Gaming - Page 877

Square Enix today surprised gamers by releasing Chrono Trigger on Steam, filling the years-long void of waiting. But the gift isn't what you expect.

Chrono Trigger is now available on Steam for $15, but there's a catch: it's not the beloved DS game that replicates the magic from the SNES original, but a weird mobile port that's been described as janky and awkward. This isn't really a surprise as the publisher typically releases mobile ports of its older games on Steam in a bid to capture that market with as little effort as possible, and as a business decision it seems tactical...but from a gamers' perspective it's quite frustrating.

"If you've had the pleasure of playing CHRONO TRIGGER before, then you'll be pleased to find out that this version includes animated cutscenes, as well as the Dimensional Vortex and Lost Sanctum dungeons from previous versions of the game," reads the announcement post. "We've also updated the controls, graphics and sound to make this the definitive version of CHRONO TRIGGER!"

Microsoft, like most other gaming companies in the industry, are all-in on their respective engagement strategies...and Redmond isn't about to quit a good thing.

Engagement has been a huge boon for the gaming market. When properly monetized, engagement can rake in billions of dollars a year (look at Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and even Microsoft), and the Xbox-owners at Microsoft have done a tremendous job not only creating a cyclic engagement wheelhouse that continues churning out cash via advertisements, microtransactions, and storefront revenues, but also unifying two major gaming platforms via Xbox LIVE. According to company CEO Satya Nadella, that approach isn't going to change any time soon--something that's been made readily apparent with its ambitious Game Pass subscription.

"We're very happy about the core gaming asset that we have, and that asset got built with the loved brand of Xbox, as well as PC gaming," Mr. Nadella said during the Morgan Stanley Telecom Conference. "One of the things that most people had not recognized is that we are the owners of both of those. And so, therefore, now that we even have Xbox and Xbox Live in particular across these two has really helped us grow engagement on Xbox Live and we'll continue to do so."

The co-op game A Way Out which was created by the same people that created the critically acclaimed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons has announced that A Way Out has "gone golden."

On Twitter, Josef Fares, the writer/director of A Way Out has said that he "can't even describe his excitement" for the release of his newest co-op title on March 23.

EA the publisher for A Way Out, is providing gamers when the title is released a 'friends pass free trail' that was announced back at The Game Awards. The 'friends pass free trail' will grant players the ability to play the full game with their friends on their friends list even if they don't own the game.

Hajime Tabata, the Final Fantasy XV director said that the plan for the 2018 was to release three individual pieces of DLC. Now in a recent interview Tabata has changed that plan to four DLC which might not come in time for 2018.

In a interview with 4Gamer, Tabata explained that the DLC that is planned for Final Fantasy XV might not all be out this year. "There is one thing I need to let everyone know, and that is perhaps it won't all be out only this year." said Tabata.

According to Tabata, the developers getting the correct amount of time is a much more important aspect to game development rather than "fussing over" a specific release time. "Instead of fussing over 'during 2018,' it's necessary to ensure a reasonable development period" said Tabata.

A group of Fallout modders called Road To Liberty have uploaded a video to the Wonderside YouTube channel showing gameplay of their creation of Capital Wasteland from Fallout 3 playable in Fallout 4.

The area will be fully furbished, complete with quests, dialogue, locations, environments and more. What should also be recognized is the team is also going to be using Fallout 4's Creation Engine to build the same weather effects and atmosphere that was felt in the original Fallout 3.

Road To Liberty very well could pull this off and from the gameplay video found above it seems that they have been doing a great job so far. Hopefully in the near future we will hear more information about how the mod is coming along or if it is even realistic that it will leave alpha.

Last year we heard that CD Projekt Red was going to be bringing HDR support to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for PS4 Pro owners. We haven't heard much of the patch since then but now the developers community manager has spoken out.

Community Manager Marcin Momot has taken to Twitter to announce an apology on behalf of CD Projekt Red for the lack of information for HDR support coming to PS4 Pro owners.

Momot answered a fans question that asked "Will the HDR patch for Ps Pro users be out in Feb?", Momot replied with "Should have more info on that next week. Sorry about the silence."

NVIDIA GeForce owners will want to update to the new Game Ready drivers, with 391.01 drivers released and ready for Final Fantasy XV, and so much more. You can get the new GeForce 391.01 drivers right here.

NVIDIA says that there are optimizations built into the new GeForce 391.01 drivers that add performance to Battlegrounds, World of Tanks v1.0, and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 when it drops soon. PUBG performance is increased between 3-7% depending on the card used and the resolution run.

The new GeForce 391.01 drivers also add:

Turok was one of those first games in the golden age of FPS gaming on the PC in the 90s that was one of those 'OMG can it run Turok' before 'can it run Crysis' was ever a meme. It had heaps of fog-of-war, but the graphics were a huge boon back in the 90s.

Anyway, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequel Turok 2: Seeds of Evil are coming to the Xbox One on March 2, with each game costing $19.99. Nightdive Studios is the company behind the development of Turok again, after working on the PC version the developer is now pumping away at the Xbox One version, even though they're going through major trouble with their System Shock remake.

Turok will provide an injection of nostalgia for anyone who gamed in the 90s, but don't expect it to bring your GTX 1080 Ti to its knees.

As someone who grew up with a Dreamcast and whose first game was Shenmue, I was curious to see how Ys Net's Shenmue III would evolve. But things just don't feel right, and these new screenshots give me unease.

Instead of excitement, every new batch of screenshots and gameplay footage for Shenmue III gives me a distinct feeling of worry. The game just looks odd to me, and other outlets and gamers have cited soulless blank eyes as the culprit. But a new unreleased trailer recorded by an attendee at a recent gaming event shows what appears to be rusty gameplay.

During the MAGIC 2018 gaming event the devs at Ys Net released a new batch of screenshots--some are decent but others are pretty weird--and also screened an older Gamescom 2017 trailer for the game. Despite warnings not to record the footage as it "does not represent the latest of the game in development," someone actually did and uploaded it to YouTube.

Although Kingdom Come: Deliverance is priced as as a full AAA game on Steam, the studio that made it is quick to affirm the game is a blend of indie and AAA quality.

With a nice dynamic RPG style and punishing gameplay, Warhorse Studios' latest big game Kingdom Come: Deliverance has swept gamers everywhere into a medieval world of change and consequences. Many say Bethesda should be taking notes from the game, but it also mirrors the publisher's signature engine with glitches and performance hiccups--especially on consoles. According to Kingdom Come: Deliverance's executive producer Martin Klima, the team would've loved more time to smooth over its rough edges...but six years was a long dev cycle.

"I freely admit though that I wish we had more time to polish the game before the release, that's what AAA game deserves," Klima said in a recent post on the game's forums. Alas the game isn't AAA, more of that underdog AA spirit that saw Ninja Theory win big with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

Ahead of its big PC release, Square Enix has released a demo slice of Final Fantasy 15.

The Final Fantasy 15 demo is out now on Steam, and mirrors a lot of the content that was featured in the last PS4 demo (not Episode Duscae or the Platinum Demo). The trial clocks in at a big 21GB and includes 4K assets, but they'll only be turned on if you have an applicable graphics card/rig setup.

Remember this is just a demo and that sub-quests/side-quests are turned off, so you'll get to do battles and a few main quests before the preview peters out. If anything it'll allow PC gamers to test and experiment with the graphics and performance settings to find that perfect balance.

In preparation for its release in Fiscal Year 2019, EA and DICE are busily working on the new Battlefield game's announcement trailer.

Reveal trailers are critical for any game, especially something as massive as the Battlefield franchise. Since the new Battlefield game will be showcased at EA Play in June, it's only logical DICE is hammering away at making an amazing cinematic showcase of their next shooter that should be a crown jewel of E3 2018.

A bit ago DICE Senior Video & Media Director Randy Evans confirmed as much by saying: "Battlefield 2018 reveal trailer is underway." No one knows exactly where the devs will take the series following its excursion into World War I with Battlefield I, but some believe the next game could be set in World War II or maybe a new chapter in the Bad Company sub-franchise.

It appears that we will be receiving the rest of the DOOM collection on the Nintendo Switch soon thanks to hackers that are working on the port.

Last year we saw DOOM brought to the Nintendo Switch, this was the first time the series was ported to a Nintendo platform in almost 20 years, now we are about to see DOOM 3 and DOOM 64 brought to the hand-held console.

Hackers that are working on the open source code of DOOM 3 that was released by id Software in 2011, on their Twitter page they have released a image of DOOM 3 running on the Nintendo Switch, it can be found below.

