Gaming - Page 832

Paladins, the first-person hero shooter that debuted to the Nintendo Switch last month came in with a price-tag of $30 in the form of a founders pack. Now, Hi-Rez Studios the developers behind the title have now made the game completely free-to-play.

When Paladins released on the Nintendo Switch the developers did say that the title would be going free-to-play during the summer of this year. That time has apparently come, players can now download the Paladins from the Nintendo eShop completely free.

For those that don't know, the Nintendo Switch version of Paladins supports cross-play between the Switch and Xbox One (PS4 not included). A positive feature for Paladins running on the handheld console is that the title comes in at a smooth 60FPS, while also being sprinked with regular content updates from Hi-Rez Studios. If you want to check out Paladins for your Nintendo Switch visit the title on the eShop or check it out here on the Nintendo website.

Riot Games have launched a brand new interactive world map for League of Legends, it allows for players to explore each of the locations across Runeterra.

The Runeterra interactive map gives players the opportunity to delve straight into the lore of League of Legends in a easy and accessible way, simplying clicking on each of the locations zooms the camera down onto the specific target. While zoomed in, a short description of the location is provided and other forms of media as well, this is so players can visualize the lore alongside the text.

Clicking on a location will also display all of the champions that are home to that biome, the governance of the location, their attitude towards magic, their level of technology and what the general environment is like. Veteran League of Legends players will remember back in 2014 that Riot Games decided to revamp League's lore in order to give a better presentation of it to players, this map is still progress of that goal and now players and lore historians have a visual representation of what Runeterra is actually like. If you are interested in playing League of Legends, visit the official website here. If you want to check out the interactive map visit it here.

Fortnite was in the headlines for all the right reasons yesterday, with the game celebrating itts first birthday, making Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney a billionaire, and hitting a huge $2 million in revenue per day from mobile alone.

Now we have the latest report from SuperData on the digital games market for the month of June 2018, where League of Legends destroys it as usual hitting #1 top grossing title for June 2018 earnings. Sitting in #3 is PUBG, while #6 is reserved for Fortnite. World of Warcraft and World of Tanks are in #7 and #8 respectively, while DOTA 2 and CS:GO take positions #9 and #10, respectively.

SuperData notes that Battlegrounds "gets huge bump from Steam sale. PUBG sold 4.7 million units on PC in June, up significantly from May and only second to its peak month in October 2017. Growth was underpinned by a reduced price point of $19.99 on Steam".

Treyarch has teased new details on its upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 over Twitter, with the official Treyarch account tweeting that they've been asked if sliders will be there to adjust ADS sensitivity, and more.

The developer tweeted: "Been asked if there will be sliders to adjust sensitivity in ADS on PC. The answer is YES. In fact, the sensitivity can be customized horizontally and vertically, independently. These are multipliers that can go from 10% to 200% of the hipfire value".

Another gamer replied, saying Treyarch will include 21:9 monitor support on the PC so the developer replied saying "That is correct--Ultra Wide screens, 4K, HDR... all supported (and 21:9)". Treyarch followed up that tweet with a tease on the FOV slider, where they said: "On top of the FOV slider on PC you can set one of several aspect ratios: 5:4. 4:3, 16:10, 16:9, 21:9, and 32:9".

Steam's annual summer sale has helped battle royale hit PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds reach nearly 5 million sales in June, analyst firm SuperData reports.

While PUBG is currently overshadowed by its colorful and whimsical battle royale cousin Fortnite, the seminal game continues making some impressive sales figures--especially on platforms like Steam. According to SuperData's latest monthly games report, PUBG sold an impressive 4.7 million copies last month on Steam. The firm notes this is the second biggest spike for PUBG's sales, second only to October 2017 where the game had reached over 17 million sales.

The platform's summer sale, which discounted the BR sensation from $29.99 to $19.99, was the root cause of the sales burst.

Digital revenues are on the rise across all segments and markets in June, analyst firm SuperData reports.

