Gaming - Page 972

GDC 2017 is right around the corner, where AMD should unleash its next-gen Ryzen CPUs - and hopefully show off its Vega graphics cards, but how are the game developers splitting their time on platforms?

According to a GDC 2017 survey, 53% of game developers are making games for PC/Mac - and if we compare it against the two strongest other platforms, we have Xbox One/Xbox Scorpio with 22%, and the PS4/PS4 Pro with 27%. Mobile games are important as well, with 38% of developers working on games for mobile devices, while VR development is strong with 24%.

Interestingly, Nintendo Switch game development isn't so strong right now, with just 3% of developers working on Switch games.

Valve created two of the best games of all time with Half-Life, and its sequel, Half-Life 2 - and while we enjoyed Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, we haven't seen anything new in the Half-Life universe since Episode Two's release in 2007 - nearly 10 years ago.

GameInformer has just sat down with a Valve Insider, saying that Valve had never planned on releasing Half-Life 3, and that there were multiple prototypes created for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. The Valve Insider said: "There is no such thing as Half-Life 3. Valve has never announced a Half-Life 3".

The insider continued crushing my dreams, adding: "The closest they've come is after Half-Life 2, they said there would be three episodes. We only got two of those. That is arguably an unfulfilled promise. Anything else that we might think about as a full game or sequel has never been promised. I only mention that because it's sometimes frustrating when people sort of assume or have wishful thinking about the future".

Nintendo will be unveiling their Switch console in just a few hours time, with the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 kicking off at 11PM EST.

The company hasn't said how long the presentation will be, but it will be broadcast live from Tokyo Big Sight, the largest convention center in Japan. It will be broadcast in English, so you won't need to worry about translation or subtitles.

This will be the first time we'll receive specifications on the Nintendo Switch console, as the last time we heard about Switch was during the 3-minute reveal video in October last year. I'll be hosting a FB Live stream of the Nintendo Switch reveal, so be sure to tune into our FB page in a few hours time.

Once again, Sony's PS4 exclusives are utterly dominating Microsoft's Xbox exclusives. While Xbox has about seven revealed console exclusives for 2017, Sony has around thirty seven titles that will be exclusive to the PlayStation platform, and the Japanese console-maker promises that list will continue to grow throughout 2017.

In a recent interview with Japanese magazines Dengenki and Famitsu (translated by Siliconera) various devs shared their plans for 2017. President of Sony's Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida in particular had something interesting to say: "We have numerous unannounced titles in production. Please look forward to their announcements," the Sony exec told the publications.

It appears Sony isn't really content with steamrolling Microsoft's 2017 lineup--it's not enough to just beat your rival insofar as games, but you want to facilitate your own true sense of games variety and offer a multitude of different experiences for all players.

The stalwart devs at Silverlock are busily working on Skyrim: Special Edition's own script extender (SKSE), and have announced that a beta test may be available in mid-March.

If you're an active modder of any Bethesda game, especially Skyrim, then you know how important the Skyrim Script Extender is. This utility mod essentially enables mods to hit their full potential. Script extenders helped create some of Skyrim's, Oblivion's and Fallout's most amazing mods.

Now that the Skyrim: Special Edition remaster is out for PC, mods have been upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit, which completely removes the RAM limit from mods. Now modders have the ability to make some amazing creations, but there's only one problem: the Skyrim: SE script extender isn't ready yet.

I can't believe the Nintendo Switch ride is almost over, folks. I started writing about the Switch back in July 2015 back when it was the "NX," and since then I've pushed out dozens upon dozens of articles on the hardware. Tonight Nintendo will finally end the wild speculations with its official Nintendo Switch 2017 Presentation reveal.

On the eve of the handheld-and-console's unveiling, we discuss all the predictions and summarize more than a year's worth of coverage. Tonight at 11PM EST, Nintendo will reveal full pricing, availability, launch date, games lineup, and much more, showcasing the entirety of its Switch hardware. It's a weird feeling to know the ride is almost over, but I do understand that it won't ever really be done: this hypetrain will continue rolling throughout the months, especially given Nintendo's mysterious nature.

We hope you've enjoyed our Nintendo NX and Nintendo Switch content over the years, and don't worry, we're not abandoning the subject. Far from it. I think 2017 will bring tons of Switch coverage, but it won't be the same crazy reports, speculations, rumors and patent-rifling reveals.

After Scalebound was cancelled, Xbox gamers started to doubt the company's strategies. Xbox division head Phil Spencer felt the weird vibes, and responded on Twitter with specific affirmations that the brand would still take risks--but first party games are most important.

Phil Spencer pretty much underlined what we've known for a while now: Microsoft cares most about its first-party Xbox games and will invest the most time, effort, and money into them. This isn't just Microsoft--everyone, including EA, Ubisoft, and Activision--only want to do safe bets. Now Spencer has said that Xbox will continue taking risks to make certain games, but I think Scalebound was a big eye-opener for Microsoft shareholders, and I don't think his affirmations are as strong as we'd like to believe.

"...I know we have to take risks, I want everything we start to turn out great, to take risks, create diversity," Spencer said on the platform. "I won't abandon signing independent studio projects but... first party internal studios are critical."

