Gaming - Page 880

Remedy Entertainment has begun early pre-production planning phases on a third game project, adhering to its new multi-project business model.

In its recent financial earnings report, Remedy confirmed that it's already starting to plot out a new video game beyond its upcoming cinematic action-based third-person shooter IP codenamed P7, which is scheduled for release in 2019. Right now Remedy has two game projects in production phases--CrossFire 2 and P7--whereas the third game is just in a fledgling state. It remains unclear whether or not this new game will be part of Remedy's ambitious multi-year deal with 505 Games or not, or if the company has secured a proper publisher (perhaps Microsoft?) for the project.

While scouting the documents a particular quote caught my eye: "In addition to our two game projects underway, we launched the preliminary preparations for a new game project at the end of 2017." P7 was confirmed in May 2017, not the end of the year.

A new title called 'The Missing' has been announced as a collaboration project between Hidetaka Suehiro (better known as SWERY) and Arc System Works.

The new game was announced by an unlisted video uploaded to the Arc System Works YouTube channel. The video featured Suehiro explaining what players should be expecting in 'The Missing.'

Suehiro says that this new title is under his ultimate creative control, as the game is being developed in-house under Suehiro's own personal studio White Owls. Suehiro says that 'The Missing' is going to be a game for anyone who has ever felt lost in their life, if that be a loved one or even just an object, it will still be relative to the experience Suehiro is trying to create.

We are finally now in the coming days before the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition launch, so I thought I would do a re-cap of what is in store for returning players or new ones that have missed the news.

Those that aren't aware, the classic real-time strategy game Age of Empires will be making its way back to gamers in the beautiful 4K. Not only are gamers going to receive a remastered AoE but they will also be gifted with "Rise of Rome" expansion pack, enhanced gameplay, better narration, 10 campaigns and 16 civilizations to play and conquer.

Veteran players that enjoyed the game when it was originally released 20 years ago will be glad to know that some of the cheats that they had fun with are fully functional, examples are: Gaia, BIGDADDY, BIG MOMMA, STORMBILLY and PHOTON MAN and more.

Rare has revealed that once Sea of Thieves is fully released we will be seeing an increase of map size as well as the limit of ships per world increased.

According to Rare Executive Producer Joe Neate, after the launch of Sea of Thieves the game will be updated with an increase of ships per world, as well as a larger scale map. This increase of map size would include "island designs" that Rare already have prepared.

Neate said in an interview with Windows Central that "There are currently three subtly different biomes in the game right now, Shores of Plenty, Ancient Isles, and The Wilds - we don't mark them on the map - but one's more ancient civilization, one's more Maldivian white sands, one's more dark and oppressive. I'm sure beyond launch we're going to expand the size of the map, as we grow. We'll look at increasing ship numbers per world."

It has been revealed that the Sea of Thieves map will be mainly focusing on the encounter rate of players running into other ships across the map, rather than the initial size of the map.

In a recent interview with Windows Central, Joe Neate, Rare's Executive Producer explained some very interesting aspects to the Sea of Thieves map. Neate explained that Rare is concentrating on the frequency of encounters for players rather than the size of the map.

Neate said that it is "less about how physically big the world is, and more about the frequency of encounters" and continued on by saying that the developers know the "exact ratio or metric on how many islands there needs to be, how many outposts there needs to be, to guarantee that average 15 minute to 30-minute ship encounter time. That's something we're iterating upon in the technical alpha."

With the release of Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition right around the corner, Square Enix is finally sharing some last minute details about how much better the PC version of the game will be.

Square Enix said that Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition will support minor modding at first, where gamers can reskin all of the characters, with more detailed modding tools in development and coming at a yet undetermined time.

The developer reiterated that the PC version of Final Fantasy XV was built from the ground up, and is not a console port with the team saying that it's more of a remake of Final Fantasy XV, exclusive to the PC. There is cross-play co-op to be had between the Windows Edition and Xbox One, and LOD/HairWorks issues in the benchmark tool now fixed.

The world knows that watered down games on the PC piss me off, so it should come as no surprise that I'm triggered by the news that Kingdom Come: Deliverance has been watered down since its first tease in BETA form in 2016.

When Kingdom Come: Deliverance was first shown off in beta form it looked amazing, and now Shazoo member 'design3d' has pointed to some specific images of the game in its beta state, and the launch version of the game. He said that the screenshots have been taken in the same places, with the same weather, with both versions of the game cranked to Ultra High visual settings.

Lighting and detail has been affected badly between the beta and full version, as you can see that in beta form, Kingdom Come: Deliverance looked better TWO FULL YEARS ago. Vegetation density has also been reduced, but the most detail you can see between the screenshots is definitely in the lighting.

One of the big changes Microsoft could do to better compete against Sony in the living room is make their Xbox One stand out by giving games full keyboard and mouse support... but Microsoft don't do this as they want to give developers all of the power.

Xbox engineering boss Mike Ybarra has tweeted that Microsoft doesn't provide keyboard/mouse support on Xbox, not because it doesn't want to or can't, but they want developers to have the freedom to make their games the way they want. Ybarra tweeted: "Developers have the choice to use APIs that detect and not allow these. It's up to them, but the capability is there".

In another tweet, Ybarra said: "We could but there are helpful scenarios with these devices (accessibility for one). Our general approach is to empower the developer to manage their game how they want".

Remedy Entertainment has teased that their next game, called P7, will be released sometime in 2019. The developer has said that they've finished "preliminary preparation" to get started for P7.

In a press release, the Quantum Break developer said: "Our other game project, project P7 that is being done with 505 Games S.p.A., proceeded from the pre-production phase to the production phase at the beginning of the period under review. The development of the game has progressed according to our plans. P7 is expected to be released during 2019".

P7 is a cinematic third-person action game that will be released on the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 with "expanded replayability" thanks to multiplayer elements that Remedy hasn't talked about yet.

Dragon Ball FighterZ's first mystery DLC character pack has been revealed thanks to a Japanese magazine.

With its impressively accurate visual style and action-packed chaos, Arc Systemwork's massively popular Dragon Ball fighting game has taken the button-mashing community by storm. But now the game's character roster is about to expand with a new paid DLC pack that will unlock two classic DBZ Saiyan badasses: Broly, who hates Goku with a deep blood-curdling rage, and Bardock, Goku's father.

The info was spotted on the latest issue of V-Jump, but the publication didn't say how much the pack would cost. We do have some info on each of their moves though: Broly's super attack will be called Gigantic Meteor, whereas Bardock's special, Revenger Assault, transforms him into a Super Saiyan (yesssss!).

Square Enix is making good on its promise to introduce PC mods into Final Fantasy XV in the best way: with cactaurs.

With mogs/moogles, cactaurs and cutesy chocobos (not to mention Goobbue pets), the Final Fantasy is known for its whimsical hilarity, and now that spirit will carry on with Final Fantasy XV's upcoming PC mods. In a new clip Square Enix shows off some of the things gamers can do with the power of their self-created mods, including transforming every NPC into human-sized cactaurs. This should carry over with a ton of enemies--maybe even the huge Adamantoise?!

Final Fantasy XV's Windows Edition will launch quite soon on March 6, and when it does, it will have "ongoing mod support." However there's no confirmation that mods will be switched live upon launch, and if so, the toolset will likely be limited to start with. But the fact that Square Enix is even doing this at all really underlines my recent point that FFXV is the new Skyrim (for many reasons other than mods).

After raising over $1.3 million on Kickstarter, developer Nightdive Studios has put its System Shock remake on hiatus, with the company putting out a statement and Polygon picking it up.

Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick explained: "I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but not ending the project. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled".

Polygon has some sources familiar with the game, and said that "mission creep" along with unrealistic ambitions saw Nightdive burn through the $1.3 million raised on Kickstarter. In an interview with the site, director of business development Larry Kuperman said that the developer had a strategy to pitch the game to publishers so that they could get more funding, but it had failed.

The successful co-op hack and slash experience Warhammer: Vermintide will be acquiring its next installment to the series, Warhammer: Vermmintide 2. The game will be debuting on March 8th.

The game will give players access to 5 playable heroes, each one is extremely different from the last. Above you will find a quick 3 minute video of the gameplay to expect in the new release. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 will be arriving on PC, Xbox One and PS4.

Players should also note there is Heroic Deed System that will create quests that "dramatically alter enemy composition, level settings, weapon use, and mission objectives."

Rare has released a new video onto the official Sea of Thieves YouTube channel, it shows a discussion with design director Mike Chapman and software engineer Topher Winward.