As the gaming landscape pivots more towards engagement, major players like EA, Activision, Take-Two and Ubisoft are betting more strongly towards the digital market. Ubisoft, for example, has made a tremendous evolution in its digital-first strategy in the last three years alone by incorporating live services into its full slate of games. Combined with the massive success of mobile games like Honor of Kings and the huge momentum of Fortnite on console, the games market was able to rake in nearly $10 billion in June alone.

SuperData's latest digital games market report shows that worldwide spending jumped to $9.1 billion in June, up 15% year-over-year from $7.9 billion last June. This was driven mostly by console and mobile earnings (as to be expected), which both jumped a mighty 23% year-over-year. Microtransactions, full game sales, subscriptions and other such monetization strategies are all lumped together in these numbers, and it'd be interesting to see just how much each segment's digital earnings owes to in-game purchases versus full game sales.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Activision is expected to lead the charge over other publishers' games, but Red Dead Redemption 2 may not be that far behind other big players like Battlefield V.

Analyst firm Piper Jaffray has laid out its predictions for the overall performance of the industry's top players (Activision, EA, Take-Two), showing some interesting--but not-so-surprising--trends. Insofar as raw game sales, the firm predicts Black Ops 4 will take the mantle with about 21.5 million in projected sales, beating out EA's shooter competitor Battlefield V by about 5 million copies and Rockstar's huge Red Dead Redemption 2 by 6 million sales. All three games will release in October. Activision's core segment is expected to beat Blizzard thanks to Black Ops 4's full game and DLC sales as well as catalog titles, but Blizzard should be buoyed by Overwatch earnings, sales of the new World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth expansion, and WoW subscriptions.

But taking a closer look reveals just how staggering Black Ops 4 may actually be. Remember that Activision operates on a calendar year, not fiscal, meaning its earnings timeframe ends on December 31, 2018.

Ninja Theory's visually striking Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will soon be fully VR-ready on PC, but the requirements are pretty steep.

Starting July 31, owners of Hellblade can experience Senua's haunting adventure through psychosis in a brand new way: in virtual reality on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Instead of selling the VR edition separately, Ninja Theory is making it available to all existing owners for free--the same goes for anyone who buys it on Steam.

"Now this isn't just an add-on or a DLC, it's the full Hellblade game as a standalone VR experience. It's completely free if you own or buy Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on Steam," said Ninja Theory's Commercial Director Dominic Matthews.

Nintendo have taken to their Twitter page to release some brand new screenshots of Cerulean City, the four screenshots showcase Gym Leader Misty and more.

Players will notice that these screenshots are of the one of the cities in the Kanto region, more specifically Cerulean City. From the images we can see that Cerulean City is completely surrounded by waterways, the Twitter post also reminds players that there is a "mischievous Squirtle roaming the city", and it is awaiting to be captured by a skilled enough player.

Both of the Pokemon Lets Go games will give players the opportunity to use the Poke Ball Plus as a method of catching Pokemon. This new controller lights up, makes sounds and has complete motion control, it will replace the typical Nintendo Switch Joy-Con and allow for players to throw Poke Balls in-game with the physical flick of their wrists. For further information about the Pokemon Lets Go games visit the official Pokemon website here.

As we move closer to the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch, Hori has stepped out ahead and announced that they will be bringing three themed and officially licensed GameCube controllers to the Switch.

The controllers themes that will be released by Hori are based on the following titles: Mario from Super Mario, Zelda from The Legend of Zelda and Pikachu from Pokemon. Currently there is no information about a western release, but what we do know is that this controllers will debut in Japan sometime in October. The current price set for them in Japan comes in at 3,218 yen which equates to around $30 USD, not bad for a custom themed GameCube controller.

Each of the controllers weigh exactly 230 grams and have the following dimensions: 141mm by 103mm by 69mm. Each of the controllers also features Xinput compatibility, meaning that players have the ability to use them on PC as well. The connection is USB instead of the standard GameCube controller port and the cable is a massive 3 metres long. For further information on Hori's new controllers visit the official website here.

Drink Box Studios, the developers behind the 2D side-scrolling challenge Guacamelee! have announced that their title will be receiving a sequel, the official release date has been unveiled and it's only just around the corner.

