Gaming - Page 829

Blizzard is bringing back the Overwatch Summer Games for a third year running now, with the new games kicking off on August 9.

The annual Summer Games will include summer-themed events, something that will include a soccer-inspired 3v3 fight in Lucioball, with rumors suggesting we should expect the matches to take place in Busan, Korea. Overwatch is one of the most popular games in the Asian region, so it would be fitting to host the annual Summer Games for Overwatch there.

Expect some Summer Games Loot Boxes to be released, with skins and other event items up for grabs. As an avid Overwatch player, I can't wait! Personally I want to see more than just Lucioball, with Blizzard going all out. The game isn't pushing boundaries against massive juggernauts like Fortnite now with an ever-changing world. I feel Lucioball for the third year in a row is... I don't know, a little boring?

Propelled by strong IPs like GTA Online, WWE, and NBA 2K, Take-Two Interactive wants to keep pushing live services into its slate of upcoming games.

Live services are a boon for major publishers and are currently the main driving force behind specific games. Everyone wants to make an online game that continually generates revenue over time via microtransactions, but not everyone can successfully monetize their game accordingly. Luckily for Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games has proven themselves adept at this feat with years and years of strong GTA Online earnings.

Taking a gander at the publisher's Fiscal Q1'19 earnings shows why it's keen on continuing this trend. The company earned $240.56 million from recurrent consumer spending (in-game purchases, microtransactions, DLC, etc) in the three-month period ended June 30, primarily driven by GTA Online and NBA 2K. Recurrent spending made up 63% of net revenues in Q1, up 21% year-over-year, and digital net revenue sits at $315 million, up 17.44% YoY.

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V has been a runaway success since its release in 2013, and continues bolstering Take-Two's earnings on a quarterly basis.

Thanks to its online mode, GTA V has raked in consistent quarterly and yearly revenue via microtransactions and in-game purchases. But actual game sales are up too, and Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive is constantly surprised at the game's performance. The game, which strongly drives the publisher's recurrent consumer spending, has nearly reached 100 million global shipments (or sell-in).

"Sales of Grand Theft Auto V also outperformed our expectations with the sell-in of the title now approaching 100 million units," Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said in the company's Q1'19 earnings call. "Remarkably nearly five years after its initial release, Grand Theft Auto V remains the standard-bearer for the current console generation."

Tencent will be publishing Activision's Call of Duty game in China, the company recently announced.

Game titans Activision and Tencent have teamed up to bring one of the industry's biggest franchises to Chinese mobile markets: Call of Duty. We've known Activision is working on a smartphone-based Call of Duty for a while now, but the publisher is apparently working on two different flavors: a standalone game for Chinese gamers, and another being developed by Candy Crush dev King.

Tencent will be making the Call of Duty mobile game for China, which will be a free-to-play shooter that's likely infused with microtransactions and live service content. The game is specifically being geared for the Chinese market and won't be a port of its overseas cousin. Remember Activision is the king of monetization and has big plans for its mobile push, including further adapting its IPs into smartphone games.

There are games that let you play as a farmer, or an animal - and now we have Bee Simulator, where you play as... well... a bee. Check out the Gamescom 2018 trailer for Bee Simulator:

Bee Simulator will let players "compete with other bees in races, collect pollen, perform waggle dances, and explore a world inspired by Central Park in New York". Bringing legitimacy to the game in its soundtrack, something that The Witcher 3 composer Mikołaj Stroiński will be handling.

The game will of course have a pollen-collecting story mode where the bees are the heroes, and the humans are the bad guys. There's an exploration mode that lets you fly around Central Park, New York and a split-screen mode that has an additional map.

Octopath Traveler has now shipped 1 million units globally on the Switch, Nintendo today revealed.

Square Enix has to be happy about Octopath Traveler's performance, especially since it's a Switch exclusive. The game has been in hot demand in both Japan and overseas, where miscalculated shipments saw countless gamers waiting on their copy of the JRPG. Now Nintendo has confirmed the rather excellent RPG has hit 1 million combined shipments and digital sales on the eShop.

Sadly we don't have official numbers from the publisher but we should see more details drop during Square Enix's fiscal Q1 earnings. Given near universal acclaim and strong sales of Octopath Traveler, more traditional singleplayer-driven games could be cemented in the games-maker's plans. Square Enix has been dabbling with mobile games and live service type of experiences over the past few years or so--moves that've manifested into numerous gaming experiments--but ultimately game sales propel its business.

We'll soon see more Activision-Blizzard franchises made into mobile games, company CEO Bobby Kotick asserts.

Activision didn't get to the top of the games industry food chain without its strong engagement strategy. These gameplans have become the core driving force behind the industry's recurring revenue streams, and while Activision may have helped pioneer them, it wants to also innovate upon them via esports and partnerships. Typically this means the company has to leverage its eight billion-dollar franchises across all aspects of gaming, including mobile--and that's exactly what it plans to do.

In the company's Calendar Q2'18 earnings call, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said more franchises will cross over into the world's most accessible games platform.

Capcom should double-down on remakes and remasters to help fill out its release slate and provide long-term revenues.

Capcom is quite an interesting company. The Japanese games-maker has a wealth of unique, wholly-owned IPs that it leverages for sequels, spin-offs, and of course remasters--in fact, it has some of the most renown franchises in history like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter and Mega Man. Over the last few quarters we've seen Capcom push remasters and re-releases like the newly launched Mega Man X collection and upcoming Resident Evil 2 Remake, and this isn't something that'll end any time soon.

In its recent fiscal Q&A session Capcom affirmed that this strategy will continue onwards. "Regarding remakes and re-releases of titles in our back catalog, we expect to explore these further with a variety of properties as a part of our strategy to utilize our library of IP," the company said in its Q1 earnings.

BioWare isn't giving up on Mass Effect, and the devs have multiple teams working on "secret" projects.

We've known for a long while now that BioWare is making a new Dragon Age game, and that it could be a mainline franchise sequel instead of a spin-off. It's true that BioWare is hard at work on its massive new online IP Anthem, and that it represents a turning point for the company, but the devs aren't about to give up on their big AAA series. BioWare GM Casey Hudson says that multiple teams are squirreled away working on some future projects that will make Dragon Age and Mass Effect fans very happy.

"We hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you'll really like - we're just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while," Hudson said in a recent update on the BioWare blog.

News has surfaced regarding Rockstars upcoming staple title Red Dead Redemption 2. According to Rockstars parent company the sequel to critically acclaimed title will "redefine" the gaming industry as we know it.

The parent company's CEO for developer and publisher Rockstar Games, has spoken out at an earnings call today about the upcoming release of Red Dead Redemption 2. Strauss Zelnick has said that even though the first installment of Red Dead Redemption was so well received by players, the second game could turn the entire gaming industry as we know it on its head. Zelnick says the title will be "yet another creative milestone" and that Rockstar Games will "redefine our industry."

Zelnick continues on and discusses how "Red Dead Redemption 2 is Rockstar Games' first title developed from the ground up for the current console generation." With all this in mind, Zelnick says that not only Take-Two Interactive, but also Rockstar "could not be more excited about the upcoming launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, which is poised to be another massive entertainment event." Red Dead Redemption 2 is planned for release on the 26th of October this year, for further information regarding the release visit the official Red Dead Redemption website here.

NBA 2K18, the basketball simulation game from 2K games, has had an announcement from the publisher. The title has reached a massive 10 million units sold with over 2 billion games played since its release.

NBA 2K18 launched on September 17th, 2017 it was released on the following platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Since the series' beginning back on the SEGA Dreamcast, the franchise has pushed the limits for game sales with selling over 80 million copies and counting.

This achievement has not gone unnoticed, parent company of 2k Games, Take-Two Interactive have given a statement congratulating the efforts. Strauss Zelnick, the Chief Executive officer of Take-Two Interactive has said in a press release to GamesBeat that "NBA 2K18 is our highest-selling sports title ever, and a testament to the tireless hard work and innovation of the team at Visual Concepts. The ability to improve consistently upon an annual series and grow its audience reflects the team's drive to remain on the leading-edge of pop culture and finding new and exciting ways to captivate and engage players."

A very quick teaser trailer for the sequel to Life is Strange has been released onto the titles YouTube Channel. The trailer runs for only about a minute but leaves you patiently waiting for August 20.

From the trailer we can see that the camera angle is a dash cam from a police car. Officer Matthews seems to be responding to a certain disturbance which seems like a fight that he is trying to break up, this then results in his own murder through the use of magical powers.

Unfortuntately there isn't much more known about Life is Strange 2, but developer Dontnod Entertainment and publisher Square Enix do say at the end of the trailer that "all will be revealed" on August 20th, 2018. According to the description of the video the first episode of Life is Strange 2 will be released on September 27th. For further information regarding Life is Strange 2, visit the official website here.

Just two days ago we saw publisher Square Enix, and developer Crystal Dynamics release a trailer showcasing the upcoming Shadow of the Tomb Raider environments. Now, a new trailer has been released and this time we are showcased 40 seconds of numerous 'Deadly Tombs' that Lara will be facing.

The new trailer that has been released onto the Tomb Raider YouTube Channel showcases to players the different puzzles and strategic path ways that will have to be taken to overcome certain tombs. According to the description of the video, players will be delving into "terrifying tombs" that feature "deadly traps and brutal puzzles."

From the trailer we can see quite a wide variety of different tombs that players will have available to them. We go from fully lit chasms where players will be able to see exactly where they are going, to almost completely dark caves Lara has to somehow manage her way through. We even catch a glimpse of a massive pirate ship that seems to be underground somehow. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is set for release on September 14th for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

The latest release onto the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate blog has revealed that players will be able to enjoy the powerful Rodin as an assist trophy. The blog post also confirms the Delfino Plaza stage will be apart of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Rodin originates from the Bayonetta games, he has been titled "The Infinite One" and is the demon weapons dealer, bartender, and the owner of the Gates of Hell. Rodin also is a renowned weapon smith and for those that didn't know he responsible for creating the majority of Bayonetta's weapons.