In the above video it was discussed that when players find an NPC in the live game they will be will realize that each NPC has their own respective back-story and personality. Overall this amazing feature will create immersion for the player as they traverse the high seas and bump into a variety of different NPCs.

NPCs will also have the ability to announce what is happening around the world in real-time, such as live campaign or a major boss fight that would include everyone. This software is not strictly for NPCs either, as it can be applied for items as well. An example of this would be if a player found a treasure map in a book and then another person finds the same book only to realize thatthe treasure map will isn't there since it has been taken.

Epic Games has just pushed out their latest update to Fortnite, bringing the game up to v2.5.0, with the new patch providing "full 4K resolution now supported on Xbox One X".

We also have optimized performance in general with the new patch, but later this month Fortnite will be updated again with a new 60FPS mode for consoles, but in the 60FPS mode the visual quality will drop.

Fortnite's new v2.5.0 patch notes are massive, with the full list available here. This is a little bit of what the new patch delivers:

I don't even know where to start, but there's a Sims 4 modder Filip, that is making digital drugs for the game through a mod called "Basemental".

Basemental provides drugs to the game, including marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, and MDMA (aka Molly, X, Ecstasy), which then the sims can buy, use, consume, and even sell. There's a new "drug dealer" trait that you can choose, where you can become a digital drug dealer.

The mod isn't some glossed-over afterthought, because the digital drugs don't just make you act high, hungover, or go to sleep... but they'll see your sim become addicted, overdose (both fatally, and not-fatally), and even get arrested for drug possession.

Fortnite might have over 3.4 million concurrent players, beating out the Battlegrounds but remember that Epic Games' rocking third-person shooter with its Battle Royale mode, is a free-to-play title.

The free-to-play title has in-game currency that Epic calls V-Bucks, and until now it hasn't been required for Fortnite's Season Passes. The official Twitter account for Fortnite tweeted that the Season 3 Battle Pass will cost 950 V-Bucks, and can't be purchased with real money. The developer confirmed the news, where they said "We will not be offering the Season 3 Battle Pass as a real money purchase".

You can earn V-Bucks in Fortnite by leveling up your Battle Pass, or by playing the included PvE 'Save the World' mode, which is currently in (paid) early access. Fortnite plays that have been plowing hours into the game will be happy, with the same thoughts for gamers who have been saving up their V-Bucks; they won't need to spend any real-world money on the Season 3 Battle Pass.

Bandai Namco's upcoming Souls-like game Code Vein will have online co-op multiplayer action, much like the Dark Souls games.

While Code Vein may have similarities to Dark Souls games, it has a style and a series of mechanics all its own...but that doesn't mean it won't borrow a page or three from From Software's magnum opus lineage. In a bid to give players a sense of camaraderie and interaction, Bandai Namco has announced Code Vein will have an online-based co-op system that allows friends or random users to team up and battle Lost, or the in-game enemies.

"CODE VEIN gives players the chance to answer requests for help from other Revenants finding difficulty battling against the Lost. Explore and defeat the enemies lurking through each dungeon with your A.I. companion and another human player to get through difficult areas of the game. Players can communicate through a combination of gestures, stamps and voice commands for added communication and teamwork."

In a surprise move, THQ Nordic has purchased Koch Media, the parent company for games publisher Deep Silver.

THQ Nordic has acquired Munich-based company Koch Media in a tactical buyout for € 121 million. THQ now has access to Deep Silver's lucrative IPs including the Metro series of games, Dead Island, and Saint's Row. While THQ Nordic has 100% ownership and stake in Koch Media, its wholly-owned studios will still continue on as normal, but THQ will oversee the development of key games on a more controlling business level.

"Koch Media GmbH and its subsidiaries will continue to operate as independent entities," reads the announcement press release.

The Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is releasing next week and if you are one of those old players that enjoyed playing some games with cheats on, you are going to be pleased to know they will still work.

According to Kotaku, the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has been tested with the cheats from the 1997 version of the game and it has resulted in a success. Old cheats such as Pepperoni Pizza (+1000 food) or Coinage (+1000 gold) still work, its pretty awesome considering some players have very fond memories when playing the game with cheats on.

It has also been confirmed that cheats will also be available to use in campaign and custom scenarios, some of these cheats include: