Gaming - Page 738

It has been quite some time since we have seen a brand new official Lord of the Rings game. Now a new title from Daedalic Entertainment has been announced and it will follow the precarious life of Gollum.

Daedalic Entertainment recently received the rights to create Lord of the Rings games based on the novels, the first of which is the coming 'Gollum' game. While at first, it might be assumed that since this title is coming from Daedalic Entertainment that its going to be a point-an-click adventure like some of their other titles. Instead, Daedalic Entertainment is building an action-adventure game that will follow the life of Gollum or more accurately, Smeagol.

The story will explain the life of Smeagol and how he became obsessed with The One Ring and how it transformed him into the creature we see in the movies 'Gollum'. We should see Smeagol fighting his cousin for the ring on his birthday, his isolation from his fellow hobbits due to his evil turnings once harboring the ring and perhaps even a look at Smeagol being captured by Sauron's servants and being tortured. Remember, the life of Smeagol is a sad story, it is filled with darkness and deceit with a glimmer of hope that brings pity. The action-adventure game is scheduled for release in 2021.

A new Mortal Kombat 11 trailer has been spotted through Sony's PlayStation State of Play presentation that has recently finished. The trailer showcases that players will be facing off against some Old Skool characters.

From the above trailer we can see that in Mortal Kombat 11's story, the series' characters will have to face-off against their younger selves in this very cool time travel theme that NetherRealm Studios has going on. In the trailer we see younger versions of Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Kung Lao, and Jax. At the same time as seeing the younger versions of these characters, we also get official confirmation that Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Jax will be playable characters in Mortal Kombat 11.

If you are wondering who else will be a playable character in Mortal Kombat 11, yestrday I reported on Noob Saibot and Shang Tsung also be playable characters, more on that here. The Mortal Kombat 11 beta is coming up and to get into the beta you will have to buy a copy of the game, more information can be found on that here. Mortal Kombat 11 will be available on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

An announcement has seen Electronic Arts and developers Velan Studios agree to a new publishing deal for an original IP to debut all platforms.

The news comes from a press release that was announced on the Velan Studios official Twitter account. The press release explains that Velan Studios is happy to announce that EA Partners will be taking the reins in publishing for the developers new upcoming original IP planned for all platforms. While the Velan Studios name might not be widely known, the company is was created in 2016 by Vicarious Visions founders Guha and Karthik Bala. Both of these developers worked on titles such as Guitar Hero, Skylanders, Rock Band, Super Mario Maker, Metroid Prime, Destiny, Uncharted and more.

The new IP that Velan Studios is working on was not disclosed in the press release, all we have to go off of is that the game will be a "new and entertaining way to experience team-based action" in a "unique game world". Here is what Guha Bala had to say about the announcement, "In EA Partners, we found a team devoted to bringing breakthrough ideas to players everywhere. They believe in our creative vision and will use their best-in-class resources to support the success of our game. We started Velan Studios to make community-centered play experiences that are daring and distinctive from what's being played today. We can't wait to share the details of our first original game in the future."

EA has had mega success in Apex Legends over the last month, but it's time for Battlefield V to shine with the launch its exciting new battle royale mode, Firestorm. Check out the trailer below directly from the official Battlefield Twitter account:

In what seems to celebrate the release of Firestorm, EA is dropping the base version of Battlefield V by 50% today, with the standard edition costing $30 while the deluxe edition costs $40. You'll get a bunch of extra stuff in the deluxe version of Battlefield V, which includes 5 paratrooper outfits, special assignments, and 20 weekly Airlifts with customization items. PC users will get the Firestorm ranger set, paratrooper gear, and instant access to Battlefield 1 weapons.

If you haven't read up on Firestorm, it's the new battle royale mode for Battlefield V that seems teams of players dropping down into Halvoy, a map that is 10 times bigger than Hamada, which is the biggest map in Battlefield V. Firestorm will see 64 players drop into Halvoy in either solo or 4-player squads, with the usual battle royale mode chaos ensuing.

If there's one thing that could bring more gamers together it would be a gigantic network that isn't closed off by invisible borders created because of network latency, so this is something that companies like Network Next is working on.

Earlier this year the company talked about its plans to build an 'internet fast lane' for gamers, saying that the internet in its current form is 'broken' for gamers, and I totally agree. Network Next then announced it was teaming with Rocket League developer Psyonix for its first use of its new network technology that reduced latency for gamers.

In an interview with WCCFTech, Network Next teased it is already seeing some incredible results with some gamers having their latency reduced from 120ms down to just 20ms, with their normal latency caused from a bad route to the game server. This is where Network Next's technology kicks in, but this is more of a best case scenario. Still, in its best case this is almost like magic. A normal case of Network Next's networking technology sees a 20-30ms reduction in latency, something the company explains it also reduces packet loss and jitter.

With the flurry of emotions over developers making their games exclusive to certain digital distribution platforms lately, especially with the money-making machine that is Epic Games and its newly-formed deals getting games onto the Epic Games Store. Well, Bethesda has come to its senses as you can see in the tweet below:

The publisher has announced that some of the largest games of 2019 in DOOM Eternal, RAGE 2, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot will all be released on both Steam and Bethesda.net in a move that should have gamers squealing with glee. Bethesda also confirmed that Fallout 76 would be coming to Steam "later this year".

This is great news, especially with RAGE 2 arriving on May 14 and DOOM Eternal as well as Wolfenstein: Youngblood dropping later this year.

Bethesda celebrates 25 years of Elder Scrolls by giving away the best game in the series.

Morrowind's game of the year edition is currently free on PC, but there's a catch: you have to download and install it via the Bethesda.net launcher. And it's only free for today. To get a free copy simply type the code TES25TH-MORROWIND into a myriad of redemption portals. The code wasn't working for a good portion of the day--gamers knocked the servers offline for a bit--but it now redeems the game just fine.

You can actually redeem the game without having to download the Bethesda.net launcher, instead tying it to your Beth.net account for later use. To do so simply navigate to the Bethesda.net website, log into your account, then click your profile and select Redeem Code. To unlock Morrowind from the actual PC launcher, fire up Bethesda.net, log in, and click the menu button in the upper left hand corner and select Redeem Code.

The rumors were right: Apple's new game service is a lot like Xbox Game Pass, but for iDevices.

Apple today announced Apple Arcade, an all-you-can-play game service that mirrors Microsoft's Game Pass. Apple Arcade isn't a streaming service like Google's new Stadia platform. Instead it's a monthly subscription that gives users access to over 100 games for play on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and even Apple TV boxes.

Apple Arcade isn't just a service, though: Apple is investing directly into each game's development, and every new title is carefully curated for the service. Each game will be brand new and they'll be exclusive to Apple Arcade. Only premium titles will be offered--no freemium games or microtransactions are included--and users can download games for offline play, too.

Nintendo currently plans to release two new Switch models in 2019: a new higher-end version with boosted perf and specs, and a lower-end version aimed at everyday consumers, sources tell The Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki.

Sources say that Nintendo will have a family of Switch hardware by year's end. The Switch family will feature three different variants: a low-cost model, the current $299 handheld-console hybrid SKU, and a higher-end version aimed at enthusiast gamers. This directly conflicts with Nintendo's own statements.

We've heard reports of a Switch+ and a Switch Mini for months now, which sees hardware configurations adjusted for multiple price and specification points, however Nintendo could also upgrade the Switch consoles' dock to boost graphics and in-game performance.

Kojima Productions is making big progress on its bizarre new game Death Stranding, but the game isn't yet ready to be tested and debugged.

Death Stranding is currently in a playable state, and everyone who's seen it says amazing things: the game's been described as mind-blowing and Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Voigt-Roberts went so far as to call it a miracle. Powered by Guerilla's potent Decima Engine, the Kojima's latest open-world action game has come a long way since it was announced. But it still has a long ways to go before it's ready to ship.

In a recent Tweet update, Hideo Kojima confirmed Death Stranding is starting to coalesce together into a cohesive experience. The separate parts--motion capture, action sequences, graphics, audio, lighting, etc.--are being slowly combined to make an actual game. It's not ready for testing, but Kojima says parts of the game built on PS4 devkits are now being pieced together for play on a regular PS4. This is a critical point for the game's development progress.

If Valve has its way, it may use Brain Controller Interfacing (BCI) to merge man with machine for instantaneously fluid gaming experiences.

At GDC 2019, Valve's Experimental Psychologist Michael Ambinder (yes, Valve has their own psychologist working for them) made a case for implanting an intracortical chip in a person's brain for neural gaming. This process would essentially transform a person's brain into a controller--and a receiver for tons of other Braniac-style feats like typing with your thoughts, improved memory, and greater attention spans. The idea is to use your thoughts as inputs for the game rather than button presses and mouse clicks.

It's weird even for a sci-fi novel, but Ambinder lays out some interesting points.

Perhaps we won't be waiting that long for a new version of the Nintendo Switch, as a report from the Wall Street Journal has suggested that the market will see two new models as early as this summer.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that as early as this summer we could see two new versions on the Nintendo Switch. According to WSJ, "people familiar with the matter," and also know the "parts suppliers and software developers for Nintendo who have early access to a prototype of the machine." One of the consoles are said to be for the more hardcore gamers and the second option is for more casual ones, neither of the consoles will be as powerful as the Xbox One X or PlayStation 4 Pro.

Here is what a source told the Wall Street Journal; "You would be wrong to think the enhanced version is similar to what Sony did with PS4 Pro and the other is just a cheap alternative that looks very similar to some past hand-held machines, say, Sony's PlayStation Vita." Also contained within the report was the claim that the people who have seen the new designs say they are "different from the original and you'd be surprised."

The Mortal Kombat 11 livestream that showcases the creation of Mortal Kombat 11 has revealed two returning characters, Shang Tsung and Noob Saibot.

The Mortal Kombat 11 livestream with developers NetherRealm Studios has finished and the 50 minute talk really showcased to fans how the developers go about making the game and what process they take. The developers touch on certain aspects such as the motion capping for the moves, artistic design of the characters as well as cohesive story progression. Throughout the livestream it is revealed that Noob Saibot would be making a return in Mortal Kombat 11 and that within this game there will be heavy concentration on the relationship between him and his younger brother Sub-Zero.

The livestream also revealed that Shang Tsung will be the games first DLC fighter, and will also be the players' guide when they adventure to the Kyrpt mode. Just last week I reported on the Mortal Kombat 11 beta that will be running from march 28th to March 31st, for more information on that visit this story here. Mortal Kombat 11 will launch on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC on April 23rd.

So you have just picked up Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice on the PC and you understandably dislike the 60FPS framelock, here is how to solve that problem.

Thanks to PC modder 'Jackfuste' a new mod has already been created to remove the 60FPS framerate limiter that is currently installed in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It should be noted that if users do choose to implement this mod that it could possibly cause abnormalities in-game, such as glitches, bugs and other potential issues.

Another thing to take into account before downloading and installing this mod is that different PC components and configurations could influence how successful this mod is and how much frames are generated in-game. Now that the disclaimers are over, here is the link to the download. Users can unpack Sekiro.exe using Steamless, then run the patcher and update the Sekiro.exe with the new patch.

Just a couple of days ago it was announced that a selection of Quantic Dream titles will be coming to PC, now Detroit: Become Human has had its official PC requirements detailed.

Early last week, Quantic Dream announced that they would be bringing some of the original PS4 exclusives to PC through the Epic Games Store. The announcement comes from Quantic Dream co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere, in a brand new deal with Epic Games which brings not only Detroit: Become Human but also other Quantic Dream titles Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.

Quantic Dream has updated the Detroit: Become Human listing on the Epic Games Store, it now showcases what requirements will be needed to run the former PS4 exclusive title. I have provided a screenshot of both the minimum and recommended requirements, or a link to official listing for the game can be found here. Detroit: Become Human will use the Vulkan API instead of Microsoft's DirectX 12. At the moment there is no known release date for the PC version of Detroit: Become Human.

If you thought your gaming addiction is bad, but when the game developer itself is having to impose time limits to try and stem gaming addiction? Yeah, that's when you know things are serious.

PUBG Mobile is super popular in India, so much so that gamers have been dying from playing the game too much, with other cases seeing a PUBG gamer stealing money from his family for DLC purchases. Some Indian cities went as far as banning the game over parents' concerns over their children having an addiction to the game. PUBG Mobile addiction and hysteria got so bad authorities arrested some teenagers because they were "playing the game in public".

The official Twitter account for PUBG Mobile in India tweeted that they were aware of the "Healthy Gaming System" was sending some gamers a warning that they had played the game too much (over 6 hours) and that they were banned from the game for a certain amount of time. Some gamers have said that they received warnings after 1.5 hours of playing PUBG Mobile, too.

EA is ramping up the hype for Battlefield V as the new battle royale mode Firestorm launches today, with a new 2019 roadmap that covers the next two chapters for the game in Tides of War, while teasing a third chapter.

We know that Chapter 3, Trial By Fire launches with the update on March 25 and will pack the new battle royale mode Firestorm, new Combined Arms missions, a new Mediterranean map based on the German airborne invasion of Crete, and a Hardcore mode. But that's just for now, and there are another 3 months between the Trial By Fire and Defying the Odds update in June.

DICE's new Defying the Odds update for Battlefield V will throw up a new multiple mode, and a new map that the developer teases has an "urban design [that] has been sought after by the community and should feel both familiar and fresh at the same time". There will also be a new map called Marita, which will be based on the 1940 invasion of Greece.

If there's something I've longed for in games with an aching heart it has to be leaps and bounds made in the areas of environmental destruction, something that was better realized with Red Faction, infused into hardware with PhysX (that NVIDIA ultimately acquired) and then done oh-so-well in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Since then, destruction has mostly taken a backseat with only a few good cases of it... until now. Epic Games teased during its GDC 2019 keynote its new Chaos technology which is a new system for Unreal Engine that will provide real-time "high-performance" destruction into the graphics cengine. Chaos will be made available for Unreal Engine v4.23 and above.

Epic explains that Unreal Engine developers Chaos can "achieve cinematic-quality visuals in real-time in scenes with massive-scale levels of destruction". In the video above, Epic shows off Chaos using its in-house Robo Recall, a VR shooter. The destruction realism is off the charts, and something I truly want in new games. Man, it looks great.

If you've been playing The Division 2 on the PC, you would've noticed that it's annoying to not have an adjustable FOV slider and even though the game feels and shoots incredibly well without it, it's coming in a future patch.

Ubisoft has posted on the official The Division subreddit in a new 'State of the Game' post that the team is working on multiple fixes to the game, as well as some tweaks to the game that will roll out in a future patch. The team was low on details but promised a lot of things are coming with a small list of things arriving in the next server and client updates to The Division 2.

The team said that there are other features planned for The Division 2 but they "don't have a date" for the update on these changes. But this is what we can expect in an update for The Division 2 in the near future:

CD Projekt RED is going all out with Cyberpunk 2077, and it'll be full of meaningful, deep side quests to tackle.

One of the best things about The Witcher 3 was the huge variety of side quests it offered. These weren't just distractions to keep you playing; they were mini story arcs that had interesting outcomes and colored the world. But with Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt RED will overshadow The Witcher 3 in every way--especially when it comes to branching paths.

Night City is a living, breathing world full of dynamic, radiant AI and reactive environments that make the game feel alive. These side quests will offer one such avenue for reactivity and give gamers lots of freedom and choice.