Gaming - Page 778

Nintendo Europe has announced that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be going receiving a three-day event, Smashers prepare as it is Spirit collection time.

The three-day event will be beginning on December 14th and has been deemed the theme "A Spectacle to Behold!". During the running times of this event, Spirits that are wearing any form of sunglasses or glasses will be "frequenting the Spirit Board."

Players should also note that during the time of this event, beating these Spirits will grant the player extra gold. The above post also details that there will be a new event every week from now on, I'd assume they would follow the same construct as this one here. Examples would most likely include; Spirits that are wearing hats, gloves, shoes, are aliens etc etc. Since there are so many Spirits found throughout Ultimate, the possibilities for the descriptive combinational categories are a plenty.

The first Super Smash Bros. UItimate patch has been released by Nintendo and we have patch notes showing changes for multiple fighters, matchmaking and more.

Yesterday I reported on the patch that would be released and the only aspects that we knew were coming was the removal of the replays that were already saved to the Smash Ultimate folder (in-game) in your Nintendo Switch. I recommended everyone that wanted to keep those awesome kills you have already saved to re-save them to your Nintendo Switch storage or microSD card. Now that the patch is live, we can jump into what changes have been made.

Patch 1.2.0 is the first patch to come to Smash Bros Ultimate and will be containing changes made to Offline Gameplay aspects such as adjustments made for approaching challengers and Online Game changes made to the matchmaking system. After this update is downloaded, "the Format setting of your Preffered Rules will be more highly prioritized", essentially meaning that players will not be experiencing as much random free-for-alls or other forms of matches when they originally queued for a 1v1. Nintendo warns that this may cause players to experience longer queue times.

Daybreak Games has just unveiled PlanetSide Arena, with the latest entry in the PlanetSide franchise of course rocking a battle royale game mode, but that is just one game mode in a slew of game modes in PlanetSide Arena.

There will be two battle royale modes that will be split into solo matches (up to 100 players) and then teams of 3v3 (up to 102 players), but then there's the monster 250v250 mode that the developer is calling Massive Clash. The massive 500-player battle will take place on a massive 8x8km map called Echoes of Amerish, a map based on Amerish which was the third continent added to the world of Auraxis in PlanetSide 2.

PlanetSide Arena will feature three classes at launch, with all classes rocking jet packs and can summon vehicles on command. The developer has promised matches in the future with game modes that will support huge 1000-player battles.

Blizzard is taking its popular Overwatch League to the next level in 2019, with the developer announcing that for the 2019 season it will host games in home cities of major Overwatch teams that will include Atlanta and Dallas.

Until now, the Overwatch League hasn't moved out of its home city of LA where Overwatch team LA Valiant and its fans can provide energy for the team as the home crowd. Well, come April 27 and 28, 2019 we'll see the Overwatch League 2019 begin in Dallas, where it will move to Atlanta on July 6 and 7 before moving to The Novo by Microsoft for the big LA Valiant series that will kick off on August 24 and 25.

Blizzard has said that it will have more details to share about the Overwatch League 2019 "at a later date". The season will begin on February 14, where we'll see a four-day series of matches take place with some of the best in Overwatch. This will include a rematch between London Spitfire and Philadelphia Fusion, the two teams that battled it out during the Grand Finals recently.

Metal Gear Solid hasn't really moved as a franchise lately with the last entry in the franchise not doing well, and series creator Hideo Kojima moving onto bigger and better things with the mysterious Death Stranding. But... Metal Gear Solid is back and its being turned into a board game.

Konami Digital Entertainment and IDW Games has announced Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game, which will be offering an immersive cooperative experienced for fans of the MGS franchise. You'll be able to play as characters from the Metal Gear Solid franchise like Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, and Gray Fox the Cyborg Ninja.

The minituares in Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game are being sculpted by Francesco Orruu, while Metal Gear Solid fan and comic artist Kenneth Loh will be taking care of the art style.

Fortnite developer Epic Games is wanting to push the world of cross-platform gaming, with the company unveiling its latest plans for a new developer framework for online services.

Epic Games will begin this new journey in 2019 by launching a bunch of cross-platform game services that the developer originally built for Fortnite, and highlights this by saying they've been "battle-tested with 200,000,000 players across 7 platforms. These services will be free for all developers, and will be open to all engines, all platforms, and all stores. As a developer, you're free to choose mix-and-match solutions from Epic and others as you wish".

There are extended plans for 2019, but the new service from Epic Games will see gamers signing up and then customizing profiles, adding friends to the service, and competing for items. If you're gaming on a PC and then go mobile with your Nintendo Switch or Android smartphone, all of your activity is on the new service so you can go between devices without skipping a beat.

Ubisoft is inviting a small amount of people from the The Division 2 beta to take part in the closed technical alpha on the PC, with the technical alpha taking place between December 15 at 8AM ET, and December 18 at 8AM ET.

