Gaming - Page 652

Psyonix has taken to their official Rocket League blog to announce that all Rocket League players on all platforms will soon be getting some free DLC's.

The blog post says Psyonix will soon be discontinuing the following DLC's; Supersonic Fury, Revenge of the Battle-Cars, and Chaos Run. Since these DLC packs are soon not going to be available for purchase, Rocket League players will instead be gifted with all of their contents completely free of charge.

This means that players will soon have access to the vehicles, decals, paint finishes and wheels of Dominus, Takumi, Scarab, Zippy, Ripper, and Grog. It was also noted in the blog post that players that have purchased any of those DLC's will be eligible for a re-fund through the platform they are playing on. Unfortunately, Psyonix didn't mention a solid release date for this content, but instead they said that they will follow-up with an announcement before the end of the year.

Epic Games changed game marketing forever with its huge Fortnite stunt to usher in Chapter 2, with a black hole sucking the entire game out of existence, and then Epic removing the game from the internet.

How did it go? Well, it was one of the largest single online gaming events ever. Epic saw over 7 million concurrent viewers across Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube. It was one of the most-viewed YouTube gaming events ever, too.

Moving over to Twitch, Epic noticed 1.7 million people viewing the event through either the official Fortnite stream Epic hosts, or streams from popular Twitch streamers. Epic added: "the platform's peak concurrent record on a single game category".

Activision-Blizzard is really going through the blender over the current climate in China, but now the company has revealed its BlizzCon 2019 preview. Now we have details on the schedule of BlizzCon 2019, the map, and the mobile application.

The new BlizzCon 2019 Map and App can be downloaded now, which includes the BlizzCon 2019 Schedule, while the Map can be looked at here. Blizzard will have demo stands for a bunch of its games including World of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft 2, and the upcoming Warcraft III Reforged.

The new BlizzCon 2019 mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices, which will let Blizzard fans watch the live streams directly from the app. You can also check out the Map, shop for gaming goods, and even plan your actual trip to BlizzCon 2019 if you're lucky enough to attend.

We know Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 is coming... and we know it'll be fast... but "world's fastest console", fast? I don't know. I think Microsoft's flagship Xbox Scarlett console will have that title, but we'll have to wait and see in 2020.

Sony has recently listed a job looking for a new Senior Cloud Engineering Manager at Sony Interactive Entertainment, with the listing looking for someone "to build next generation cloud infrastructure".

This person, if they're accepted, "will also be one of the leaders of an elite team that is super excited to launch the upcoming world's fastest console (PS5) in 2020".

Shenmue 3 is almost here, but Kickstarter backers need to respond to an email before their copies are sent out.

Fangamer today confirmed all Shenmue 3 backers need to re-confirm their addresses before physical PS4 or PC copies will be sent in the mail. If you don't reply, your copy could be delayed indefinitely.

"Shenmue III physical copies will be shipping soon, separately from other backer rewards (if applicable). Before we can ship yours, we require you to confirm that your shipping address is still correct, even if it hasn't changed, so that your physical copy isn't lost. If you do not confirm your address soon, your physical copy may be delayed. Please verify your address as soon as possible; your game(s) will NOT be shipped until your address has been verified," the company said.

The Last of Us Part II won't release in February, and has now been delayed to May 29, 2020, Naughty Dog today confirmed.

Naughty Dog was caught between a rock and a hard place with The Last of Us Part II. It was clear the game simply wouldn't be complete by February, so the team had to make a decision: Cut a lot of content out, or delay the game. They chose the latter and the experience should be all the better for it.

"During the last few weeks, as we were closing out sections of the game, we realized we simply didn't have enough time to bring the entire game up to a level of polish we would call Naughty Dog quality. At this point we were faced with two options: compromise parts of the game or get more time. We went with the latter, and this new release date allows us to finish everything to our level of satisfaction while also reducing stress on the team," Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann said.

After Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2 missed earnings targets, Ubisoft learns a sobering lesson about over-saturating the live games market. Now it's spreading its online games out for longer periods, leading to big delays.

Today Ubisoft announced some of its biggest marquee titles like Watch Dogs Legion and Rainbow Six Quarantine are getting delayed indefinitely to the next fiscal year (April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021). The reasoning for this is simple: Ubisoft wants to give gamers more time to digest and play the massively grindy online games the publisher releases. The company is starting to hit a wall when it comes to online engagement and monetization, namely with The Division 2 and the more recent (and more disastrous) Ghost Recon Breakpoint with its dearth of microtransactions.

The response is decidedly mature and shows Ubisoft is flexible even under failure, which is extremely important. It's willing to disrupt its planned release timeline to ensure its games are properly tailored to what players actually want to engage with. Expect the publisher to take its misses with The Division 2 and Breakpoint to heart and utilize all player feedback for its upcoming games.

