Gaming - Page 90

Microsoft is going all-in on AI, and this is splashing over to Xbox gaming. New reports say that generative AI plays a heavy hand in the development of new Halo games.

Two new Halo games are on the way: a remake of the original Halo Combat Evolved released in 2001, complete with new modern-day mechanics like sprinting, and a multiplayer-only live game similar to the cancelled Halo Online. These games are coming quick, set to launch in 2026. New reports say that gen AI may have been the secret to this speedy release cadence.

Sources tell Halo insider and YouTuber RebsGaming that Halo Studios has chosen to fully adopt Microsoft's generative AI technology to make the new Halo games.

2K Games hires FPS expert Ben Brinkman to lead game studio 31st Union on its new free-to-play roguelike shooter.

2K is bringing in another Call of Duty veteran to spearhead Project Ethos, a new innovative hero shooter: Ben Brinkman will now take over as studio head at 31st Union. Brinkman is a heavyweight in the FPS game, having served as producer on Call of Duty games at Treyarch and executive producer on Apex Legends. Brinkman replaces Michael Condrey, a fellow former Call of Duty veteran developer who had been let go back in February.

The publisher confirmed the news to Variety via an executive memo from 2K Games president David Ismailer. Project Ethos held a beta test last year, but has seen slower iteration throughout 2025. Brinkman's appointment is a bid to turn that around.

Halo Studios is appearing on stage at the Halo World Championship 2025 on October 24, where the studio is going to unveil the next Halo title and discuss what is in store for the franchise, leading into the future.

However, RebsGaming, a well-known Halo insider, has revealed what Halo Studios is planning on showcasing, or at the very least, what the developer is currently working on. In a new video, RebsGaming said Halo Studios is working on a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, along with the next mainline Halo game, but also a new standalone multiplayer-focused Halo title that's being designed to be a live-service project.

According to the insider, the live-service title is a "long-term updating multiplayer game," and its "live service component is like Fortnite". Despite being "like Fortnite," the insider said their source didn't mention that it was a battle royale game, nor did they give any other specifics. Reports indicate the live-service Halo title is being designed to have an evolving ecosystem, with developers rolling out seasonal updates, events, and providing rotating content.

Nintendo could produce 25 million Switch 2 consoles, and sell around 20 million systems throughout FY26, sources tell Bloomberg.

Nintendo is said to be ramping up production of its new Switch 2 console to a heavy degree. According to new reports, Nintendo could manufacture and ship up to 25 million units by March 2026, a new all-time record for the company. If accurate, this fusillade of hardware will help Nintendo meet analysts' expectations of 17.6 million sales for FY26.

It's also expected that the Japanese games-maker will achieve up to 20 million Switch 2 sales throughout this fiscal year, overshooting the company's public predictions. Officially, Nintendo's president Shuntaro Furukawa forecasts 15 million Switch 2 sales throughout the year.

Old-school gamers will get a kick out of this: Atari is releasing an Intellivision console.

In an interesting twist of fate, Atari purchased the rights to the Intellivision brand in 2024. The two companies were heated rivals in the early days of console gaming. Now the brands are unified under one roof, and Atari is making good on its investment by releasing an Intellivision retro console.

The new $150 Intellivision Sprint is an authentic recreation of the classic system, complete with two keypads (is this a controller, or a phone?) and 45 built-in games including B-17 Bomber and Bomb Squad, plus new-and-improved overlays required for each game.

Konami has given an update on Silent Hill 2 remake sales figures, showing that the series is indeed back in the public eye in a big way.

Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake is a big hit with over 2.5 million units sold, Konami has confirmed in a new video.

"The Silent Hill series has shipped over 10 million copies, and Silent Hill f's predecessor, Silent Hill 2, has shipped over 2.5 million copies," Konami writes in the update.

In a new Community Update post the Battlefield team has addressed player feedback regarding community servers being inundated with XP farms, which, for those who don't know, are servers dedicated to enabling players to farm as much XP as they possibly can in the shortest amount of time possible.

XP farming servers have been set up within the Battlefield 6 Portal feature as many players have felt like the amount of time it takes to get XP in the live multiplayer games is too long. Moreover, it's much easier to sit in a server with a bunch of bots and just mow them down to unlock new weapons and attachments, rather than play an actual multiplayer game.

The convenience of these custom XP farming servers is far too attractive for players, resulting in the maximum capacity on community servers being reached, and the majority of them being dedicated to XP farming.

Battlefield 6 developers have posted a lengthy Community Update detailing an incoming update addressing player concerns regarding progression.

The developers have taken to the Battlefield Comms X account, where they wrote that community feedback and concerns have been heard, and that some adjustments are coming to the progression system in Battlefield 6. For those who don't know, many BF6 players have been reporting the pace of the progression to unlock new gadgets, levels and weapon attachments is excruciatingly slow, resulting in players not feeling as rewarded as they can be for the time spent in-game.

To address this problem, developers are increasing the amount of XP gained from match completion and daily bonus by 10% and 40% respectively. In addition to that, the XP required to unlock the first twenty attachments is being reduced, meaning players can start using new attachments almost twice as fast. Furthermore, assignments that required career ranks 20, 23, and 26, will now require 10, 15, and 20, respectively.

Glen Schofield, a former director on three Call of Duty titles, has sat down for an interview where he was very candid about where the franchise has headed since his departure from it.

In an interview with VideoGamesChronicle, Schofield, who is named director on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and World War 2, along with a credited producer on other blockbuster titles such as Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain, Dead Space, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and From Russia With Love, said since he left the franchise, none of the Call of Duty games "have been very good".

Schofield pointed to examples such as Modern Warfare 3 being the last Call of Duty to win Action Game of the Year, and that his two previous Call of Duty titles were nominated for it. Adding, now Call of Duty games aren't even nominated for the category. The former director commented on Call of Duty moving away from a yearly release, saying that if the franchise did that, Activision would lose $1 billion a year, and that's why they haven't.

Nintendo may be preparing to bring a collection of DS games to the Nintendo Switch 2, as a new patent has revealed how Nintendo can address the issue of dual-screen games being displayed on a single screen.

The Switch 2 has already become a major success for Nintendo, and if the company wants to retain its ever-growing userbase, it will need to continue to release a flurry of both Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive titles, along with Nintendo classics that have baked in nostalgic attraction, coupled with Switch 2 upgrades. With this in mind, what better Nintendo system to take advantage of than the DS?

However, there is a problem. DS games are built for a dual-screen system, meaning it's not as simple as porting over Game Boy or N64 titles, as developers will need to compensate for the Switch 2 having a singular screen. But, it seems a workaround has been discovered, with user MikeOdysseyYT taking to X to share a patent that shows a few of Nintendo's ideas on how it could get DS games to run on the Switch 2.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk took to his very own social media platform X to state that by the end of next year, his xAI game development studio will release the first "great AI-generated game." It's somewhat of a vague statement, but it refers to a new type of playable game that exists without a traditional game engine or human-created art, design, and other data.

Basically, AI will generate everything you see on-the-fly, from visuals to music, sound, and gameplay, based on player movement and the type of experience it will offer. We've already seen some early versions of this; however, they're prototypes and, like all AI-generated art, are trained and based on existing human-created works. Like this example of AI-generated Doom, and this example of AI-generated Minecraft.

Elon Musk is no stranger to making bold statements or predictions, and even though what constitutes "great" is subjective, Dead Space creator Glen Schofield (via PC Gamer) responded to Musk's statement that the first great AI-generated game will be here by the end of 2026 by saying, "He's full of crap. That's what I believe. I want to actually say that to him."

The former boss of the Assassin's Creed franchise has revealed that he didn't leave his position voluntarily, he was asked to step down by Ubisoft.

Marc-Alexis Côté, the former boss of the Assassin's Creed franchise announced his departure from the company on October 15, only seven months after the release of series' latest installment Assassin's Creed Shadow. Ubisoft stated that it was "deeply grateful" for the contribution Marc-Alexis Côté had on the AC franchise, and was "saddened to see him go," resulting in many that read the announcement to believe that Marc-Alexis Côté chose to depart from his position, but really it was Ubisoft that made that request.

Sony's baseball simulation series recently came to Xbox, and now it could also be coming to PC.

Sony's San Diego studio is hiring for a PC graphics engineer, potentially indicating that MLB The Show will cross over to PC.

"Come join San Diego Studio making a AAA PC title. Our focus is on delivering innovative, high quality gaming experiences. We are seeking a Senior PC Graphics Programmer to join our team in advancing the visual and technical quality of a AAA PC title," the job listing reads.

Hundreds of Blizzard's tech developers have unionized with the Communication Workers of America.

As the video games industry labor market continues to contract, more workers are unionizing in the effort to secure a better foothold in a volatile sector. It's been revealed that almost 400 Blizzard developers have chosen to organize under the CWA labor union, joining other unions within Microsoft's walls.

"We are forming a union to hold leadership accountable and to ensure that we can focus on building amazing experiences for the gaming community," said organizing committee member and Principal Software Engineer Daniel Weltz.

Quantic Dream has revealed that it's making a new game called Spellcasters Chronicles, a free 3v3 MOBA outing.

It's a major change in direction as the developer acknowledges (we'll come back to that). The game was revealed on X and looks to be typical MOBA fare with teams of three.

As you can see in the above trailer, you're going to be flying around at pace, chucking spells at your enemies and summoning creatures (with some kind of deck building element for both your creatures and the spells that you wield).

Electronic Arts (EA) was recently bought out by a consortium that is made up of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners investment firm for $55 billion. Now, a union representing EA workers has publicly opposed the sale and privatization of the company, saying employees weren't properly represented during the sale negotiations.

The statement names the United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433, along with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), as now very concerned that the privatization of EA will lead to company layoffs. The union states EA is "not a struggling company," with "annual revenues reaching $7.5 billion and $1 billion in profit each year".

The statement continues, and says EA's success has been "driven by the tens of thousands of EA workers," which made "EA worth buying in the first place."

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) labor union has issued a statement that opposes EA's proposed $55 billion sale.

EA is being taken private in a substantial $55 billion deal. A consortium is buying out EA's shares in the largest-ever leveraged buyout in tech history, consisting of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners--the investment firm of US President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

There's been pushback against the deal, as EA remains the largest US-based independent publisher that the video games industry has left, following Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Labor union CWA has issued a statement on the buyout, expressing concerns that the deal will trigger mass layoffs, project cancellations, and significant labor disruptions--as major industry-shaking acquisitions, sales, and consolidations are wont to do. The EA buyout comes with $20 billion in "junk" debt, indicating unfavorably high interest rates against EA, which could trigger more layoffs and cost cutting. Then there's EA's potent generative AI on the other end of the worries.

Battlefield 6 is an even bigger success than analysts had predicted.

EA has confirmed Battlefield 6 is the fastest-selling game in the franchise with over 7 million copies sold in 3 days on all platforms, making it one of the best-selling games of the year at launch. These numbers pose an interesting challenge to Call of Duty's reigning Modern Warfare 2, which sold an estimated 14.3 million copies in 10 days.

"Following a record-shattering Open Beta in August, Battlefield 6 now has the biggest opening ever in the storied Battlefield franchise. Battlefield 6 hit all-time highs for franchise sales during the first three days of launch, selling over 7 million copies and counting," EA confirmed in a press release.

If you are a Windows 11 user who likes to switch between light and dark modes depending on the time of day, Microsoft has introduced a new feature just for you.

Microsoft has added Light Switch to the suite of PowerToys, an app available for download from the Microsoft Store that includes various features, tips, and instructions on maximizing Windows 11 functionality. PowerToys is designed for Windows power users, but I recommend downloading it and taking a look at what it offers. There are some interesting tips and tricks inside that may speed up your workflow or make your Windows 11 experience easier.

As for Light Switch, users can navigate to the feature within the side bar on the left-hand side of PowerToys, and once pressed, they will be presented with several different customization options. Users will be able to change the time at which light and dark mode are automatically switched on, and which parts of the PC the modes are applied to. For example, I have set Light Switch to Manual and selected dark mode to apply to all parts of my system, including supported applications.

In late July, Sony filed a lawsuit against Chinese publisher Tencent, alleging Tencent's game "Light of Motiram" copies key elements from Sony and Guerrilla Games' Horizon franchise, including story, characters, art style, and branding.

Sony made three claims for relief across seven instances of harm, and pushed for a judge to force Tencent into admitting it allegedly infringed on Sony's Horizon intellectual property. Furthermore, Sony demanded that Tencent destroy all promotional material that infringes on the Horizon IP, along with paying $150,000 for each instance of infringement. Furthermore, Sony seeks costs, expenses, and damages.

These allegations were addressed by Tencent, which altered the Light of Motiram's Steam page, including the removal of specific screenshots and modifications to the game's description. Additionally, Tencent fired back with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that Horizon franchise developer Guerrilla Games had admitted that Horizon was not an original idea.