Gaming - Page 774

Metro Exodus will be one of the best-looking games when its released early next year, with developer 4A Games and publisher Deep Silver getting into the holiday spirit with some new screenshots that provide us with a closer look at some enemies and NPCs.

There are three different characters include heavy weapons specialist Stephan, medic Kazakhstani, and former US embassy guard Sam. You can see them in the above, and below screenshots. The detail on these characters is pretty damn high, but whether we'll see that quality in-game is another question. The assets do look incredible however, and now I want to see them running with RTX features on NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

The other screenshots from Metro Exodus include a new spider that looks like its from my nightmares (and I live in Australia, so I'm used to big spiders) as well as a huge mutated bear who looks like he's ready to not just destroy you and the building behind you.

It was barely 24 hours ago that I wrote up a story about Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console and the teased 8K 120FPS display shown off, but now we have a tease that the PS5 will be capable of real-time ray tracing just like NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX family of graphics cards.

Fast forward to 7:20 or so for the real-time ray tracing part of the video.

Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital had a technology demo it showed off during SIGGRAPH Asia 2018 a couple of days ago, where it had cars and assets built for Gran Turismo, done with real-time ray tracing. The demo is definitely impressive, like previous things we've seen running on the new $1199 graphics card in the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti in games like Battlefield V.

Outside of the Souls-meets-Tenchu Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and its mysterious VR title Deracine, From Software is working on multiple new games.

From Software has at least two unannounced projects in development, company president Hidetaka Miyazaki told Japanese site 4Gamer. We already know one of these games is a new entry in the Armored Core franchise that the studio confirmed in 2017, but since it hasn't been formally announced yet it still counts.

"While it isn't the time to discuss details, they're both [From Software]-esque games," Miyazaki said, as translated by Gematsu. "We'll need a little more time, but we'll be able to tell everyone more about them once they take shape."

343 Industries is learning a lot from Halo 5's mistakes, and wants to make Halo 6 a more intimate journey for new and old fans alike.

One of my biggest problems with Halo 5 is that it felt so impersonal. I didn't feel like I was on an epic sci-fi conquest beyond the stars like before, nor did I feel like a hero embattled in a near-hopeless war against a merciless foe. That personal connection, which 343i actually fostered with Halo 4, was severed. But the devs want to reverse this by adding more connective tissue between gamers and the next big Halo experience.

In a recent Mixer stream, 343 Industries devs affirmed that their major goal with Halo 6 (also known as Halo: Infinite) is to bring back that old magic and build up that personal relationship again. "We have a lot of things we're thinking about with Halo 6. But at the highest level, we want to make a game that's inviting," said studio FPS head Chris Lee. "We want to bring in the Halo community and we want to look at ways we can bring in more folks and make a great experience for everyone."

A French storefront lists The Witcher 3 for Nintendo Switch, fueling speculation that the masterful RPG will cross over to the handheld realm.

CD Projekt RED's magnum opus could be coming to Nintendo's popular Switch handheld-hybrid console, at least if a new product listing on French distributor WT&T is accurate. Predictably enough the listing is vague and has no actual information, no cover or box art, and a placeholder 2019 launch date. The game also doesn't have a European Article Number (EAN code). Given the massive effort needed to scale down The Witcher 3's breadth of content and fidelity onto the Switch, we think this is a mix up.

Now it does make sense to bring The Witcher 3 to Switch from a business perspective, at least insofar as sales. CD Projekt RED has spent an enormous amount of money developing Cyberpunk 2077, and has re-released The Witcher 3 on all platforms alongside the Gwent service game and a new Thronebreaker game to help fund costs (CDPR also has GoG.com too). Developers typically re-release remasters and ports of older more successful games while other projects are being made to help mitigate potential losses in the years-long interim of no new game launches.

Pokemon Go creator Niantic just received a $200 million investment, bringing its total valuation to nearly $4 billion dollars, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Driven by a dynamic engagement cycle that sees millions blending their real life and gaming interactions, AR mobile sensation Pokemon Go has made $2 billion since releasing in 2016 and remains a juggernaut in the gaming space. Investors are keen to continue riding the Pokemon Go wave and are banking strongly on the game's future, and various firms and even companies like Samsung are chipping in.

This swell is likely catalyzed in part by the success of Nintendo's new Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee duo of games for the Switch handheld-console hybrid. Both games can connect to Pokemon Go and players can transfer their captured creatures back and forth.

With its huge wealth of shoot-and-loot mechanics and combos, BioWare's new service game Anthem will have plenty of engaging combat to keep players entertained.

As a live game, Anthem is built around a core tenant: keep everyone playing for as long as possible. This means lots of small hooks to extend playtime. Anthem will have a galaxy of items and gear to collect, but more importantly it gives players a lot of flexibility and freedom to actually use said gear in specific situations. We know that along with dishing out serious chaos to enemies, weapons and gear can actually prime and trigger devastating elemental combos in Anthem, which gives your nice new toys a practical and immediate use. But it's actually deeper than that.

Each Javelin mech--Ranger, Interceptor, Colossus and Storm--has their own unique combo effects to add maximum strategic planning and brings a new dimension to how players can plot out their parties. This also means gamers can potentially chain these combos to deal extensive havoc to their foes.

Bethesda's judgement isn't without mercy, and cheaters who want to get back into Fallout 76 have to do some homework.

Like any live service keeper, Bethesda guards Fallout 76's shaky online framework from cheating via metrics and detection. The company has swung the banhammer on a few suspected cheaters who allegedly use third-party mods and file edits to give them an unfair advantage. But according to YouTuber JuiceHead, who found multiple instances of the incidents on Twitter, some claim Fallout 76's anti-cheat detection is as faulty as the game itself, and that they were banned for simply using visual enhancement mods that don't affect the economics or mechanics of the game.

Whether or not Bethesda is banning cheaters or earnest modders (or both) remains unclear. The company clearly outlined that unauthorized third-party software violates its terms of service and is a punishable offense. But there's a way out: write a 500-word essay detailing why cheating is bad and submit it to Bethesda, as if it were your high school English teacher.

On the back of Fortnite's megalithic success, Epic Games has made $3 billion in profit in 2018, sources tell TechCrunch.

Fortnite's monetization is making Epic Games billions, but one source claims the company raked in $3 billion in profit this year, which is incredible. There's a lot to unpack from this statement so let's take a closer look. First off, Epic is privately held so it doesn't divulge quarterly or yearly earnings figures, which means we don't know for sure how much they're actually making. Secondly, Epic doesn't just make money from Fortnite (but Fortnite is a big breadwinner). It licenses the Unreal games engine and asset tools out to developers and publishers, and soon it'll make recurring revenues from full game sales on the new Epic Games Store.

But the most important bit of context around the $3 billion in profit comment surrounds what type of profit it actually is. Is it operating profit or gross profit? Gross profit is total revenues minus costs of goods sold, whereas operating profit is total earnings left over after a company subtracts expenses like wages, marketing, live service upkeep, etc. from gross profit. So operating profit is always smaller than gross profit.

It looks like things are rather glim for Blizzard where according to a new report from Kotaku, the developer of massive fan favorites like Diablo, World Warcraft and Overwatch, is offering its developers money to leave the company as part of a company-wide cost-cutting program called "Career Crossroads".

Kotaku staff member Jason Schreier spoke with an anonymous Blizzard source that confirmed Career Crossroads, a program that allowed certain developers to leave the company with a chunk of cash in their pocket. This is a way for the developer to provide its staff with a way out of the company instead of being fired, or having to quit when they look around and see the place crumbling.

The insider said: "We have had a completely voluntary and long-standing program in various locations around the world that gives eligible staff the option to make the most of incentives while proactively pursuing other career opportunities. No one is required or encouraged to participate in the program, but for those who do, we work hard to make it generous".

Jack Black is a freaking legend, involved in so many industries that has spanned Hollywood in both TV and movies, as well as the music industry witeh the greatest band of all time: Tenacious D.

Black has announced a new YouTube channel called "Jablinski" where he will be talking about all things games, food, and life. What I love is that Black's pinned comment from a couple of days ago is in reference to my favorite game of all time: Overwatch. Black said: "I just want to clarify that there is no production behind this. this is all my son. He's holding me hostage and I can't be tracer. help...".

It will be Black's son that is handling the production, directing and editing his Dad behind the scenes (which as a father of two, I think is super awesome). Black will upload a video every single week, and with his sense of humor and no shame, I think he'll go far - hell, he's already giving a dig to YouTube mega star PewDiePie. It has barely been a week and Jablinski has 576,000 subscribers already.

Sony's PlayStation Classic apparently isn't selling too well, and has been discounted quite a bit over the holidays.

The PlayStation Classic hasn't even been out a month yet and it's already dropped down to $59.99, about 40% below its original costly $99.99 MSRP. Retailers like BestBuy, Walmart, and Amazon are all selling the retro mini-console at a steep discount.

The system was widely panned by critics for its lackluster library of 20 pre-loaded games, almost half of which are PAL region based, and poor performance caused by frame-rate drops.

Free-to-play mobile games are fraught with ways to spend money, but like millions of parents out there, SuperData analyst Joost van Dreunen is concerned how this is affecting kids.

In a recent email newsblast, of which typically have wise insight on the games industry, SuperData's Joost van Dreunen had a few choice words about over-monetized mobile games. These titles, which typically target kids and younger gamers, help churn mobile gaming's billion-dollar wheel of microtransaction revenues with invasive, often manipulative tactics. Progress is often interrupted or even held ransom unless users spend a dollar here or two dollars here, creating a self-sustaining loop of instant gratification vs. having to wait (hence the "freemium isn't free" argument.).

"The current offering of kids games has a glaring problem in terms of how they connect kids with suitable content. The issue, as I see it, is two-fold: first, there's a sobering amount of overly aggressive in-app monetization going on," van Dreunen wrote in the newsletter.

Discord secures a big $150 million investment to help bolster its storefront plans.

The PC game storefront wars have begun. Industry titans like Epic Games (Fortnite) and Discord (the massively popular social app) are now opening up their own digital game stores to compete with Steam. While it doesn't have Fortnite's billions, Discord is a strong force and just raised a substantial $150 million in capital, bringing the company's valuation to over $2 billion. Discord has managed to raise $200 million for its various business ventures in 2018.

Multiple companies contributed to the funding round including Chinese juggernaut Tencent, and other equity firms like IVP, Index Ventures, Greenoaks Capital, Firstmark, and Technology Opportunity Partners. Discord aims to use this revenue to bolster its digital store plans, which aims to attract developers with a substantial 90-10 earnings split in devs' favor.

Microsoft is working on multiple new Xbox consoles in its next-gen Scarlett family of systems, including a mid- and enthusiast-grade console. But what kind of performance can we expect? Maybe 4K 240FPS?

Official details about Microsoft's new next-gen Xbox family are scarce. Sources say the higher-end system will be outfitted with AMD's powerful new Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU architectures to surpass the Xbox One X's 4K 60FPS perf, similar to the tech that should power Sony's PlayStation 5. How much more powerful will the Scarlett Xbox system be than the Xbox One X? No one knows for sure, but one analyst tossed around an interesting figure: 4K 240FPS.

In a recent interview with Gamingbolt, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter discussed the new Xbox family and attached huge perf to the top-tier model. "So I think there will be a streaming device, like a $100 Xbox console that doesn't run in 4K or 240 frames per second. And then I think there will be a more expensive $400 console that supports 4K, 240 FPS, virtual reality. I don't know if there will be 'models'. I don't think you're going to get completely different devices," Pachter said in the interview.

Anthem's weapons can be outfitted with components that set up and detonate elemental combos.

Combos are an essential part to any BioWare game, whether it be the strategic power combos in Mass Effect or the devastating skill combos in Dragon Age. Anthem might be an online-only shooter that breaks BioWare's tradition of squad-based RPGs, but it'll feature combos in a more dynamic and varied way than other games. Like Mass Effect, gamers can prime and detonate combos with weapons and abilities, albeit in a wider capacity.

In a recent Anthem stream BioWare devs Jon Warner, Mike Gamble, and Ben Irving showed off some gameplay and discussed these combos. Equip-able weapons can apparently be infused with elemental effects to trigger combos. This means players can trade-out weapons and gear to dramatically transform their roles and effectiveness in battle, adding that familiar level of BioWare strategy to the action game.

BioWare's latest Anthem stream shows off a nice chunk of gameplay, showing a sense of fast-paced shooter chaos to the new IP.

EA's big new service game Anthem has been in development at BioWare since 2013. It's an online action-based RPG shooter that blends multiple genres and ultimately aims to take on games like Destiny. The game, which is a PVE-only co-op driven shoot-and-looter, gives players Iron Man-esque mech suits called Javelins to fly in and adds freedom and verticality to each fight. A new 27 minute stream shows off what we can expect from Anthem, and I have to say it looks pretty good.

BioWare's Mike Gamble, Jon Warner, and Ben Irving take control of Anthem's three main Javelin classes--Storm, Interceptor, and Colossus--and blast through a higher-level stronghold area. The footage centers around the Interceptor's ninja-like speed and reflexes, and in many cases I was reminded of NiOh's excellent sword-slashing prowess. The combat looks fun, if not a bit arcade-y in the sense that you're essentially shooting tons of adds and enemies, but the Interceptor has nifty jumps, dashes, and a feline grace to its melee attacks that looks oh-so-satisfying.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 is an online-only game that fits perfectly into Ubisoft's digital-focused engagement strategy.

BG&E2 is Ubisoft's biggest game to date. It's a sprawling, galactic RPG with action-driven combat that brings a sense of interstellar anarchy by blending Grand Theft Auto's anti-authority vehicular chaos with No Man's Sky's massive scope. Everything we've seen about the co-op game indicates it'll be a strong pillar in Ubisoft's growing games-as-a-service business model, so it's no surprise that it'll require a persistent internet connection to play

You'll need to be online whether you play singleplayer or with a friend or friends in co-op, Ubisoft confirms. This is par for the course when it comes to live games as it gives developers real-time access to valuable metrics and arms them with the power to continually tweak, modify, and balance the game world with patches. This also of course means it'll be monetized in some way, and we're curious what the game's microtransactions will be like.

EA should start monetizing Battlefield V in January 2019, giving three months to rack up earnings before its fiscal year ends in March.

Battlefield V's premium microtransaction currency should go live on January 18, 2019, recent Amazon store listings indicate. EA and DICE wisely chose not to monetize Battlefield V at launch and instead organically drive engagement with events and content to gauge the proper way to actually drive the digital business model. Although sales are weaker than Battlefield 1, this tactic could work quite well in the long run, which is what EA's always planning for.

The currency, which is used to buy optional cosmetic items to customize characters in the Company hub, will be priced similar to Battlefront II's crystals.

Bethesda is giving the original Fallout PC games to everyone who played their online-only atomic bomb.

Fallout 76 might be a badly-optimized mess, but Bethesda wants to mop up its nuclear waste with some holiday cheer. That's why it's giving out the original Fallout cRPGs--Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel--for free to anyone who's played Fallout 76 this year. Anyone who refunded the game will apparently get the gift too, as any players who logged into the game in 2018 will get codes (even PS4 and Xbox One players).

This isn't the first time classic Fallout games were attached to '76. Bethesda gave out these same games to anyone who pre-ordered the game before a certain period. These legacy games are only available on Steam and Gog.com and are coincidentally on sale for $2.50 a piece, so they won't be locked to the Bethesda.net framework.