Gaming - Page 899

Bluehole has been teasing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds new desert map for a while now, and hell even NVIDIA were showing off new screenshots from the new map, and now we finally know it will be called Valle Coronado.

The leak comes from a place that shouldn't surprise you, with Reddit user 'bizzfarts' showing off the new title on the PUBG subreddit. We can see that we have a bunch of towns we'll be visiting and battling people in with Santa Domingo, Monte Nuevo, and Los Leonas. Los Leonas looks pretty huge, with some great gameplay and battles to be had on that mountain rage. Hell yes.

There will be three new Western-style weapons on offer, with the Winchester 1894 lever-action rifle, a new revolver in the form of Rhino, and a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. We don't know if these will definitely be in the game, or exclusive to the new Valle Coronado map, but we will know more soon when PUBG hits the Xbox One on December 12, and the new v1.0 release on the PC before the end of the year.

If you haven't purchased Project CARS 2 already and wanted to try it out, Bandai Namco along with developer Slightly Mad Studios have released a new demo of the game for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The companies tease:

Ubisoft has released a new update for Assassin's Creed Origins on the PC, with v1.05 including some fixes for problems with 4K resolution and multi-GPU setups.

The new AC: Origins v1.05 patch addresses "several Ultra HD monitor, multi-monitor mode, and multi GPU mode issues". There's also fixed hardware performance metrics for AMD Radeon R9 200 series cards, too. Here's the graphics/audio fixes in the new v1.05 patch for Assassin's Creed Origins.

EA seem to be warping in and out of this dimension when it comes to their state of mind over Star Wars: Battlefront II, with the company temporarily removing microtransactions from the game after a mountain of controversy began. We saw headlines of $2100 to fully unlock Battlefront II, or some 4000+ hours of playtime.

Now the company has released a statement during their recent financial briefing, explaining that they "[don't expect there to be] a material impact on EA's fiscal ear 2018 financial guidance" after turning microtransactions off in Battlefront II. EA is meant to be making investors feel better with this statement, but I can't take it as anything but nasty. Does this mean it doesn't matter if EA didn't charge for microtransactions in Battlefront II, since it clearly has no "material impact" on EA's financials for fiscal year 2018.

Elgato has officially released its new Elgato 4K60 Pro, which is being heralded as the first "consumer-priced" capture card capable of grabbing 4K video at the beautifully-smooth 60FPS.

4K 60FPS video capture isn't easy, so don't be surprised by the requirements of an Intel Core i7/AMD Ryzen 7 or better CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10/Radeon RX Vega series graphics card. Previous-gen 4K capture cards could only take in 30FPS, so the new Elgato 4K60 Pro is a step in a new direction for those wanting to capture 4K60 directly from the Xbox One X - at least for the games that run at 4K60.

Elgato makes the 4K60 capture nice and easy, with a 4K capture utility needed (and Windows 10 of course), an HDMI cable between your console and the Elgato 4K60 Pro, and that's it. Once you've got that, you can begin recording from your Xbox or PlayStation console.

The Battlefront II controversy continues spiraling out of EA's control, and now two state legislators have stepped in to call the game out for "predatory" and "exploitative" practices that aim at luring kids in.

Hawaiian state Representative Chris Lee (D) is putting Electronic Arts and Disney on blast over its Battlefront II monetization scheme--a scheme we actually predicted quite a ways before confirmation--and has openly lambasted the titanic duo for preying on children via lootbox "gambling".

"This game is basically a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into an addictive cycle of gambling money for a chance to win game upgrades" Rep. Lee said in a press release. "These exploitative mechanisms have no place in games being marketed to minors, and perhaps no place in games at all."

The PS2-era Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age remaster has surpassed 1 million sales, Square Enix has confirmed.

