Gaming - Page 947

Just hours after reporting its latest yearly earnings, Nintendo starts off its new fiscal year with a brand new handheld in the 3DS family: the New 2DS XL.

Nintendo's New 2DS XL is perhaps the logical successor to the 3DS that doesn't actually replace it, and represents an incredibly smart move in Nintendo's part. The New 2DS XL hits all the right checkboxes: it has a clamshell folding mechanism with dual XL screens, no pesky 3D gimmick, a faster processor, a C-stick, and the best part: it'll play all existing and new 3DS games.

We also expect the New 2DS XL to have access to the Super Nintendo Virtual Console library too. The New 2DS XL launches July 28, the same day as Hey Pikmin! and Miitopia, for the lower price of $149.

Nintendo has made dozens of partnerships with third-party publishers and developers to fill out the Switch's games library, and now the company re-affirms its commitment to keeping Switch owners happy.

As a Nintendo Switch owner I'm not so happy with the games lineup so far, and would like more of a selection of games. The console's first-party lineup has been described as an "IP treasure trove", with strong games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, Splatoon 2, and Super Mario Odyssey in the holiday season. But what about third-party games?

"In addition, we will maintain favorable conditions surrounding Nintendo Switch by providing a continuous stream of appealing third-party titles across varying genres. We aim to stimulate the platform and expand sales going into the holiday season this year," Nintendo said in its latest FY 2016 earnings report.

UPDATE: Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima recently issued the following statement on the company's fiscal earnings briefing:

The 3DS and Nintendo Switch will live alongside one another at least for another year.

In Nintendo's latest yearly earnings report the Japanese console-maker confirms the Nintendo Switch sold 2,740,000 units in its first month of global availability.

By selling 2.74 million units across the globe, the Nintendo Switch's first-month performance has overshot Nintendo's original sales projection by 740,000 units, or 37%. Nintendo Switch software sales were just as impressive, hitting 5.46 million units totally, including physical cartridge, bundles, and digital game sales.

In fact, Nintendo actually sold more copies of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Switch than it did Switch consoles: Breath of the Wild sold 2.76 million units on the Nintendo Switch, passing the console's 2.74 million units by some 20,000 sales. The new Zelda game also performed strongly on the Wii U with 1.08 million sales.

Thanks to strong Switch console sales and the company's diverse portfolio, Nintendo's bottom line profits have surged by over 500% from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017.

Nintendo has just reported its Fiscal Year 2016 earnings and it's fair to say the Japanese console-maker is back in the game. The company made an incredible 102.5 billion yen ($922.5 million) in profit attributed to parent (total profit gains) in its last year of operations, up by 521.5% from last year's 16.5 billion yen. It's worth noting, however, that this total profit represents Nintendo's complete portfolio of investments, sales, owned subsidiaries, share trades, etc after taxes and other deductions.

Net sales hit 489 billion yen ($4.39 billion), down by 3% year-over-year, and operating profit--profits earned from Nintendo's operations before deducting taxes, interest, investment gains/losses etc--is at 29.36 billion yen ($264,113), down 10.7% YoY.

Roger Jr., the hilarious (yet still pretty badass) boxing kangaroo found in the Tekken series, won't be making a return in Tekken 7.

Tekken creator Katsuhiro Harada confirms that Roger Jr. has been cut from Tekken 7's roster due to animal rights activism and sensitivity. While activists didn't actively campaign against Tekken or Bandai Namco to remove the kangaroo, the decision to cut Roger Jr. was a preemptive one. The publisher just didn't want that kind of bad press for their hit new fighting game.

"There was a video of a man's dog being headlocked by a kangaroo, and he punched it in the face. It turned into a big problem. People were complaining about him punching a kangaroo. It seems that in the last few years there's a lot more animal activists - even though they probably wouldn't play our game they would still hear about that, about a kangaroo in our game being punched, and would complain about it," Harada said in a recent interview with VG247.

With Call of Duty: WWII, Sledgehammer Games aims to create an authentic and bloody adaptation of a nation-sundering war--and it'll do that by creatively stripping players of their near-invincible FPS might.

Today's shooters are all about empowerment at the sake of realism but Call of Duty WWII hopes to marry the two with a kind of visceral focus that emphasizes skill and teamwork.

One of the most creative ways the game achieves this is by not refilling your health bar after a short period of resting behind cover. The chaos of war should be simulated in such away to reflect the anything-can-happen sandbox nature of militant combat, forcing players to use their wits, adapting skills, and accuracy to survive. But it's not just about you: the 12 men that make up the 1st Infantry Division all have specific roles in combat such as medic or ammo-replenisher, meaning you have to work together with your team to survive.

