Gaming - Page 777

One of Capcom's longest running hero's is undoubtedly Mega Man, and even though many gamers now-days may only recognize him from the recently released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, our blue hero has made an achievement all by himself.

According to Capcom's financial data which dates back to September, the Mega Man Legacy Collection which released back in 2015 and was re-released onto the Nintendo Switch earlier this year has now finally reached 1 million units sold. This is quite an achievement for the Blue Bomber as it has been 15 years since a Mega Man title has reached this many units sold, especially considering that there is over 50 games on a multitude of systems.

For some comparison statistics, the other Mega Man titles that reached 1 million sales are: Mega Man 2. Mega Man 3, Mega Man X and Mega Man Battle Network 4. The highest selling Mega Man game to be released by Capcom is 1988's Mega Man 2 which was released back on Nintendo Entertainment System and raked in 1.51 million units. The latest installment into the Mega Man franchise is Mega Man 11 and that title is available across all platforms.

Mario has got to be one of the most legendary and influential video game characters ever created. Being up there with other legendary characters such as Pac-Man and Sonic The Hedgehog, the voice of Mario is certainly one of the aspects most people remember him for and now it has been solidified in history with an award.

Charles Martinet is the voice actor for our favorite plumber and has recently Tweeted a photo of himself receiving a record certificate for entry into the Guinness World Record. The record that has been achieved my Martinet comes under the category for "most video game voiceover performances as the same character".

The release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pushed the total number of voiceovers for Martinet to a massive mark of 100, making him the leading video game voice actor for a specific iconic character. Martinet thanks both Guinness and also Nintendo for the opportunity to receive achievement. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

We are all waiting on the edge of our seats for details about Hideo Kojima's extremely interesting title Death Stranding, and now another tease has been released. God of War's director Cory Barlog has confirmed the existence of available demo.

The news has come from Hideo Kojima's Twitter post regarding the current celebration of the third year of Kojima Productions. The independent development studio was created back on the 16th of December, 2016 and to celebrate its anniversary the studios Hideo Kojima wrote an inspirational post about expressive creation. The post references one of the reasons Kojima continues to make games and content despite what some of his peers were telling him to do; "there're ppl out there waiting for your work so keep creating for them".

God of War director Cory Barlog joined in on the celebration as well, congratulating Kojima for his efforts and said he is looking forward to all that the director has to create. Within the Twitter thread a question was posed to Barlog from Rodrigo Zanotta, it read "Just between you and me @corybarlog , you watched a private gameplay of Death Stranding didn't you?", Barlog answered with a simple "Yes." This confirms that they is a playable demo state of Death Stranding other than the walkthrough one we already saw at this years E3. At the moment there is no release date for Death Stranding but it will only be exclusive to PlayStation 4.

At the moment Capcom is hosting their Capcom Cup and it seems that a new Street Fighter V character announcement was planned for the even. An image has leaked online and has revealed the characters appearance and name.

The leak comes from what GameSpot are claiming to be a new update that some people have received ahead of schedule. The update contains what seems to be the new character called Kage. From the above image from Twitter user DatFeetLee, Kage can be found in the first character window in the character select menu.

The Capcom Cup tournament is on at the time of writing this picking up quite a lot of traction on Twitch.tv, the Grandfinal has so far raked in a stable 64,000 viewers. It could be a possibility that Capcom are planning to reveal multiple characters at the event and that this leak is just one "accident" to build some hype for the other reveals.

Red Dead Online's new microtransactions are now live, and if you want to buy everything outright it'll cost you the equivalent of two PS4's.

It's no surprise that Red Dead Online, Red Dead Redemption 2's online mode, is monetized in a similar fashion to GTA Online. After all, GTA Online has pulled in over $1 billion and remains a top earner for Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar. Red Dead Online lets players buy a premium currency called gold that can quickly unlock items and gear, or earn it for free at a slower pace by playing the game.

Based on current numbers players can earn a gold bar every two hours. Unlocking everything in the store with gold costs about 2,134 gold bars, as per Forbes' calculations. But what if you want to just buy everything right away with real money? Let's take a look at the easiest possible route to buy that much gold. Rockstar current sells gold in five tiers ranging from $10 for 25 bars to $100 for 350, and of course this last one gets you the most bang for your buck. So 2,134 divided by 350 is roughly 6.09, meaning you'd have to spend $600 to buy six 350 gold bundles to unlock everything.

