Gaming - Page 580

Steam just hit over 22.6 million concurrent active users on the platform, representing a huge 2.6 million users spike in a week's time.

Gaming is a go-to escape from the rampant coronavirus threat that rages outside our doors, and millions of people are logging onto Steam to distract themselves with PC games. Steam's playerbase just hit an all-time record high of 22,678, 529 users, up 15% from last week's 19.72 million.

Bear in mind only a portion of these users were actually playing games at the time. Only about 33% or so of online Steam users were playing games at the time. The rest could've been idle, buying games, or browsing the marketplace.

The Xbox Series X's 1.7TFLOP and 16 CU lead over the PlayStation 5 isn't all that substantial--at least that's what game developers tell Kotaku's Jason Schreier.

While gamers are scrutinizing Sony's next-gen console power, unnamed developers are praising the PlayStation 5 behind the scenes. Sony delivered a rather droll yet fascinating talk about the PS5, detailing GPU, CPU, RAM, and most importantly, SSD specs and made some big promises. But there's a sizable power discrepancy between the Xbox Series X and PS5. Microsoft's new Xbox is roughly 17% more powerful than the PS5 in terms of raw GPU TFLOP performance, and has 52 compute units versus the PS5's 36 CUs. That power differential may not be as meaningful to developers as you think.

In a recent Splitscreen podcast, industry journalist Jason Schreier, who has a close ear to game developers, said numerous devs are very excited about the PS5. The console isn't vastly inferior to the Xbox Series X, and the PlayStation 5 will hold its own in ways that haven't been outlined yet. Sony simply needs to have developers talk about the console and show us what the PS5 can really do.

Sony's recent PlayStation 5 tech talk was made for developers, not consumers. It's not enough to win over everyday gamers. Sony needs to show us how powerful the PS5 is, not just tell us.

If you've been reading our recent PlayStation 5 coverage then you know I loved Mark Cerny's recent presentation. I learned so much about SSD tech, about game design, and about the console's new heavily-customized architecture and hardware. But there's one thing that's been nagging me this whole time: It's all theoretical. The raw speeds, the promised performance values, even the praise from Naughty Dog developers--it's all based on concepts we haven't actually seen in action. Will the PS5 change console gaming forever? Of course. But it's one thing to think it, and another thing to see it.

Besides a very brief demo of Spider-Man loading in 0.8 seconds, we haven't actually seen Sony prove the PlayStation 5's industry-altering power. Sony seemed unprepared to capture consumers at this event, and rightly so because it wasn't meant for consumers. Not really. But it did sent unclear messages to gamers.

Doom Eternal is explosively chaotic, hellishly fun, and insanely optimized on PC. It's one of the best first-person shooters I've ever played and my early first impressions glow as bright as the fires of hell itself.

Man oh man is Doom Eternal wicked. id has created something that's one part FPS, one part platformer, and one part RPG, all wrapped up in an intriguing--if not absurdly over-the-top--mythology. This is the purest manifestation of the Doom Slayer I've ever seen. At every turn you feel like a powerful force of nature that just rips and tears through hordes of demons, and even when it gets overwhelming, things are still immensely fun.

Every firefight is electric, every battle is supercharged with adrenaline, and there's this constant flow of brutality that runs like an undercurrent through everything you do. Every dash, every double jump, every glory kill represents a whirling dance of death. This game is mostly built around a unique sequence that sees you constantly managing resources as you slaughter demons, creating a kind of urgency to not only slay but to do so strategically and quickly.

Dreams lets you make anything, even blatant recreations of copyright-protected IPs, characters, and games. That's about to change big time.

Dreams is the latest PS4 exclusive from Media Molecule, and it's basically a modder's dream game. Creators come together to make games with an extensive in-game toolset. It's like RPG Maker, only here you can make anything. And everyone basically uses it make new Mario games, Final Fantasy turn-based games, and even Sonic games--all with assets and sounds that mimic the actual games. We've seen some incredible creations in Dreams, from a Fallout 4 demo to an action-based Final Fantasy 7 with old-school graphics, and a lot of Mario games.

Predictably enough, publishers aren't happy about this. Dreams is hosting unsanctioned recreations of their characters, games, and copyrighted content. Nintendo, who's fiercely protective over its IPs, has gotten involved and wants Mario off the platform. Sony is obviously complying lest they face the wrath of Nintendo's extremely effective litigation team. Dreams creations are now being moderated and removed from the platform to appease rights-holders like Nintendo.

Thanks to the coronavirus self-quarantine and addicting FPS chaos, Warzone continues accelerating far quicker than Fortnite and Apex Legends.

Call of Duty: Warzone just passed 30 million total registered players on all platforms, making it the fastest-growing battle royale in the industry. Warzone's playerbase grew by 15 million in a single week, putting it at 30 million users total--a number achieved after being on the market for only 10 days.

Activision's latest free-to-play battle royale sensation is growing much faster than Apex Legends and Fortnite. It took Respawn's BR a full week to hit 25 million users, and Fortnite nearly 3 months to hit 30 million players. One of the biggest draws to Warzone is that it's F2P, complete with cross-platform play and cross-SKU support. Modern Warfare owners can play directly with basic free-to-play users. It's a master stroke of engagement and it should benefit the publisher quite a bit.

