Gaming - Page 694

In a recent interview with CD Projekt RED, we have learned that if players choose to jump into Cyberpunk 2077's hardcore mode, that they won't have an in-game UI.

WCCFTech recently sat down with Alvin Liu to discuss the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, and throughout the interview numerous aspects of the games difficulty settings had a light shed on them. According to Liu, Cybperunk 2077 will have similar difficulty settings to CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Meaning, there will be a hardcore mode for game enough players, which removes the in-game UI.

Here is what Liu had to say: "Yes, of course, of course. The most fun one I think will be the Hardcore setting where we turn off the UI you live as well. And that will be a real challenge for a lot of players." Liu continues and explains that for more casual players there will also be a setting. "We want to tell a story and maybe you're a big fan of The Witcher and you're not comfortable playing a shooter, we have settings available for that. We even have weapons for that."

The graphics settings for Halo: Master Chief Collection on the PC have surfaced thanks to insider beta testers now playing with the PC beta of the game. This is what you can expect from Halo: MCC on the PC:

As you can see the game supports UltraWide monitors with HUD anchoring ast the last option, while FOV adjustments are there as well as up to Ultra graphics. There's not much to change here, and it really would've been nicer to see more graphical adjustment in the Halo games on the PC but then I do get it as there's a very good reason behind it.

343 Industries developed the game on consoles and not the PC, and is now giving it the once over getting it to the PC. None of the Halo games were built with what PC gamers consider standards: low, medium, high, ultra graphics settings. Those with lower-end machines can run games on low detail for improved FPS and high-end hardware owners can drop details to breach 120/144/240FPS for high refresh rate panels.

Hideo Kojima attended San Diego Comic-Con 2019 over the last few days where he talked a little about Death Stranding, showing off the slick new box art for the game, as well as the Steelbook that comes with the Special Edition and Collectors Edition.

Kojima said there was a time when now Cyberpunk 2077 star, The Matrix and John Wick star Keanu Reeves was considered for Death Stranding. Kojima said: "I originally was recommended Keanu Reeves but I wanted Mads". Kojima chose Mads Mikkelsen for Death Stranding instead.

The creator of Metal Gear Solid also explained why his new game is so different to other games, with Kojima saying: "There's no reason to create something that's already there. I want to create something that gives more inspiration to the world. Like Hollywood movies where some don't live with you, people just digest and consume. What I do is make something that's difficult to chow down when you digest my work. What happens when I release my game or when Nicolas releases a movie, we get criticism or praise. But you think about it ten years later, same as Bladerunner or 2001: Space Odyssey".

Origin PC celebrates its 10th anniversary by doing what it does best: making insane mind-blowing builds.

While at Intel's IEM event in Chicago I met Bryan Ore from Origin, who showed me a video of something I didn't believe was possible: a custom build that rocked every gaming platform. Origin PC's new Big O 2.0 is something out of science fiction: it fuses a PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, Switch, and a high-end NVIDIA RTX Titan-powered PC seamlessly into the case--all with water cooling, custom color-coding, and an intricately-designed layout. It even has a custom slot to dock the Switch.

The all-in-one Big O 2.0 is basically a gamer's dream and offers the best of all worlds. You can experience PS4 exclusives, Switch games like Smash Ultimate, play with your Xbox buddies, and blast out insane FPS in Overwatch all in the same place. But Ore was careful to say it'll never go on sale. Of course it won't--Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would never allow it...but it's still fun to dream right?

A memorable game not only captures a player by its gameplay but also its soundtrack. Bloodborne is one of these titles and will soon be getting its own physical vinyl soundtrack release.

FromSoftware's soundtrack for Bloodborne was composed by Ryan Amon, Tsukasa Saitoh, Michael Wandmacher, Yuka Kitamura, Cris Velasco and Nobuyoshi Suzuki. Just like movie soundtracks, game soundtrracks create the atmosphere the player is immersed in. The Bloodborne soundtrack does this exceptionally well, as it increases tempo when the player is facing off against a boss which heightens the overall tension.

Bloodborne's soundtrack was already available to listen to through streaming, but now a recent announcement reveals that in September two double-disc soundtracks will become available to purchase. The standard retail copy will be on black vinyl and the limited-edition will be "grim green" with a double gatefold sleeve. Each of the discs include 21 tracks and cost $35.

The more that CD PROJEKT RED talks about the world of Cyberpunk 2077, the more I want to be dunked into it -- especially the latest about its dynamic weather system.

Cyberpunk 2077 will have a dynamic weather system similar to The Witcher 3, with CDPR to surely build on it and make it even more immersive than ever. In an interview with WCCFTech, CD PROJEKT RED's Alvin Liu said: "Yeah, we've got acid rain as well. Night City is a very polluted city and we're also exploring that kind of stuff, pollution and global warming and everything".

Here's a list of everything we learned from the Q&A:

Despite Bethesda promising otherwise, Fallout 76's microtransactions aren't completely cosmetic and haven't been for some time. Now the studio has added a second convenience item that allows gamers to pay for in-game shortcuts.

Fallout 76's microtransactions were never totally cosmetic--you could buy generators in the Atomic Shop to power your bases' turrets for use in PVP and PVE--but most gamers didn't notice until Bethesda rolled out convenience items. These new items are called utilities and have an actual tangible effect on gameplay (mostly reducing the intense stress and tedium Fallout 76 brings).

First there were repair kits, which instantly repairs an item to full 100% condition, and now there's scrap kits, new items that cut frustration quite a bit. Scrapping is a big part of Fallout 76, and you're constantly picking up junk to break down at workbenches. It gets old very, very fast. But now Bethesda is selling you a shortcut that removes that tedium and lets you scrap everything at once! All for the low cost of $0.50 a pop!

After 24 years of ripping, tearing, and smashing FPS boundaries, Tim Willits is departing id Software.

Tim Willits is ready to hang up his BFG 9000 and today announced he plans to leave id Software: "After 24 years, I've decided to leave id Software after QuakeCon. I've been extremely lucky to work with the best people in the industry on truly amazing games," Willits said on Twitter.

Willits has had a transformative impact on id Software, Doom, Quake, and the games industry as a whole. His legacy runs deep in demon's blood: since 1995 he helped design levels in various games like Doom 3, Quakes II-4, Doom 2016, RAGE, RAGE 2, and this year's monstrous Doom Eternal. Willits got his start making levels for the original Doom on MS-DOS, and impressed id so much they actually hired him.

Google likens its premium Stadia Pro subscription to PlayStation Plus or Xbox LIVE Gold, and plans to give out free games every month.

Google's new cloud-streaming Stadia service could change gaming forever, but only if it's done right. Now we have more clarification on what it offers. The service, which beams games wirelessly over the internet directly to Chrome browsers, Chromecasts, and Pixel smartphones, has two options: a free version which requires gamers pay full price for games and buy them separately, and Stadia Pro, a $10 a month option that gives you free games, discounts, and access to Google's high-powered servers for 4K 60FPS gaming.

But Stadia isn't like Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Now. You don't get access to a buffet of games all at once. No, it's more like a premium add-on than a dedicated all-you-can-play subscription.Stadia Pro will give users a free game every month starting with Destiny 2. The pool of games will grow over time similar to PS Plus or Xbox LIVE Gold, but Pro subscribers still have to buy other games one-by-one.

Ubisoft kicks off its first quarter with massive digital sales and microtransaction revenues, proving its shift towards online gaming is working extremely well.

Today Ubisoft announced its first quarter earnings for Fiscal Year 2020, and the results are stellar. The figures firmly cement digital as the publisher's leading breadwinner and Ubisoft couldn't be happier (digital means avoiding retail costs, shipping, etc.).

Thanks to its lucrative engagement-driven live service games like The Division 2, Rainbow Six: Siege, Ghost Recon: Wildlands and even Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the company managed to pull in 363.4 million Euros ($412.82 million) in total sales revenues the three-month period ending June 30, 2019. This is actually a decrease; both net sales and net bookings are down, but high microtransaction earnings and engagement offset these drops.

Thanks to games like Anno 1800, The Division 2, and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, the PC platform now leads as Ubisoft's top-seller.

Thanks to a wider install base and a more closed-off ecosystem with comparatively more expensive games, consoles typically lead the sales charts for major publishers. But in Ubisoft's latest financials, PC gaming usurped PS4 and Xbox One to earn the lion's share of revenues. For Fiscal Year Q1'2020's three-month period from April 1 through June 30, PC made 34% of Ubisoft's total quarterly net bookings, or about 106.82 million Euros ($121.34 million). This represents a 10% increase from last year.

Ubisoft attributes this rise to Anno 1800, a PC-only game exclusive to the Epic Games Store and uPlay, and other games like Rainbow Six: Siege and The Division 2 helped generate revenues. In fact, Ubisoft says The Division 2 is the best-selling game of 2019 so far on all platforms. What's more interesting is that sales are not only up, but microtransaction revenues are climbing too; Ubi made $170.85 million from player recurring investment in the quarter.

The Division 2 might be the best-selling game of 2019 so far, at least according to Ubisoft's compiled figures.

Ubisoft is making quite a bit from The Division 2. In its latest Q1'20 earnings report, the company boasts the Division 2 is "the industry's biggest hit since the beginning of the year" insofar as worldwide digital and physical unit sales. This figures were based on info gleaned from analyst and stat-tracking firms like Famitsu, NPD Group, GSD, GfK and Ubisoft's own internal estimates.

"The Division 2 is the best selling game worldwide for the first six months of the year," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during the quarterly earnings call.

The news is finally out and Nintendo Switch fans can rejoice as the release date for Luigi's Mansion 3 has finally been officially revealed and solidified.

We have been waiting around for the release date of Luigi's Mansion 3 for quite some time now, during that time we heard that the ghost cataching in the game is as satisfying as wet towel cracking. We then saw the released box art for the title that showcased both Luigi and Gooigi in glorious HD.

As the rumors suggested, Nintendo will be releasing Luigi's Mansion 3 on this years Halloween, October 31st. Quite a fitting date wouldn't you say? Luigi's Mansion 3 will be exclusively available on the Nintendo Switch. If you haven't seen gameplay of the title yet, check out this link here.

Since the release of PUBG, there has been many iterations of the Battle Royale genre that have made improvements that PUBG just couldn't keep up with. So to even the playing field, PUBG Corp have decided to give some unnecessary backstory to the title.

Above we have the Season 4 Cinematic Trailer that introduces us to a young boy who was the sole survivor of a war on Erangel. After the desolation of his town and the people he loves, the boy grows into a mastermind puppet master who flies in contests to compete in his life and death competition for his pure amusement.

Some people could argue that this is hardly what PUBG needs to survive against the other Battle Royale titles such as Apex Legends or Fortnite. Instead, the developers should be concentrating on smoothing out the gameplay to create a more rich and rewarding experience that keeps players on their servers.

I still remember that Christmas morning opening up a magazine about the Nintendo 64 and feeling that 'what is this meant to be' type of present, to my parents handing me another box and inside of it was GoldenEye 007.

It was at that moment I realized my parents had to have gotten me the new Nintendo 64 console at the time, and after ripping that wrapping paper and box to pieces, my brother and I were playing GoldenEye 007 on our brand new Nintendo 64 console. It was one of the best first-person shooters of its time, and Rare at its best on the N64.

GoldenEye 007 producer Martin Hollis explained in 2004 about the AI in the game: "The important thing is to show the player the AI. There's no point having sophisticated AI that the player doesn't notice. The game mechanics have to showcase the AI. The level setup has to showcase the AI. And it all has to make an actual difference to gameplay".

Bungie is far from done with Destiny 2. There's still lots of things to do from tweaks and balances to implement and the free-to-play New Light version to the dearth of seasonal updates planned alongside Shadowkeep. But insofar as expansions, there's evidence that Shadowkeep could be Destiny 2's last.

Destiny 2 is getting many changes in September. Shadowkeep, the new moon-based expansion, will drop alongside a free-to-play Destiny 2 version that comes packed with cross-saves. But Shadowkeep won't be a huge paradigm-shifter like Forsaken. In fact it could be the last major expansion the game sees. There's a few reasons for this: the way Bungie talks about Shadowkeep, how the studio is gearing up for more MMO-style RPG progression, and its past cadence of expansion releases.

Bungie says Shadowkeep is a new beginning. It's the inception of a new bold vision for Destiny, and represents the first major content drop free of Activision's meddling.

The Switch's JoyCon controllers are cheaply made and break easily, and fans are fed up.

There's a reason why Nintendo makes a profit on every Switch sold: the device is relatively cheap to make, and if you've ever held one, you can definitely see where they saved cash. Way back in my 2017 Nintendo Switch review I noticed how flimsy the system felt. The JoyCons in particular felt (and still feel) rather weak and janky, as if they'd malfunction quickly after heavy use.

Now thousands of gamers are complaining about JoyCon issues. Extended use is causing the wiggly and cheap analog sticks to drift in-game, which significantly disrupts play as gamers have to fight the controller and try to compensate for the wonky sticks. After all the first rule of playing a game is actually being able to control it.

Today Nintendo's Japanese site revealed a new Switch model that improves battery life by almost 40% over the current version, but the specs are the same.

On the heels of announcing a new $199 handheld-only Switch Lite, the regular Switch is getting a mid-cycle refresh that likely uses the same chip. But don't expect the fabled Switch Pro with beefier performance. This new model is not an iterative upgrade like the PS4 Pro with extra horsepower. It's basically like a PS4 Slim with small tweaks to improve thermals and quality of life. Nintendo only really upgraded the internal battery to make the console last up to 9 hours in Handheld Mode (which is pretty impressive). According to past Wall Street Journal reports, Nintendo also might've tacked on an OLED screen for good measure.

Nintendo is vague with exact technical details (they always are), but we expect the new Switch HAC-001(-01) model uses a shrunken 16nm Tegra X1 chip for boosted efficiency across the board. This means the new model should not only be more power efficient, but could be quieter and cooler when docked to avoid the annoying console heat warping.

In a bid to save its ailing retail business, Gamestop wants to make its stores more friendly for actual gaming sessions.

Gamestop needs a win right now. The company recently suffered a huge $500 million loss driven by low game and hardware sales. To halt the coffin nails, Gamestop announced that it's signed a partnership with turnaround experts R/GA to dramatically rebrand its stores into actual hangouts for gamers. This includes retro arcade-style setups where you can try out games before you buy and even competitive tournaments--possibly even LAN matches.

Essentially Gamestop wants to turn into an early 2000's gaming cafe that also sells games.

Nintendo has released a brand new 'Fan-Favorites & Newest Releases' game compilation trailer that showcases what is to be expected to launch on Nintendo Switch this Summer.

The above video has been released onto the official Nintendo YouTube Channel and details what is in the pipeline to be launch on the Switch this Summer. While there is many great titles in the video, one in particular is the in the spotlight, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC fighter.

Dragon Quest's 'Hero' was announced to be the next DLC fighter to be invited to join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While fans wait for an official announcement this above trailer has subtly suggested that 'Hero' will be arriving this Summer, as the video title boldly states "Summer" in the headline.