UPDATE: We've found a few more Call of Duty: WWII screenshots and embedded them into the article!

Call of Duty: WWII's big reveal was accompanied by a rather weak showing of screenshots, and Activision is likely holding back for E3.

When publishers reveal big-name games like the next Call of Duty or Battlefront game, they typically drop a few screenshots to accompany the reveal footage and info-packed press releases. But Call of Duty: WWII was different--after scouting around, I managed to dig up only four official screenshots--none of which were found on Activision's press site.

Despite rumors predicated on industry sources, it appears Creative Assembly isn't working on Alien: Isolation 2.

Yesterday we reported on Official PlayStation Magazine's claims that Alien: Isolation 2 might be in development. Now key sources tell Eurogamer this rumor is false, and the studio's next game won't be set in the Alien universe.

"Eurogamer's own sources have told us this isn't the case. Although the Halo Wars 2 team has already started prototyping its next project, likely to be a couple of years away from completion, this won't be an Alien title," the publication reports.

World at War's infamous Nazi zombies mode makes a triumphant return in Sledgehammer Games' new Call of Duty: WWII.

Activision and Sledgehammer Games promise that Call of Duty: WWII's campaign will be visceral, gritty, and exhibit the tight-knit bonds of the 1st Infantry Division during World War II, but what about multiplayer? What about the narrative-driven co-op mode? As it turns out, that new co-op mode is Sledgehammer's unique take on Nazi Zombies.

"The definitive World War II next generation experience also introduces Nazi Zombies, an all-new cooperative mode featuring a unique standalone storyline set during World War II that's full of unexpected, adrenaline-pumping action," Activision's latest press release reveals.

Activision has revealed Call of Duty WWII with a brand new trailer and release date.

As we reported a bit ago, Call of Duty WWII releases on November 3 on all platforms. Sledgehammer Games is taking Call of Duty WWII very seriously and has spent the last three years making the game. The devs are building assets, textures and models from scratch to ensure authenticity, and the lighting department is keeping things "dark and beautiful" to elicit a specific emotional response from players. The team has watched countless hours of real World War II footage to re-create legendary battles and ensure the combat is as historically accurate as possible.

"This game is the game you've been waiting to see," Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said during the Call of Duty WWII livestream. "Call of Duty WWII brings the series back to its roots, back to the gritty, authentic visceral experience that Call of Duty was built on. It also strives to capture the intense bonds of brotherhood that came from common everyday people who rose above the most epic and horrible conflict in human history. And with Sledgehammer Games at the helm, we knew we had the right team to deliver the cinematic scale and the relentless attention to detail that this conflict deserves and demands."

Despite the Wii U's colossal failures due to its lack of third-party games, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell thinks Nintendo's new Switch console-handheld hybrid will sell regardless of third-party support.

Nintendo has made tremendous efforts to court third-party developers with the Switch. The company has spent untold millions making partnership deals with publishers and developers to ensure the Switch has a varied games lineup. But Stardock's Brad Wardell thinks that first-party games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are enough. The Switch arguably doesn't need the aid of third-party titles, Wardell affirms.

"Nintendo doesn't arguably need third party. You think about the Mario games, Zelda, I mean, there's plenty there. I mean, if it was a $1000 game system, maybe I'd care. But as it stands now, there is plenty to play with on the Switch, that's just fine," Stardock CEO Brad Wardell told Gamingbolt in a recent interview.

With its new Project Scorpio console, Microsoft promises to deliver a premium 4K system that sits at the top end of the Xbox One hardware spectrum. Now for the first time we get to see actual visual results of Project Scorpio's graphical prowess.

Microsoft recently invited key publications like Windows Central to a private event to show how Project Scorpio compares to Xbox One in terms of fidelity. As you might've guessed, the differences between native 4K and 1080p are quite substantial, but Project Scorpio isn't just a 4K machine: regular 1080p HDTV owners will benefit from the console's supersampling which takes a 4K image and downsamples it to fit a 1920 x 1080 display for better visuals.

Sadly, Microsoft didn't show actual games in its side-by-side showcase, instead opting for tech demos. Below we have the first side-by-side with Xbox One at 1080p on the left, and Project Scorpio in 4K resolution on the right.

Adam Mudd was just 15 when he created the Titanium Stresser, a particular DDoS malware that was purchased by thousands of hackers to wreak havoc on online services across the globe--including Microsoft's Xbox LIVE and Sony's PlayStation Network.

Adam Mudd has been jailed for two years after UK courts found him responsible for 1.7 million DDoS attacks across the globe and making direct profit from cybercrime. Mudd drove a lucrative business by peddling his Titainum Stresser DDoS malware to hackers, which was used to disrupt websites and services worldwide. Courts estimate that Mudd made $500 million in the last four years selling the malware, and personally carried out 594 DDoS attacks against 181 IP addresses between 2013 and 2015.

Michael Topolski, the judge overseeing the case, refused to budge on the two-year sentence and hopes it'll deter other hackers. "I'm entirely satisfied that you knew full well and understood completely this was not a game for fun. It was a serious money-making business and your software was doing exactly what you created it to do," the judge said to Mudd.

NVIDIA recently hosted its Gamer Connect event in Kolkata, capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, where they showcased all of their latest and greatest technology including the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, 21:9 displays, AAA games, VR, and more.

There were VR demos, 4K monitors alongside G-Sync tech, showcases of Ansel and GeForce Experience, as well as physical PC products like the GTX 1080 Ti, custom PC mods, and so much more.

The AAA games that were on display included Project CARS, Mass Effect: Andromeda, For Honor, and Ghost Recon Wildlands.

We all know Ubisoft have been pumping out mostly unfinished 'AAA' games over the last few years, but now it seems that Vivendi will be pushing for a majority takeover sometime this year.

It's not just a small rumor from some random person in the industry, this is Reuters reporting on Vivendi expanding into both Ubisoft, and Havas, an advertising group. Vivendi chairman Vincent Bollore has been under shareholder pressure over mixed performance and stock prices that have been sliding.

Vivendi pushing into Ubisoft would make for a massive shift, with Vivendi owning 25% of Ubisoft, with Reuters adding: "Vivendi is moving into the second phase, everything will take place this year". It's not a signed deal yet, as Vivendi could find the takeover of Ubisoft costing too much - so it might look at acquiring a gaming giant in China.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is one of the best releases of the year, at least IMO, and now creator Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene has announced that the first PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds charity invitational event will start next month.

The charity invitational event kicks off on Thursday, May 4 at 10AM-1PM ET in Europe, and 2PM-5PM in the US. As for the event, there will be two sessions for both regions, with 128 streamers taking place in the event - each session will host 64 players in duos mode only, seeing 32 players per region. Each region will fight against each other in a set of three matches, with the winner being chosen from the highest overall placement.

Gamers Outreach, an organization that is dedicated towards providing "equipment, technology, and software" to children in hospitals, will receive all of the money raised during PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' charity invitational.

id Software is at the peak of game engine technology, with DOOM being one of the hardest titles to run on the latest hardware - and something AMD proudly showed off running at 4K 60FPS+ on their upcoming Radeon RX Vega graphics card.

During a recent video with AMD, id Software CTO Robert Duffy explained that the developer is baking in full support for the 8C/16T processor from AMD in the form of the Ryzen 7 1800X into the next generation id Tech engine. While the upcoming Quake Champions has support for both Ryzen and the Radeon RX Vega family of graphics cards.

Duffy said: "We got Ryzen 7 PCs in and one of the first things we wanted to do was see how it ran. Out of the box, 1080P, it ran fantastic. Then we started to do 4K tests and soon in the future, we'll be doing 8K tests and we expect Ryzen to do really well".

Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII: Remake won't release in 2017, and have been adjusted to Square Enix's "beyond" Fiscal Year 2018.

Surprising no one, a February Square Enix investor relations sheet reveals Kingdom Hearts III's actual release may be some time away. The publisher lists both Final Fantasy VII: Remake and Kingdom Hearts III as "FY2018 and beyond." At first the diagram gives hope of a 2017 release, as Square Enix's Fiscal Year 2018 calendar is from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, however both projects are lumped in with the publisher's new Marvel games which won't be announced until 2018.

Essentially this means we shouldn't see any Kingdom Hearts III or Final Fantasy VII: Remake announcements until after Square Enix's FY18 ends on March 2018 at the earliest. Since both games are slated "beyond FY18" that means they should release in FY19, which is held from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, so both games may not be released until 2019.

Illfonic's horror-infused slasher-fest game rendition of Friday the 13th will release on May 26, 2017 on all platforms.

Fans have been patiently waiting for official confirmation of Friday the 13th: The Game's launch date, and the devs at Illfonic delivered the news in a gore-tastic trailer that really captures the terror of the original films.

Friday the 13th is primarily a multiplayer game with mechanics like Evolve: one player takes the role of Jason and uses his immortal-like hellion powers to hunt down camp counselors at the infamous Camp Crystal Lake. The other players have to work together by collecting weapons, setting traps, and coming up with creative strategies within the camp's sandbox environment.