Thanks to its dual form factor and dynamic hardware scaling, the Nintendo Switch console and handheld hybrid is a perfect conceptual fit for VR and AR. In fact, one VR/AR dev goes so far to say the Switch is a "fit made in heaven."

Stephen E. Dinehart IV, a confirmed Nintendo Switch game developer, has recently posted up an interesting read on Nintendo's history and how the Switch is the next major evolution of the company's brand. In this post, Dinehart, who may be or may not be developing an AR/VR game for the Switch, says that the console-handheld hybrid is a perfect fit for the emerging mixed-reality platform.

Gamers are concerned about Microsoft and the Xbox brand as a whole. They're concerned that Project Scorpio might not have too many games that leverage its high-end hardware. Now that Scalebound has been cancelled, Xbox gamers are doubting Microsoft. But how did a single game's cancellation cause this?

In the video above, I explain what's happening with the Xbox division, and why Microsoft isn't necessarily courting too many third-party exclusives these days. The Xbox brand we knew has evolved; it's changed, and it's no longer its own facet of Microsoft. Instead, the Xbox brand now bleeds over into the company's unified approach--a unified family of hardware that's tethered to the same flexible, scale-able Windows 10 operating system.

The reality is that Microsoft is doing many different things, and has lots of moving parts. Conversely, Sony has made a bid to go all-in on the PlayStation brand. Microsoft doesn't have to, and isn't, taking this same approach. Microsoft is more interested in the long-term game: laying all these different seeds for its Universal Windows Platform that will unify all of its current and upcoming hardware.

Wii U emulator Cemu can now play the console's games at 3840 x 2160 resolution, which is more than four times the system's native 720p resolution.

The latest version of Cemu 1.70 allows users to play Wii U games like Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Super Mario 3D World in pristine 4K, provided they download the required 4K texture packs. Thanks to its lackluster and outdated hardware, the Wii U is only capable of rendering games at a max 1080p resolution, however most of its games are simply rendered in native 720p and upscaled to 1080p.

Cemu can break that barrier thanks to the flexibility of Windows and the raw might of dedicated desktop-grade video cards. In fact, Cemu itself is quite intensive and requires dedicated GPUs and barely runs on integrated Intel graphics. Enabling 4K graphics on Wii U games was quite a complicated endeavor, and required the Cemu dev team to actually patch the game code itself.

If you've been paying attention to our news feed, then you'll see lots of Nintendo Switch news posted up in the past few days. Considering the official Switch presentation event kicks off tomorrow, you should probably expect to see more! But this time we have some official verified content rather than speculations, rumors and reports.

In preparation for the Nintendo Switch's pre-order rush, retailers across the globe are setting up their digital and storefront inventories for the new wave of games, accessories, and the Switch console itself. So it's only natural that a few of these listings get uncovered ahead of schedule. North American Retailer Target is preparing alongside with other retailers, and we've found something interesting on their inventory list.

According to BrickSeek data, Target has added fifteen different Nintendo Switch games into its inventory. This indicates the system may launch with fifteen titles, matching Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima's affirmations that the console will launch with a "full software lineup."

HORI's complete Nintendo Switch accessory lineup has been leaked out into the wild, giving us a good idea of the Switch's hardware and confirms some of our recent reports.

The leaked accessory fleet confirms that the Nintendo Switch won't have a gigabit Ethernet port, instead requiring a USB LAN adapter for wired play. Nintendo made up for this by including 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11ac MIMO Wi-Fi support within the Switch tablet itself. The Switch will also have at least one fighting game at some point, possibly Tekken 7 and/or Capcom's latest Marvel vs Capcom Infinite; both Namco Bandai and Capcom are confirmed third-party Nintendo Switch partners.

We also have an awesome Switch JoyPad Pro controller that clearly shows a dedicated button for recording in-game footage, similar to the PS4's DualShock 4 controller. HORI also has a Compact PlayStand that allows you to play on the Switch and charge it via USB Type-C while its JoyPad controllers are detached--this would've been impossible as the Switch's kickstand isn't tall enough to leave enough room for a Type-C cord and keep the device stable, unless, of course, you used a 90-degree USB Type-C cord.

Yesterday we reported on a possible leaked Nintendo Switch presentation schedule that purportedly revealed the console's launch games lineup. Now yet another leaked games list has surfaced, this time from a German GameStop store.

The leaked document comes by way of what appears to be a photo of a GameStop inventory terminal that shows possible launch games for the new Nintendo Switch console-and-handheld hybrid. It's worth noting that some of these games, including Mario Kart 8, Skyrim: Special Edition, and Breath of the Wild apparently don't have PEGI ratings. Also what's up with those prices? 100 Euros for a Nintendo Switch game? Does that mean the games will come with add-on controllers like these that slot onto the Switch's handheld tablet?

The following games are listed on the "leaked" document, but remember we have no way to confirm the veracity of this information, so take it with a grain of salt:

Square Enix's hotly anticipated Final Fantasy VII: Remake may not release in 2017 as we anticipated: Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the game, now says that the game is still a ways off.

In this week's issue of Famitsu, Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura affirms that both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII: Remake have quite a ways to go before they're finished, and has apologized for the inconvenience. We originally predicted that the first chapter of FF7: Remake's new multi-volume strategy would launch in 2017, but Nomura's words has us thinking otherwise.

Square Enix has confirmed that the remaster would release in a three-chapter trilogy with 90 hours of content, and the game will feature a vastly different combat system by scrapping the old ATB system and going for a fully-fledged action-based combat akin to Final Fantasy 15.

Despite having a rather troublesome development cycle that spanned almost ten years, Final Fantasy 15 has proven to be a landmark success for Square Enix, and has successfully revitalized the franchise with its impressive visuals and action-packed gameplay. In fact, Square Enix today announced that FF15's shipment and digital sales have topped 6 million.

Now that the latest Final Fantasy hit an impressive sales milestone by becoming the fastest-selling game in the franchise, the title has pushed through yet another achievement by tacking on another million shipments and sales across the globe.

Although the game is absolutely massive in scope and content, Square Enix opened up a new level of replayability by adding NewGame+ to let gamers run through the storyline again. A new update also brought a batch of free content, and Square Enix will roll out even more updates to expand and tighten the gameplay experiences.

In a rather strange move, it appears that Microsoft has started scrubbing videos and gameplay trailers of its recently cancelled Xbox exclusive Scalebound off of YouTube.

Microsoft and Platinum Games today confirmed that the Xbox exclusive Scalebound has been cancelled. Now it appears the company is going into damage control mode and starting to pull videos of the game off of YouTube, as well as making said content private.

Scalebound's E3 2014 reveal trailer has been set to private, and the official Xbox YouTube channel has been scrubbed clean of almost all mention of the game. In fact, I only found mention of Scalebound on a single video on the channel dating back to August 2015. Microsoft even removed Scalebound from its E3 2014 games lineup montage.

You might be tired of hearing about No Man's Sky, although it's been weeks since we talked about it last. But we've just stumbled upon a trailer that could've saved Hello Games a lot of heartache.

The real problem with No Man's Sky is a huge portion of what Hello Games promised simply wasn't in the game. The VGX 2013 reveal video was a huge mistake, showing us content that we never saw in the final release three years later. But what if Hello Games showed off a more truthful video instead? Something like the footage you'll see above?

YouTuber Zagisa made a rather surreal--but extremely truthful--video that exposes what No Man's Sky is all about. Zagisa's video should've been the kind of thing Hello Games showed off, instead of promising things it couldn't possibly deliver, even with 3 years of dev time.

Microsoft and Platinum Games have confirmed Scalebound, a high profile Xbox One exclusive, has been cancelled and the two companies have pulled out of the project entirely.

With Microsoft's "monster" Project Scorpio console on the way, the company is in dire need of new exclusive games--right now Sony is absolutely thrashing the competition with its huge array of PlayStation exclusives. But instead of gaining new all star titles, Microsoft has just lost one of its biggest exclusives: Platinum Games' action RPG Scalebound.

"After careful deliberation, Microsoft Studios has come to the decision to end production for "Scalebound." We're working hard to deliver an amazing lineup of games to our fans this year, including "Halo Wars 2," "Crackdown 3," "State of Decay 2," "Sea of Thieves" and other great experiences," Microsoft confirmed to Windows Central.

Given Nintendo's new handheld-and-console Switch hybrid is powered by NVIDIA's custom Tegra chip, it stands to reason the company would hype the product up, but it looks like NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is genuinely impressed by Nintendo's new hardware.

In a recent interview with VentureBeat, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang once again affirmed that the Nintendo Switch will blow us away. While Huang didn't reveal any specs or answer the Switch's million dollar question (Tegra X1 or Pascal Tegra?), he did make a comment that's consistent with his standing about the device.

"Nintendo Switch is a game console. It's very Nintendo. That entire experience is going to be very Nintendo," the NVIDIA CEO said during the interview.

When it ships in Holiday 2017, Microsoft's "monster" Project Scorpio will be the world's most powerful games console. The "beast" has been lauded by developers at its E3 2016 announcement, and now that AMD is putting the finishing touches on its new high-performance Ryzen (Zen) CPU and enthusiast Vega GPU architectures, Project Scorpio is likely being shown off to key developers--and these devs are quite surprised with what they're seeing.

Microsoft's first-party developers will be privy to Project Scorpio's full unrestrained power, and we expect first-party titles to leverage the most out of the console itself. Frank O'Connor, longtime Halo dev and Franchise Development Director at 343 Industries, one of Microsoft's key first-party studios, said that the new 4K-ready console is "beefier than I expected." Is this even more evidence that Project Scorpio will leverage AMD's new Ryzen CPU and high-performance Vega GPU architecture?

"Haha, although I probably "know" in that I might have seen it in a slide or something, it's literally not something I have time to think about now and I actually couldn't remember whatever specs I've been exposed to even if I was tortured. I literally couldn't leak or answer a question that went beyond "Can I do this? Does it support that? How many of these could it render?" What I do remember is that it's beefier than I expected," O'Connor said in a recent NeoGAF post.