The PlayStation 5's internal SSD can fundamentally change how games are played, and more importantly, how they're made. But this won't happen as long as devs are still focusing on current-gen hardware.

Current-gen consoles are going to hold next-gen systems back, at least for a while. The PS5 and Xbox Series X aren't resetting the console generation. The new systems will live alongside the PS4 and Xbox One family for multiple years before next-gen takes over. This is integral for ensuring a smooth shift between gens and carrying current-gen games forward.

During this period, developers and publishers will release games on both generations. Microsoft has said Xbox SX won't have exclusives for years, whereas Sony is expected to launch first-party PS5 exclusives right out of the gate. Still, though, Sony will keep making PS4 games until 2022.

As we predicted, Sony is making plans to aggressively accelerate PS4 backwards compatibility support on the PS5. Hundreds of games have already been tested, and thousands more are expected to be tested. All of them could be playable on the PS5 at launch.

Sony today confirmed that it expects almost all of the PS4's expansive 4,000 games library to be playable on its next-gen PlayStation 5. But when? Possibly at launch or shortly after.

"A quick update on backward compatibility - With all of the amazing games in PS4's catalog, we've devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.

Modern Warfare 2 remastered has been rated on a South Korean games ratings board, confirming the game is coming soon.

The rumors are true: Modern Warfare 2 is getting remastered for current-gen consoles and PC, but apparently multiplayer isn't included. The ratings listing explicitly refers to the game as "Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered," so it probably only includes the singleplayer campaign. The listing was classified in February, and updated yesterday with ratings approval, which means it might be out sooner than we think.

A campaign-only re-release makes sense. Activision doesn't want to take players away from Warzone, Call of Duty mobile, and the new online multiplayer included with Black Ops 5--all of which should make considerable live service earnings. Modern Warfare 2 remastered could also come alongside Black Ops 5's pricier deluxe editions to sweeten the pot some, or even as a pre-order incentive.

DOOM Eternal has just released, and since the game has been made available and people on PC have been able to see the titles file contents, something has raised some eyebrows.

When a new title releases, game crackers rush to see if they can break the game's files and acquire the title completely free. Crackers then proceed to upload that file to private servers to let the public also download the title for free. Instructions for cracking the game are usually provided in this download as well. Now, Bethesda has just released DOOM Eternal, and the Steam version of the game uses Denuvo anti-tamper tech to stop crackers.

On the other hand, on Bethesda's own 'Bethesda Store' version, there is a non-Denuvo executable file. This opens the door for crackers to play around with the executable file to see if they can open the game and run it. If you are yet to purchase DOOM Eternal and would like to see if your PC is able to run, check out the official PC requirements for the title here. A link to the Steam Store listing can be found here. DOOM Eternal is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC right now.

There are millions of people stuck at home right now, so you might as well take advantage of the coronavirus madness and grab Watch Dogs for free, right?

Yeah, so the original Watch Dogs is currently free on the Epic Games Store -- and will be available for free through to March 26. It's not the only game that is free, but there's also The Stanley Parable that is available as a free download until March 26, too.

Watch Dogs normally costs $30 so getting a big AAA game for free right now isn't bad at all. If you don't remember Ubisoft gimping the PC version of Watch Dogs, then give my article from 2014 titled 'Ubisoft gimping Watch Dogs on PC opened a can of worms for PC Gamers' a read.

Microsoft has just unveiled DirectX 12 Ultimate -- a new version of its DirectX 12 standard which has radically improved features and capabilities that will drive the next generation of games on not just Windows, but consoles too.

DirectX 12 was first released back in 2014 if you can even believe it has been that long, with DirectX 12 Ultimate delivering some gigantic and much-needed upgrades. It includes Ray Tracing 1.1 support, which sees graphics cards not needing to talk to the CPU, making game development much easier for developers making games for the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC.

Microsoft principal dev lead, Shawn Hargreaves, explained in a blog post: "When gamers purchase PC graphics hardware with the DX12 Ultimate logo or an Xbox Series X, they can do so with the confidence that their hardware is guaranteed to support all next generation graphics hardware features, including DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Mesh Shaders and Sampler Feedback. This mark of quality ensures stellar 'future-proof' feature support for next generation games".

The gates of Hell are about to open for gamers that will be thrusted into DOOM Eternal, with NVIDIA releasing a new GeForce Game Ready driver that offers day one optimizations for id Software's kick-ass new first-person shooter.

NVIDIA's new GeForce Game Ready 442.74 WHQL driver for DOOM Eternal can be downloaded here, or from GeForce Experience. If you are using GeForce Experience to grab the new driver, click the 'Drivers' tab, then click the green button which will begin downloading, and then installing the new drivers.

As for DOOM Eternal, I've been playing it for the last few days and its a complete blast. I'm cranking along with it on the ASUS ROG Strix XG438Q (a 43-inch 4K 120Hz gaming display) and MSI's custom GeForce RTX 2080 Ti LIGHTNING Z graphics card and it is utterly sublime.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is also releasing a day early at GameStop, and should be available at your nearest store.

GameStop just got the greenlight from Nintendo to sell Animal Crossing: New Horizons a day early. A local GameStop told me they received the go-ahead from its compliance department hours ago, and gamers are already sharing photos of successful Animal Crossing purchases from the retailer.

This move follows Doom Eternal's early release. Both games were originally to be staggered in an effort to curb coronavirus risk. Doom Eternal released today, and the plan was for Animal Crossing to release tomorrow. Now that GameStop's corporate offices issued a mandate that all stores must remain open amid the COVID-19 outbreak, it seems like all bets are off.

Today Square Enix confirms that it has not delayed Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PS4, and the game will release on April 10 as planned. But that doesn't mean you'll actually get it on that date.

A bit ago, Amazon started sending out emails to gamers saying their FF7 Remake pre-orders have been delayed. The number of delays grew and grew, prompting worries of another push-back for the game. Now Square Enix has confirmed the game won't be delayed, but the coronavirus has disrupted distribution and shipping of certain portions of worldwide stock. There's no guarantee you'll get your Final Fantasy 7 Remake disc copy at launch.

"The worldwide release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on April 10 will go ahead. However, with the unforseeable changes in the distribution and retail landscape which varies across countries, it is increasingly likely that some of you will not get hold of your copy of the game on the release date," Square Enix said in a statement.

GameStop will stay open amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic because corporate thinks the store is "essential retail," sources tell Kotaku's Jason Schreier.

As countless businesses close down to curb COVID-19 spread, GameStop will remain open and put employees at further risk. Workers at the games retail chain are forbidden to close stores across the United States. A memo sent out by GameStop's leadership marks the store as "essential retail," putting it alongside critical businesses like grocery stores and gas stations.

"Due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers' experience in working from home, we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time," GameStop said in the memo.

The PlayStation 5's built-in boost mode is much, much more powerful than the PlayStation 4 Pro's. Sony says the boost is so dramatic that some older PS4 games simply can't handle it.

The PS5's backward compatibility is pretty lackluster in terms of supported games. Unlike the Xbox Series X, which can play OG Xbox, Xbox 360, and all Xbox One games at launch, the PlayStation 5 will only support 100 of the most popular PS4 games. But why? The PS5's native boost mode is the culprit. Here's how it works.

Like the Xbox Series X, the PlayStation 5 will natively boost any PS4 game you put into it. For example, Xbox Series X will auto-upgrade 2015's Gears of War 4 to native 4K resolution. Sony's PS5 will also boost PS4 games, but Sony hasn't detailed specifics. We could see all sorts of perf boosts like 120FPS, ray tracing, and more--imagine playing Bloodborne at 1080p 120FPs.

The PlayStation 5's backward compatibility will be quite limited at launch. Sony confirms that roughly 100 of the most popular PS4 games will be backward compatible on the PS5 when it releases in Holiday 2020.

The PS5's backwards compatibility is a lot less expansive than we thought. Console architect Mark Cerny confirms the PS5 can only play PS4 games, and old PS1, PS2, and PS3 generation titles won't be supported natively via discs. Only ~100 of the most popular PS4 games will be playable on the PS5 on release, Cerny says, which is less than 1/40th of the system's overall library of games.

All backward compatible games on the PlayStation 5 must be added on a title-to-title basis, meaning developers and publishers will have to work closely with Sony to bring their games forward. Given the stakes involved in displacing the gaming libraries of 108 million PS4 owners, expect Sony and developers to take backwards compatibility seriously and grow the library over time.

Gamestop gets the greenlight from Bethesda to sell Doom Eternal one day early to curb customer volume. Yes, that means the next Doom game is now available at Gamestop.

With Animal Crossing and Doom Eternal set to release the same day, lots of people are expected to show up at Gamestop to pick up their pre-orders and/or buy the game. And where there's lots of people, there's lots of COVID-19 exposure risk. So Gamestop is separating the two massively-anticipated games into two separate launch days in an effort to sequence out the customer volume.

"To ensure we adhere to CDC-recommended social distancing guidelines, we will be selling DOOM Eternal a day early on Thursday, 3/19 as a safety precaution for our customers and associates. Animal Crossing will release on Friday 3/20 to further help separate the crowds," Gamestop wrote on Twitter.

We are very close to the demo release for Resident Evil 3: Raccoon City, and now Capcom has made the pre-load available to download.

Both Xbox One and PS4 players can download the demo from their respective stores. The PS4 version is weighing in at 8.01 GB, and the Xbox One version is 7.47 GB. Unfortunately, the PC version, which is located on the Steam Store, isn't available to download just yet, but I'd imagine that it will soon become available since the console version is available.

In other Resident Evil news, the upcoming Resident Evil Resistance Open Beta has also been made available for download. The Resistance Open Beta is a 1v4 scenario where four players face off against one other player who is the "Mastermind." The Resistance Open Beta is the biggest out of the lot, weighing in at 10.63 GB. The Resistance Open Beta can't be played until March 27th when servers go online. Resident Evil 3 Remake will be officially launched on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 3rd.