The latest Final Fantasy XII remaster on PS4 is a fantastic addition to any games library--I myself have yet to beat it, but I come back to it every now and again to enter the beautiful and enchanting world of Ivalice while fighting hordes of baddies. The game itself hearkens back to a time when Final Fantasy games were more grind-oriented, and the unique Zodiac Job System adds a nice spice to gameplay, forcing players to mix and match jobs and teams. I like it when a game does something like that--gives players a choice that they have to stick to throughout the entire game--as it adds more weight and impact to the experience.

Oddly enough, the publisher dropped a new trailer for Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age on Twitter to commemorate the event, despite the fact the game is months old. Maybe we'll get a Steam or Xbox One release at some point? Sales of the remastered "FINAL FANTASY XII: THE ZODIAC AGE" have also been brisk," Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said during the company's six-month briefing report.

Earlier this year we reported that Square Enix cut ties with Hitman series developer IO Interactive, but now the publisher discusses its reasoning for the decision.

According to Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda, the publisher essentially wanted to set the series free because the company didn't feel it could keep funding Hitman games--at least not with the sales performance of the last game. Interestingly enough Square Enix originally planned to simply sell IO Interactive to another publisher and retain the IP rights, but eventually decided on a buyout to set both IO Interactive and Hitman free out into the wild.

"In the case of Hitman, I personally love the game," Mr. Matsuda said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. The CEO goes on to say that the business comes first, and if the investments outweigh the sales revenues, a hard decision has to be made. "I think it's very unique, but I always have to look at things from the perspective of what it costs us to develop it and the performance it delivers. In doing that, in the case of Hitman, we had several expectations where that balance was not sufficiently achieved."

Nintendo's new Switch handheld-hybrid continues favorable momentum for both the Japanese games-maker and retailers like Gamestop.

In its third quarter earnings Gamestop confirmed that the Switch helped drive total net sales for the period ending October 28, 2017 to almost $2 billion. The console had a dramatic effect on the retailer's new hardware sales, which made $309.5 million during the quarter, up 8.8% year-over-year. This growth coincides with sales reports that the Switch was the best-selling console in September and October. In fact, new hardware sales for Gamestop made up 15.6% of total net sales earnings, up 1.1% YoY.

While not explicitly mentioned, it's very likely that the Switch's new hardware sales also helped boost software sales for the retailer, which pulled in over $649 million, up 5.4% year-over-year. By Nintendo's internal estimates the Switch has a software attach rate of 3.6%, meaning most Switch owners have at least 3 games to play on the system. Software is by far and large the lion's earner for Gamestop, accounting for a mighty 32.7% of total net sales earnings.

Games publisher Bluehole has made a tremendously monumentous deal to partner with Chinese titan Tencent in order to publish its game in one of the most lucrative regions in the world.

After much tip-toeing and deliberation, Bluehole has finally teamed up with Tencent to bring PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to China. The game, which has amassed a considerable following across the globe, represents a massive point for monetization and continued play for years to come. However the last-man-standing shooter won't enter China unaltered, and will need to adhere to strict regulations and legislature to avoid a ban including toning down blood and violence and monitoring for cheaters.

The news was posted by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad who made the announcement on Twitter.

Earlier this year in May, lead designer for the Civilization franchise Jon Shafer moved to Paradox Development Studios, taking the role of Game Director for the studio's next unannounced title. This move by Shafer has taken quite a turn with Paradox Interactive releasing a statement addressing that Shafer and the studio have parted ways due to "creative differences."

Mattias Lilja, Executive Vice President of Studios at Paradox Interactive has said "Jon is an ambitious person with a lot of drive and passion and he has led some good discussions in our teams over the past few months. However, during the course of these discussions, it has become clear that we want different things creatively and we have therefore taken the mutual decision that it is best to part ways. We wish Jon the very best in the next part of his career and would like to thank him for his efforts during his time with us."

We never knew what Shafer was actually working on at Paradox Interactive as he never gave any details away, but what we do know is that it certainly didn't go as planned.

Amid the Battlefront II microtransaction controversy, KeyBanc analyst Evan Wingren argues that the suspension of the game's in-game purchases is a risk, and that publishers should raise the prices of their games.

