Gaming - Page 737

Ever wondered what it would be like to livestream The Division 2 from all 4 perspectives in the one screen? Well that will soon be possible as Twitch.tv will soon be adding 'Squad Stream' and it is exactly how it sounds.

Twitch.tv will be rolling out a new update to their streaming platform that will allow for content creators to team-up with each for epic 4-person live streams. The new 'Squad Stream' will allow for Twitch.tv partners to stream-up with eachother and all play the desired games within the same window for the viewer. This will mean that viewers will be able to enjoy watching their favorite streamers play together within the same window and cycle between which specific player they want to watch in the primary slot.

Twitch.tv has throughoutly explained what 'Squad Stream' is in their new blog post. For those wondering about how view counts will work, Twitch answer this in the FAQ they provide at the bottom of their post. They say "Any viewership you receive when your video player is in the primary slot will count towards your channel stats and be reflected in your channel analytics and stream summary." Twitch.tv also provides a list of streamers that will feature the four-person streams over the next couple of weeks.

If you remember back to 2011 we saw an awesome release from Yacht Club Games, 'Shovel Knight' hit the scene and was more than very well received the platformer community. Now, Yacht Club Games has unveiled a new title, 'Cyber Shadow' has taken the spotlight.

The announcement has come in the form of a brand new trailer and a post onto the Yacht Club Games' website. 'Cyber Shadow' is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that captures classic NES-style games, it also is inspired by Mario level design, the skills of Ninja Gaiden, the enemy designs of Contra and the atmosphere of Batman.

From the trailer, we can see that Cyber Shadow is a very fast-paced reactionary platformer that comes with what has been described as a gripping story and a Pulse-pounding soundtrack by Enrique Martin and produced by Jake Kaufman. According to the post on the website, Yacht Club Games "reached out to Aarne two years ago about being involved with Cyber Shadow. He'd been developing it on his own for years with no intention of going with a publisher - but YCG was the only team he'd ever consider to help him hone his creation." The relationship that formed resulted in "a bit of a codevelopment. YCG is handling the marketing, porting, business side, and typical roles of a publisher so Aarne can focus on the core game development."

Microsoft have updated what free games Xbox LIVE Gold users will be getting over the course of April. Here is what will be completely free!

For Xbox One owners that have Xbox LIVE Gold, The Technomancer will be available to download throughout April. The Technomancer is developed by Spider Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive. It is a game based on Mars that takes players to the War of Water, 200 years after humans decided to colonized Mars. Outcast: Second Contact will also be available to Xbox One owners from April 16th until May 15th.

Moving onto Xbox 360 owners, Star Wars Battlefront II - 2005 edition will become available in April, as well as Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. Star Wars Battlefront II will be available from April 1st until April 15th, and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 will begin availability on April 16th until April 30th. For more information, visit the official Xbox Games Pass website here.

Insomniac Games has just come off of the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man (which was a huge hit) directly into making a new open-world VR game that Oculus just announced called Stormland, an exclusive for the Oculus Rift on the PC.

Insomniac is no stranger to making VR games or Rift exclusive content, with the developer releasing Edge of Nowhere, The Unspoken, and Feral Rites all for the Oculus Rift. Stormland on the other hand looks to be the culmination of everything the studio has learned from its previous VR games, with what seems like an intuitive, fun, super-hectic VR exclusive.

The new trailer for Stormland shows the story you'll be experiencing, living through a once thriving robot civilization that was terminated by something called The Tempest. The enemies in the game look great with an awesome use of shielding and shooting mechanics, with enemies themselves rolling out with mobile shields that you will have to dive around and go all crazy in the real-world since you'll have the freedom of the Rift controllers versus a traditional controller or mouse/keyboard.

If you haven't been playing The Division 2 you really ought to, as it is an absolute blast to play and looks gorgeous too (check it out here in our extensive The Division 2 Benchmarked: 20 Graphics Cards Tested article).

The Division 2 developer Massive Entertainment has announced that the Tidal Basin update drops on April 5, with the first post-release content providing the Tidal Basin stronghold mission and World Tier 5. Tier 5 is The Division 2's hardest difficulty, and also packs the highest level gear. The new stronghold is held by the Black Tusk faction, which you would've battled in the game already.

