Gaming - Page 648

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has barely been out a week and now data mining from the PC version has revealed some upcoming goodies that we could expect to drop in the coming months.

Thanks to a new post on Reddit we know that there are 23 new possible game modes coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and 38 new maps. Yes, you read that first part right -- there are 23 new game modes coming to COD: Modern Warfare. 38 new maps is absolutely huge as well, but 23 new game modes? Wow.

There are a bunch of different modes and maps that sound interesting, with Infinity Ward working on a slew of new 6v6 and 10v10 maps as well as a new map for the huge (at least for the Call of Duty franchise) Ground War game mode. I've got a massive list of the new maps and game modes below.

Diablo 4 was recently revealed during BlizzCon 2019 alongside Overwatch 2, and now we have some new screenshots of Diablo 4 running at 4K thanks to Activision-Blizzard. Check them out:

You can see the crisp 4K screenshots in full by clicking on them, and then if you want more details on Diablo 4 check this post out -- and if you want to see the trailers of Activision-Blizzard's new RPG then head on over to here and view the Diablo 4 trailers.

Another batch of screenshots at 4K, and if you're interested in some UltraWide 21:9 screenshots then I've got a treat for you below. I think I'll be playing Diablo 4 at 3440x1440 as these 21:9 screenshots are really looking awesome. Diablo 4 in UltraWide will be a huge amount of fun.

The PC release of Red Dead Redemption 2 is nearly here with NVIDIA releasing a new Red Dead Redemption 2 Game Ready Driver in the new GeForce 441.12 drivers that you can download here.

But what do you need to run the game at 60FPS? Well, NVIDIA has taken some of that work out for you with some benchmarks that show us what we need to run Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K at a silky smooth 60FPS -- and trust me, you'll need some GPU grunt to do it.

1080p 60FPS on High detail will require an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, while 1440p 60FPS on High requires a higher-end GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER. But it's the glorious 4K resolution at 60FPS that requires the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti... and that 's when the detail levels get knocked from High to Medium-High that it can only hit 60FPS. This is where we need something faster, or NVLink support -- right?!

Just this past week Blizzard revealed that there is a sequel coming for Overwatch. Yes, that's right, Overwatch 2 is in the pipeline, but when will it release?

Blizzard's Overwatch director, Jeff Kaplan sat down with PC Gamer to talk about the coming title and throughout they discussed the release date that was obviously lacking from the trailer. According to Kaplan, even he doesn't know when Overwatch 2 will release, again, yes, that right - the director of Overwatch 2 doesn't know when it will release.

This isn't a bad thing though, as Kaplan explains that the full focus is not on meeting a specified release date, but instead making sure the sequel is great. Here is Kaplan's full quote, "I don't know. I have no idea. Like, just let us make it great, that's what we care about more than anything. We don't have a date in mind." Kaplan also says that after BlizzCon 2019 the Overwatch team will most likely "go dark" to delve into the game.

Electronic Arts' recent financial report gave the public an insight in how the company is doing, and how some of their titles have shaped up since their release. One of those titles is none other than The Sims franchise.

One of EA's titles that the company was proud to show off was Apex Legends, and how it has now reached 70 million players and is still growing. EA CEO, Andrew Wilson also went out of his way to talk about a classic EA franchise, The Sims. According to the CEO, The Sims 4 is still going strong with the company reporting a 40% growth in monthly player count during 2019.

Wilson also mentions how much money The Sims franchise has made EA since the first games release back in 2000. He says, "Engagement across the franchise has led The Sims to surpass $5 billion in lifetime sales. The Sims continues to be one of the great franchise in gaming, and we have plans to bring new experiences to its amazing players for a long time to come."

Hideo Kojima has sat down with BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat to shine a light on what caused him to make Death Stranding, and the events that have taken place on a global scale to result in him creating such a unique gaming experience.

According to the interview, Kojima has created Death Stranding to give gamers a visual representation of the disconnect that he believes has taken over the planet. Kojima says, "We may be connected through the internet more than ever, but what's happening is that people are attacking each other because we're so connected." Death Stranding is designed to make players think about that connection and disconnection ratio.

Throughout the interview, Kojima dives further into the events that caused him to design this game the way he did. Kojima talks about real-world controversial issues that are causing mass divide around the planet, "President Trump right now is building a wall. Then you have Brexit, where the UK is trying to leave, there are lots of walls and people thinking only about themselves in the world." He continues and says that players will use Norman Reedus' Sam Porter Bridges see save the world from this disconnection.

Secretlab has just unveiled the world's first Overwatch-themed gaming chairs, just as Blizzard unveiled Overwatch 2. The two new chairs include an Overwatch-themed variant, and an even better-looking D.Va Edition gaming chair.

The new Secretlab D.Va Edition gaming chair comes in two variants itself, with the OMEGA D.Va Edition and the TITAN D.Va Edition with the big difference here being that the OMEGA version is a slim fit chair while the TITAN allows you to sit (like me) cross-legged when you're gaming.

