Gaming - Page 706

E3 2019 - No Man's Sky players are pooling their cash together to send a very special thank you to Hello Games.

No Man's Sky remains a prime example of how to save a game. A disaster at launch, Hello Games dug their heels in and transformed their space sim into a sprawling, epic jaunt with a bustling and thriving community. Since launch Hello Games has rolled out six huge free expansions to dramatically re-shape the game, and the seventh, the game's massive new Beyond update, is on the way. Fans are grateful for the content and are now paying respects to the developer with a heartfelt banner.

A bunch of No Man's Sky fans have raised over $4,200 to buy advertising space right outside the studio's UK offices. The message is simple: thank you, Hello Games.

To celebrate the home entertainment release of 'Captain Marvel', we have five Blu-ray copies of the film to give away thanks to our friends at Disney Home Entertainment!

Captain Marvel is an extra-terrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as U.S. Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the evil Skrulls.

To go into the running to win a prize, post this article to your social media profiles, send your postal address to ben at TweakTown dot com and correctly answer the following question before the competition closes on 21 June.

E3 2019 - Fallout 76 is getting a chaotic 52-player battle royale mode designed to re-engage the flagging community, and it could work.

With its new free Nuclear Winter expansion, Fallout 76 will soon turn into a post-apocalyptic battle royale deathmatch frenzy. The mode is actually creatively tied to gameplay lore, pitting 52-players in a free-for-all slaughterfest where the winner sits as the Overseer of Vault 51. Nuclear Winter throws you into an isolated map that's constantly shrinking as a nuclear firestorm edges closer and closer (similar to Battlefield V's Firestorm battle royale).

It's not all PVP though. There's a distinct PVE element to gameplay and you can even heal people around you with stimpaks. Monsters roam Nuclear Winter's map and range from small mole rats to hulking Scorch Beast bosses, basically transforming it into a kind of Warzone match. The mode stays true to the scavenger hunt mechanics of battle royale and gamers will have to scramble the wastes in search of resources, guns, ammo, and other goodies peppered throughout the map.

It looks like most of the AAA game world is shifting into the beautiful arms of real-time ray tracing, with E3 2019 being a centerpoint for game developers announcing their games would feature ray tracing.

One of the big ones announced at E3 2019 was from id Software in the form of DOOM Eternal, with id Software's Marty Stratton confirming during the show DOOM Eternal will feature ray tracing technology. More so, the team at id Software tease that they'll "do it better than everybody".

DOOM Eternal is powered by the id Tech 7 engine, which will have built-in support for ray tracing. The game is coming to the PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia. The PC version, as always, will be the definitive edition -- more so when we are talking about ray tracing.

E3 2019 - Square Enix has been eyeing moves into streaming, subscriptions, and even its own digital distribution platform for years now.

Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda recently told Game Informer the company plans to re-launch old classic games, possibly on a game-streaming or subscription platform. This service focus has actually has been in development for years now and isn't actually new, but the plan is just now starting to manifest on Google's Stadia cloud streaming network.

Here's what Matsuda said: "We actually have launched a dedicated project internally to port classic games like those on NES, so we are working to make them available on a variety of platforms. Certainly down the road we would like to see that on a subscription or streaming service, so we're exploring the possibility of creating a dedicated channel for ourselves."

E3 2019 - E3 is now over for another year and just before the show closed its doors the Entertainment Software Association (or ESA) have announced the dates for next year's E3.

E3 2020 will take place between June 9-11 and should be one of the biggest shows ever, as both next-gen consoles will launch next year in the Xbox Scarlett and PlayStation 5. We don't know where E3 2020 will take place exactly, as it has been at the LA Convention Center but could be moving locations.

Worse yet, a power outage to the LACC took place on the final day, and that doesn't bode well for E3 2020 taking place there. The show has been changing for years now, and personally after now finally attending a show, I think we are in for some change. Bring it on.

E3 2019 - Microsoft's "monster-eating" next-gen Project Scarlett console might be its best, but it won't be its last.

Project Scarlett is shaping up to be quite beastly with 8K support, 120FPS gaming, and an AMD Zen 2 CPU and Navi GPU enabling 4 times the Xbox One X's power. But it's not going to be the definitive end-all final Xbox. Even with Project xCloud game streaming on the way, Microsoft isn't giving up on consoles and sees a dedicated future beyond Scarlett.

If anything streaming will increase the number of devices gamers use--or at least that's what Xbox VP of gaming Phil Spencer thinks.

E3 2019 - Hollow Knight is a staple game in the indie genre and many fans of the first game are more than excited to get their hands-on the sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

During the Nintendo Treehouse E3 livestream we got to see Team Cherry's sequel to Hollow Knight. Silksong will change the main protagonist for players and introducer a new character called Hornet. Hornet is opinionated, will speak within the game and plays very differently to that of Knight. Hornet will have fast dash attacks and use her massive jumps are spacing tools between her and that of her enemies.

Silksong will also change up the items players will be collecting. Instead of collecting souls like in Hollow Knight, players will be running around and picking up silk, instead of charms tools will be picked up. Shard will repair your tools and according to the Treehouse livestream players can encounter a map that will help better reference their location. At the moment there isn't a solidified release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong, all we have to go off of is that its 'coming soon' to the Nintendo Switch.

Now that the rumors have settled and we know that The Witcher 3 is being ported over to the Nintendo Switch, the next question is what will be included in the Switch bundle.

For quite some time rumors were flying around about The Witcher 3 being ported over to the Nintendo Switch and just this week we got confirmation that its actually happening. The game will be running at 540p in handheld mode and at 720p docked, more on that here.

Moving on to what is included in the games 'complete edition', Nintendo Switch users who decide to pick up this bundle will get both of the games expansions (Blood and Wine, Heart of Stone), physical game cartridge, a map, a compendium, and stickers of Geralts wolf pendant. Due to this game being a re-release on another console there is no pre-order bonuses for the title. The Witcher 3 for the Nintendo Switch will be coming in at $60, the Amazon listing can be found here.

This week we have another free-to-play game coming to the Epic Games Store, are you ready to 'Enter the Gungeon'?

Epic Games has taken to their Twitter account to announce that Dodge Roll Games' bullet-hell fever-dream like game Enter the Gungeon is going free to play for a limited amount of time. Epic Games Store users will be able to jump into the action in Enter the Gungeon over the course of this weekend.

If you didn't know, being apart of the Epic Games Store gives users the opportunity to try a free game every week. Each week the game that is free is changed and players are able to download and experience a title before they decide whether or not they want to purchase it. If you are interested in checking out Enter the Gungeon and want to test your gaming skills with over 300 different types of guns and unleash hell on the enemies, check out the Epic Store listing for the title here.

Crytek has announced that their title 'Hunt Showdown' will be going completely free-to-play for a weekend. Are you ready for some PvP/PvE action?

If you aren't aware what Hunt Showdown is, the game is a first-person player versus player bounty shooter that brings extreme levels of intenseness. Players will have to navigate around a map and track and kill monsters in either teams or by themselves, while also attempting to evade the hunter who is tracking players to kill them.

Hunt Showdown recently got an update as well, bringing the game up to version 6.1 and adding additional features such as field-of-view slider, new weapons to enjoy, a new lore book, new traits and performance improvements. If you would like to jump into the action, check out the official Steam Store listing for the title here.

E3 2019 - Bungie today clarified what is and isn't included in Destiny 2's big new free-to-play New Light initiative, and lots of endgame Forsaken content is missing.

Destiny 2 will soon go free-to-play, but it'll be more of a broad trial that whets the appetite than a full meal. Bungie today announced that New Light, Destiny 2's free-to-play rebranding, will only include some content from the Forsaken expansion like strikes, crucible PVP playlists, free roam missions on all areas, gambit game modes, and only a portion of Forsaken's annual pass.

Forsaken's full campaign and all of its missions, its endgame raids and dungeons, and its exotic quests will be locked behind a paywall. New Light players will have to buy Forsaken and the appropriate annual pass to experience everything in full.

E3 2019 - This past year, rumors have been stirring for Microsoft to bring the Games Pass to the Nintendo Switch, and while that at first seems like a fantastic idea for gamers it isn't Microsoft's first priority.

According to an interview with Giant Bomb, Microsoft's CEO, Phil Spencer sat down with the channel to discuss Microsoft's future with Nintendo. Spencer was asked if we would ever see the Games Pass come to the handheld console, and he replied with "I have said over time I'd like to take Game Pass everywhere. I saw somebody joke I'd put Game Pass on the toaster if I could - I don't know about that".

Spencer continued and said that Microsoft are focussed on the "streaming side, at least, on Android" because the Nintendo Switch platform is very different from an Xbox platform. Spencer says that the relationship between Microsoft and Nintendo are good and examples of that are the recent inclusion of Banjo-Kazooie in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Minecraft Dungeons.

E3 2019 - Phil Spencer lays out an ambitious idea: letting Xbox One owners rent out their consoles as game streaming servers and getting compensated for it.

In October, Microsoft will transform every Xbox One into a remote game streaming server. Essentially Microsoft is copying Sony's Remote Play functionality on the PS4 by letting you beam Xbox games from your local network to a mobile device like a smartphone. This initiative is part of Project xCloud, Microsoft's new cloud game streaming program, and will be entirely free. But Xbox VP of gaming Phil Spencer wants to see gamers using their Xbox One consoles to fuel a random person's on-the-go gaming.

In a recent interview with Giant Bomb, Phil Spencer spoke candidly on allowing Xbox One owners to share their consoles with other gamers and get something in return for it. It'd be a mutual business arrangement; a random gamer seeds off of your Xbox and network, and you maybe get some cash or Microsoft Points in exchange.

E3 2019 - As the ultimate power fantasy, Doom Eternal will take us to the highest peaks of heaven and the fiery bowels of hell to unleash total havoc. And there's demons...tons and tons of demons.

Doom Eternal is easily the most visceral and explosive Doom game yet. It's filled with total chaos and mayhem, putting actual fun in front of immersion and realism. In Doom Eternal, havoc is your god and you praise it by ripping, tearing, and slaughtering monsters with gruesome glee. Luckily id has brought tons of fresh meat for you to chew into.

"We've actually doubled the demon count in Doom Eternal," executive producer Marty Stratton said in a recent E3 Coliseum stream. "There's way more demons to slay."

E3 2019 - Ubisoft was careful not to include Epic's logo at the end of Watch Dogs Legion promo videos, but the listing popped up on the Epic Store anyway.

Watch Dogs Legion will be timed-exclusive to the Epic Store on PC, and won't be available on Steam for as long as a year.

This move isn't really a surprise. Ubisoft signed a deal with Epic to bring its biggest games over to the storefront starting with The Division 2, and we've also seen games like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint skip Steam in favor of the Epic Store. Ubisoft is undoubtedly attracted to the Epic Store's revenue split, which favors developers with 88% of revenues for all sold games.

E3 2019 - Watch Dogs Legion is taking on Grand Theft Auto levels of open-world dynamism, with characters and an entire city that consistently react to your decisions and deeds.

I keep thinking I'm done with Watch Dogs Legion coverage, but then I always hear something more amazing. Ubisoft isn't messing around with Legion and is creating a world full of next-gen AI that rivals even GTA and Red Dead Redemption 2. We already know Legion is a fully-fledged RPG where you can recruit literally anyone in the entire game to your party, and that it'll have lots of progression systems to customize your ragtag sci-punk rebellion. But now Ubisoft underlines how its futuristic London is a living, breathing city.

Ubisoft's latest E3 Coliseum interview is jam-packed full of interesting tidbits about its characters and world. For example, your recruits will go on living their everyday lives when you're not playing as them, doing their jobs like tending bar, programming, and even training in the gym. You can even come across members of your team out in the city and interact with them. In true Mass Effect fashion, there's a loyalty system in Legion called a support level that you have to build up.

Microsoft only teased its next-gen Xbox Scarlett console a few days ago and now we have a report that the chief architect behind Scarlett, as well as the original Xbox One and Xbox One X (Project Scorpio) has joined the ranks of Intel.

The news is coming from WCCFTech, who reports that it seems ex-RTG chief architect Raja Koduri has grabbed Sell to work at Intel. If the rumors are true, Sell could be put to work onto a new SoC that could be used in future devices... which could get very interesting, very quickly.

Sell was at AMD between 1997-2005 before he joined Microsoft, and has now reportedly left for Intel. It really feels like Intel is building a monster team of people from AMD, NVIDIA, and now Microsoft -- but how long until we see the fruits of their labor?

E3 2019 - Atari today confirmed its new VCS console will support multiple operating systems, essentially making it into a PC.

Atari's VCS system sounds quite flexible, even if it's an iffy gamble. The console is an open platform that can run multiple operating systems like Windows 10, Linux, Chrome OS to transform it into a fully-fledged mini PC-console for your TV. This opens tons of opportunities for entertainment options, from old-school gaming via emulators to playing Xbox Game Pass PC games on the competing system. Gamers could even run Steam games on the Atari VCS via Windows, and its built-in AMD Ryzen APU should be up to par for modern games.

The only trick is you'll have to provide the Windows, Linux or Chrome OS yourself. Predictably we won't see these OS' pre-loaded onto the Atari VCS. The system only comes with the custom AtariOS right out of the box. Gamers will use the console's Sandbox mode to boot up and run operating systems from a USB drive, and from there install programs, apps, and games.

E3 2019 - Watch Dogs Legion is an RPG at heart built around one singular concept: the entire world can join your party. Now Ubisoft shares more details on classes, perks, and character traits.

Watch Dogs Legion is perhaps Ubisoft's most ambitious game to date. Set in a high-tech post-Brexit London overrun by cyberpunk-style crime and private military corporations, the game lets you recruit and play as anyone in the entire city. Anyone and everyone you see in the game can join your hacktivist DedSec rebellion and dish out havoc to overthrow The Man. The real beauty is how Ubisoft executes this system with a layered and quite dynamic RPG structure.

Every time you fold someone new into your operation you can assign them a class. Every person has their own traits, and its best to choose a close that aligns with their backstory. For example, a character who boxes could do well as Infiltrators that use melee and stealth. You're creating a dynamic tag-team of ruffians, hackers, old librarians and other citizens to form the ultimate rebel alliance.