You can also repeat strongholds you've already captured so that you get new loot, and fight your way up to the harder Heroic difficulty mode with gear that goes up to 500. Battling Black Tusk enemies will see them dropping new gear sets including True Patriot, Ongoing Directive, and Hard Wired.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be the sole star of CD Projekt RED's E3 show, and we could finally get a confirmed release date.

CD Projekt RED significantly hyped up its E3 presence in today's 2018 earnings report. Speaking to investors, the company promised to bring Cyberpunk 2077 surprises and affirmed this year's event will be the most important showcase it's ever put on.

"Last year's E3 has been the most important one so far throughout the whole CD Projekt history. But this year's is going to be the most important one ever for us, too," CD Projekt RED President Adam Kicinski said in the presentation. "We have really prepared a strong show. We want this year's E3 to be even stronger than last year's."

Wolfenstein: Youngblood brings two-player Nazi-blasting mayhem to PS4, Xbox One, PC and Switch on July 26, 2019.

Machine Games' newest Wolfenstein game, Youngblood, brings online co-op to the series for the very first time. The game is designed to be a crazy hardcore chaotic romp that offers explosive FPS thrills in an arcade-style environment. Two-player action is the main selling point here, and Youngblood lets players initiate crazy tag-team style attacks to dispatch automatons, armored Nazi marauders, and robot dogs in their quest for fascist eradication.

Bethesda has a nice surprise up their sleeve this time. With the $40 deluxe edition gamers get a new Buddy Pass, which lets a friend download and play Youngblood with you even if they didn't buy it. Only one buddy can play with you at one time, but you can share the pass with as many people as you like. Co-op is online-only so you'll probably need Xbox LIVE Gold or PS Plus to play.

CD Projekt RED's new massively ambitious FPS RPG could be a launch game on the next-generation of consoles, including Sony's PlayStation 5 hardware and Microsoft's new family of Xbox Scarlett systems.

Cyberpunk 2077 is built specifically to run smoothly on the current generation of consoles, but it's also forward-compatible and flexible enough to harness the full brunt of future systems like the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. Using its powerful proprietary RED Engine that's been significantly amplified with insane high-end tech for Cyberpunk 2077, the developers can scale, adjust and tweak the game for multiple hardware iterations.

But given the chance, CDPR would love to launch its new sci-fantasy opus onto a new console generation. It all depends on the timing.

Today Gearbox Software released a meaty new Borderlands 3 teaser trailer that strongly corroborates recently leaked info.

A string of recent Borderlands 3 leaks from 4Chan might be completely accurate. Gearbox is set to formally announced Borderlands 3 tomorrow at its PAX East showcase, but the devs dropped a new trailer today that actually reveals quite a bit. But combined with recent leaks we get even more info.

The footage shows off new Vault Hunters like the robotic Beastmaster, the new soldier class Zane, and the new siren character were all shown off riding a flying vehicle. Yes, cars might be able to fly in Borderlands 3. We may also be able to ride rakks and dragons as they soar the skies. The new Bot Jock class, which can reportedly summon robotic bears and pets, wasn't in the trailer.

CD Projekt RED's yearly profits drop by nearly half as it increases spending to make big new games like Cyberpunk 2077.

Today CD Projekt RED announced its 2018 yearly earnings which, while are overall healthy, don't compare all that well to last year. The good news is CDPR is far from being in the red.

In 2018, The Witcher 3 developer saw its profits drop by 45% year-over-year to $109.3 million PLN ($28.6 million in current USD conversions) as compared to 2017's profits of 200.27 million PLN ($52.5 million). The company's profit margin for 2018 sits at just over 30% as compared to 2017's margin of 43.2%.

CD Projekt RED's GOG.com barely broke even in 2018, showing the costs of running a big international digital storefront.

Today CDPR announced its annual report for 2018, confirming some alarming financial trends for its DRM-free games store. Due to higher promotional costs for its new game Thronebreaker and increased operational spending, GOG only made around 30,000 PLN of profit in 2018, or about $7,800 in current USD conversion rates. This development underlines GOG's recent layoffs due to underwhelming earnings.

But GOG is still making pretty good revenues from PC game sales. In 2018, GOG generated 131.5 million PLN, or about $34 million, from games sold across the store."GOG has been growing successively year-on-year and selling more and more," said CD Projekt RED CFO Piotr Nielubowicz.

Today in its 2018 earnings report, CD Projekt RED revealed some interesting stats on its future projects and the teams that're making them.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest thing CD Projekt RED has ever done, and to fulfill this ambition the company has gone on a dramatic expansion spree. It opened a new studio in Wroclaw to help with Cyberpunk, and boosted its total headcount by 19% from 783 employees in 2017 to 883 employees in 2018. But not all of those are devs, and not all of them are helping make CDPR's new games--79% of them, or 698 work at CD Projekt, whereas 21% of them work at GOG.com.

So why is all this important? CDPR has aggressively ramped up investment and spending to develop Cyberpunk 2077 and a new mystery AAA RPG for release by 2021. To get an idea of how big the games are let's take a look at how many people are making them. Out of the 883 people that work at CDPR, 65% of them are developers. That means there's 557 game devs working on CD Projekt RED's projects, including Cyberpunk 2077.

The next title in the Shantae series has been announced the developers official Twitter account. Shantae 5 will be debuting to multiple platforms, with Nintendo Switch included.

According to an announcement on WayForward, the developer for the titles Twitter account, Shantae 5 will soon be coming to multiple platforms. The game is planned for release "later this year" on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch. It will also be arriving on the Apple Arcade.

The developer says to "stay tuned" for more details to be released, here is the full statement "Today we're thrilled to announce Shantae 5! You're invited to join Shantae in a brand-new adventure later this year on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC... AND the newly announced Apple Arcade! Stay tuned for more details!" If you are interested in what games are coming to the Apple Arcade, visit the official website here.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been out for quite some time now, and players are moving through many different aspects of the game discovering combos for all the different characters. What has also been discovered though, is glitches...

Due to the overall increase in speed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, many of the heavy characters received an overall buff when compared to the last game. One of these characters was Donkey Kong, he is an extremely dangerous fighter now with a well rounded kit and a lot of damage packed behind it. One of Donkey Kongs signature moves is his charge up Donkey punch (neutral B), as it deals a massive amount of damage. This move has attracted a lot of attention as it has been discovered that it harbors some glitches that are not beneficial to the player.

In a reddit post on the Super Smash Bros subreddit, BaneGanondorf goes into detail on how Donkey Kong is currently broken in not one, but two different ways. BaneGanondorf explains that since Ultimate is a 2D platform fighter with character moves that are animated in 3D, this can sometimes mean that moves that are meant to hit sometimes miss. Unfortunately, Donkey Kong's 'Donkey Punch' suffers from this tragically. The above video goes into depth for why this glitch is happening, the Smash community has speculated that it is due to the punches animation along the Z-axis, and it not registering as a 'hit' in certain scenarios.

Right now, Phoenix Labs' monster hunting title 'Dauntless' is sitting at around 3 million players, the developers are planning for their player-base to triple after the title comes to consoles and the Epic Games Store.

Dauntless is a free-to-play title that has currently been in open beta fro around half a year now. Since then the title has amassed quite the amount of players, with developers Phoenix Labs saying that their player-base is sitting at around the 3 million mark. Phoenix Labs' PR manager Andy Burt has said that after some discussion with Epic Games, Dauntless will soon be debuting to the Epic Games Store as an exclusive.

Burt explains that "Epic's been an amazing partner for us for a long time. Their vision for keeping players connected really aligned with what we want to do." He says that the decision to go to the Epic Store is no jab at Valve or Steam, "Obviously, the revenue split is very public-facing. But I don't think [players] see a lot of how Epic's working very closely with developers. Our game's not out yet, but we've gotten so much promotion across the store already, so much visibility, that you wouldn't get on another platform. They've been super great to us."