The first Guacamelee! was released back in 2013 and came to Sony platforms first, since then fans of game have been wanting a sequel to the title. The developers, Drink Box Studios revealed last year that a sequel was in works, and now the studio has officially unveiled the second titles release date.

Above is the brand new release date announcement trailer, it was uploaded to the official PlayStation YouTube Channel. According to the description of the video, the second game is based "Seven years after defeating Carlos Calaca, Juan Aguacate is forced to don his luchador mask again to face a new threat - this time to the very fabric of space and time. Punch your way through a whole new Metroid-vania style world and try to save the Mexiverse!" Guacamelee! 2 will be released on August 21st on the PS4 and PC, hopefully we see a port of the title come to the Nintendo Switch as the Switch can never have enough Metroidvania action platforming games.

Base Vegeta and Base Goku will be joining the Dragon Ball FighterZ roster, Bandai Namco Europe has released two brand new character trailers introducing both of the characters and displaying their powers.

Last week I reported about the open beta that was leaked onto Twitter by BlackKite, within this article I also detailed the latest release of V-Jump which revealed that Dragon Ball FighterZ would be receiving these two new DLC characters. Base Goku and Base Vegeta now have been officially announced by Bandai, they will be coming in at a price point of $5 each and will have all the iconic moves Dragon Ball fans think they will.

Base Goku will be arriving with Spirit Bomb and his classic Kaioken move that will power himself up while also granting new combos. Base Vegeta will be coming with the iconic Galick Gun and also Galaxy Breaker super. In other news about Dragon Ball, the 20th installment into the Dragon Ball movie franchise was announced at this years Comic-Con in San Diego, if you missed that you can check it out here.

Sonic Mania for the Nintendo Switch was released back in August of last year, since then the games popularity has taken to new heights, with the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter page congratulating the achievements it has made.

Players that haven't already picked up Sonic Mania for their Nintendo Switch should know that this 2D Sonic adventure title comes with a solid 60FPS. Accompanied with HD retro-style graphics, Sonic Mania gives players the option to take Knuckles, Tails and Sonic through waves of Dr. Eggman's evil robot army. Players can complete levels that are both classic zones as well as take on brand new bosses.

According to the post by the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter page, Sonic Mania Plus has now taken 1st place as the highest-rated Sonic game released in 25 years. Reviewing websites such as Dualshockers, Nintendo Life, Gamespot, EGM, CG Magazine and GamesSpace all gave the title 9/10, this then resulted in Metascore giving a whopping 90 for the Nintendo Switch release. If you are interested in checking out more about Sonic Mania or want to pick it up for your Nintendo Switch visit the official Nintendo Switch store listing here.

Blizzard has just pushed out the latest update to Overwatch, which unleashes the game's latest character that will really change the entire game: Wrecking Ball.

Wrecking Ball is the 28th hero in the world of Overwatch, with the character being a hamster in a spherical mech that can throw himself around the map and create havok wherever he goes. Wrecking Ball is larger than D.Va, the other mech-based character in Overwatch, but unlike D.Va you can't play out of the mech that Wrecking Ball is played in.

Hammond is the name of the hamster inside of Wrecking Ball, a character that Blizzard explains escaped from Horizon Lunar Colony and landed in my backyard: the Australian Outback. Hammond landed Down Under, assembled his huge mech, and became Wrecking Ball.

Man... if there were games I pumped hundreds of hours into over LAN party weekends it was Descent and then Forsaken. They hold special places in my heart, so it is music to my ears that Nightdive Studios has announced Forsaken Remastered, which the developer has teased with a trailer below.

Nightdive Studio is the developer behind back-from-the-dead remastered versions of System Shock and Turok, with Forsaken originally released in 1998 and described as the "supremer 360-degree multiplayer deathfest". Forsaken pits players in a future where mercenary scavengers from across the solar system are ffighting with automated defense systems and each other, after the Earth has been destroyed in order to find technology that is hidden in tunnels beneath the surface of the planet.