Death Stranding's star-studded cast expands with clueless gamer Conan O'Brien.

Hideo Kojima's new game Death Stranding is full of big names: Mads Mikkelsen, Norman Reedus, Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Troy Baker, and Tommy Earl Jenkins to name a few. Even some of Kojima's personal friends make an appearance, with Guillermo del Toro showing up as the cryptic Deadman, and games media host Geoff Keighley (also Kojima's good bud) is in too.

Now Conan O'Brien will be in the game, too. He won't play a pivotal role like Norman Reedus, but instead be one of the dozens of holographic quest-givers that send you out on deliveries throughout the world.

Ex-Xbox exec Mike Ybarra joins Blizzard in a big leadership position, and will help guide the company's newest games lineup (and bounce back from the recent PR nightmare).

Mike Ybarra recently left Microsoft after 20 years of service. Now Ybarra will be Blizzard's new executive vice president and general manager, sitting below Blizzard VP Jeff Kaplan in the company hierarchy.

This appointment comes at an interesting time for Blizzard. The company is suffering a PR fiasco thanks to its recent Hong Kong controversy, but it's also on the cusp of announcing big new games, which is pivotal for its future. Blizzard's been developing new IPs and sequels for years now and some of these projects should be center stage at Blizzcon 2019. We could see Diablo IV, Diablo II Remastered, and Overwatch 2 unveiled at the event.

Activision may be working as many as 10 new games as part of its big new business restructuring focusing on games development.

Rumor has it that Activision is strongly ramping up its games slate along with Blizzard, and could be developing nearly a dozen new titles that includes a new Destiny-like MMO-FPS hybrid. The info comes from Call of Duty YouTuber The Gaming Revolution, who cites a friend at Activision as a source.

Apparently Activision wants to make their own wholly-owned IP to replace Destiny. The idea is to create something they don't have to pay royalties on, that can completely control, and something that continually makes money over time via online engagement tactics. The company may enlist Call of Duty FPS experts at Treyarch and Infinity Ward for this project, which could mean Call of Duty will shed its annualized structure. Otherwise it'll be a third-party project.

MMO RTS hybrid Kingdom Under Fire is back with huge Dynasty Warriors-esque battles and strategic RTS action.

It's been 11 years since the last Kingdom Under Fire game, and Blueside has been busily chipping away at their most ambitious game yet. Kingdom Under Fire II is happening, and it's actually releasing quite soon on November 14, 2019. The sequel preserves the mystical high fantasy setting with its deep lore and medieval magic style, set around the land of Bersia and three powerful factions--the Human Alliance, the Dark Legion, and the Encablossians. KUF II takes place 50 years after 2004's Crusaders game on the original Xbox.

Although it's billed as a unique MMO-RTS hybrid, Kingdom Under Fire II has a full campaign that can be enjoyed solo. The game lets you choose a hero class that's kind of like a general that leads your troops into war. You can switch between playing as the hero with hack-and-slash combo-based combat, or switch over to a battlefield commander and play full RTS mode.

Back in early July, Amazon issued out a press release about an upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO currently in development. Amazon are still yet to find a Creative Director, according to job listings.

The press release from back in July detailed that Amazon Game Studios would be partnering up with development veterans who worked on titles such as Destiny, Planetside, WoW, Everquest, Defiance and Rift. Other game studios such as Leyou Technologies and Althon Games are also tagging along for the adventure.

The job listing has been posted on glassdoor and details a 'Creative Director' position for a Lord of the Rings MMO title being built on the Lumberyard engine. The position requires extensive knowledge in building MMO games, people management, previously released titles, and much more. At the moment this listing has been present on glassdoor for 22 days, meaning Amazon still hasn't secured a position as of yet.

If you know zombie shooter games, you know Left 4 Dead 2. You also probably know that game is coming up on its 10-year anniversary (November 17th, 2009 release date) and what better way to celebration than a it being revived?

Unfortunately this revivification won't be in the title itself, but instead in a crossover with fellow zombie creator and destroyer Dying Light. According to the above Tweet sourced from the official Dying Light Twitter page, Left 4 Dead 2 will be crossing over for "some serious zombie slaying?".

What could this possibly mean? Since the post is painfully vague in what the specifics of this crossover are, I can only help to speculate that Dying Light 2 will feature some form of Left 4 Dead 2-style game mode. I mean what else could it mean? Players will most likely be able to pair up in four player co-op, just like in Left 4 Dead 2, and battle it out against some Dying Light zombies. It also wouldn't be surprising if the crossover brought some cosmetics to go along with it.

Nintendo has announced that its newest event to come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that will feature Tetris 99. The new event will introduce Tetrimino Spirits into the game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Tetris event will coincide with Tetris 99's eighth Maximus Cup which is scheduled to be running between October 25th to October 29th. A new theme for Luigi's Mansion 3 will also be added which is based on the upcoming release of Luigi's Mansion 3. The new theme can be unlocked by achieving at least 100 points in the event.

In the entirety of this article I have listed all of the Tetris blocks that will be arriving as Spirits, and it should be noted that the Spirit Board event will be beginning on 11 PM PT on October 24 and continuing until October 29th. In other Super Smash Bros. Ultimate news, Fatal Fury's Terry Bogard is almost ready for release and Blizzards director selected Tracer as the Overwatch representative if Nintendo did want a new fighter.

Can it be? EA games... returning to... Steam? According to the latest rumors and discoveries, yes... EA games might actually just return to Steam.

The news is coming from Twitter user @RobotBrush who discovered that tests are underway inside of Steam for Origin games to be purchased through it, and then played on Steam. You would still need to have Origin running in the background, which isn't a problem.

We could see EA release its back catalogue on Steam and then keep timed exclusives to Origin before having them on Steam. This would be an interesting flex for both EA and Steam, especially in a time when Activision-Blizzard is at a low point and the store front wars are just heating up.

I remember pumping 100s of hours into the Battlefield 1942 demo back in the 90s, which was just the iconic Wake Island map but man, it was revolutionary. Now, we're about to live through it again.

EA has just released a new trailer for its upcoming free DLC to Battlefield V with Chapter V: War in the Pacific, which will see players fighting in Frostbite in the far-Eastern front. You'll have the US Armed Forces fighting the Imperial Japanese Army on two different maps, with the iconic Wake Island coming later in December.

Battlefield V's new Chapter V includes classic WW2 firearms, katanas (!!!), and a boat load of other weapons and tools. You'll get the iconic 8-round M1 Garand, Type 99 Arisaka, Type 100 -- a Japanese SMG, and the powerful M19 19A6 machine gun for the Support class.

Microsoft adds a built-in FPS counter into the Xbox Game Bar on PC, making it easier to check performance on-the-fly.

Microsoft's native PC gaming tools have evolved tremendously over the years. I still remember playing Quantum Break in 2016 when third-party overlays weren't supported with UWP games. But now Microsoft's first-party games on PC have a nifty Xbox Game Bar that natively tracks CPU, GPU, and RAM usage via an on-screen toolbar. It's pretty helpful and lets you see performance while not having to Alt+Tab.

But now Microsoft is adding an FPS counter to the mix which is arguably the most important at-a-glance indicator for specific games (especially first-party PC games from Microsoft). The new October 2019 Windows update adds the new FPS counter to the Game Bar app, and also brings some customization options too. You can change the transparency and color scheme of the tabs, and even customize which perf indicators show up.

Taco Bell is giving 14 days of Game Pass with the purchase of a chalupa box, but you can easily turn that into 44 days.

Right now Microsoft has a big promo with Taco Bell. Every $5 double chalupa box you buy gets you a code that could win a special Xbox One X, but everyone who buys gets two weeks of Game Pass for free.

To get 44 days of Game Pass for free, just opt-in to recurring billing when redeeming the 14 day code. This adds 30 days to your subscription. Of course you have to plonk down some sort of payment method to grab the offer, but just be sure to cancel the subscription within the timeframe and you should be fine.

Fallout 76's new paid subscription plan is eye-opening to say the least, but let's delve into how private worlds will actually work.

Fallout 76 is getting private servers. And like most games you'll have to pay for them, but not separately. Bethesda chose to wrap private worlds into a new subscription called Fallout 1st, which costs a whopping $12.99 a month or $100 a year. You can't just buy private worlds access and instead have to buy into the subscription, which also includes some exclusive pay-to-win items.

So how do private worlds actually work? Here's a quick breakdown:

It's finally happened. Fallout 76 is getting a paid subscription model to help pay for private worlds and make extra cash.

Fallout 76's new subscription plan, Fallout 1st, is an attempt to not only re-monetize a game that may be failing to generate cash from in-game purchases, but a means of paying for private server access. Fallout 1st subscription memberships come in two expensive flavors: a $12.99 a month pay-as-you-go plan, and an incredible $99.99 a year option. Yes, really.

Fallout 1st includes access to private worlds hosting, but it also gives exclusive access to some serious pay-to-win content. Subscribers get access to a Survival Tent, which is basically a home away from home that includes a stash, a cooking station, a sleeping bag, and a scrapbox. It's basically a second campsite. The scrapbox is also new and gives you a serious advantage. It has unlimited storage for scrap and separates it from your stash--considering scrap is a huge part of whatever you're carrying in Fallout 76's massively tedious grindy gameplay, this is absolutely massive.