Gaming - Page 790

Ahead of the launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the games director, Masahiro Sakurai has answered some questions regarding the content of the coming game.

Sakurai has answered these questions on Japanese magazine Famitsu, some of the topics that have been covered are the introduction of Incineroar, Ken, Amiibo launches, trophy removals, spirits, online matchmaking, elite matches, piranha plant and how close the game is away from completion.

Just like in the last Smash Ultimate Direct, Sakurai reiterates the concentration Nintendo will be putting into the deciding factors that will determine the online matchmaking system. Sakurai says "The game is completely synchronized. Distance (between players) is a top deciding factor." The Director continues and sheds some light towards the completion of the game and Adventure Mode, "I'd like to write more about Adventure Mode if given the opportunity. The ROM is already complete." In the entirety of this post you will find each the answers to each of the categories that are mentioned above.

Ubisoft have announced their coming content update for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the update will be feature a bunch of content from new quests, new game features, balancing updates a raised level cap and even new mythical beasts to slay.

The November content update planned for Assassin's Creed Odyssey will be adding a bunch of new features for gamers. Starting off, we have beginning of the 'Lost Tales of Greece' questlines, the first quest is titled 'The Show Must Go On' and will take players back to the Battle of 300 in the form of an actor playing King Leonidas. The second quest is called 'Divine Intervention', players will encounter a mysterious women who will "test your qualities through several divine trials!"

The content update will also be adding 'Epic Events', in these events players will have to hunt down Epic Mercenaries or Epic Ships. Players that complete these tasks will be rewarded with either Orichalcum, new ship designs, gear or more. Ubisoft have also thrown a new boss into the mix within this content update, introducing Steropes the Cyclopes. Steropes will be found through a new quest titled 'The Lightening Bringer', players will have to defeat Steropes and upon completion will receive a legendary bow.

Epic Games has just revealed that the latest update to Fortnite in v6.30 will include a new objective-based multiplayer mode that is called Food Fight, in a blend of capture the flag and a protect-the-VIP modes. Check out the teaser video below:

Fortnite's new Food Fight game mode will see 12v12 teams that will start on their respective sides of a huge barrier, with each team protecting their respective mascot (Durrr Burger or the Tomato Head) with the barrier stopping either team from entering enemy territory for many minutes in the opening of the game, where players can build fortification to protect their mascot.

Food Fight will see you battling in the Durrr Burger and Pizza Pit, as you build defenses to defend your mascot and attack the enemy mascot... but no, well, food fights? This is a disappointment, it would've been awesome to have actual food fights in a Fortnite update called Food Fight.

Activision and Treyarch have pushed out a new update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, something that includes a one-week exclusive to the remake of Nuketown for PlayStation 4 gamers before it arrives on Xbox and PC next week.

Treyarch has also made some changes to the progression rate of the Black Market, a tweak that was made by adding Daily Tier Skips. There have been fixes made to the Zombies mode, rebalances to the multiplayer Specialists, and more. Treyarch adds: "To celebrate the launch of Nuketown, Zombies now spawn on Nuketown Island with a new Zombies Supply Stash spawn location behind the Nuketown sign".

The full Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 update 1.05 notes can be found here.

We keep hearing about Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console and that Radeon Technologies Group has been co-developing its next-gen Navi GPU for the PS5, but now we're hearing a little bit more on Microsoft's next-gen 'Xbox Scarlett' console.

During an interview with LevelUp, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said he was "very excited" about Microsoft's plans for the next-gen Xbox consoles. Spencer said: "The reason I love the consoles that we build is because I think we can build very special consoles. I see it today with Xbox One X and how games run on the Xbox One X; I think it's a fantastic place to play. When I look at our future plans, I am very excited about what we are going to do in the console space".

This sounds like generic marketing speak for 'yeah, our next-gen consoles will be better' but Spencer hasn't provided much to go on here. We all know the next-gen Xbox will be better than the previous-gen Xbox, anyone with a couple of brain cells can work that out. But, will the next-gen Xbox Scarlett console be a large leap over what we have with current-gen Xbox consoles, even up to the beefier Xbox One X?

I can't believe that I'm typing this but EA has just announced Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Dawn are being remastered, alongside Covert Operations, Counterstrike, and Aftermath expansions are receiving remastered love.

