in at 48GB. The game itself once it is unpacked and installed onto your PC is 67.3GB, which is bloody huge in comparison to the 6.4GB that Half-Life 2 required.

I've written an extensive Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide article that covers what PC hardware I recommend, as well as the required VR headsets to run the game since Half-Life: Alyx is a VR-only game.

Half-Life: Alyx is about to drop and now we're hearing more and more from Valve boss Gabe Newell, who was recently interviewed by EDGE magazine. I've also got a handy Half-Life: Alyx Buyers Guide: PC Hardware & VR Headset Recommendations article you can check out.

Newell said in the interview that he became a gold farmer in World of Warcraft -- a move not born our of necessity as he is a billionaire, but he did it for research. Newell's exploration into becoming a gold farmer in World of Warcraft let to the creation of the Steam Workshop, and the success in hats being sold for (a lot of) real money in Team Fortress 2.

Newell explained: "We were always used to thinking about games as entertainment experiences, but then we started thinking of them as productivity platforms. As a sort of proof-of-concept, I decided to be a World of Warcraft gold farmer for a while. I was making $20 an hour farming gold. I was making what was a spectacular wage for most people in most parts of the world".