Gaming - Page 635

A video has surfaced online that gives viewers a look at how big of graphics improvement Resident Evil 3 Remake is versus the original game.

From the video which has been released onto the Cycu1 YouTube Channel, we can straight away see that Resident Evil 3 Remake has made leaps and bounds when compared to the original game. This is, of course, obvious and expected by gamers, as the original game was released back in 1999, so we'd be hoping for the 2020 release to be outstanding in comparison.

From the comparison, we can see that the Remake will feature enhanced visuals in every regard. What the video shows is great side-by-side shots of what the characters used to look like versus what they look like now. In fact, Capcom has recently said that they are really happy with Jill Valentine's new look, and I can imagine this goes for the rest of the characters as well. Resident Evil 3 Remake will be arriving on April 3rd, 2020, on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Nintendo's latest Indie World stream showcased some really interesting games coming to the Switch next year, including Axiom Verge 2, a game about skateboarding birds, and some awesome-looking hack-and-slash titles.

Indies are massively important to the Switch: Not only do they give gamers nice bite-sized chunks to chew on while waiting on the next big first-party Switch exclusive (Metroid 4, where are you??), but they give massive exposure for little-known devs and boost revenues to boot. It's a win-win for everyone. In today's Indie World presentation, Nintendo underlines its commitment for Nindies with an eclectic slew of unique games.

There's something for everyone here, and the games that really stood out to me are Supermash, Skatebird, and Dreamscaper.

Nintendo Switch's launch in China, the globe's biggest billion-dollar market, is absolutely huge for Nintendo. But how many systems will they sell? Will the Switch be a hit in a region dominated by free-to-play mobile games? One analyst makes some steep predictions.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter predicts the Nintendo Switch could sell as much as 5 million units from now until December 2020, which admittedly seems rather exorbitant. The prediction swing the other way too. Analyst firm UBS say the Switch will only move 50,000 units in China, which is way, way too low, especially with Tencent's massive advertisement campaigns and native WeChat integration into the platform. Japanese games analyst Serkan Toto call these figures "complete insanity".

The 5 million prediction is obviously based on past historical first-year Switch sales when it launched in 2017. Here's a breakdown of first-year sales of the Switch by region:

It's official: Resident Evil 3 Remake is happening, and it's coming out in April. Like the RE2 REmake before it, the new chapter has some re-imagined character designs, and Capcom is really proud how Jill looks this time around.

Jill Valentine's face has changed quite a bit from the PlayStation 1 era, and rightly so. Her design has been completely revamped thanks to the powerful RE Engine, allowing for realistic facial animations and movement physics. She has more of an adventurer-survivor type of look and reminds me more of Lara Croft instead of a highly-trained STARS operative. This is all by design, and Capcom loves Jill's new look (and so do I).

"Jill's outfit has changed somewhat from her original design. We're really happy with how her new design came out. If you compare Resident Evil 3 to the second installment, it leans more towards action. So we remade everything based on that premise. Her new design very much takes this into account as well," said Resident Evil 3 producer Masachika Kawata in a recent developer clip.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is official, and it's coming out sooner than you think.

During today's State of Play, Capcom announced Resident Evil 3 Remake will release on April 3, 2020 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The late 90's cult classic has been reborn in the high-end RE Engine, bringing all-new enhanced visuals, amazing lighting and atmospheric effects, and superb animations. In fact, Resident Evil 3 looks better than this year's excellent RE2 Remake.

Capcom says Resident Evil 3 has been "completely reimagined" this time around, and Jill's new look certain shows as much.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a timed exclusive on PS4 after all, and will release on other systems like PC and Xbox One a year after release.

New box art from the Square Enix press site officially confirms Final Fantasy 7 Remake isn't a full PlayStation 4 exclusive. The first episode of the hugely anticipated Remake will be available on other platforms as early as March 2021, and by then Square Enix will already be knee-deep in making the second episode.

We can also expect a re-release or enhancement patches for next-gen consoles like PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett to enable native 4K 60FPS gaming, higher frame rates, and new visual effects like ray tracing.

Nintendo is planning on doing a re-release of their Super Smash Bros. Edition GameCube Controller, keep an eye out soon.

If you bought an official Nintendo GameCube Controller when you bought Super Smash Bros. Ultimate back in December of 2018, you might want to consider grabbing another one to future proof yourself in-case the first one you bought breaks. Luckily, Nintendo is deciding to do a second batch of the controllers, so buyers won't have to pick up some ridiculously priced second-hand ones.

According to official Nintendo UK website, "new stock will be due to dispatch" sometime in January, 2020. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just rolled past its one year anniversary, so it makes sense that Nintendo is going to do another batch of hardware for both new and old players. The Nintendo UK website lists the controller for 24.99 pounds, which is equivalent to $32 US.