Secretlab uses a gorgeous bubblegum-pink themed SoftWeave Fabric, with a bunch of D.Va's iconic in-game decals which are all over the wings of the chair. It seriously looks so good, and I can't wait to have one in my gaming station next to my huge D.Va statue.

Blizzard openly admits fault for the massive Hong Kong controversy it kicked off last month, and promises to "do better" in the future.

Amid pressures from the games industry, fans across the globe, and even the U.S. Congress and Senate, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack formally apologized and accepts all responsibility for the controversial banning of Hearthstone player Blitzchung.

"Blizzard had the opportunity to bring the world together in a tough Hearthstone esports moment about a month ago, but we did not. We moved too quickly in our decision making, and then to make matters worse, we were too slow to talk with all of you," Brack said in an opening statement during Blizzcon 2019's big ceremony.

Diablo IV can't be played offline on PC, Blizzard confirms, and the same could be true for consoles.

Now that Diablo IV is basically an MMO with a shared world with social hubs, PVP areas, and a huge connected world, Blizzard is transforming it into an online-only game with never-ending content. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Diablo IV lead designer Joe Shely confirmed the news:

"There's a large, seamless, connected, and shared space in the world, going down into dungeons, being able to group with your friends, trading and PvP. We feel that the best way to experience that is in a world that is online."

Overwatch 2 was announced at Blizzcon 2019, and the leaks were right on the money: It's a sequel that ties directly with the first game.

Overwatch 2 is a bit confusing. For all intents and purposes, the sequel is a co-operative-based expansion to the original game. It's not really a sequel that resets everything from scratch. Blizzard isn't leaving original Overwatch players out, either. Even if you don't buy Overwatch 2, you'll still get all new characters added into the sequel and be able to play alongside Overwatch 2 gamers with full PVP cross-play. All progress, cosmetics, and rankings from Overwatch 1 also carry over to Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2's main selling point is two new PVE modes: A campaign-based Story Mode and a survival-esque Hero Missions gametype. The new RPG-like progression system, which sees each hero leveling up with passive upgrades and talents to "supercharge their abilities in co-op play," is exclusive to the Hero Missions mode.

Nintendo recently revealed their financial results and through this reveal the company let the public in on some extremely cool Super Mario Maker 2 statistics.

According to Nintendo's financial results, players have uploaded a staggering 8 million courses to date, and those very same courses have been played over 400 million times. This is a HUGE amount of play time considering Super Mario Maker 2 only launched back in June of this year.

Nintendo also said that the sales for the 13 weeks following the June release was 1.5x compared to past Super Mario Maker titles. If you are a Super Mario Maker 2 player and happened to be out of the loop as of late, Nintendo recently added a massive update to the title, bringing some epic multiplayer action. Check out more on that here.

The battle royale genre is extremely hard to break into, with already established titles such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and PUBG dominating the scene, developers have a hard time of entering the market with a new and popular title.

But what about pirates? Everyone loves pirates right? Well, Iceberg Interactive took the plunge off the gangplank, developed the title and made the announcement of a pirate-based battle royale called Blazing Sails. Blazing Sails was announced during the Paris Games Week and pits players against each other in a classic battle royale arena but the catch is ship-to-ship combat.

From the trailer, we can summarize that players will be able to customize their character and ship while also working together as a crew to operate and siege other players ships. Ultimately, players will be after that sweet booty, and judging from the trailer they will be able to acquire this booty from dead players, captured ships and chests. Iceberg Interactive are aiming for fast-paced naval battles through quick skirmish matches. According to the Steam page, Blazing Sails: Pirate Battle Royale will launch in early 2020.

BlizzCon 2019 - Blizzard Entertainment have teased World of Warcraft fans with a new gameplay trailer detailing all of the new features to arrive in the new coming expansion "Shadowlands".

Sylvanas has killed the Lich King and claimed his powers for her own. She has also opened up a portal to the afterlife where players will be taken for the next expansion. Above we have The Features Overview trailer which gives us a look at what to expect for the next expansion gameplay-wise.

Players will be introduced to four new zones: Revendreth, Ardenweald, Maldraxxus and Bastion. Firstly, game director Ion Hazzikostas explained at BlizzCon that Revendreth is "a land of Gothic spires and dark secrets" ruled by the Covenant Venthyr. Next, Ardenweald takes players to a "enchanted mystical forest" controlled by the Night Fae. Madraxxus is a stronghold for the Shadowlands military, controlled by Necrolord. Lastly, Bastion is ruled by Kyrian and the location is for the "ordered and purposeful" who are looking to "shed past burdens and seek virtue".

BlizzCon 2019 - Blizzard Entertainment have officially confirmed and showcased the next expansion to come to World of Warcraft, introducing World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.

Above we have the official cinematic trailer for Shadowlands where we see Sylvanas go toe-to-toe with the legendary Lich King. Sylvanas narrates the trailer as she explains that she believes the Lich King is a "usurper", saying "No king rules forever."

In the cinematic we see Sylvanas attack the Lich King and his army, using her arrows and quick moves Sylvanas seems to make quick work of the King. Before his demise, the Lich King warns Sylvanas "that power will be your prison", she replies after a brief pause, saying "This world is a prison. And I will set us all free." She then breaks the Lich King helmet in two opening a portal to the afterlife above Icecrown Citadel. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will release sometime next year.

Blizzard had a huge surprise by announcing Overwatch 2 during its opening keynote at BlizzCon 2019, but news quickly broke and was confirmed that Overwatch 2 would also be coming to the Nintendo Switch.

It wasn't even that long ago that the original Overwatch hit the Nintendo Switch, but now that Overwatch 2 has been announced -- without a release date, we know it'll hit the PC, Xbox One, PS4, and the Nintendo Switch. No mobile Overwatch 2 for now folks, even with news that Apex Legends will be on new platforms (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett) as well as mobile in the near future.

Overwatch 2 will feature "significant engine upgrades" that are exclusive to the new game, but there are no details on what exactly we'll see on the Nintendo Switch version of OW2. We might see a very baked-down version of the suped-up engine for Overwatch 2 on the Nintendo Switch, but only time will tell with that.

So, Blizzard did something kinda big by announcing Overwatch 2 during its BlizzCon 2019 opening keynote, and while many big fans of the franchise (like myself, it's my most-played game of all time) are a little mixed about it... there are some good things inside.

First, Overwatch 2 has "significant engine upgrades" that usher in the ability of offering much bigger maps that will be perfect for the new co-op mode, new enemies and factions, and better graphics in Overwatch 2 than its predecessor, Overwatch.

Blizzard have made a complete overhaul of the Overwatch engine, with the PvE mode and graphics/engine changes totally exclusive to Overwatch 2. While more of the Overwatch + Overwatch 2 worlds are mixed, the graphics upgrade is solely exclusive to Overwatch 2.

Hideo Kojima must now finally be able to sleep with Death Stranding finished and being pressed into Blu-ray discs for the PS4 as we speak, with our Death Stranding Review roundup right here. But what about his next game?

Well, that's something Kojima talked about in a recent BAFTA panel that featured the man himself and film director Nicolas Winding Refn (who also plays Heartman in Death Stranding). Towards the end of the panel, Kojima began to talk about being excited for what he and his team are working on post-Death Stranding.

Kojima said: "Well, I'm kind of not just anxious about it, but also I'm really facing towards the future already. Nicolas is the same, I think. When you finish a project, and your body's resting and you take a break with your family, your brain is always constantly thinking. So you finish something, and - well, Death Stranding will be released next week, but I'm already thinking about the next project, and the next, next project, and I'm trying to prepare things. But it's a natural thing for me. It's like having breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's nothing special to me, it's as simple as that. But the next project that I could work on, just to think about that, I'm happy to think that I could work on it; I'm still physically fit to do it".

Death Stranding is here and along with it major websites and gaming havens have Death Stranding reviews, with mostly positive words to say about Hideo Kojima's latest and greatest post-Konami masterpiece.

Hideo Kojima has built one of the most interesting games in gaming history with Death Stranding, which seems to have caused a slight divide amongst reviewers. I'll be more keen to see how the game goes in actual gamers' hands when it launches on November 8 for the PS4 and 2020 for the PC.

Death Stranding launches exclusively for Sony's PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro consoles, while the PC will get Death Stranding sometime in 2020.

Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC is the definitive version of the game, complete with high-end graphics and uncapped frame rates for powerful systems. And naturally Rockstar wants you to show off their amazing Western with a new photo mode.

Today Rockstar confirmed Red Dead Redemption 2's incoming PC release will have a photo mode, complete with tons of options and effects. The photo mode can freeze frame any scene in the singleplayer campaign and let you zoom around to capture those epic and hilarious moments.

This game was pretty much built for a photo mode. Everything in RDR2 is already amazing, from the lighting effects to the ultra-realistic textures and living, breathing world, and now gamers can basically immortalize their experiences with an in-depth snapshot mode, complete with resolution support up to 8K and lots more.

Blizzard confirms major features coming to Diablo IV, including runewords, new skills and abilities, co-op player count, and trading.

Diablo III was a big mess at launch, and was a huge departure for the series. Blizzard wants to rectify that with Diablo IV. A lot of the series classic features are returning for Diablo IV, including player-to-player trading, which is 100% necessary to create an engaging online world, and one of my favorite item mechanics of all time: Runewords.

Diablo II Lord of Destruction's runewords opened up a new dimension to gameplay. Runewords like Enigma let any character teleport around in the game, and Call to Arms also gave any character the barbarian's battle order warcries. The result opened up gameplay like never before and created some insane builds. I can only imagine what kinds of crazy combinations Blizzard is cooking up with Diablo IV.