Gaming - Page 645

All MMORPGs have one thing in common: Teaming up with a bunch of other players to take down a huge, hulking boss. Diablo IV will embrace this across its persistent shared world environments, merging ARPG and MMO worlds.

Diablo has always been about teaming up to slay big demon bosses for epic loot--the original Diablo had it, Diablo II's 8-player epic battles had it, and of course Diablo III had it to a lesser extent with its 4-player co-op. Diablo IV isn't an innovator on that front. But Diablo IV dramatically increases the scale of these battles thanks in part to its new world boss mechanic, which essentially summons a huge raid-level boss across the map.

While watching new gameplay footage from GameInformer, I got a sense of this MMO focus. 8 players teamed up to take on a massive world boss, culminating in an epic 4-minute battle (4 minutes is a long time for any single boss battle in Diablo) with high stakes. The more players there are, the higher the difficulty, and the sweeter the rewards.

Amid financial woes, Starbreeze is surviving off of lifelines right now. Things could get much worse if its big new Payday game somehow fails.

Starbreeze Studios, the company behind the huge Payday franchise, is awash with debt. The company has been forced to shut down various business ventures like StarVR to eliminate spending, all while significantly halting games development. But how bad off is Starbreeze really? According to new documents filed in a Stockholm court, Starbreeze owes a total of $40.8 million, but the good news is its assets are worth nearly four times that amount, or $164.9 million. The bad news? Most of that worth comes from the Payday franchise.

The company's new five-year debt payback plan hinges on one thing: Payday 3. Starbreeze is betting big on the sequel. The plan sees Starbreeze securing a big publishing contract to fund Payday 3's development for a release by 2023, giving the company roughly a year to absorb cash from sales after launch before it has to pay back its debts.

Diablo IV's missing classes are a mystery, but an older, incredibly accurate leak may have spilled the beans on what's to come.

Four months ago a Reddit user leaked out tons of Diablo IV info, detailing classes, skills and abilities, a new darker medieval tone akin to Diablo II, and a huge open-ended world. Most of everything in the leak turned out to be 100% true. What if all if it is true and Blizzard just hasn't confirmed everything yet?

Some unconfirmed details include Diablo IV's character classes. Blizzard only announced three classes were returning--the Sorceress, the Druid, and the Barbarian--but they also confirmed the game should ship with 5 classes total. Who are the missing heroes? The Paladin and Amazon, according to the leak. There's even more characters coming post-launch as paid expansions too.

Human Head Studios, the devs behind the original Prey game, today closed their doors. But Bethesda hired them to form a brand new studio.

Today Bethesda Softworks grew tremendously with a surge of fresh talent. Although the actual Human Head Studios is no more, every single one of its developers was offered a job by Bethesda (an amazing move by the publisher). Bethesda didn't buy Human Head Studios, but they did acquire the full dev team and opened up a brand new studio: Roundhouse Studios.

At the Roundhouse headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, the team is already working on several unannounced projects for Bethesda. One of those games could be a sequel to 2017's excellent Prey reboot. The irony isn't lost here: Human Head was originally supposed to make Prey 2, but stopped development in 2011. For years the sequel went through development hell until being rebooted by Arkane in 2017.

Remember when Nintendo refused to implement DLC's into their games? Well, now that the company has jumped on the bandwagon with the rest of the gaming industry, I can guarantee that they don't regret it.

Even though Nintendo initially didn't want to bring DLC's to their games, they gritted their deal and did it anyway, even at some fans' disapproval. To win over those fans that weren't happy with the decision, Nintendo has made the DLC's worthwhile for buyers, and a prime example of this is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Fighters Pass.

During the Q&A summary regarding Nintendo's financials, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explains that the company is growing in buyers of "download-only software" and that this was a huge contributor to the companies financial success. The Q&A specifically points out that the "Fighters Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has made a huge contribution". Since the Fighters Pass was such a huge success for Nintendo, it can be assumed that this is the reason they green-lit more characters to come to Smash Ultimate.

Nintendo has already got the next update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the pipeline; version 6.1.0 update is imminent.

Nintendo just released version 6.0.0 for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and if you happened to miss what that update included here's a quick overview. The update came with changes for Donkey Kong, Kirby, King K. Rool, Jigglypuff, Robin, Incineroar, and Hero. It also added online changes and the new DLC fighter Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury series.

Now Nintendo is about to release a follow-up update, moving the version to 6.1.0. The news comes from SSBUBot, who says that the patch will be available to download within the next few days. SSBUBot also warns players that they will not be able to view previously saved replays after this new version is downloaded. To overcome this problem, players must covert their epic replays into video format and save it to their Nintendo Switch. Details for what the update specifically includes have not been released, but as soon as they are, I will follow up with another article.

Doom creator John Romero has one simple bit of advice for FPS developers: Quality over quantity.

FPS games today typically have two trajectories: The long-winded live service approach, which inundates players with tons of varieties and ways to upgrade guns, and singleplayer experiences, which are more straightforward and streamlined. But either way modern FPS games suffer from a needless complication: Too many guns.

At least that's how John Romero feels about shooters these days. Shooters need to create a kind of intimate bond between the player and their guns--after all, your rifle is your only friend out there in the bloody wilderness. It's hard to get attached to weapons when there's so many to choose from. "I would rather have fewer things with more meaning, than a million things you don't identify with. I would rather spend more time with a gun and make sure the gun's design is really deep - that there's a lot of cool stuff you learn about it," John Romero said in a recent interview with The Guardian.

It was only a few days ago that we were teased with some renders of what could be PlayStation 5 cartridges, with 1TB/2TB/3TB of super-fast SSD storage on offer. Now the fine and talented folks at LetsGoDigital have some gorgeous new 3D renders.

It would surely make things interesting, but Derek pointed out that this tech would most likely be part of Sony's own line of electronic children toys. But, if we step into an alternate reality for a second and take these at face value -- Sony will have super-fast PCIe 4.0-based SSDs in cartridge form (for whatever reason) for the next-gen PlayStation 5 console.

If we go with that, Sony would have 3 different sizes on offer with 1TB, 2TB, and 3TB -- all a huge upgrade over the stock 1TB storage in the PS4 Pro and even more so with the 500GB in the original PS4.

Tencent wants to use its partnership with Nintendo to not only bring the Nintendo Switch to China but also learn how to make good games with Nintendo characters.

Well, at least that is what an undisclosed Tencent employee has told the Wall Street Journal. According to this unnamed employee, Tencent wants to "expand from China" by building console games for both the US and Europe. To do this the company wants to "create console games with Nintendo characters" while also "learn the essence of making console games from Nintendo engineers."

If you don't know Nintendo, the company is notorious for not letting any of their IP slip out from their control. Let alone let another company coming into their home, taking their characters to put in their own games while also learning what it takes to make great console games. Knowing that, you can see that it doesn't seem very likely that Nintendo will be working with Tencent as closely as the unnamed employee hopes they will be.

Peripheral-maker 8Bitdo (the same company who made a Switch controller with two d-pads) brings another wacky creation to the table: a NES controller mouse.

8Bitdo's new N30 mouse has a very familiar design. It's literally molded after an old-school NES controller from the 80s, complete with two telltale red buttons for right and mouse click, and a D-pad fastened to the side for PageUp/PageDown web page navigation.

The N30 is wireless and runs on a single AA battery, and sports 1,000 DPI with a 2.4GHz dongle that works from up to 10 meters away. There's also a nifty touch-based scroll slider in the middle in lieu of a scroll wheel.

In a rare move, EA Access subscribers won't get first dibs on Jedi: Fallen Order.

One of the selling points of EA's Access subscription is early 10-hour trials to all of its biggest games. But EA is apparently breaking this process, starting first with Jedi: Fallen Order. Today EA confirmed Respawn's new Jedi power fantasy game won't have a play first trial. Origin Access subscribers won't get a trial either.

The reason? EA wants to avoid any spoilers. "We've opted not to have early/timed access (Play First Trial), in part to reduce the risk of spoilers. Instead, EA Access members get these exclusive cosmetics!"

Google's new Stadia game streaming service will only have 12 games at launch, including blockbusters like Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption II.

Stadia will be available November 19 and comes with a dozen titles upon release, Google today confirmed. 14 more games are slated to launch throughout the end of 2019. Remember that only the paid $10 a month Stadia Pro subscription is available at launch, so Destiny 2 will be free for everyone who pays for the service. The free Stadia version is coming sometime in 2020.

If you want to play Stadia on your TV, you'll need a Chromecast Ultra. Stadia Pro subscribers can also play games on desktop or laptops via a Chrome browser, and use native keyboard and mouse controls or a USB game controller like a PS4 or Xbox One controller to play. Game streaming to mobile phones will be extremely awkward and isn't advised.

Final Fantasy VII Remake's summon system is quite limited, and can only be used against bigger bosses and enemies.

The new summoning system for FF7 Remake is pretty intense. Instead of performing one single attack like in the original 1997 RPG, summons in the Remake will stay on the battlefield for a set period of time and dish out serious carnage. This compliments the new real-time action-based combat system quite well. But this power can only be used during challenge fights and summons won't show up willy-nilly.

In a recent quick interview with Square Enix, game producer Yoshinori Kitase confirms FF7R's summons are quite limited. "Players equip summoning materia, and that materia resonates when fighting bosses, or certain powerful enemies, when certain conditions are met," Kitase said.

Hideo Kojima makes wide sweeping generalizations why Death Stranding's criticism is more stringent in the West, compromising his fanbase in the process.

After years of development, Hideo Kojima's new game Death Stranding is finally out. Reviews are quite divisive. With tons of metaphors and themes (and lots tedium) it's either a love it or hate it type of experience. If you hated it, there's a good chance Death Stranding's deeper meanings just flew over your head--at least that's what Kojima seems to imply.

In a recent interview with TGCom24, Hideo Kojima pretty much aggravated his entire Western fanbase by essentially comparing them to brutes who don't (or can't) appreciate good art.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai said on his last livestream that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is only for "good boys and girls".

If you happened to miss it, Nintendo added Fatal Fury's 'Terry Bogard' to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate last week, and to kick off the launch of the classic character, the game's director sat down for 45 minutes to demonstrate him. Masahiro Sakurai showcased Terry Bogard for quite some time, and when he got to the part about including some of the other Fatal Fury characters, he dropped a joke that was taken out of context.

The local translation for what he said is as follows, "By the way, you may have noticed that a very important character from the Fatal Fury series was not included. Yes, Mai Shiranui. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many different ages, so we decided not to feature her. Please forgive us." An image of Mai Shiranui is found in the entirety of this article, and after viewing that, you can probably understand why Nintendo decided to leave her out.

If you remember back in late June, news sparked off about a popular gaming YouTuber Desmond "Etika" Amofah being found dead in Manhattan's river. Fans have now honored 'Etika' with a beautiful mural.

Fellow YouTuber, Double-A, and web designer Abe Hunter decided to team up to not let Amofah's words that shook fans across the world come true, "I know this world's gonna forget me." It was their mission not to let this happen, and with so many dedicated fans to Amofah, both Double-A and Hunter managed to raise $11,000 for the National Alliance for Mental Illness.

They didn't stop there, though. Double-A and Hunter went on to organise a mural to be painted by local mural artist "BKFoxx", and local graffiti artist "kestaadm". The mural is no small celebration either; it's 40-foot long and is located at 1280 Myrtle Ave. in Bushwick, Brooklyn. From the image, we can see that it includes two pictures of Amofah and his famous catch-phrase, "Take care of yourself. Have yourself a damn good one!"

Just this past week, Hideo Kojima was proud to release the highly anticipated title, Death Stranding. While most people would think that Kojima would be taking some time off to relax, instead, he is accepting some Guinness World Record awards.

Above, we have a Tweet from the official Guinness World Records Twitter account, and it shows Hideo Kojima accepting two individual awards. Strangely enough, these awards are not Death Stranding-related at all and, instead, are for Kojima's social media statistics.

The awards have been given to Kojima for his follower counts on both Twitter and Instagram. According to the description of the Tweet, Kojima now has the most followers on Twitter for a video game director and the most followers on Instagram for a video game. Death Stranding is now currently available on the PlayStation 4 and will be arriving on PC via the Epic Games Store and Steam in the Summer of 2020.

Now that Red Dead Redemption 2 is here, modders can get to fixing up some of the things developer Rockstar Games didn't spend time on.

One of those things is a field of view (FOV) slider that has been added into the game with a new mod, which also removes the black bars that Red Dead Redemption 2 features in its in-game cutscenes, cinematic cameras, shops, and other areas.

Keep in mind that Rockstar Games doesn't officially support mods, so only use it in the single-player version of Red Dead Redemption 2. The mods creator explains: "I'm not aware of reports of people getting banned over the use of Flawless Widescreen in GTA V, but use the tool provided here at own risk and ideally avoid playing RDR Online without restarting the game after applying the hack".

Showtime has announced production on the Halo TV series is "about to begin" while using the time to announce 3 new cast members that have joined the ranks.

The upcoming Halo TV show will now also star Danny Sapani (from Doctor Who and Star Wars: The Last Jedi) who will play Jabob Keys who is a "dedicated military man". Olive Gray (from Fleabag and Eastenders) will play UNSC Commander Dr. Miranda Keyes while Charlie Murphy (from Peaky Blinders) will play Makee, an orphan raised by the Covenant.

Halo won't hit TV screens until at least 2021, whereby that time Microsoft will have its next-gen Xbox Scarlett console out and hopefully, a next-gen Halo game. Until then, get hyped for the new Halo TV series which is now finally, in production.

The rumors of a next-gen Superman game have been flying around for a while now, but it seems like something is brewing when it comes to Kal-El and getting his own game.

Now we have an industry insider that has revealed a slew of details on Warner Bros. plans to release an open-world Superman game and that it has been actively trying to make it happen since 2013, the year Man of Steel was released.

The new details add that one of the Superman games pitched to WB was an open-world game similar to how Spider-Man ended up on the PS4 recently. It would've had a Metropolis that would've been huge, and featured a bunch of infamous villains ripped directly from the comic book pages of DC.