Forsaken Remastered will rock 4K resolution and 16:9 widescreen displays, with a bunch of upgraded graphical options that include MSAA and SMAA anti-aliasing, ambient occlusion, motion blur, and "enhanced and improved" particle effects. Nightdive Studios has also added a new automapping feature alongside new enemies and levels that were only exclusive to the Nintendo 64 at the time, have been added into Forsaken Remastered.

Fortnite has reached a new all-time high of daily revenue on mobile on July 13, reaching a huge $3 million in a 24-hour period. The previous record was the launch of Season 4 on May 1, with $1.9 million in 24 hours.

Epic Games launched Fortnite on iOS on March 15, and between its launch and the finish of Season 4 on July 11, players were spending an average of $1.2 million per day collectively according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence.

Fortnite has been making more money per day since its Season 5 launch on July 13, with daily revenue reaching $2 million. This is a 12% increase on the previous 10 days, and a 19% increase in daily spending during the same time. Considering that Epic only has Fortnite on iOS right now and not Android, this is huge... imagine what these numbers will be like when it opens up to hundreds of millions of Android devices around the world.

Can you believe that Fortnite is already a year old? Epic Games is celebrating the first birthday of Fortnite with a new birthday-themed update that is now live for the PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and iOS.

The new Fortnite update includes a new set of weekly challenges for the Battle Pass, a new submachine gun, and Playground Mode makes a return. There are of course birthday-themed skins, a Battle Bus somewhere in the world with streamers and birthday challenges that you and your friends will need to complete in Battle Royale mode, even without a Battle Pass.

You'll need to play 14 battle royale matches in order to complete the first challenge, push out 1000 damage to enemies to complete the second, and the third will see you dancing in front of 10 birthday cakes that are hidden all around the island. As you unlock each individual challenge, you'll receive cosmetic items for the battle royale mode. These items include a birthday-themed backpack that Epic calls "back bling", while there's also birthday cake slides throughout the island that will provide you with 5 health points instantly, and 5 shield points when you eat them.

Fortnite is an unstoppable juggarnaut at this stage, with the Unreal Engine-powered title making over $1.2 billion since its debut in September 2017. In the process, Fortnite's success has made a billionaire out of Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney.

Sweeney created Epic Games in his parents' basement some 27 years ago and since the original Unreal the developer hasn't stopped reaching new pinnacles of greatness, powering countless games with Unreal Engine. With the runaway success of Fortnite expected to generated $2 billion in 2018 alone, Epic Games' value has skyrocketed from $5 billion to $8 billion, with Sweeney as the controlling shareholder.

Beyond that, industry analyst Michael Pachter has said that if Epic Games' value is based on the trading multiples of competitors in EA and Activision Blizzard, the Unreal Engine creator and Fortnite developer could be worth up to $14 billion. This however, would pend on potential buyers of Epic Games to negotiate a discount based around whether Fortnite's continued growth happened beyond 2019.

Now that the NES and SNES mini's success has been well-charted, other major players are eager to get in. Queue the arrival of The C64, a mini Commodore 64 that brings the old-school 1980s flair to the present day.

The miniature Commodore 64 is scaled down about 50% from the original, and features plug-and-play action. Pre-loaded with 64 classic games, the mini-console aims to take gamers new and old back to those early 1980s days of gaming by blending old hardware (64KB RAM, retro joystick) with new features like HDMI output at 720p resolution.

The C64 also sports BASIC that allows users to program and create their own games, and the device can be updated via its two USB ports--plus it's compatible with USB keyboards to boot. If you want to play multiplayer games, though, you'll need to buy a separate joystick. The C64 mini drops in the United States on October 9, 2018 and will cost $70.

Firaxis may be working on a new series outside of its well-known Civilization and XCOM franchises to help fortify the 2K Games label.

Firaxis is just one of 2K Games' many development arms, but is arguably one of the best at consistently delivering successful hits. For a while now the studio has been synonymous with two major franchises: XCOM and the Civilization RTS games, but that could change as the team branches out into new things. According to 2K Games President David Ismailer, Firaxis could be working on a brand new IP or franchise that taps the vein of familiarity while offering something new.

"We did Civ, then we did XCOM, and now we're looking hopefully to add one more to that portfolio," Ismailer said in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz.