Gaming - Page 938

Nintendo needs to set up its own Twitch-like live-streaming service for its new Switch console-handheld hybrid.

Millions and millions of gamers watch others play games online on live-streaming services like Twitch.TV and YouTube Gaming. Games-makers are finding innovative new ways to monetize live streaming, such as Microsoft with its new Mixer service, which rewards viewers for watching ads and allows spectators to pay money to subscribe to streamers' channels.

With a competent plan, games-makers like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo can create a lucrative cycle of engagement and monetization that not only promotes brands and products, but ensures long-term tails for software sales and community play.

Dragon Ball Fighters is a new 2.5D fighting game coming early 2018 from Arc System Works, Bandai Namco today announced.

Long ago I remember buying an original PlayStation with a converter chip so I could play imported Japanese Dragonball Z games. Back then Dragonball GT blew my mind, and ever since I've always loved traditional 2.5D fighting games. After a slew of 3D style games, Bandai Namco is keen on taking Dragonball Z back to 2.5D and possibly blending in mechanics of one of my other favorite fighters: Tekken Tag Tournament.

Dragon Ball Fighters allows players to form up three-fighter teams and battle players in 3v3 matches. However, it's unclear if players can actually tag fighters in and out of battle, and it may simply be a Team Battle style mode from Tekken games. Bandai Namco confirmed the game will feature the series' famous "ultra high speed battles and flashy moves," adding in a nice splash of immersion. We'll probably also see offline and online play with a season pass that expands the roster.

Project Cars 2 will release September 22, 2017 on all platforms, Slightly Mad Studios and Bandai Namco today confirmed.

Popular realistic racing franchise Project Cars is back and better than ever, and Bandai Namco is ready to showcase the game at E3 2017. Project Cars 2 features over 180 cars, a massive track roster, and a bevy of new modes. Slightly Mad Studios has listened to fan feedback by adding in a multi-class racing mode that allows gamers to "compete in any car and track in a field of multiple car classes which replicates the world's most famous endurance racing championships, past and present." Players can also enjoy Project Cars 2's modes and features while playing offline.

Slightly Mad boasts that Project Cars 2 is the "most immersive and technically-advanced racing simulation on the planet," featuring new optimizations across the board including high-end visuals and a re-vamped physics and a new grip and slip handling system to give users even more control.

Hidden messages in pre-E3 "Feel True Power" Project Scorpio teaser clips may reveal the console's actual name and release date.

Microsoft has put up a number of short 15-second teaser clips for Project Scorpio to drive up excitement for the 4K-ready box. But eagle-eyed viewers noticed some interesting hidden messages on some of the clips that may or may not have significant meanings. One such message may have not only revealed the console's name, but also it's release date.

"X10S101-317" reads the most prominent hidden message shown in the Feel True Power - Goosebumps clip. The consensus is that X10S refers to Project Scorpio's retail name, or Xbox One 10S (maybe even Xbox 10S). This naming scheme coincides with Microsoft's recent Windows 10S operating system which powers its new Surface Laptop and other Windows 10-powered Chromebook competitors, and gates off non-Windows Store apps and programs for improved stability and efficiency. The other clue may indicate Xbox 10 S's release date.

I'm sure that most of us expected it, but Shenmue 3 has been delayed, with developer Ys Net revealing the news - as they weren't at E3 2017 in person.

In an update to the official Kickstarter page for Shenmue 3, Project Director Yu Suzuki explained: "I know you are all eagerly anticipating the release of Shenmue III, however, we unfortunately must delay its release. We are moving ahead with a plan to release the game in the second half of 2018. Details will be revealed in the backer report later this month".

With more time, Shenmue 3 will hopefully utilize new APIs and technologies between now and 2H 2018, but it's still disappointing to see it delayed. Sigh.

The Coalition is going patch crazy with Gears of War 4, releasing yet another gigantic patch that will test the strength of your internet connection and download cap - with the latest patch weighing in at a hefty 29GB.

Gears of War 4's latest update is called Rise of the Horde, which includes new skills for each class, new difficulty modes, two new maps, and enables Crossplay in Ranked Play between Windows and Xbox gamers. The developer has teased that there will be a new trial of Gears of War 4 made available between June 9-15, something that will let you play through the entire first Act of the campaign, as well as a tease of the Horde and Versus modes.

The developer has baked in some delicious multi-GPU improvements in the new Gears of War 4 patch, removed an exploit that let players kill friendly team mates in Horde, updates to all zombie characters to use standard character dialogue, and a slew of other fixes and improvements... something I'd expect for a huge 29GB patch.

E3 2017 - Electronic Arts today confirmed it will show off eight games at E3, along with "more surprises" during its special EA Play event.

EA is set to reveal at least two major new games at its EA Play showcase, on Saturday, June 10 at 12PM PST / 3PM EST, the publisher has said. The company published a roadmap of games that it will show off during the event that consists of six games, but promises to show "an exclusive look at eight games," meaning we should see at least two titles unveiled at the event.

Electronic Arts developers are currently working on a number of unannounced games, including major releases such as BioWare's new IP (codenamed Dylan), and a multiple series of titles based on Star Wars. Both Visceral Games and Respawn Entertainment are developing action-based Star Wars games, and BioWare's new IP is a massive online-based action game that may rival Activision's Destiny series.

Microsoft's high-end 4K-ready Project Scorpio console is ready to be unveiled in less than a week, and the Xbox division is busily optimizing the hardware and fully unlocking its potential. Microsoft has now confirmed that developers now have access to 9GB of Project Scorpio's total 12GB GDDR5 RAM, adding an extra GB to use for games.

Xbox & Windows gaming platform Vice President Mike Ybarra today confirmed that Project Scorpio will lend 75% of its total 12GB of GDDR5 RAM to developers, up 1GB from the previous 8GB DDR5 RAM allocation. Microsoft was able to make this jump days before the console's release, and developers now have a closer parity between Project Scorpio's powerful devkit, which features 24GB of GDDR5 RAM, and the retail unit.

Electronic Arts today revealed its new research division called SEED, which aims to push its games to a next-generation level with high-end technologies.

Official details on EA's new SEED division (Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division) are practically nonexistent right now, and the publisher has only released a single announcement video. Based on the content of the video, it sure sounds like EA wants to throw the doors open to Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality research, while propelling its games with a new level of technology. Since this is a research division, we might not see the fruits of SEED's labor for years to come, but it's quite interesting to say the least.

"Our challenge is to push imagination into reality. With breakthrough technologies, we will enable players to go anywhere, share discoveries and stories and ultimately be anyone," the video asserts.

CD Projekt RED, the developer of The Witcher 3 and highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, today confirmed that thieves have stolen early designs and documents for Cyberpunk 2077 and are holding the stolen content for ransom.

Early designs for CD Projekt RED's new Cyberpunk 2077 game have been hijacked by hackers, and are being held for ransom by the cyber assailants. If CDPR doesn't meet their demands, the hackers will release the information to the public. But the Polish developer says that these designs are "old and largely unrepresentative of the current vision for the game." As we've reported, Cyberpunk 2077 will leverage extensive next-generation features, tools, engines and technology to create something truly awe-inspiring.

"An unidentified individual or individuals have just informed us they are in possession of a few internal files belonging to CED PROJEKT RED. Among them are documents connected to early designs for the upcoming game, Cyberpunk 2077," CD Projekt RED today revealed.

Universal Studios's new Super Nintendo World attraction gets an official trailer, showing off what we can expect from the exotic new park.

Super Nintendo World looks like tons of fun, and the park is currently in development at three Universal Studios theme parks in Osaka Japan, Hollywood, California, and Orlando, Florida.

EA wants to use DICE's Frostbite 3 engine for everything these days including sports games, shooters, and its new affinity towards-action based games. While the engine is quite powerful, it doesn't play well with certain types of experiences--namely RPGs.

In a recent featured piece on why Mass Effect: Andromeda fell apart, Kotaku's Jason Schreier made some interesting points on EA's Frostbite engine--particularly how BioWare had to build both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda from scratch because the engine hadn't ever been used to build RPGs before. "In the video game industry, Frostbite is known as one of the most powerful engines out there-and one of the hardest to use," Schreier writes.

Key BioWare developers spoke out on their experiences with Frostbite, explaining how the engine has evolved over time--and how developers like BioWare's Mass Effect and Dragon Age teams were forced to adapt by making their own tools completely from scratch.

Although Kojima Productions has started development on Death Stranding, the studio won't showcase new content or gameplay at E3 2017.

Hideo Kojima today confirmed that his new game Death Stranding won't be in attendance at E3 2017, so don't expect to see it on Sony's E3 conference on Monday, June 12. Why won't the game be shown? Kojima explains that the team is now "fully focused on development," but that won't stop the Metal Gear creator from showing up at Geoff Keighley's E3 Coliseum event in a panel about how film has influenced his work.

Details on Death Stranding have been vague, but we know that it'll be powered by Guerilla Games' powerful DECIMA engine, and that it's an open-world action game, but despite its weirdness, it's not exactly horror.

Video games industry analyst Michael Pachter predicts that Western publishers are wary of supporting Nintendo's new Switch handheld-console hybrid, and only Xbox 360 and PS3 last-generation ports of third-party Western games will come to the platform.

I've long voiced my concerns about the Nintendo Switch, underlining that major players in the West like Activision, Take-Two and EA seem to be hesitant to treat Nintendo's new machine as a current-generation competitor, and will instead focus primarily on consoles, PC, and mobiles. There's a lot of reasons why publishers may be dubious about the Switch, including its lower-end NVIDIA Tegra chip that's about 1/4th as powerful as a PS4, which requires trade-offs when switching to the device's 720p handheld screen, and the lack of a key social online infrastructure such as Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network to allow monetization of games.

Japanese publishers, on the other hand, are supporting the platform: Capcom has announced Monster Hunter XX for the system, and SEGA will be bringing its mainline Sonic series to the system as well. But Western publishers seem unsure about the device and may only test the waters with "safe bets", ie ports of older last-generation PS3 and Xbox 360 games like NBA 2K18 and FIFA 18 (both of which are releasing on the Switch).

Like almost every other publisher at E3 2017, Square Enix will announce a new game, and it could be People Can Fly's new collaborative title.

Today the ESA revealed the full panel schedule for E3 2017's Coliseum event, which Square Enix will be in attendance. The timetable confirms that the publisher will not only announce a new game at E3 2017, but will also hold a 45-minute live demo of a "newly announced title being showcased at E3 2017."

Given the wording on the schedule, it's possible these games could be different or the same game. The publisher recently announced a collaboration with Bullestorm developer People Can Fly to develop a "new high-end original title for console and PC." We're betting that'll be the new game that's revealed at E3. But we could still see some Final Fantasy VII: Remake footage, or maybe some Kingdom Hearts III info to boot (but that might be wishful thinking).

21st Century Fox makes its first major move with its FoxNext mobile games label by acquiring smartphone game maker Aftershock.

Media juggernaut 21st Century Fox today announced the first major acquisition for its FoxNext mobile games arm, which was originally created in January to facilitate mobile, VR & AR, and other video game experiences. The company acquired Aftershock--a spin-off of mobile dev Kabam after it was purchased by South Korean games-maker NetMarble--for "tens of millions of dollars," the Wall Street Journal reports. Aftershock is a seasoned mobile veteran who's worked top-grossing mobile games including Marvel Contest of Champions and The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth.

Aftershock will helm "a number of projects" including a massively multiplayer strategy game based in James Cameron's Avatar series. Cameron and Fox are currently working on a new Avatar film that's slated to release in 2020.

Amazon may have accidentally leaked a new Dissidia: Final Fantasy game.

According to a new Amazon listing, Square Enix will bring its landmark Final Fantasy fighting game to the West with a release on PS4. The game is apparently called Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT, and will feature "over 20 playable Final Fantasy heroes and villains." Square Enix's Dissidia series has typically remained in Japanese arcades, and has seldom come West except for launches on PSP and older systems.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT will be a PS4 port of the 2015 arcade game originally launched in Japan, which has been developed jointly by Team Ninja and Square Enix. The publisher has expressed interest in bringing key franchises to the West to improve reach, and even commented that it wants to launch an online game streaming service for key Japanese titles. We originally thought Square Enix would stream Dissidia: Final Fantasy to the West, and it's great the game is getting its own dedicated port on PS4.

Ninja Theory today announced that Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will release August 8, 2017 on PS4 and PC.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is one of the most striking games I've seen in recent memory, and features some eldritch and truly phantasmagoric visuals. Ninja Theory's new game has strong Norse and Celtic overtones, and revolves around Senua's intimate journey into her own broken and fractured mind. The trailer shows exotic imagery that transcends the kind of content we usually see in games today and looks to be something quite unique.

With Hellblade Ninja Theory aims to "bring back the mid-sized game" and will sell the game at half the price of modern games, or $29.99. The developer, which is made up by a small team of 20 people, affirms that this title is a "independent AAA experience" and backs it up by both developing and publishing the game themselves.

Up until the PS4, Sony's new consoles have always had strong backward compatibility support. But with its current PlayStation 4 platform, the company has butchered a potential lucrative games foundation with its weird, fractured backward compatibility solutions, which rely on clumsy PS3 game streaming via PS Now and a handful of remastered PS2 games. And it looks like Sony isn't changing course any time soon.

Sony has a wealth of old beloved fan-favorite games that it could monetize and re-release onto the PlayStation 4, but instead of putting forth major efforts to make backward compatibility linear and painless, the games-maker has opted for a non-popular PlayStation Now paid streaming service for its PS3 games.

But what about the golden era PS2 games (you know, the games that helped the PS2 become the best-selling console of all time?) and nostalgic PS One games? According to Sony exec Jim Ryan, we shouldn't expect a massive influx of classic PS2 or PS1 games on the PS4 any time soon.

In an attempt to save its beleaguered MOBA Battleborn, Gearbox has made a strange hybrid scheme that combines a free to play structure with microtransactions while retaining the $30 retail version.

With Battleborn, 2K Games has found a way to merge freemium-style microtransactions with actual retail sales. Battleborn now has a "free trial" mode that offers unlimited PVP play with 30 free heroes across four modes, with a rotating cast of heroes. To offset the free trial mode, Battleborn will have premium digital currency that is purchased with real money, which is redeemed form cosmetics, gear, EXP boosters and more. The full game will still be sold for $30 on PS4, Xbox One and PC, and upgrading to the full game unlocks all 25 characters, the full story mode campaign, and private matches. The free trial mode is now available on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One.

Existing Battleborn owners who purchased the game before today get access to the Founder's Bonus Content loot pack, which includes premium platinum currency, credits, exclusive titles and skins, loot packs, and more. Gearbox meticulously outlines all of the changes to Battleborn in this huge post, so give it a read if you're interested.