The news gets even better with the C&C remasters being worked on by ex-Westwood developers that formed into Petroglyph Games. Even Frank Klepacki, the composer who worked on the music for the original C&C games and other Westwood classics, is coming back to work as the composer and audio director for the Command & Conquer remakes.

Command & Conquer co-creator and Petroglyph co-founder Joe Bostic said: "Here we are 20+ years later and EA has reached out to us regarding C&C. They had decided it was about time to revisit the original C&C games to give the fans what they had been asking for. Petroglyph has many former Westwood employees and is a perfect fit for bringing the original Command & Conquer games back to life. I'm excited to revisit the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert for our legacy fans, along with introducing the games to a new audience! Our battle-plan mission is to 'remaster' rather than 'remake' the original C&C games".

ABZU developer Giant Squid Studios and publisher 505 Games are excited to announce that they will be throwing ABZU into the deep end of the Nintendo Switch on November 29th.

505 Games has released a new trailer onto their YouTube Channel to celebrate the announcement of ABZU coming to the Nintendo Switch. For players that don't know, ABZU was originally launched back in 2016 and is a underwater adventure that brings to life a gorgeous visual representation of the deep dark world of the ocean.

Players will be taking a dive into the depths of the ocean and bare witness to the amazing sea life that creates a 'mediative'-like experience that developer Giant Squid Studios has accurately implemented into their game. ABZU will be arriving to the Nintendo Switch on November 29th. It is currently available for pre-order and will be 10% off to those that do so.

Digital Extremes announced at TennoCon 2018 that they would be bringing 'Fortuna', the 2nd massive open-world update to Warframe. Now that update has been released it has caused Warframe to reach a new peak in concurrent gamers.

For a little bit of background context on the timeline of Warframe's player count, the game was released back in 2013 and then got an open world update titled 'Plains of Eidolon', this update pushed the concurrent player count to what was at the time a record of 122,000 players. On June 14th, Digital Extremes launched 'The Sacrifice' story update which rose the concurrent player count to around the 129,000 margin, both of these figures are based off Steam.

Now the 2nd open world update has been released Warframe has broken into a new high. According to GitHyp, Warframe has reached a concurrent player margin of 132,000 players. If you are interested in more of breakdown into what the 'Fortuna' update contains, check out this post here. For more information about Warframe, visit the official blog here.

The 2018 Game of the Year nominees are in and this time round we have a selection of very well received titles from across a range of different fan bases.

Some will remember the controversy last year about the nominations for Game of the Year. PUBG was just exploding and giving birth to what is now the Battle Royale genre craze, this earned it a spot in the 2017 Game of the Year nominations. Many people didn't like the idea of, what was at the time, a not completed game being in apart of the Game of the Year rewards. This year though, I don't think many people will be complaining with the games that have been selected to compete against each other.

The Game of the Year nominees for 2018 are the following: Marvel's Spider-Man for the PS4, Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2, Capcom's Monster Hunter: World, Sony Santa Monica Studios' God of War, Matt Makes Games' Celeste and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Odyseey. If I was to give my opinion on who will be taking this years Game of the Year, I would say it would have to be a toss up between Marvel's Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2. Both titles sold amazingly well are renowned as some fantastic games in their own regards. Who will take first place though? I'd be putting my money on Red Dead Redemption 2.

Players will be required to step into "Turf Wars" in the new DLC coming to Marvel and Insomniac Games' Spider-Man for PS4. Check out the new trailer for yourself below.

The coming DLC expansion is titled "Turf Wars" and will put players right in the middle of the Maggie crime family and gang leader HammerHead. Spider-Man will be required to stop the feud between both competing groups and once again bring peace to New York City before it becomes the "greatest casualty."

Insomniac Games has planned to release the DLC to players on November 20th. In other news about Spider-Man, if you haven't already picked up a PS4 console and have been considering doing so, PlayStation has provided consumers with a web-slinging deal to grab onto to. Over the course of PlayStation's Black Friday Week, a 1TB PS4 system that includes a physical copy of Marvel's Spider-Man and a DualShock 4 wireless controller will be going for just $199, check that out here. For more information on Spider-Man for PS4, visit the official website for our favorite webhead here.

Nintendo has joined in on the pre-Black Friday hype by announcing that they will be bringing consumers 2 limited-edition hardware bundles.

Nintendo has launched a new trailer onto their YouTube Channel to announce that they will be allowing for consumers to save a bit of coins this Black Friday on selected Nintendo products. The trailer features Luigi ticking off items on his 'to-do' list, the last chore to be completed is 'wrap Black Friday gifts.' Luigi realizes he needs some help with the wrapping, so he sends off his gifts in bag down a warp pipe and a note attached asking for help.

The bag arrives to Nintendo America Ambassador, Ganda Kris and she proceeds to show the audience each of the gifts that will be available over the course of the sales. On Black Friday, Nintendo will be bringing consumers a Nintendo Switch system containing a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for just $299.99. There is also a Nintendo 2DS Super Mario Maker Edition that will be going for $79.99. These prices will only be available on Black Friday and from participating retailers; Target, Best Buy, Walmart, GameStop and Amazon. For more information visit the official Nintendo Holiday Deals here.

Move over Microsoft and Sony, the Xbox and PlayStation consoles will have a new competitor with American rapper Soulja Boy announcing his own video game console while he was streaming himself playing Fortnite. Check it out below:

Soulja Boy himself said during the Fortnite stream while holding up a console on camera: "I'm giving away my new console, that's right I'm coming out with own video game console". He announces that he will be releasing his own game, on his own console... without any other details unfortunately.

There's absolutely no details on this new console, and even Google searching turns up next to nothing official. But now I want to know what's inside of it, who is working on games for it, and whether he was just tripping balls the entire time playing Fortnite and is trolling the world.

Blizzard has just updated Overwatch and baked in its latest hero 'Ashe' into the mix, a new long-range Damage Hero that sports a semi-auto rifle and B.O.B. which is Ashe's awesome Omnic sidekick. Ashe is connected to McCree, something you can see in the animated short below.

Ashe has been playable inside of the PTR for the past week, but the new update that Blizzard has pushed out for Overwatch rebalances a bunch of the heroes. The developer has balanced my main; Mercy, with developer comments including "Mercy's ultimate was charging a bit too slowly after her base healing was reduced in a previous update. These changes should restore some of her ultimate's strength and let it build up more quickly".

Mercy's ultimate 'Valkyrie' has been tweaked:

Capcom's experiments with cloud streaming tech could pave the way for big things in the Switch's future.

Ever since Capcom announced that it'd stream Resident Evil 7 (and more recently Assassin's Creed: Odyssey) to the Nintendo Switch via the cloud, I got excited. Yes, the business model is rather ridiculous, and yes, the connectivity might not be that good. But we have to look at the bigger picture: Nintendo's online infrastructure could one day tap the power of cloud-based GPUs to deliver higher-end gaming on the Switch. Developers may not have to skip the Switch because it's not powerful enough, and simply beam the game to the handheld-console hybrid from the cloud. This is something I predicted way back in 2016 that could manifest with Nintendo's patented Supplemental Computing Device add-on.

Now Capcom says these research-based tests may continue with more games in the future (possibly even Devil May Cry 5). When asked about future cloud gaming plans, Capcom execs said the move was not business-oriented but experimental, and that they could push forward.

Fire Emblem Heroes continues its success as Nintendo's strongest mobile game title of 2018.

Despite a rocky launch with Super Mario Go, Nintendo's relatively new mobile gaming segment is doing quite well. The company owes this reversal to the free-to-play Fire Emblem Heroes game that uses gacha-style microtransactions to generate revenue. And generate revenue it has: analyst firm Sensor Tower notes that the RPG now accounts for 72% of Nintendo's mobile earnings in 2018.

Fire Emblem Heroes has amassed almost $200 million in 2018 alone, and raked in $12.2 million from in-game purchases in October, the firm says. But Nintendo might have another hit on its hands with its new Dragalia Lost RPG, which was built from the ground up specifically for mobiles. Earnings from Dragalia Lost are tracking well on iOS and Android.

Following its recent acquisition by Microsoft, Obsidian Entertainment is hopeful and energized for the future.

Armed with Microsoft's billions, the veteran RPG makers at Obsidian now have the freedom to make big-budget projects. The acquisition brings tremendous relief to management and developers at Obsidian, who have jumped from project to project on the backs of fund-raiser platforms like Kickstarter and Fig. Despite making some great RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and PoE 2: Deadfire, it seems Obsidian was always on the brink of financial ruin and constantly searched for publisher backing. Those days are over and now the studiocan do what it does best: make unique RPG experiences.

With any acquisition comes change. Microsoft says Obsidian will be "fully autonomous" but we all know the company puts engagement (microtransactions, online services, etc) at the core of its business. This could bleed over into Obsidian's future games. The developer is confident and optimistic about the future, though, and sees services like Game Pass as a big conduit for growth and exposure.

Unlike video with the radio star, streaming isn't about to kill traditional console gaming habits any time soon, says Xbox's Phil Spencer.

Microsoft has already been quite vocal that services like Game Pass are just additive and won't become the core of its business. The same will be true about xCloud, the company's new game streaming service that'll beam titles to phones, laptops, consoles and PCs via the cloud. These services are ancillary and act as fluid, organic gateways that ultimately compliment the engagement strategy implemented by Microsoft. Now Xbox executive Phil Spencer reiterates that consoles will always be a fundamental part of the brand itself, and that streaming isn't the end-all future for Xbox gaming.

In a recent interview with LevelUp, Spencer outlined how streaming varies from platform to platform and basically says downloads are the best way to game for specific use cases. Mobile can leverage the power of cloud GPUs to stream games and play high-def games, whereas consoles and PC should just stick with downloads.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is making its way to gaming's most widespread console by holiday 2018.

PUBG will arrive on Sony's PS4 on December 7, the company today announced on the PlayStation Blog. The PS4 flavor will have a physical (and digital) edition that's sold for $30, which could be a major roadblock for competition against the free-to-play Fortnite, as well as tiered versions that range all the way to $90.

The major advantage of launching PUBG on PS4 is two-fold. PUBG Corp will sell their game on the PS4's massive 85 million strong install base, and developers have had ample time to prepare a stable PS4-ready port of the game. PUBG originally launched on Xbox One in beta format--a feat that only happened because Microsoft injected lots of resources to make it happen--and was kind of rocky. The battle royale sensation has matured over time, and it's this maturity that should carry over to the PS4 version.

Activision has done one of the best viral marketing schemes I have seen for a game in a long time. The company has decided to fly a Spyro themed dragon across country to deliver the first copy of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy to Snoop Dogg.

The journey for Spyro lasted 2 weeks and begun in New York City and ended up in Snoop Dogg's crib in California. The trip has been posted in bits and pieces all over the Spyro The Dragon Twitter account from the perspective of Spyro himself. Once Spyro arrived the rapper was greeted by the flying Spyro Drone that can also breathe fire and came baring the "first copy of the new game."

After receiving the very first copy of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Snoop Dogg repays the dragon by placing a massive gold chain around his neck and proceeds to call Spyro his "nephew" before exiting the scene "to go play this game." If you want to watch Spyro's journey across country, check out the official Twitter page for Spyro here and scroll down to begin the journey with him. The Spyro Reignited Trilogy will be released onto the Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 13th.

The refreshed Nintendo Entertainment System controllers have now been made available to pre-order by Nintendo America. Nintendo Switch Online members that desire to go fully retro now have the option to.

Back in September, Nintendo revealed to us the Nintendo Switch Online service and the benefits that come with subscribing. One of the benefits was being able to purchase for $59.99 wireless NES style controllers to play the NES Classic games that come freely with the service, the way "they're meant to be played." For players that were wondering if the would be able to use these controllers for anything other than the NES games, you won't be able to. The NES Classic controllers are specifically designed for the NES Classic games and also will not be able to be used while the Nintendo Switch is in portable mode.

Many members of the Nintendo Switch Online service are very unhappy with what Nintendo are providing its subscribers game wise. It seems that Nintendo are concentrating on the revival of just the Nintendo Entertainment System, while may subscribers to Nintendo Switch Online are crying out for a bigger and more diverse variety of games to be added from different Nintendo Classic systems. Nintendo Switch Online members will get Metroid + 2 more titles November 14th, visit that story here. If you would like a breakdown of Nintendo Switch Online, visit my story on that here.