Gaming - Page 613

This isn't the first time that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has decided to bring a fun game over to his line of Tesla vehicles. Cuphead is already playable, and after a new update, so will Stardew Valley.

According to Musk's official Twitter account, the Tesla holiday software update is currently being prepared, and to give Tesla owners a sneak preview of what it contains, and he's listed out some new features that will be added. Musk says that Stardew Valley, Lost Backgammon, and a few other things are on the list for the update.

Stardew Valley will join Cuphead in the Tesla Arcade, but what will come next? Stardew Valley and Cuphead are very suitable titles for being playable in a Tesla, but what title will be added next? I'd personally like to see Super Meat Boy, as I think it would be amusing to see Tesla owners sitting in their cars raging at their car's screen. Stardew Valley is also available on the Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

We know that both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles will have super-fast PCIe 4.0-based SSDs that will make loading screens a thing of the past... but now we have The Last of Us Part II's co-game director chiming in with another tease:

As you can see in the tweet above, Kurt Margenau was asked about loading screens to which he simply replied "what's a loading screen". This has to be a reference to the ridiculously fast next-gen consoles, with The Last of Us Part II being a PlayStation exclusive, the PlayStation 5 version of the game might not have loading screens... at all.

We know that a prototype PlayStation 5 console was referenced by Sony to launch Insomniac's Spider-Man in just 0.8 seconds, versus the suped-up PlayStation 4 Pro and its 8.1 seconds. I also wrote barely 24 hours ago that Jason Ronald -- the Xbox Partner Director of Program Management, said that the next-gen Xbox Series X will enable developers to "virtually eliminate" loading screens.

Ubisoft just cancelled what could've been a major Destiny competitor from its Montreal studio.

A new unannounced project from Watch Dogs 2 developer Ubisoft Montreal was just cancelled, studio programmer Louis de Carufel confirmed today. The game, which had been in development for the last three years, was set in a brand new IP and could've been a Destiny-like shooter with live shared-world social multiplayer.

It may also have been one of the 9 AAA titles Ubisoft plans to ship by March 2022.

343 Industries is making steady progress on Halo: Combat Evolved's incoming Steam version.

Now that Halo: Reach has been unleashed on PC, next in line is Halo: CE, and work is well underway on the project. Today 343i dropped a new MCC PC dev update, outlining new features and tweaks coming to Reach while also teasing future games.

Right now Halo: CE is in a pre-alpha state across multiplayer and campaign. In its current iteration the game mirrors a lot of the performance targets of Reach, including 4K 60FPS with variable refresh rates as well as a unique progression system.

CD Projekt RED and Witcher series author Andrzej Sapkowski today signed a new agreement that satisfies both parties.

Back in 2018, Adrzej Sapkowski, the famed Polish author behind the Witcher books, demanded $16 million from CD Projekt RED in recompense for past Witcher game sales. Back in the early days of the Witcher games, Sapkowski originally sold the rights to his book series to CDPR for a pittance, a costly mistake for a franchise that's now sold over 40 million copies worldwide. So Sapkowski demanded more money.

Now CD Projekt RED and Sapkowski have reached an agreement. We don't know how much CDPR promised Sapkowski or what the exact terms are, but CD Projekt RED gets to keep the Witcher rights for new games and merchandise. A new Witcher has likely been in development for some time now, too.

There's a rumor floating around that Microsoft wants to buy CD Projekt RED. That's not going to happen for one simple reason: CDPR literally has no reason to sell.

Microsoft is buying up studios left and right to fill out its internal first-party brand. By picking up studios like inExile, Obsidian, and Ninja Theory, it's sent a clear message that it wants to prep its game-making foundries for its next-gen Xbox Series X console, and rightly so, because games sell consoles. In particular Microsoft wants to build up its RPG focus, and there's a rumor going around that it could buy some of the best RPG-makers on the planet at CD Projekt RED.

This isn't going to happen, and I'll break down some of the main reasons why. But the short gist is that CD Projekt RED is doing well and it has absolutely no reason to sell to Microsoft.

Bungie is still working on Destiny 3, and its brand new IP, but don't expect either of these projects any time soon.

Bungie isn't ready to move on to Destiny 3 just yet. Right now Bungie has one singular goal: To create a self-sustaining game with an over-arching storyline. It's a lot harder than you'd think but Shadowkeep and the subsequent free-to-play model has revitalized Destiny 2. Bungie is currently laser-focused on Destiny 2's new seasonal structure that'll lays the foundation for future games. In many ways, Destiny 2 is a practice run for the next game, a doorway to the IP's future.

In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Bungie's DeeJ says new projects are still a ways away.

The opening cinematic for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has been released by Bandai Namco and if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan you are about to take a trip down nostalgia lane.

The opening cinematic really does show everything Dragon Ball Z fans wanted to see in a cinematic: Goku/Kakarot smashing down some food and then going toe-to-toe with some classic villains. The cinematic trailer shows off some not-so-forgetable characters, such as Master Roshi, King Kai, Krillin, Frieza, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Cell, Gohan, Vegeta, Goku and more.

We also get a look at some of the locations players will be able to go. We can see city-scapes, mountain ranges, oceans, Kame's house and more. If you haven't seen any gameplay of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, check out this video here. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is expected to launch on January 17th, 2020.

Most gamers are still using mechanical HDDs and once you step into the world of SSDs you can never, ever go back -- and finally, console gamers will enjoy those same fast storage freedoms, and even more.

We know that the PlayStation 5 will have super-insane loading times, with Spider-Man loading in just 0.8 seconds on a prototype PS5 versus 8.1 seconds on the PS4. We know that Microsoft and Sony have near-identical semi-custom designs from AMD with Zen 2/RDNA 2 hardware inside, and we're hearing about the new Xbox Series X packing the same super-fast storage as the PlayStation 5.

In a recent interview with GameSpot, Jason Ronald who is the Xbox Partner DIrector of Program Management said: "It's really about giving the developers the tools and the capabilities to use the hardware in the most efficient way possible. A good example of that is on the [solid state drive] side--we've basically reached the limit of [what's] possible with the traditional rotational drive. We're basically at the upper bounds of the raw performance we can get there. So we've invested in NVMe SSDs and we're also giving developers a lot of new capabilities on top of that to try to virtually eliminate load times".

Capcom's next mainline Resident Evil game could be in development for next-gen systems.

On the heels of Resident Evil 3 Remake's announcement, Capcom is already teasing its next game in the horror IP. In a batch of emails sent out to Resident Evil Ambassadors (aka RE beta testers), Capcom said: "As limited offers to Ambassadors, we have invitations to a play test session of our unannounced title."

This isn't a surprise, though. Capcom has already confirmed it has multiple games in the works powered by the RE Engine, many of which are clearly destined for next-gen consoles in 2020. We expect one of these titles is Resident Evil 8.

What would Fallout 76 be like with mods? Crazy, unpredictable, and full of weird moments. Sounds like a Fallout game I want to play.

Hackers used a custom script to import Fallout 4 assets right into Fallout 76, leading to some rather awesome homebrew moments throughout the world. The script basically broke the game and gave a huge level of player freedom, injecting the guerrilla-style do-whatever-you-want attitude Bethesda used to promote. You know, before they started the whole paid mods thing and started selling you basic cosmetic features as paid DLC (which I still find ridiculous).

Armed with these hacks, users basically treated Fallout 76's Appalachia is a playground full of Frankenstein creations. Remember when that was a huge part of Bethesda games? The user-created modding scene where you bent and manipulated the game to do whatever you wanted? Yeah, I miss those days.

The Xbox Series X's new Mini-ITX tower design isn't just for show. Its shoebox shape is specifically for heat management, and the new Xbox could belt out some serious thermals as it gobbles up lots of power.

Microsoft touts their new Xbox SX is the world's most powerful console that will "eat monsters for breakfast." It also might eat your power bill. New calculations from DigitalFoundry peg the Xbox Series X's power consumption at up to 300W thanks to the new high-end components housed in the monolith-shaped box. This represents a huge 76% spike in power draw compared to the Xbox One X's 170W.

The TDP numbers are based on the Xbox Series X's new SoC hardware that includes a Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which may be overclocked to higher frequencies and stacked with more CUs in order to hit the promised native 4K 60FPS and even 120FPS performance targets. Microsoft says the Xbox SX is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, and it could pull in twice the power as a result.

During The Game Awards, Microsoft and Ninja Theory revealed the sequel to Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice in an awesome new trailer. The trailer claimed that what we saw in the trailer was rendered 'in-engine', but was it in real-time?

Digital Foundry has put that very question into perspective and put the Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Xbox Series X trailer under their microscope. Digital Foundry explains that 'in-engine' means that what we see in the trailer is much closer to what we will get in the game when it releases. "But is it in 'real-time'? As in rendering the geometry affects and everything in Xbox Series X or PC hardware."

Digital Foundry goes on to dissect each of the rendering techniques we can see in the trailer, so if you want a full breakdown of each technique, check out the above video. For now, though, here's a summary of what they found. Digital Foundry believes that the assets used in the trailer are definitely above that of current-gen consoles, but they are still hesitant to say that nothing was pre-rendered or at least enhanced. This is due to the level of geometric detail at a distance, some lighting aspects, the fact its running at 24FPS at less than 4K and more.

Microsoft might have just discounted what could be a great last-minute Christmas gift, with the Xbox One X discounted by over $150 from its original $499 price.

The Xbox One X is being offered for $350 by both B&H and Walmart, while I found it for just $339 on Amazon. Walmart has discounted the Xbox One X by $150 down to $349, while also sweetening the deal with game bundles including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the Gears 5 bundle, and then an NBA 2K20 bundle. B&H is offering the same Xbox One X bundles for $349.

But it's Amazon with the cheapest price overall, at just $339. If you didn't purchase a gamer in your life a new Xbox One X console yet, now might be your time. If you've got a PC enthusiast in your life, then I would suggest reading my article on that here.

Talented designer Pope has created some impressive mock-ups teasing special edition Xbox Series X consoles.

The Xbox Series X's unique shoebox chassis design is prime real estate for custom designs. The case itself is a talking point that'll attract lots of attention when it releases (people are calling it a fridge, a monolith, etc). But with a special skin or wrapper thrown on, the system will take on a whole new kind of personality.

Now we get our first taste of how the system will look with special edition first-party themes. Artist Pope made four special edition Xbox SX mock-ups: one for Halo Infinite, another for Gears of War, a very striking and tribal Senua's Saga model, and a very pristine white model for Cyberpunk 2077. They all look pretty spiffy.

On the heels of shipping its big blockbuster Death Stranding, Kojima Productions just celebrated its four-year anniversary.

Hideo Kojima has come a long, long way in just four years. First his next game Silent Hills was cancelled, then Konami fired Kojima, kicking off a big industry-wide controversy. His name was scrubbed from Metal Gear Solid V and the alum was left to fend for himself. And fend for himself he did. Kojima fired up a new studio, Kojima Productions, and pulled a good portion of his old Konami team with him--including the president of Konami. After negotiating with Sony and getting the greenlight to use Guerrilla's Decima Engine, Kojima started work on Death Stranding, reining in big talent like Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen for the project.

Now four years after the studio was founded, Kojima Productions celebrates some pretty big milestones. It's shipped a AAA game. It's iterated on one of the best-looking games engines in the industry. It's solidified a multi-platform deal with 505 Games to bring Death Stranding to PC for long-term sales. And now Kojima is already planning his next series of projects.

Artist Giuseppe Spinelli recreates the PlayStation 5's DualShock 5 controller based on a recent patent.

Following a recent patent outlining features and a leaked photograph, we actually know a fair bit about the PlayStation 5's new next-gen controller.

It looks quite similar to the DualShock 4, but has a more ergonomic design that's closer to an Xbox controller. The lightbar on the back has been removed, it has a USB Type-C charging port, there's a built-in microphone (likely for the AI-powered PlayStation Assist feature) and new mic/external ports on the bottom.

Redbox, the last bastion for video game rentals, will soon stop renting and selling video games. Now it's clearing out its inventory with a big sale.

Redbox is permanently retiring its games section and is currently holding an everything must go sale on used games. Titles across PS4, Xbox One and Switch are deeply discounted, with newer games like Jedi: Fallen Order discounted to $25, Borderlands 3 is only $18, and Modern Warfare is priced at $30. Death Stranding can be had for $35 (it's also on sale at Amazon for the same price new) and Metro Exodus is only $13.

Once the games are gone, they're gone. Also remember these are used second-hand games that were rented out by Redbox, so there could be some scratches and defects. Your mileage will greatly vary here. If you're in the market for some cheap games, definitely hit up this sale.

The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot has generated over $1 billion sales, Activision today confirms. That doesn't even include microtransaction revenues.

Modern Warfare is a gargantuan success for Activision. Not only did it pass $1 billion in to-date sales since its release on October 25, the game is the most-played Call of Duty game of this console generation, beating out other titles like Ghosts, Black Ops 4, and CoD: WWII.

"The award-winning title, which has sold more than $1 billion in sell-through worldwide, has surpassed 500 million multiplayer hours played since release with nearly 300 million multiplayer matches," the press release says.

Remember when Sony said the PlayStation 5 would support 8K? That wasn't just for video playback. The system's next-gen Zen 2 and Navi GPU-powered SoC will apparently play games in 7680x4320 resolution too.

Sony actually confirmed the PS5 will support 8K gaming back in October, where it also confirmed the PS5 would have an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPU as well as an RDNA-powered GPU (likely a second-gen Navi GPU because of native ray tracing support). "Up to 8K resolution output for games," reads the post.

This actually aligns with previous reports of PlayStation 5's 8K capabilities.