Making video games is expensive, and big games-makers like Activision, Take-Two, EA, and Ubisoft typically spend the bulk of their quarterly earnings re-investing into future projects. To lessen the blow of risky new IPs and games and buffer the amount of cash that's re-invested, these companies rely on microtransactions in live service games that A) allow gamers to play the game longer and B) provide padding for the company's financial future. But when that safety net is removed--even temporarily--because of big push-back, as with the case of Battlefront II's microtransactions, this could catalyze an industry change.

According to KeyBanc Capital analyst Evan Wingren, publishers should think about charging more money for games because gaming is quantitatively the cheapest form of entertainment. In fact, the analyst says gamers aren't overcharged but undercharged, and that the Battlefront II controversy is a "perfect storm of overreaction."

Death Stranding is progressing on schedule and should be ready for its scheduled release date.

In a recent interview on Portuguese TV show La Noite, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima drops a few new details about Death Stranding, his new weird/bizarre action game. It's been a while since we've heard any tidbits about Death Stranding--we know that Kojima Productions is in full development mode on the game, and that it stars Mads Mikkelsen, Norman Reedus, and Guillermo del Toro (among a few others who haven't been revealed yet). But all in all it's somewhat mysterious.

Thanks to Reddit user Gonicalized who translated and transcribed the video, we know that Kojima divulged a few new details including the game is currently in a playable state, development is currently on schedule, and all of the motion capture scenes have been recorded. Kojima also says that the game is currently in its "details" phase, hinting that the core engine work might be at least halfway done, but he's constantly shifting details and thinking up new things to incorporate.

Battlefront II almost had a similar skin-based lootbox monetization path similar to Overwatch, sources tell Venture Beat.

I'm sure by now you've heard about Battlefront II's hugely controversial lootboxes and progression system. DICE has been forced to not only overhaul the monetization system but they've actually pulled in-game purchases from the game altogether in a bid to make big changes and quell fan push-back. But according to anonymous sources, all of this could've been avoided.

Sources familiar with the matter told Venture Beat that Battlefront II's microtransactions were originally planned to be entirely cosmetic rather than the layered and intricate paying for the chance to win with StarCards, weapon upgrades, and more. But more importantly the game was originally meant to emulate a more consistent and balanced monetization path--something more straightforward.

Here at TweakTown we've covered CD Projekt RED's new game Cyberpunk 2077 for quite some time, but following the developer's recent remarks, some gamers think that Cyberpunk 2077 will be an entirely singleplayer experience. But our growing library of content on the game seems to say otherwise.

Given the current state of the games industry I've long thought Cyberpunk 2077 would be online-based and have some sort of monetization. But CD Projekt RED's recent comments on Cyberpunk 2077 have monetized games-as-a-service elements seems to have led people to believe it'll be singleplayer only. Of course CDPR knows exactly what they're planning and we can't contest that. But everything I've reported on the game so far tells me it should have online components of some kind--it'll be hard for the devs to reach their planned scope without them.

First up we have CDPR's grant from the Polish government. This $7 million grant is to help the studio build next-gen level worlds with "real-time AI and living cities" while also incorporating "seamless multiplayer" into the mix. In fact, everything about the grant seems to directly affect Cyberpunk 2077 in a number of ways. When combined the components give us an idea of what to possibly expect from Cyberpunk 2077.

Battlegrounds and Fortnite get all the Battle Royale hype right now, but that doesn't mean that we won't see more interesting... and maybe even on your feet, Battle Royale games.

Enter this ridiculous new creation 'Last Man Sitting' from Kevin Suckert, with the new game set as a battle royale-like game that sees you sitting in office chairs. The objective of Last Man Sitting is that you stay in your chair while throwing yourself around the room, with the game offering you a bunch of guns to fight with while you dodge other players.