Fallout 76's launch has been mired in controversy and poor decisions, but adding more microtransactions this early would be a death sentence.

Like all service games, Fallout 76 needs to follow a very particular sequence that revolves around full game sales, engagement, and monetization. This billion-dollar cycle takes the utmost care and dedication to get right, a balancing act that requires diligence and intense risk-management. It's a linear sequence with steps, so one wrong step up the ladder could send the whole thing crashing down. This is what will happen if Bethesda adds more monetization options in an already badly-designed service game.

But who says Fallout 76 will get extra microtransactions? In a recent YongYea video I discovered that Reddit sleuths have uncovered some potential hints in the source code for the game's recent update. The code mentions lunchboxes, which have users concerned Fallout 76 is getting more spending opportunities. Lunchboxes are lootbox-style pails that are monetized in Bethesda's free-to-play Fallout Shelter and contain random rewards like guns, items, and more. It's believed that lunchboxes could make their way into Fallout 76 in a similar fashion, albeit in a more limited cosmetic sense as the game is only monetized via cosmetic microtransactions and not those that actually affect gameplay.

Blizzard is dialing back its rapid development of Heroes of the Storm so it can focus on bigger games.

In a bid to change direction and push onward to potentially better things, Blizzard has cancelled Heroes of the Storm's eSports tournaments and is shifting some resources from the live game. The company announced the decision earlier this week, which sees Blizzard slowing down the game's updates and content rollouts. Heroes of the Storm isn't dying but is instead being stretched more thin across a longer period of time. New characters and events will still happen, the devs say.

This is nothing new for the games industry. Months before a game is finalized or even shipped, whole dev teams typically begin work on the next project. Live games that stagnate or lose their money-making potential follow a similar pattern as developers hop to other teams to work on new games. And we know Blizzard is working on a number of unannounced projects, including Diablo 4.

Sony's PlayStation 4 has sold-in more than 88 million consoles worldwide, sales tracker VG Chartz reports.

According to the latest stats, Sony's PlayStation 4 family of systems has now sold-in 88.05 million units globally since 2013 and dethroned the PS3's lifetime sales of 86.09 million. The data doesn't stipulate whether this is sell-in (shipments to retailers) or sell-through (direct purchases and shipments to consumers), but the latest figures from Sony have PS4 sell-in at 82.2 million. We'll have to wait official metrics from the company to find out actual figures.

This continued momentum in PS4 sales aligns with Sony's recent forecast bump. The games-maker recently raised its PS4 sales target by one million and now expects to sell 17 million consoles up until the fiscal year's end in March 2019. It also underlines an interesting future for the PlayStation brand, namely with a possible continuation of the iterative console cycle.

Recent events in eSports reminds competitors, athletes, and players about the dangers of over-relying on a big publisher for specific things, especially non-employee incomes.

Blizzard's arbitrary and sudden decision to cancel Heroes of the Storm's future eSports tournaments has left many without a job or a source of income. This kind of switch-off can happen at any time to any eSports branch, effectively cutting hundreds of people off from a paycheck. A recent Kotaku article really drove the point home and really made me think about what eSports actually is and how it can be a risky venture for competitors.

Let's get one thing clear: eSports exists solely as a marketing tool. It's all about engaging players with the promise that, if you play hard and long enough, you could one day be on that stage earning millions. It's not about the betterment of the community, so to speak, or arming pro players with cash: it's about bringing maximum exposure to millions of consumers in a competitive sports-like setting. eSports is only a thing because corporations use it as a combined way to reach average consumers, engage a playerbase (which is then monetized with special events, themed skins, or even paygates), and run ads.

In a bid to pull users away from Steam, the newly launched Epic Store is giving away two games every month for an entire year.

Many PC game stores already offer free games without any kind of purchase or subscription--GOG, Humble Bundle, and of course Steam--and Epic Games' new digital games store is following suit. The fledgling marketplace, which aims to compete directly with Valve's reigning platform, will give away a free game every two weeks. The promo starts with the excellent exploration sim Subnautica (ends Dec. 27) and follows up with the massively tough platformer Super Meat Boy (Dec. 28 - Jan. 10).

The hype for next-gen consoles is beginning to get louder and louder, and while we have been hearing more about Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console, that doesn't mean Microsoft's new Xbox Scarlett console has been invisible.

The latest news for the next-gen Xbox comes from Windows Central write Jez Corden, who tweeted the next-gen Xbox development kit is codenamed "Anaconda", with Microsoft staying with its reptile-themed codenames. The original Xbox One was codenamed "Durango" while the beefier Xbox One X console was codenamed "Chuckwalla".

Microsoft should be using AMD's upcoming CPU and GPU technology inside of the next-gen Xbox Scarlett include Zen 2 as well as the custom-made Navi GPU architecture which will be refitted for a new PC graphics side. The new Xbox 'Anaconda' console will see a Navi-based GPU that will use GDDR6 memory technology, over the HBM2 used in Vega and GDDR5 used on the Radeon RX 400/500 series and the Polaris-based GPU inside of the Xbox One/S/X consoles.

Quantic Dream, the developers behind the exclusive PS4 title Detroit: Become Human have announced that their title has surpassed the 2 million units sold mark.

The announcement comes from the official PlayStation Twitter account and celebrates that Quantic Dream's title "has sold through more than 2 million units worldwide on PlayStation 4 since its launch on May 25, 2018." The developers also commented on the post saying that Detroit: Become Human has become the companies fastest selling title they have ever made, creating a new milestone for the company.

Detroit: Become Human could be considered a title that wouldn't be for the average gamer as its gameplay is so in-depth and plethora of options could scare some players away. It isn't a battle royale and isn't necessarily a fast-paced game but despite all of this, Quantic Dream has created an experience like no other and should be proud of the milestone they have hit. For more information regarding Detroit: Become Human, visit the official website here.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is one of the best games of 2018, and honestly sits as one of the best games I've played in the past few years. It's a sprawling adventure set in the heart of ancient Greek myth and legend that's full of action and interesting locales. In short, you should totally play it if you haven't already. And you totally can for free without having to download anything if the gods are willing.

If you got into Google's big beta test for its streaming service, then you can get a free copy of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on PC. Ubisoft today announced the promo and confirmed that all Project Stream saved data progress would carry over to your new PC version, but your Helix credits won't make the jump. We got into the Project Stream beta and I can honestly say it paints a very bright future for gaming.

There's some rules though. Getting in isn't enough; you have to play at least one hour of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey within Project Stream from now until the beta test ends on January 15. It doesn't matter if you've played over an hour in the past, and to get the free copy you need to log an additional hour of playtime...which shouldn't be hard to do in Ubisoft's vibrant and massive open world.

Google's new game streaming service gives us a glimpse at a brighter future of gaming.

I remember when gaming was convenient. It used to be you bought a game, popped it into your console or PC, and started playing. But today's gaming landscape is fraught with large day one patch downloads, long disc installs, and even more frustrating game downloads. Then there's the required patches for live games like Fallout 76 and Destiny 2 that typically annoy gamers when they fire up the game unawares. The point is there's always something to wait on in gaming these days,

and now that most games have live service elements, there's even more opportunities to spend money.

In a bid to continually add value to its lucrative subscription-based game services, EA is bringing Battlefront II to its Access program for free.

EA is one of the major games-makers pivoting towards subscription models to help fortify its business model, which principally includes live games and the billions gleaned from engagement monetization therein. But it's always important to make these services worthwhile so gamers continually spend money on them, especially now that EA is inadvertently competing with Microsoft's own successful $9.99 a month Game Pass on the Xbox platform.

One such way EA is making its subscriptions more attractive is adding new games, and the latest one, Battlefront II, is now free to play for EA Access subscribers on Xbox One. EA Access currently costs $5 a month or $30 a year, and only active subscribers can play the vaulted games--similar to Sony's PlayStation Plus. What's particularly interesting about this is Battlefront II isn't free on the basic Origin Access subscription, which costs the same as EA Access on Xbox One. To play Battlefront II on PC, users have to buy into the steeper Origin Access Premiere which costs $15 a month or $100 a year to maintain.

Red Dead Online's in-game gold can now be purchased with real money.

Rockstar Games today flipped the monetization switch in Red Dead Redemption 2's online mode, despite the content being in beta testing phases. This move is particularly interesting as the devs continually update and tweak Red Dead Online's in-game economy, meaning the time-grind values may not remain static even after players spend money. Gamers earn $RDO cash and gold pieces for doing activities, missions, and completing objectives. 100 gold pieces can be transformed into one gold bar, or users can simply buy gold bars to avoid the grind.

The pricing scheme seems straightforward and mirrors many live service games. There's a distinct pay-to-win element involved as gamers can guy guns and horses with gold, but they must level up accordingly to be able to use higher-level gear. Cosmetics, horse insurance which spawns your horse near you if it dies, and camp customization items can also be bought with gold.

Major competitors are stepping into the PC gaming storefront ring to hit Steam where it hurts: the pocketbook.

Steam's long-standing reign in PC gaming may soon be compromised by Epic Games and Discord, both of which aim to attract developers to their new storefronts with better revenue split. Essentially we're seeing competitors take advantage of Valve's missteps, namely with Steam's new earnings policy that favors big-earning games--a move that upset lots of smaller devs.

Now Epic Games and Discord are courting spurned devs with the promise of paying out more earnings for game sales. The newly launched Epic Store lets developers keep 88% of revenues while the platform keeps 12% for operational costs, compared to Valve's 70% - 30% split.

Soulcalibur VI players will have to prepare themselves as Square Enix's 2B will be arriving on the stage of history starting December 18th.

We first heard about 2B coming to Soulcalibur VI back at the end of October when Bandai Namco released the above reveal trailer onto their YouTube Channel. From the trailer we saw 2B using a variety of different moves in both the air and the ground. We also notice that she is of course equipped with her famous swords, Virtuous Contract and Virtuous Treaty.

The announcement of the release date of 2B comes from the Bandai Namco Twitter account and says that 2B will be coming to Soulcalibur VI on December 18th. It should be noted that 2B will be arriving with her very own stage and background music to go with it. In the entirety of this post you will find newly released screenshots of 2B that were featured in the Bandai official announcement. For more information regarding Soulcalibur VI, check out the compiled character trailer article here.

BioWare has decided to release a new trailer for Anthem's Legion of Dawn Edition that will be available to gamers to order. The trailer details some more storyline for the coming game as well as additional weapons and armor.

The trailer has been released onto the IGN YouTube Channel and begins with us diving story for Anthem. We see the forming of the Luminary Legion, exclusive Legion of the Dawn Armor packs for the following classes; Ranger, Colossus, Storm, and Interceptor. We also get a sneak peak at the new Legendary Weapon, Light of the Legion.

Players that decide to pre-order Anthem will also receive exclusive VIP access to a demo of the game ahead of its launch. With also the addition of the Legendary Gear Enhancement and digital soundtrack. If you want to see some more gameplay of Anthem, visit this 45 minute livestream here. Anthem will be released onto the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on February 22nd, 2019.

After the reveal of Mortal Kombat 11 at this years Game Awards, we can see that the series' forte with violence is ever exceeding forward. Now, some new screenshots and information has leaked via a GameStop Italy listing.

Above and within the entirety of this post you can see the leaked screenshots that appeared on the GameStop Italy store listing. The listing also revealed that Mortal Kombat 11 would feature a 'Premium Edition' that would include a "Kombat Pass: 6 characters & 6 Battle Pass." Mortal Kombat X users would already be familiar with the 'Kombat Pass', so it appears nothing will be changed in that area for MK11.

The GameStop listing also alleges that Mortal Kombat 11 will be featuring a "new game engine, with even more bloody and bloody scenes." A brand "New personalization system" that will arrive "with clothes, accessories and move sets never seen before". Additionally it will also be coming with a "new Fatality as well as a new GoreTech system to make executions even more brutal." Finally, the listing says that MK11 will be concentrated on a "Strong multiplayer component, entirely oriented towards the eSports: personalization systems, daily news, constantly updated rewards and an improved matchmaking."