If you are involved in The Division 2 technical alpha you'll be pre-loading the game right now but other than that, we don't know anything about the going ons of the technical alpha since players involved in it have signed an NDA. If you have been invited into The Division 2 technical alpha, this is what you'll need to do to get access to Ubisoft's latest and greatest:

Ubisoft will be hosting a private beta of The Division 2 in the near future, with anyone who pre-orders the game will get access to the beta but you're not forced into pre-ordering the game as anyone can sign up to the beta.

Obsidian's new RPG The Outer Worlds looks quite promising, and now we get some gameplay footage.

While Obsidian's new sci-fi game The Outer Worlds will be a AA-style game and not a huge open-world affair like Fallout: New Vegas, it certainly encapsulates the studio's stylish humor and core RPG framework. Back in 2017 we reported that Obsidian's new IP, now revealed as The Outer Worlds, would be the studio's own unique answer to Fallout, and now the game is set to fill the vacuum left by displaced and disgruntled Fallout 76 players.

Obsidian showed a closed-doors demo of The Outer Worlds at The Game Awards 2018, and Game Informer got a copy of the footage. The video clearly illustrates the scope of the game: it's a sci-fi RPG built around shooter combat interspersed with quirky NPCs, story-driven content, and exploration. The game world won't be massive--it's set on two planets--but game directors Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky indicate this compaction allows for more robust flavor.

To dig itself out of a big financial hole, Starbreeze Studios will now focus exclusively on developing big marquee titles like Payday and publishing third-party games.

Starbreeze has had a tough few weeks. First its big new Walking Dead game stumbled on PC sales, triggering a big financial disparity that caused the company to re-evaluate is business model. Shortly after, it filed for reconstruction, an overseas form of bankruptcy that protects the company from certain debts. Then Starbreeze's headquarters were raided by authorities and one employee was arrested on suspicions of insider trading. If that wasn't enough, its board of directors is shrinking.

Now the games-maker is taking proactive steps to solve its problems, and is interested in making guaranteed bets like making games. The company announced it's new business model is solely built on making and publishing video games. Other ventures, like its StarVR headset, will essentially break off from its core focus and will rely on partner funding and collaboration.

One of Activision's mainstay development arms of the popular Call of Duty series had to leave the building following a bomb threat.

Infinity Ward's Los Angeles offices were evacuated earlier this morning due to a bomb threat, sources tell Kotaku. The threat, which was issued through email, demanded $20,000 in bitcoin cryptocurrency or a bomb would presumably go off on premises.

Neither Infinity Ward nor Activision have spoken about the incident, which happened earlier this morning. The police evacuated developers and staff members from the building and no one was hurt.

Jagex could be widening its MMORPG scope to the console plane.

Thanks to accessibility, Runescape is getting more and more popular and remains a lucrative earner for developer Jagex. The game has now earned over $1 billion across its long lifespan, and 260 million people have signed up for the game. This momentum is set to continue with Runescape mobile, but the company might be targeting a new platform: consoles.

According to Jagex Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson's LinkedIn profile, the company is working on a new unannounced Runescape RPG. The profile says that "an unannounced Runescape Shared World Action Role Playing Game" has been in the works since Richardsson joined in October 2018, but the project has likely been in dev way before his arrival. Given Jagex's mobile strategy it's possible they're working on a free-to-play Runescape console port for PS4, Xbox One, and maybe even Switch.

4A Games has laid the finishing touches on their latest post-apocalyptic opus and have moved the game's release date up a week.

Metro Exodus has gone gold, meaning development is finalized and its ready to ship. Originally slated for a 2018 launch, the huge survival shooter was delayed to 2019 to ensure polish and a rich feature slate, and now Deep Silver has moved the release date forward a week to February 15, 2018. This is an odd decision considering both Far Cry: New Dawn and Crackdown 3 will come out the same day.

Exodus will push the series forward to new heights, says 4A Games. It'll feature a huge continent-spanning open world to explore with a day-to-night cycle, dynamic weather, and changing seasons. Although it's not an online service game, the gameworld will feature standard engagement hooks with its new crafting and scavenging system and very Red Dead Redemption 2-like gear maintenance.

Its Nintendo's time of the month again and just like the previous month the company has added three new games to its NES collection.

Nintendo has announced via their Nintendo UK Twitter page that they have brought 3 brand new NES games to Nintendo Switch Online users. Players will be going full retro in; Adventures of Lolo, Ninja Gaiden, and Wario's Woods. To celebrate the new additions, Nintendo has comprised a short video showcasing each of the new games.

Nintendo also has given players two new SP version games to enjoy as well. Metroid and Dr. Mario join the previously released SP titles The Legend of Zelda and Gradius. For more information regarding the current NES games on the Nintendo Switch, visit the official Nintendo listings for them here.

Nintendo has already teased that the first patch to come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be arriving onto Nintendo Switch systems sometime throughout next week.

The news comes from a notice message sent out to every Nintendo Switch system, the message says that update 1.2.0 would be arriving sometime "next week." The majority of the contents for the update are unclear, but what we do know is that once the update is downloaded and installed into your systems all in-game replays that were saved to Ultimates game files will be removed.

To save the awesome kills that you have already done, players will have to go to their Vault in Smash UItimate and navigate to the replay data section and re-save the replays into videos to your Nintendo Switch storage. Doing this will save your replays but in turn will take up quite a lot of storage on your Nintendo Switch or microSD card. I would advise players that want to save all of their replays and have quite a few of them to make sure they have enough space on their Nintendo Switch or microSD card before attempting the transfer.

Usually when you hear about a police story most of the time bad news, its unfortunate police get that negative wrap but a recent noise complaint story ended overwhelmingly positive. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was involved so how could it not right?

Jovante M. Williams or his Twitter tag JoviJenovi was hosting a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament with himself and his friends. Just like any Smash get together, the energy would of been heightened due to the intensity of the game which would of resulted in some noise (no one blames them Smash can do that). This noise would of no doubt been heard by Williams' neighbor and then the police were called on the party.

When the police arrived something unexpected happened, originally thinking that their night was over Williams instead asked the cops "I'm like, 'Y'all wanna play Smash?!? And two of them literally raised their hand and walked up. They're like, 'How do you jump?' They were acting; one of them was playing Pikachu!" It just shows that all police stories don't have to end up being negative and that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can bring anyone together! On a side note, one of the officers confirmed that no charges were filed and that they guys were just having a bit of fun.

Now that The Game Awards are over, host and creator of the show, Geoff Keighley has taken to Twitter to announce the statistics regarding viewership across all platforms.

According to the announcement on Keighleys Twitter account, 2018's Game Awards viewership "more than doubled over last year" totaling around "26 million live streams." Keighley talked more about the viewship in his Twitter thread, saying that viewership for the show was "up" across all platforms. Twitch for example reached a massive peak of 1.13 million concurrent viewers making The Game Awards 2018 one of the most viewed livestreams ever on the platform.

"To date, here are the livestream numbers for The Game Awards (does not include VOD viewership):"

We are almost a week exactly to the launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and since the titles release Smash UItimate has already taken 1st place as the Nintendo Switches best-selling title.

According to Famitsu's early sales report for Japan, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has already reached 1,220,535 physical units sold in a range of only about 5 days. To put into comparison, Smash Ultimate has already beaten Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! as those titles have collectively sold 1,012,247 units.

To give an even better comparison, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breathe of Wild was released back in March of last year and has totaled 1,182,281 units. Smash Ultimate has already surpassed that, solidifying it as Nintendo's best-selling Switch title. There is more statistics on Smash UItimate sales from the UK sales charts, check that out here.

CRYENGINE has always been one of the best looking graphics engines on the market, something that continues to shine with developers squeezing more and more out of it... but this latest scene and screenshots from a new project are simply mind blowing.

The official CRYENGINE page on Facebook shared some photos from Matthias Lindemann's new project using Crytek's versatile engine where he used photogrammetry with some absolutely out-of-this-world results.

This wouldn't be a full game by any means and more of a 'scene' within CRYENGINE for the purposes of showing what it can do when it's pushed to its limits.

Fortnite has been a success in more ways than one, with the game swelling out to 8.3 million concurrent players everyday... but there is a huge market for game-related porn, and thanks to Pornhub's insights for 2018 we know that Fortnite was one of the most-searched terms for 2018.

I didn't believe it myself, so I double checked and yep... there's plenty of Fortnite-related porn on Pornhub. It's not just Epic Games' mega hit that saw an explosive amount of searches on Pornhub, but massive games like Overwatch are searched for thanks to having multiple female characters in the game. Plenty of Nintendo-related franchises are also searched for in droves on Pornhub.

Fortnite wasn't the only thing that people were searching for in times of need, with Stormy Daniels being a big hit for Pornhub. 4K porn is becoming more common place, thus searched for more over 1080p. The most-searched for video game character was Nintendo's Bowsette, blowing away established characters like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise, Mercy from Overwatch, and Zelda.

According to the latest figures from VG Chartz, Microsoft's Xbox One family of consoles has surpassed 40 million sales globally to date.

Ever since Microsoft stopped revealing Xbox One console sales figures we've been in the dark about exact numbers. Right now all we have are estimates from sites like VG Chartz and analyst firms, the former of which pinpoints Xbox One, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X combined sales at 40,020,713 units. We're not sure if these numbers are sell-in (shipments to retailers) or sell-through (sales directly to consumers).

Right now Sony leads the charge with a whopping 82.2 million PlayStation 4's shipped to date, and Nintendo has managed to move a very respectable 22.86 million Switch consoles as of September 30, or more than half of the Xbox family's total install base.