Kevin teases the game on Twitter as "Last man sitting - a game about trust, friendship and the endless question about the meaning of life... Nah, just kidding, your booty is mounted on a chair and the only way to move is the recoil of your gun".

EA has made a fool of itself yet again, which really shouldn't come as a surprise anymore, but have no seen hundreds of millions of dollars wiped off their stock prices over the microtransaction debacle in Star Wars: Battlefront II.

EA temporarily removed microtransactions from Battlefront II after an explosion of hate from fans, which would see some gamers forking out $2100 to fully unlock everything in the game. Well, Wall Street noticed a huge drop in EA's stock price at the end of trading on Friday, down some 2.5% which is a huge deal. CNBC reports that Bank of America Merrill Lynch are now predicting that Battlefront II sales are likely to "disappoint investors".

Analyst Justin Post wrote in a note to investors on Friday: "The escalation of EA concessions over the past month are a potential negative indicator of pre-order sales trends and overall unit confidence. In-game purchases benched the night before launch". Yeah, not good at all. He continued: "We think the strength of Ultimate Team could offset a 2-3 million unit shortfall for Battlefront, and remain comfortable with our FY18 estimates".

Now that Bethesda's titanic RPG Skyrim is available on the Switch, many gamers are asking the million dollar question: does it run well or did the team botch the job?

Eurogamer's Digital Foundry dove right into the Nintendo Switch port of Skyrim for answers, and the results are actually pretty surprising. Bethesda apparently put lots of effort into scaling the massive game onto the portable platform. Of course the Nintendo Switch's Tegra X1 SoC doesn't match the PS4 or Xbox One's hardware, but it has an added bonus of portability that makes it a massively attractive platform for gamers. Sure the Switch's mobile hardware means Skyrim will have some drawbacks, compromises, and scaled tweaks, but ultimately the game looks and plays quite well in both handheld and docked mode.

Skyrim on Switch runs at native 1600 x 900 resolution while docked, and actually doesn't feature any dynamic resolution scaling while running the game in TV Mode. There are some trade-offs when compared to the PS4 version of the game, but the Switch port is definitely the remastered Skyrim Special Edition revamp that includes nice shadow, fog, lighting, texture and other effect tweaks. While in handheld mode, however, Switch runs at 1280 x 720 resolution (which is to be expected given the max panel res) with dynamic resolution scaling...but only on the horizontal axis. When running around in big open spaces the game can drop to 896 x 720 resolution with a few texture pop-ins and lowered effects.

Biomutant, an interesting-looking indie starring a bipedal sword-toting fox with a grasshopper companion, has been acquired by publisher THQ Nordic.

Experiment 101, the team behind the celebrated Biomutant, has been snagged up by THQ Nordic along with the rights to the game's IP. The team is made up of ex-Just Cause and Mad Max developers who bring a lot of talent into the fold (as evidenced by this creative, vibrant, and strikingly visual new IP).

"THQ Nordic is announcing today that it has acquired 100% of the shares from Experiment 101 AB, as well as the intellectual property of Biomutant the open-world, post-apocalyptic Kung-Fu fable RPG, which is now part of the THQ Nordic portfolio," the publisher said in a press release.

EA is one of the top games-makers in the space and has a large retinue of service games under its belt--in fact most of its current titles have a live component, and that's not a mistake. The publisher has found predictability in the software service model and will continue tapping this rich vein of potential for quite some time.

In the wake of Battlefront II's current controversy around lootboxes and progression issues, key EA execs remind us that live services are here to stay because of their advantages. Remember games are expensive to make, and publishers are risk-averse, so microtransactions, season passes, subscriptions and other schemes help mitigate that risk while giving a measure of power over its slate of games. We need not look far to see evidence of this mounting trend, but whereas companies like Ubisoft are somewhat new to the live service game, Electronic Arts has refined it to a science so to speak thanks to years of proven, calculated results.

Thanks to careful management, flexibility, and experimentation, EA says that live services that power games like FIFA and Madden have become more predictable, thus giving the publisher a very real control over its business.