Gaming - Page 739

Due to strong controversy, Activision-Blizzard's monetization further shifts away from paid lootboxes in favor of a more direct buy-what-you-want system.

Lootboxes are quite vilified in gaming communities, but they earn companies like Activision-Blizzard billions upon billions every year (it made $5.24 billion from microtransactions in 2018). All of Activision-Blizzard's big games are typically monetized with online hooks baked into its live games. Blizzard is changing, though, and at least one of its games is switching off paid lootboxes.

As outlined in recent patch notes, Heroes of the Storm will no longer have gambling-style lootboxes that gamers can buy with real money. "Loot chests are no longer available for Gem purchase," the update reads (gems are premium currency that can be purchased with cash). The game will instead only let players use gems buy heroes, cosmetics, and other loot directly from the store, removing that key randomized element that makes the company so much money every year.

Contrary to previous reports, Apple's new game service won't be based around cloud streaming. Instead Apple is taking pages from Microsoft's playbook.

Apple is slowly shifting into a service-oriented company, and gaming will be a big part of this focus. According to Bloomberg, the Cupertino-based tech titan isn't making a game-streaming service like Google's new Stadia platform. Apple's gaming service will be a premium subscription that's a lot like Xbox Game Pass, which gives users access to a pool of titles for a monthly fee.

Sources say Apple will only let higher-end paid games on its new service, not freemium microtransaction-ridden titles. Apple is expected to neatly wrap up the best App Store games in a subscription for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. A unique revenue sharing incentive is also included: the more time gamers spend in a particular game, the more money Apple gives them.

Thanks to the efforts of Katalash's Mod Engine, Sekiro now has easy mod support.

Any PC game is better with mods--they open up a new world of customization and allow players to tailor-make their own experiences--and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the new hard-as-nails From Software release, is no different. Sekiro players can now use the newly created Mod Engine to conveniently inject all kinds of goodies into the game including the Moonlight Greatsword from Dark Souls, graphical enhancements like reshade tweaks and HDR presets, and the ultra-helpful PS4 button prompts that bring that authenticity for DualShock 4 users.

The Sekiro Mod Engine essentially replace game-dependent files without having to extract tons of data. Users can easily load up the Nexus Mod Manager and import mods right into the game itself with a few clicks.

Hello Games boss Sean Murray gives a rare, candid talk on No Man's Sky's successes, failures, and how the team kept hope.

Few games have a comeback story like No Man's Sky. The game launched in 2016 to explosive hype that quickly plummeted when gamers realized the tedious, often-frustrating mechanics. There was no multiplayer, no cohesion, no centrality to it at all--the experience was about getting lost in a kind of cosmic loneliness (as we noted in our review). It felt like a bait-and-switch and players weren't given the game they had been promised. This led to months of ridicule and lambasting, but rather than give up, Hello Games took everything in and kept working.

With determination, they turned everything around, releasing six major patches in two years that dramatically changed the game. And they did it all for free.

As its competitors embrace more open-ended platforms and adopt future-thinking strategies, Sony's grip on the walled-garden PlayStation approach is about to get even tighter.

According to a leaked memo sent to GameStop, Sony will no longer sell digital PlayStation Network game keys to third-party retailers starting April 1, 2019. This likely includes online shops like Amazon, Best Buy, and even Green Man Gaming.

If this memo is genuine, gamers will have to buy digital PS4 games directly from Sony and won't be able to purchase them at discounted rates from external sellers. This includes pre-orders as well as post-launch purchases.

Epic Games divulged some impressive numbers at a GDC 2019 panel, but there's more than meets the eye.

According to Epic's internal metrics, the Epic Store is hope to 85 million users who peruse, shop at, and play on the digital storefront. There's a catch to these figures, though. The Epic Store is entwined with the Epic Games Launcher that millions of gamers use to start up and play Fortnite on PC. So the real question is: how many of the 85 million are active users, how many are shoppers, and how many of them are playing games other than Fortnite? Plus how many of them made an Epic Store account just to nab the monthly free games?

