Gaming - Page 592

Duke Nukem 3D was one of my favorite games of all time, where I pumped hundreds of hours into the game but then 3D Realms rode the success of Duke into the ground... forever, pun intended.

But now news has flooded onto the internet that Slipgate Ironworks and 3D Realms were making a Left 4 Dead-inspired Aliens game, something that was called Aliens: Hadley's Hope. Hadley, named after the human colony that the Aliens movies was set in -- which by the way, was the best Aliens movie.

Aliens: Hadley's Hope would've been a "storyworld-driven PvE multiplayer adventure [first-person] shooter [that's] dripping with atmosphere, lore, and suspense". It was built as a 4-person cooperative shooter that would've seen gamers fighting through hordes of "alien protectors" before a bigger battle with the Alien queen herself, inside of her nest.

I can only imagine what it would be like to be a fly on the wall inside of Microsoft right now, with the Xbox team working overtime this year leading into the launch of the biggest, meanest, and best Xbox console yet -- Xbox Series X.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has come out swinging on Twitter as he normally does, replying to a question from someone asking about how all of the E3 2020 planning was going. Spencer replied: "Next E3 meeting is today, tons to talk about between now and E3 & deep portfolio of XGS games for E3". He added: "Console launch years are just special" -- yes, yes they are, Mr Spencer.

Spencer also added that Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg is leading the E3 2020 planning team, who recently tweeted out on February 11 about a meeting with Taco Bell. This could mean Microsoft is going to do something with Taco Bell during the E3 2020 launch of the Xbox Series X console, but we'll have to wait and see.

Sony will have its next-gen PlayStation 5 console out in time for Santa Claus to have it under Christmas trees, where console gamers will get their proper first taste at 4K gaming -- as well as 60FPS, and beyond, gaming. It's also not the first time crazy stuff has been teased by Gran Turismo boss Kazunori Yamauchi, where he talked about 8K gaming on the PlayStation 5 back in 2017.

But, we should be excited as Gran Turismo series producer Kazunori Yamauchi is teasing that while 4K gaming will be awesome and all -- as well as 60FPS gaming on the PlayStation 5, he wants to see 120FPS or even 240FPS on the next-gen PS5 console. I'm totally with him there, and I think we could see backwards compatible (older PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4) games running at 120FPS all the way up to 240FPS.

In a recent interview with GTPlanet, Yamauchi said:

An art cover for FF7 Remake was recently leaked in Korea, showing the game's astronomical install size.

Like most modern games released today, Final Fantasy 7 Remake is absolutely huge and could take up to 100GB of free PS4 hard drive space to install. A new Korean game cover suggests the Remake will claim at least 1/9th of a stock PS4 Pro's 1TB hard drive. Square Enix has confirmed the game ships on two Blu-ray discs which clock in at 50GB each. Remember, this is just the first chapter in the multi-volume series.

If the install size is accurate, here's how FF7 Remake stacks up against other gigantic game install sizes:

The PlayStation 5 will sell roughly 1.5 million less units than the PlayStation 4 at launch, Ace Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda predicts.

Ace Securities just published a letter to investors outlining PlayStation 5 hardware sales forecast from launch up until March 31, 2021. The firm expects the PS5 will sell 6 million units in that period, as opposed to the 7.5 million PS4s Sony sold at launch, representing a 20% decline.

This number is actually pretty high considering the relatively higher cost of the console's expected retail pricing (Sony is spending about $450 to make every PS5) and the availability of lower-cost PS4s on the next-gen system's launch.

Sony is currently working on a next-generation PlayStation VR headset to complement its new PlayStation 5 console, sources tell Bloomberg.

The news of an upgraded PS5-powered PSVR headset isn't a surprise. The headset has sold over 5 million units to date, making it one of the leading VR HMDs in sales, driven by its comparatively lower cost and hardware accessibility.

Sony has also filed numerous experimental VR headset patents over the years, many of which show inside-out tracking, wireless connectivity, and advancements to curb motion sickness.

Modern Warfare's new Warzone battle royale mode is coming in March, and will be offered as a standalone free-to-play download as well as a game mode in Modern Warfare, sources tell Video Game Chronicle.

It looks like our suppositions were right about Call of Duty's ambitious new Warzone battle royale mode.

Warzone will be available in two forms: A free-to-play version that anyone can download and play on PC, PS4, or Xbox One, and baked right into Modern Warfare itself as another gametype. Everyone who owns Modern Warfare will be able to play Warzone without downloading anything extra--the assets, textures, and files were included in the massive new 68GB update.

Key industry trends give us major clues on how gaming's billion-dollar titans will approach next-gen game releases, including backwards compatibility, PS5 and Xbox SX ports, and other key business models.

Ubisoft, EA, Activision-Blizzard, Capcom, Take-Two Interactive--all the major publishers are gearing their projects for next-gen consoles. So what can we expect with upcoming games? Nearly every major publisher says they're working on next-gen games. But will they also come to current-gen systems? Most likely yes. Will every current-gen game get re-released? Probably not. But then again every publisher loves the opportunity to re-release and re-sell their games (the Switch is proof of this, as is the early remaster fusillade that accompanied the PS4 and Xbox One).

To make the most out of next-gen without disrupting current-gen, devs have to occupy both the present and the future at the same time. This could mean many things, whether it be launching their games simultaneously on both generations, embracing layered cross-play, and picking and choosing which titles get re-released on the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

According to key sources familiar with Nintendo's manufacturing plans, Switch supply could be stalled in overseas regions like the U.S. and Europe in the coming months.

Despite Nintendo's assertions the coronavirus won't interrupt Switch production, sources close to the supply chain tell Bloomberg console shipments in the United States and Europe may be affected in the coming months. Nintendo had recently announced the coronavirus has constrained Switch supplies in Japan.

The coronavirus outbreak is expected to interrupt the supply chain between Chinese manufacturing facilities and Nintendo's Vietnam branch, the latter of which supplies Switch shipments to North America and Europe. Internal sources now say Switch inventory could be affected as early as April, restricting stock to these critical regions. Nintendo pulls in most of its sales from the U.S. and Europe--the company made 77.8% of its total net revenues from overseas sales in Q3'19.

Microsoft and Sony are seeing lower-than-expected sales of their current-gen Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, according to the latest report from market analysts NPD Group. The reason? The upcoming next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles, that's why.

Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad tweeted out: "An interesting takeaway from the US NPD report is that PS4 and XB1 hardware sales in Jan 2020 are considerably lower than PS3 and 360 were in Jan 2013. Next-gen consoles are around the corner but both are declining sharper than expected. Switch continues to remain steady".

Hardware sales were down 35% in January 2020 compared to January 2019, while total spending throughout gaming hardware, software, accessories, and game cards is down 26% compared to the same time as 2019.

Star Wars Battlefront II has been out since 2017 and while it might have cost $2100 to unlock all that DLC back in the day, the visual upgrades that the team at EA DICE have done to the game are nothing short of amazing. Check it out:

Cinematic Captures have (if you'll pardon the pun) captured the visual upgrades that Star Wars Battlefront II has received recently, with character detail greatly improved, animation improvements, and so much more. Lighting, shadows, visual effects, ambient occlusion, and bloom tweaks have all made the game look that much more stellar.

Star Wars Battlefront II was recently updated on February 12 with the new 'BB Update' adding in a bunch of fixes, improved visual effects and lighting (as highlighted in this video), and much more. You can read more about the Star Wars Battlefront II - Feb 12th Patch and their release notes here.

AMD launched its monstrous Ryzen Threadripper 3990X not too long ago, and it is already breaking records left, right, and center -- but what about running Crysis in software mode without a graphics card? Yeah, it can do that.

LinusTechTips has done just that, running Crysis in software mode on the 64-core/128-thread Ryzen Threadripper 3990X processor. No one would buy AMD's flagship Ryzen Threadripper 3990X to do this, but it's an incredible feat and something to completely nerd out to.

Personally, I love seeing this stuff and nerding out to seeing the once 'can it run Crysis' meme turn into running entirely on software. Something I didn't think we'd ever see.

Back in 2002, Blizzard was working on Starcraft: Ghost, a third-person action shooter for the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. It never saw the light of day, but now thanks to a recent leak, we get a look of what could've been.

Starcraft: Ghost has been, well, a ghost for a long, long time. The game was cancelled 15 years ago and we've only ever had snippets of info and small pieces of footage and screenshot tidbits from the cut project. But now thanks to a recent leak of a playable Xbox pre-release build, we get an idea of what the shooter could've been like...and it actually looks pretty fun.

The build was apparently pretty robust and had access to six different missions, including zergling rush. New gameplay footage shows a mix of third-person shooter mechanics with your basic over-the-shoulder firing and HUD setup, complete with a nifty high kick melee attack. Nova, the playable character, was quite flexible and cat-like, not unlike Aeon Flux. Ghost also had exploration-based interactivity, and big crazy sequences like gunning down hordes of zerglings in a turret. It's definitely a remnant of the past and anyone who grew up with older 2000's era console games will instantly recognize the mechanics.

Capcom just filed an interesting trademark for something called Pragmata, and it could be a new games IP, a new sequel in an established, or some kind of new product.

The new Pragmata trademark was actually filed three days ago on the European Union Intellectual Property Office, and is currently under examination so it's yet to be officially registered. Predictably, the trademark gives absolutely no clues on what Pragmata means or what it refers to.

It simply follows the same classification as Capcom's other game trademark filings. It's one of the three EUIPO listings attributed to Capcom. The others, Resident Evil Resistance and Shinsekai: Into the Depths, are games that've already been announced.

Back in the day, Tony Hawk games were all the rage with tremendous sales, which of course led to some pretty sizable royalty checks to the legendary vert skater.

In an older 2018 interview with skater show The Nine Club, Tony Hawk discusses how his life changed forever after receiving a huge $4 million royalty check from Activision, and also talks about why the games are so MIA.

In 2002 before Activision made Tony Hawk 4, a studio rep sat down with the halfpipe master and handed over a substantial amount of cash. "He's like, 'here's what's happening, we're releasing a fourth game, and the last three are still in the top 10 of sales.' One of them was going into classics mode, where they sell it at a lower price but at way more volume. So he's like 'things are so much bigger than you've ever thought.'

Media Molecule's latest PS4 game Dreams is a big playground for creatives. It basically lets you make anything you want, and you can also load up creations from other people to try out, kind of like mods. Skilled artisans are using it to not just make amazing things, but recreate current-gen games in Dreams.

Dreams master Robo_killer_v2 has painstakingly recreated Fallout 4 in Media Molecule's new community game, showing just how powerful the tools really are. The game, which is essentially a player-made slice of gameplay similar to a mod, features Fallout 4's distinct style, open-world environments, locations, and first-person shooter gunplay complete with VATS targeting. The Pip-Boy is there with a fully-functioning inventory UI and there's even robot enemies and mirelurks straight from the game.

The game also has quests, exploration mechanics, and mini-games. It's a work-in-progress so more content is coming soon...and eventually we could see it expand radically to include even more of the irradiated Commonwealth. There's some hiccups though. The frame rates aren't good, and it's not going to replace the native Fallout 4 experience (nor should you expect it to). But it's still an incredible achievement that shows just how flexible and potent Media Molecule's latest game can be.

Quantic Dream is now fully in control of its destiny and plans to keep making interactive cinematic experiences under its own terms.

Like Bungie and more recently PlantinumGames, David Cage's studio Quantic Dream now has full independence and doesn't have to rely on partners like Sony to get games funded. The company recently announced that they're now in a position to self-publish their own games, which is huge on a business and creative level.

As IP-holder and publisher, Quantic Dream not only gets to fully control the scope of their games, but also keep the revenues from each sale (outside of distributing deals, of course). The studio says the recent success of Detroit: Become Human on PS4 and PC helped make this possible (the game has sold more than 2 million copies).

Activision-Blizzard's latest earnings give lots of clues on what to expect from its future games, especially its spending habits.

Activision-Blizzard is evolving. The company is doubling-down harder on engagement strategies than ever before with a multi-faceted plan that embraces new games, live services, mobile ports, and lots of things behind the scenes that gamers don't actually see. We've taken a close look at the company's latest 2019 financials for clues on what's next for the company, and the results are pretty interesting.

To really understand what the future holds for its upcoming games, we have to take a look at spending, certain vocabulary from executives, and what's being done to make those games--both developmental and business-based decisions.

At the beginning, BioWare was a fountain of RPG mastery. Then after they got famous they started to focus more on what's popular versus what they actually wanted to make. Ex-BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn gives a brief but illuminating look at how BioWare has changed over the years.

BioWare isn't what it used to be. The studio used to be known for great RPGs like Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age: Origins, all games that made you feel and had an impact. But something happened after BioWare got big: The studio started chasing money instead of chasing its passions (likely at the behest of its owner, EA).

BioWare shifted its focus to action games and massively watered down its RPG elements, casualizing everything and betraying its key skills. We've seen this with Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, both of which are heavily action-based and embrace live services. And this erosion of BioWare's RPG talents may not stop here, but only continue with its new projects like Dragon Age 4 and the new Mass Effect--both of which could have live service ecosystems.

Blizzard recently canceled its Overwatch League matches in China because of the coronavirus outbreak, but now the developer has shifted the games over to Seoul, South Korea.

The company said that all of the canceled matches that were to take place in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou, will now see Overwatch players battling it out in a studio in Seoul. The previously canceled and now relocated matches will take place during week 6 and week 7 of the Overwatch League, on the weekends of March 14 and March 21.

Overwatch League matches in Miami and Atlanta that kick off on those weekends won't be affected, but Blizzard added that it will announce match times for those rounds "soon".