A few days ago a new report came out of The Wall Street Journal that claimed that Nintendo are planning on releasing two brand new iterations of the Nintendo Switch by summer of 2019. Now some new details about these alleged consoles have come forward.

Another report has surfaced online, this time from Eurogamer who claims that the report from WSJ is infact real and that Nintendo are planning on catering to both 'budget' gamers and 'avid' gamers. Eurogamers Tom Phillips has said that sources close to him have confirmed the report is true and that Nintendo "is hoping to cater to the same two audiences it eventually evolved 3DS to serve with 2DS and New 3DS XL."

According to Phillips, these sources have told him that Nintendo is excited to move their younger audience that is currently using the 3DS, over to the Switch but keeping the same value. "But rather than comparing it to a 3DS, Nintendo is, I'm told, keen to recapture the 2DS value proposition. Similar to 2DS, the unit's design will be sturdier than the current Switch model in order to be "kid-proof". It is also said in the report that this 'budget' console will only be able to be used in heldheld mode only, meaning no connectivity to a display.

BioWare is making good on its promise to improve Anthem with player feedback.

Today BioWare released Anthem's v1.0.4 patch, which brings a host of new tweaks, fixes, and additions to the game. The update's biggest focus was loot and BioWare says Anthem will now reward players with more drops, especially in Grandmaster difficulties where Masterworks drop rates have been increased. Gamers can now also replay specific story-based missions on a harder difficulty, but only one mission will be offered per day. Some glitches and exploits have been fixed, though, and gamers can no longer use the super glitch to get full health.

BioWare also greatly adjusted the current efficacy of Masterwork items. Masterwork-level gear now regains charges twice as fast, and nearly all of the Javelin-specific Masterwork components and gear have been massively improved. Other quality of life fixes include increased flight time, underwater hovering, and no respawn countdown interruptions.

Remedy's new game Control looks better and better every time we see it, bringing weird supernatural vibes and explosive world-bending abilities.

Today Remedy released a new gameplay trailer for its fresh IP Control, showcasing some of the game's creepy environments and world-breaking powers. In many ways Control reminds me of the crazy hijinks and all-around fun that Saints Row IV offered; in that game you could also lift objects and toss them with your mind, fly around like Superman, and gallivant around while smashing everything. But Control takes it to another level.

As Jesse Faden, gamers can wreak total havoc across the destructible in-game world, making it feel like a playground for our amusement and creative manipulation: you'll be able to float around like a goddess, turn everyday things like lamps into deadly missiles using your mind, summon broken debris as a shield, and even take over enemies' minds and turn them against each other.

Today EA confirmed it will fire around 4% of its workforce to help "streamline operations" and ready itself for further possible revenue misses.

Like Activision-Blizzard, who fired 800 personnel to help fund game development, EA is following suit with its own round of layoffs. The FIFA publisher plans to fire 350 non-game developers across its marketing, publishing, and operations teams. The idea is to trim the fat to make EA a more leaner company and lower the cost of marketing by shaving off jobs--a move that's motivated by the company's recent revenue miss. To understand why this is happening we have to look at the timeline of events that led up to the layoffs, and how they are framed.

In Q3'19, one the biggest quarters in the industry, EA missed its sales and revenue targets by as much as $116 million due to lower-than-expected Battlefield V sales, multiple game delays, and steep competition.

IO Interactive will be issuing out a brand new update for Hitman 2, the first major content drop for their Expansion Pass will add new maps and also for DX12.

The new update will include a range of fixes for Hitman 2, some of these include; motion blur settings not working, benchmark mode results displaying incorrectly, multiple monitor bugs, ultra-wide monitor bugs and some other fixes here and there. The main component of this update is the addition of the latest API from Microsoft, DirectX 12. Content wise, IO Interactive will be adding a brand new Sniper Assassin map in Hantu Port, Singapore. Additionally, there is "7 new trophies/ achievements for the Hantu Port Sniper Assassin map."

The March update for Hitman 2 will be adding support for DX12, which is said to fix the games current CPU optimization issues that are limited to DX11. In the entirety of this post you will find the full patch notes, and for further information regarding the first expansion update - visit the official Hitman 2 website here. Hitman 2 is currently available on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.