Epic goes on to say that 40% of these users don't actually have Steam. That means 34 million PC gamers who're registered with the Epic Store don't have Steam, or they lied on the survey. Again, I'm wondering how many of these users are active, and if they're playing Fortnite. The devs aren't done just yet; surveys also say 58% of the userbase, or 49.3 million gamers, have Steam but they don't use it regularly.

Google's new Stadia platform promises a new era accessibility and convenience, but it's not as open as you'd think.

Google hopes to revolutionize the industry with its new Stadia game streaming service. Using powerful AMD-built servers with 10 TFLOPs of compute power, Stadia will beam high-end AAA games to devices that aren't able to run them otherwise such as mobile phones, laptops, desktops, and even TVs. There's no downloads or patches: Stadia can wirelessly serve games natively in Google Chrome. Consumers will even be able to launch games in seconds directly from YouTube videos, or shared Tweets, emails, and Discord chats. But there's some restrictions and requirements outside of a high-end Wi-Fi connection, at least for right now.

Stadia works differently on each device. The Wi-Fi game streaming service currently doesn't work with all Android phones, only Google's newer Pixel models (it may not even work with competing iOS handsets, although Google asserts Stadia will come to iOS and Mac). Game streaming to a Chrome browser is apparently only available for laptops and desktops.

The Microsoft-Nintendo relationship could get very interesting from a development standpoint, and the Switch could benefit tremendously from Xbox technology.

At GDC 2019, one sharp-eyed Reset Era user spotted something interesting at Microsoft's PlayFab booth: a Nintendo Switch handheld. Microsoft is making big waves to arm devs with more cohesive packaged toolsets to make games, services, and content with. It just released Game Stack, which brings Xbox LIVE to Android and iOS devices (and likely Switch), and now it wants to bring a new feature called PlayFab Party to Nintendo's popular handheld-console hybrid.

Microsoft acquired PlayFab, a cloud infrastructure, back in 2018 to help bolster its growing roster of services and live games. The Azure-powered system has evolved since then with new content including PlayFab Party, which bakes in key online features like voice chatting, matchmaking, voice-to-text, and servers and lobbies.

Brace Yourself Games, the devs behind Crypt of the Necrodancer, are making a groovin' action game in the Zelda series.

Nintendo is typically fiercely protective over its IPs--sometimes to a fault--so when it lets an indie studio create a game in something as big as the Zelda series, it says a lot. Introducing Cadence of Hyrule, a new spritely beat-based adventure set in the mystical land of Hyrule. The game is very much like Crypt of the Necrodancer but with a fantasy twist: not only does it take place in that beloved world of yore with its castles, moblins, armos knights, and fearsome bosses, but Link and Zelda are playable characters. And they both have some serious moves.

Cadence of Hyrule features 25 randomly generated dungeons and a shifting overworld to match, complete with unique movesets, weapons, items, and content found in The Legend of Zelda franchise. Since indies are a huge hit on the Switch, this move lets Nintendo earn some cash via licensing, create more brand awareness for its core franchises, and help promote a strong indie in the process.

BioWare's big new IP sold quite well on PS4 and Xbox One at launch, but its long-term monetization could falter.

To survive, all live service games need to correctly monetize their audiences. Whether it be with lootboxes, cosmetics or even subscriptions (or a combination of all three), these online-only experiences need continual funding to make them worthwhile in publishers' eyes. Companies like EA and Activision-Blizzard put up tens of millions to create the games and they expect profits over time. Anthem follows this same requisite path, but BioWare's new game may have a have a longevity problem.

According to latest stats from analyst firm SuperData, Anthem made $100 million in digital revenue on PS4 and Xbox One. But only $3.5 million, or 3.5% of that sum, is earned from its optional cosmetic microtransactions on two platforms that are specifically geared towards monetization. This is actually impressive for launch figures. But the real issue is that these earnings probably won't remain consistent. They're likely the result of the launch-hype spurt. Anthem's litany of problems have pushed gamers to other titles like The Division 2, and the game is already at a critical re-engagement point--most service games take 3-5 months before fragmentation arises.

During 2019's Game Developers Conference, Nintendo revealed the top 10 best-selling indie games on the Nintendo Switch.

If you own a Nintendo Switch then you understand that Indie titles at absolutely imperative to the handheld console. The portability of the console makes for some of the games mentioned here to be just that much better, as Nintendo Switch users can enjoy them whenever and wherever they so choose.

The list is in no particular order, nor do we have any confirmation to how many copies each of the titles mentioned have sold. The list consists of the following titles; Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Overcooked 2, Undertale, Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, Graceful Explosion Machine, Celeste, Golf Store, Overcooked!. Each of the titles mentioned here come with their own respective merits and certainly have lived up to expectations from the community.

Ubisoft has issued out the official Assassin's Creed III Remastered PC specifications, detailing what is required to run the coming remastered title.

The requirements have been released onto the official Ubisoft blog through a post that details the minimum and recommended PC specifications. Since the Assassin's Creed III Remastered features a new graphics engine that can support HDR and 4K textures, players may need more higher-end PC components to enjoy the title in all its glory.

In the entirety of this post I have provided both the minimum and recommended PC requirements for hitting certain resolutions at specific framerates. Assassin's Creed III Remastered will be released on March 29th for PC and consoles. The Nintendo Switch version is planned for about a month later, will release on May 21st. For more information, visit the official Ubisoft website here.

A Twitch streamer posed a monumental task to himself, 'beating all the Soulsborne games without taking a single hit'. Long story short, he did it and hugged his dog shortly afterwards.

Fancy deciding to not only beat one Souls game without taking a hit, but instead taking on five of them, and if you take any form of damage that isn't self-imposed you restart back at the first game. Well, that is exactly what The Happy Hob decided to do in what he has called the "God Run" of all of the Dark Souls games, Demon Souls and Bloodborne.

The Happy Hob beat the games in this order; Bloodborne, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 3. The full five-game roulette took the streamer over 16 hours to complete, the final moments are captured in the above video. We can see the last remaining 47 seconds of the Dark Souls III final boss fight, after Hob beats the boss he lets out a well deserved cry "Soulsborne no-hit run! We did it!". Shortly afterwards he begins to cry with happiness and hugs his dog. Now that is pure a mechanical god if I have ever seen one.

Cuphead, the indie hit success has had its co-creator voice his desires of having both Cuphead and Mugman joining the Super Smash Bros Ultimate fighting roster.

After yesterdays announcement of Cupheads coming to the Nintendo Switch with Mircosoft's Xbox LIVE features, some more information has come out from the games co-creator. While at 2019's Game Developers Conference, GameInformer got a chance to speak with Nintendo's Manager of Publisher and developer relations, Kirk Scott. Scott was also joined by Cuphead's co-creator, Jared Moldenhauer and they begun to discuss the possibility of Cuphead's joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster.

Here is what Moldenhauer had to say about the matter; "I've dreamed of Smash Bros. [Cuphead and Mugman] belong in there. So basically if fans want it, I couldn't see how Nintendo wouldn't want the fans to get what they wanted. I think they would because they support their fans a lot . . . So if Nintendo was keeping their fans happy, then I'd be more than pleased to make that the easiest transition. Just a piece of paper, we don't need anything. You can have those characters make an appearance."

The official beta trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 has been released, it showcases what playable fighters will available in the beta and the dates for how long the beta will be.

Mortal Kombat 11 developers, NetherRealm Studios have released the beta trailer onto their official Mortal Kombat YouTube Channel. Beta access will only be available to those who have pre-ordered a full copy of Mortal Kombat 11. From the above video we can see that 5 fighters will be available for those get to get their hands-on the next legendary fighting game.

Players will be able to step into the shoes of the following 5 fighters; Scorpion, Skarlet, Jade, Kabal and Baraka. Each of the characters will have many custom character variants. My first thought after watching this was where is Scorpions counter-part - Sub Zero? And why did they leave him out? A shame really, as I assumed these two always come as a pair. Beta players will also have access to the Klassic Tower mode. The Mortal Kombat 11 closed beta will be running from March 28th - 31st. To pre-order a copy of Mortal Kombat 11, check out the official website here.

Microsoft is making a digital-only Xbox that's designed as a low-cost gateway to its lucrative services, and sources say it'll release in May.

Sources tell Windows Central that Microsoft's digital-only Xbox One S (dubbed the rather awful Xbox One S All-Digital Edition) will release May 7, 2019. The system will come with a 1TB hard drive and three first-party games that're all designed for long-term monetization: Forza Horizon 3, Sea of Thieves, and Minecraft. The games won't be pre-loaded and must be downloaded with codes.

The new disc-less system is Microsoft's attempt to push gamers permanently into its billion-dollar digital empire. The console isn't an underpowered box though: it has the exact same slim frame as the retail Xbox One S, and the exact same specs. It's not a hardware refresh. The only thing that's different is its missing disc drive, and a lower retail cost. Nothing's been confirmed, but we expect the digital-only Xbox One S to retail for $150 or thereabouts.

Unlike Steam with its laissez faire policies, Epic Games says it won't let just any game onto its platform. Your game has to be good to show up on the Epic Store.

Epic has caught lots of flak for its exclusivity deals that pulled major PC games like The Division 2, Metro: Exodus, and more recently Control and The Other Worlds from Steam. The latter three had been pre-orderable on Steam for months before the switch, leading many to consider the Epic Store as anti-consumer.

Why the jump to a fledgling platform? The Epic Store is built on the Epic Launcher, which engages Fortnite's 250 million-strong userbase. Plus there's a nice monetary incentive. Publishers and devs are enticed by the Epic Store's 88% revenue split, but that offer won't extend to all games.

Steam's library pane is about to be get more visually appealing and user-friendly.

As Epic's new storefront aims to copy Steam's best features, Valve too wants to evolve Steam's look and feel. At GDC 2019, the games titan gave a preview of what Steam's new library UI will look like. The visuals are more reminiscent of Twitch's games launcher interface and have panes for each game. There's a recent games section, one for updates, and vertical slices for your complete library. It's pleasing to the eyes compared to Steam's current UI setup.

New Steam features include an advanced search option that lets you type in tags like "RPG" or "shooter" to narrow down your games. This will be helpful for those with massive backlogs. We may even be able to make custom columns to sort and clump games together.

By bringing AAA games to any device without downloads or console purchases, Google's new Stadia streaming service wants to disrupt the world of gaming. But there's one feature that really stands out as a social game-changer: save state sharing.

Google Stadia makes some big promises. The company wants to stream high-def PC-quality games to phones, laptops and TVs in 2019. But what about engagement? Any digital platform needs strong engagement to keep players "stuck" to the network. Google has a plan for that, too. It'll use its potent YouTube framework to create easy clip sharing and broadcasts--subscribers can even launch games right from a YouTube trailer.

But that's not it. Stadia will let users share their in-game moments in a different way with state share. Here's how it works: Let's say you beat a tough boss, and want to challenge a friend to beat your progress or your time. You can create a link to your singleplayer game save and share with a friend, who can click it and enter your game session remotely.

Tencent, the world's largest video games company, today announced its full year earnings for 2018...and they're absolutely massive.

Tencent is one of the most diverse, powerful, and unique companies on the planet. There's a lot of moving parts to its business, and Tencent has fingers in many pies--its wide net of mobile franchises, social media platforms, and investment stakes in games-makers like Epic Games (Fortnite) and Riot Games (League of Legends) always makes for tremendous billions-strong cashflows. This year is no different.

In 2018, Tencent earned a total revenue of $45.56 billion across all segments, the company revealed in its latest earnings report. That's a mighty 35% year-over-year increase, a direct result of Tencent's move to "step up" its investments across the board.