Grand Theft Auto V now harbors the very classic Dragon Ball character Goku, as he makes his way into the world through a talented modder named 'JulioNIB.'

Recently we have seen already seen some nice mods of Goku but this one created by JulioNIB is quite different. This mod allows for players to transform Goku into SSJ, SSJ2, SSJ3 and SSJ4, which grants some respective abilities.

From the video you can see that Goku can truly rain down some destruction, he can basically pick up anything that can be moved and even though it might seem slightly glitchy Dragon Ball fans will still have a ball.

Riot has released the drop rates of the rewards within loot boxes for League of Legends players, will you still be buying loot boxes after seeing these numbers?

Following the recent hate towards loot boxes in games, it appears that titles that have the option of purchasing loot boxes might have to start providing players with the drop rates of certain items.

League of Legends has released the drop chances numbers for their chests, these numbers show the exact amount of 'luck' you will need to receive certain rewards. For those interested in seeing the numbers for the rewards a link straight to the statistics on the official League of Legends website can be found here.

The exclusive Nintendo Switch title Kirby: Star Allies has had a 12 minute co-op gameplay video released by Nintendo, judging from the video this could be the greatest Kirby adventure yet.

In the video we are shown two levels and a boss fight with Frozen General Francisca. The first level that is seen is titled Natures Navel and the second level happens to be a boss level called Fortress of Shadows.

Just like other Kirby games players can use the 'eat' power to absorb enemies abilities but in this new game Kirby has a new item called a Friend Heart which allows you to befriend enemies.

Surprising nobody, Sony is indeed making the next PlayStation console...but when will it come out? Analysts and experts all have different theories, but the most recent prediction is 2020.

According to The NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella, Sony should launch its next-gen PlayStation system sometime in 2020, giving the PS4 a substantial 6-year plus lifecycle. "2020 is what I have in my forecast. The data suggest there's no need to do it earlier. But I've been surprised before so I'm as interested in this as anyone," NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella told Gamingbolt.

Despite the recent executive shake-up with current Sony President Kazuo Hirai leaving the position in March 2018, the company should announce its next mid-year plan at the end of its Fiscal Year 2017 timeline. This plan typically outlines the next few years of its business sectors, including the massively lucrative PlayStation brand, so based on the figures and quotes we may get some big hints on the new console's release.

The short film on Lucas Pope's "dystopian document thriller" is out, and it's absolutely fantastic.

Papers Please just got its first mini-film adaptation, and the 10-minute video faithfully recreates the true gritty, tough-as-nails decision-making that's involved in the indie game. As an inspector on the border of Arstotzka, it's your responsibility to thoroughly vet would-be visitors and immigrants who want to enter the country. This job is harrowing because everyone has a different story; sometimes you'll have to say no to a mother or a wife simply because she doesn't have the right papers. Other times you give in and let them slide through, only to have them blow up an embassy in a terrorist attack.

All in all the film is fantastic and does a great job bringing the dirty, thankless job to life in all of its bleak glory. Be sure to check it out, and maybe fire up the game after watching the video just to see how good--or rusty--your inspector skills have gotten.

Blizzard has surprised Warcraft III players with a huge update to their RTS that was released all the way back in 2002, and while there have been annual patches, this new patch delivers a lot of new stuff.

Warcraft III's new patch includes huge adjustments for the heroes, adds 16:9 widescreen support, and more. Blizzard are lining Warcraft III right next to Overwatch for eSports in the future, with the developer announcing the Warcraft III Invitational for February 27 at 1PM PT and February 28 at 11AM PT.

The full list of updates for Warcraft III can be found here.

Final Fantasy XV's DLC schedule will extend into next year, further illustrating Square Enix's long-term business model for the game.

According to a recent interview with Dengeki Online, FFXV game director Hajime Tabata says the game's forthcoming four DLC episodes will be spaced out to end in 2019, with three packs launching in 2018 and the last expansion releasing next year. The decision to release a fourth DLC came during the development of Episode Ardyn, where the team drew inspiration from the in-game world to squeeze out more content.

More expansions could follow in the future especially with the Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition coming soon. Revamped with a resurgence of buyers and players with the PC flavor, Square Enix could continue rolling out new updates for the foreseeable future especially with mod support and the Comrades online multiplayer mode expected to keep players engaged.