Rodin will be available in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a new assist trophy and from the images he will be quite a powerful one as well. Rodin's description given on the Super Smash blog is as follows: "Rodin gave Bayonetta her name. He summons a giant arm and unleashes a powerful blow, and sometimes he'll even give you a powerful weapon as he leaves." Rodin seems quite the interesting addition, especially considering Bayonetta was a DLC character in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, could it be possible we see more characters from the Bayonetta universe?

Valve is getting closer to launching its new trading card game 'Artifact' with a release set for November 28. Digital card trading games have been doing quite well recently, but Valve will be charging real life money for Artifact.

Artifact is a Dota-based trading card game that will see Valve selling a pair of 54-card starter decks and 10 x 12-card booster packs for $20. Additional cards will cost more money, with booster packs setting gamers back $2 a pop. You can even sell unwanted cards through Valve's own Steam Marketplace. The company has expansion packs coming as well, with modes tied to card-pack types.

It sounds like Magic: The Gathering in a big way and that is meant to be, as Magic: The Gathering game designer Richard Garfield is leading Artifact for Valve. The game itself will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. PAX West attendees can even score themselves two free keys to the starter set for Artifact, too.

Information has surfaced to suggest that Dark Souls Remastered could be arriving to gamers on October 1st, this information comes from an email sent out by Amazon Italy.

Dark Souls Remastered was released onto the Xbox One, PS4 and PC on May 23rd, since then Nintendo Switch fans have been patiently waiting for the release onto the hand-held console. According to a user that pre-ordered the title for the Nintendo Switch, Amazon has sent out an email regarding the release date, it has scheduled the launch for October 1st.

Unfortunately, we do not know if this is just a placeholder date since Amazon have a tendency to have placeholder dates for products that are unreleased. The publisher, Bandai Namco and the developer FromSoftware are no doubt working tirelessly to get the Nintendo Switch port for Dark Souls Remastered out as soon as possible. They have been working on it for quite some time now so this could very well be the genuine release date, but until there is an official statement made from either the developer or publisher, do take this email date with a grain of salt. For further information regarding Dark Souls Remastered check out the official website here.

The official PC requirements have been released by EA Sports for the upcoming release of Madden NFL 19. The games recommended requirements aren't as much as you could of thought.

EA has taken to their blog to release the official specifications in both the minimum category as well as the recommended. EA says that the recommended specs will allow for players to experience the game at console-level gameplay, enough for a very standard gaming experience. EA continues and says "Of course, like any other PC game, the better the hardware, the more horsepower you can use push the game to higher levels."

Recommended Requirements:

SEGA discussed bringing the Yakuza series to PC at E3 2018, since then we have had two Steam listing for Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. Now, the developer and publisher have released Yakuza 0 on the PC with a brand new trailer.

Yakuza 0 is the prequel to the Yakuza series, the re-master that has now come to PC features support for 4K resolution, an un-locked framerate and full controller support for those players that don't want to use the keyboard. From the launch trailer released with the game, we can see karaoke, dancing, wrestling, brawls and of course some wicked brutal combo's.

During E3 2018, SEGA also said that they would be bringing Yakuza Kiwami to the PC, unfortunately there is no current release date set for the game. Yakuza 0 is now available on the PC, for further information regarding the title head on over to the official Steam listing here. If you want to check out the Yakuza Kiwami, visit that Steam listing here.

The Spyro Reignited Trilogy release date is moving closer and closer, ahead of the launch Activision has taken to their website to address how the three games will be arriving in players hands.

We last saw the Spyro Reignited Trilogy when 12 minutes of gorgeous gameplay was released onto PlayStation underground YouTube Channel. The video showcased the Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and the developers Toys for Bob discussed the lengths they have gone to recreate the magical world of Spyro.

Fans of the series that were hoping to receive three separate discs of their favorite Spyro games will now be disappointed, Activision has taken to their website to say "Games 2 and 3 require download via internet." This means that the Trilogy will be arriving on 1 disc with three quarters of all three titles within the disc and just a quick patch to clean everything up. Another possibility is that the one disc could just be containing the first game, and then the other two will come in the form of game codes.

Fortnite has received another update that includes some more goodies to keep players entertained, with Fortnite 5.10 content update including Guided Missles once again, a new jetpack, and the new Fly Explosives Limited Time Mode.

There's a bunch more included in the update, with a new Spyglass Sniper Rifle added into the original Save the World version of Fortnite, you know, the version of Fortnite that isn't battle royale. Epic has tweaked Fortnite plenty with the new update, with some major editions in not just the battle royale version of the game, but the Save the World, Fly Explosives and Playground modes.

Fortnite has influenced EA into opening up their flagship franchises with cross-play options, while Samsung is reporting going to offer Fortnite as a 30-day exclusive to their impending Galaxy Note 9 smartphone. Fortnite is making $2 million per day on mobile, right after it celebrated its first birthday with developer Epic Games announcing Fortnite has made over $1.2 billion since its release, with an astounding 125 million players loving the game so far.