If the controversy over in Hong Kong couldn't get any worse, a popular new web game is getting some international attention -- 'Fight the Traitors Together'.

Fight the Traitors Together sounds about as bad as you think it does, as the game wants players that will find what really are Hong Kong protesters in the game, and then hurt them by slapping them, or throwing rotten eggs at them. The game was built to let people vent their anger over the riots in Hong Kong.

The game sees 8 different "traitors" hidden in the city, caricatured based on real people. These people include "Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Martin Lee Chu-ming and Joshua Wong Chi-fung, prominent opposition figures who have played a major role in inciting unrest in Hong Kong. There are also traitor figures in ancient China" reports Global Times.

Minecraft players on the PlayStation 4 can rejoice, with Mojang adding in cross-play support with other platforms in Minecraft's new Bedrock Edition update that drops on December 10.

The new cross-play feature coming in the new update will let PS4 gamers play Minecraft with gamers on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC through Windows 10, iOS, Android, and even the Gear VR. It also allows PS4 gamers get access to their personal purchases and progress from Minecraft on other platforms, too.

Minecraft studio boss Helen Chiang told The Verge: "One of Minecraft's core missions is to connect players across devices and provide the best experience regardless of platform. We continue to fulfill that mission here today by welcoming PS4 players to Minecraft on Bedrock and growing our cross-platform multiplayer community".

Death Stranding was one of the most-hyped, and well-received games of 2019 and now Hideo Kojima's masterpiece has been "demaked" into an 8-bit game.

The new Low-Fi version of the game was created by Fabricio Lima, who made Death Stranding into an 8-bit game that makes me feel all nostalgic. Better yet, it's not all just about those 8-bit graphics but the sound theme has been recreated in chiptune/8-bit, to bring it closer to the MSX (which is the first console that Hideo Kojima worked on, FYI).

Not all characters have gone through the "demake" process, as Lima ran out of time to work on other characters. For now, just the sheer fact that someone "demaked" Death Stranding into the nostalgic 8-bit world is awesome.

If you can believe it, a new range of League of Legends themed apparel is here from Louis Vuitton -- with prices ranging from $670 for a t-shirt to $5650 for a leather biker jacket.

Moving away from apparel, Louis Vuitton begins its League of Legends collection with a $515 key chain and bag charm, through to a $2420 hoodie. The LVxLoL collection includes a watch for $3050, a bag for $1760, a belt for $420 and a bucket hat for $730.

Hell, an LVxLoL short sleeve crop top will cost you $1070, while a bubble skirt costs $2680 and the sneakers will set you back $1140. A short sleeve mock neck fitted dress costs $2280, while the bumbag is $1890. There's also a diamond bracelet for $345, a tie for $170, while the most expensive item is the leather biker jacket for $5650.

Valve blew the gaming world away with the out of nowhere announcement and trailer for Half-Life: Alyx, and if seems the developer isn't finished yet.

According to a new tweet from Valve News Networks' Tyler McVicker, we should expect the announcement of Left 4 Dead VR in the coming days. Yeah, that's right... Left 4 Dead VR is real, and is about to be unveiled.

McVicker tweeted that his videos were coming back tomorrow, noted that one of the best VR games is coming out Tuesday - Boneworks. On top of that, he just drops in the middle of the tweet that "Left 4 Dead VR is real" and that we will get new Half-Life: Alyx news from the upcoming Game Awards show.

Microsoft will apparently use a customized SSD storage solution to hit blazing-fast game loading speeds, arming developers with versatile power in the process.

Next-gen consoles will use new SSDs alongside new GPU and CPU hardware to dramatically improve loading speeds (the PS5's SSD loaded Spider-Man in just 0.8 seconds). But that's not all the SSDs can do. Microsoft says the SSDs used in its new Project Scarlett duo of consoles lets developers use storage as a VRAM buffer, strongly hinting at a custom solution. Now sources say the next-gen Xboxes will indeed feature a unique storage design.

Project Scarlett's Anaconda and Lockhart systems will both use a proprietary NVMe SSD, sources tell WindowsCentral. This somewhat aligns with our recent predictions that next-gen consoles could use Optane-like memory cache acceleration tech, which prioritizes important data in a special storage cache and feeds it right into the CPU.

A new BioShock game is in development (it's actually been in development since 2015), but the series' original creator Ken Levine won't be involved.

Rather than resurrect Irrational Games or recruit Ken Levine's new Ghost Story Games studio to work on the next BioShock game, 2K Games made a new first-party studio called Cloud Chamber. Levine and former BioShock devs won't be helping with the new project--it's being spear-headed by an entirely separate team. The IP is moving on without its creator, despite Levine still orbiting in the 2K Games universe.

According to Cloud Chamber director Kelley Gilmore, Levine and Ghost Story Games team are working on an unannounced project (job listings hint it's a story-driven FPS RPG mash-up).

New specs for Project Scarlett's next-gen console duo surface, reinforcing recent leaks and rumors.

Project Scarlett isn't just one console. It's a duo that includes two systems: Anaconda, the true next-gen beast of a console with beefier hardware, and Lockhart, a digital-only cheaper system with dialed-down specs. Now sources revealed new Anaconda and Lockhart specs to WindowsCentral, and they're pretty much what we expected.

Anaconda's Navi GPU will have 12TFLOPs of power, roughly twice as much as the Xbox One X, aimed at native 4K 60FPS playback in all games. This hefty boost will also bring huge gains in 1440p and 1080p with up to 120FPS. The console will have a huge 16GB GDDR6 unified memory pool, of which 13GB of RAM will be available for games and 3GB is reserved for OS memory, a nice 44% jump in allocated game memory compared to the Xbox One X.

2K Games today announced a new BioShock game is in development. But this project has been in the works for at least four years now, and started off in 2015 at a third-party studio.

BioShock games are notoriously hard to make and often come with delays, development hell, crunch, and reboots. The same is true for the next BioShock game.

Sources tell Kotaku that BioShock 4's early pre-production started in 2015 at Certain Affinity, an indie studio made of Bungie vets that specializes in first-person shooters. Certain Affinity designed multiplayer for Halo Reach DLC, helped make Halo: Combated Evolve Anniversary, assisted with Halo 4, as well as helping with a handful of Call of Duty games.

A new BioShock game is officially in development for release on next-gen consoles at a brand new wholly-owned studio, 2K Games today confirmed.

We've known for a while now that a new BioShock game was on the way, but 2K has been notoriously tight-lipped on the franchise. Now 2K Games finally confirmed the project's existence with a maddeningly vague announcement.

2K Games formed a new studio called Cloud Chamber specifically to work on the next BioShock game. The studio consists of two branches--one in Montreal, Quebec and the other in Novato, California--that will collaborate on the project. The press release makes it sound like BioShock 4 has been rebooted, as is customary for the franchise: "2K announced that Cloud Chamber has started to work on the next iteration of the globally acclaimed BioShock franchise."

The launch trailer for Alien: Isolation coming to the Nintendo Switch has finally dropped, let's take a look at that graphical goodness.

Earlier this week, I reported on Alien: Isolation heading over to the Nintendo Switch via a port done by Feral Interactive. The port was put under the microscope by Digital Foundry, and they discovered that the game actually looks better on the Nintendo Switch version when compared to the PS4 version. Crazy, I know. Catch up on that story here.

Well now, the official launch trailer for the title has dropped, and can we another look at those awesome graphical improvements that are extremely foreign to Nintendo Switch ports. If you are after more information about Alien: Isolation, check out the Nintendo eShop listing here. On a more personal note, if you are a Nintendo Switch user and want to jump into a different type of game -- perhaps one that is a bit intense? I'd certainly recommend this one.

PUBG Corp has been recently testing out a new mechanic that is a deterrent against players camping in the middle of the circle.

In a new statement on their blog post, PUBG Corp has said they have noticed a large chunk of players landing in the middle of the circle, looting and finding a spot to wait it out until end game. To stop this, PUBG Corp has introduced a new second circle that will force players to keep on the move, encouraging more combat and less safe spaces.

The new map mechanic is a blue circle that appears in the inner area of the first circle. This inner circle will damage players that enter it, here's what PUBG Corp had to say, "Land, loot, and camp in the circle for the rest of the match no more. Circle squatters that felt safe not to engage the enemy will now be forced to keep it moving as a second blue zone is being added to the existing circle. The new 'inner blue zone' will be both a camping deterrent and an indicator of where the next circle will be."

The hype train for Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console is really taking off, with Sony recently celebrating the 25th birthday of PlayStation -- and during a recent interview Masayasu Ito, SIE's Executive VP of Hardware Engineering and Operation, we were teased with the PlayStation 5 Pro.

Ito talked about the console cycle, referring to the current-gen consoles and their 7-10 year cycle... but it seems both Microsoft and Sony have a reduced cycle this time around (and so they should) of between 6-7 years. Ito said: "Indeed, in the past, the cycle for a new platform was 7 to 10 years, but in view of the very rapid development and evolution of technology, it's really a six to seven year platform cycle".

He continued: "Then we cannot fully catch up with the rapid development of the technology, therefore our thinking is that as far as a platform is concerned for the PS5, it's a cycle of maybe six to seven years. But doing that, a platform lifecycle, we should be able to change the hardware itself and try to incorporate advancements in technology. That was the thinking behind it, and the test case of that thinking was the PS4 Pro that launched in the midway of the PS4 launch cycle".