Gaming - Page 994

Star Citizen is still light years away from its official release, but Roberts Space Industries has provided a free-to-play peek at the game, which runs through to October 30.

If you want to jump in, use the promotional code FALL2016 - which will let you download the Star Citizen alpha. Once you've got it, you'll be able to fly around in the F7C-M Super Hornet spacefighter, not too bad at all.

There have been other free fly events for Star Citizen in the past, but the new one has arrived just as Star Citizen gets closer to $130 million in crowdfunding.

Nintendo impressed the world with the unveiling of its new NVIDIA Tegra-powered Switch console, which blurs the lines between gaming consoles and tablets.

Well, Nintendo hasn't revealed all of the secrets of Switch just yet, with the company talking to The Wall Street Journal recently, teasing: "We haven't shown everything".

WSJ's source said that Nintendo won't reveal any more details about the Switch until 2017, including full specifications, launch games, or pricing.

Ubisoft is preparing for the big launch of Watch Dogs 2 next month, with the company unleashing a new trailer for the game, showcasing the fictional version of San Francisco.

The new trailer for Watch Dogs 2 shows how you can get around the city, with the trailer called 'Welcome to San Francisco'. Watch Dogs 2 has you playing as protagonist Marcus Holloway, with the sequel looking like a more 'finished' version of Watch Dogs, which was a real mess when it launched a few years ago now.

You'll need a GeForce GTDX 660 or Radeon HD 7870 or better to play Watch Dogs 2, as well as at least 50GB of HDD space, and 6GB of RAM.

Nintendo's brand new Switch system won't support the kind of second-screen gaming experiences found on the Wii U.

Nintendo has affirmed that the Switch's tablet-like "console" is the main unit that powers the gaming experiences, and the dock just relays video signals and charges the system, likely without any extra internal chips. However we have specific reports that the Switch will have boosted performance when its docked versus handheld-based gaming.

"Nintendo Switch is dedicated to deliver a single-screen experience, on whatever screen you might choose," Nintendo told Polygon.

A talented artist splashes some much-needed color on Nintendo's brand new Switch handheld console hybrid.

via GIPHY

Skyrim: Special Edition console mods are limited to just 1GB on PlayStation 4 and PS4 Pro, whereas Xbox One gets a beefy 5GB limit.

Bethesda has already confirmed that Skyrim: Special Edition mods on PS4 and PS4 Pro aren't compatible with new assets, meaning no new customized armor or weapon mods, but it gets worse: Skyrim mods on PS4 can't exceed 1GB in size.

"Note on Mods: For Skyrim Special Edition, Mods will reserve 5 GB and 1 GB of space on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, respectively," Bethesda wrote on its updated Skyrim: Special Edition FAQ page.

The latest Nintendo Direct will focus on Monster Hunter, not the new Nintendo Switch console handheld hybrid.

October is traditionally a big month for Nintendo Direct announcements, and many gamers were hoping for a blowout of Nintendo Switch info. Instead of full Switch specs, pricing, and launch games, Nintendo has dedicated the upcoming showcase to Monster Hunter, which might mean we're getting a brand new sequel.

Considering all of the Monster Hunter games are currently available in Japan, the consensus is that Nintendo could unveil Monster Hunter 5 and then stealthily add it to the Switch's launch lineup.

ARK: Survival Evolved has been updated, with developer Studio Wildcard releasing update v248 that includes new dinosaurs, new mechanics and features, and now ARK: Survival Evolved features procedurally generated maps - and that's a big deal.

The biggest change to ARK is the inclusion of procedurally generated maps, that will be randomly generated for the user - all on top of the massive worlds that are created. ARK: Survival Evolved players can choose from various landscape options, where they can tweak the heights of mountains, the depths of valleys, and the number of lakes, oceans and rivers - as well as the biomes that they want, and so much more.

There are also new creatures to be scared of, with the prey-grabbing Kaprosuchus, the boulder-throwing Chalicotherium, and the oxygen-giving Diplocaulus - all making appearances in the v248 update for ARK: Survival Evolved. Here's what the v248 update for ARK: Survival Evolved includes:

Shadow Warrior 2 has been one of the best releases on PC in 2016 so far, with developer Flying Wild Hog releasing their third patch for the PC version of Shadow Warrior 2 since it released last week.

The new update includes shadow and geometry flickering issues, optimizes shadow rendering performance, and defaults the GPU to the dedicated graphics card, and not the integrated GPU on your CPU (if you've got one). The new patch also includes some performance improvements to the cooperative side of the game, with FWG providing a bunch of cooperative network bandwidth usage optimizations, and new Photomode fixes.

There are also some new balance and gameplay changes, and the usual general gameplay and UI improvements. The full patch 1.1.3.0 changelog:

We're beginning to find out more concrete details on the technical specifications of Sony's upcoming PS4 Pro console, with PlayStation Chief Architect Mark Cerny explaining some of what Sony has done inside of their new console.

Cerny said there are two chips in the PS4 Pro, which lets it play older PS4 games - but when you install the PS4 Pro game, both of the chips work together. Since Sony tapped AMD's new Polaris architecture for the PS4 Pro, is there some CrossFire magic going on?

He explains: "We doubled the GPU size by essentially placing it next to a mirrored version of itself, sort of like the wings of a butterfly. That gives us an extremely clean way to support the existing 700 titles. We just turn off half the GPU and run it at something quite close to the original GPU".

It looks like developer Battlestate Games has been busy with completely changing Escape of Tarkov, their new hardcore story-driven MMOFPS game that has been in a state of constant change since the developer started on it.

It's been in closed Alpha form for a while now, but the studio is continuing its work on large-scale online testing and performance optimization. The team has made massive upgrades to the graphics in Escape from Tarkov, which looks positively awesome.

The team has said that they have made "significant engine changes", teasing: "

It's no doubt that Nintendo is blowing up the gaming scene as we speak with their release of the latest next-gen console: Nintendo Switch. Though let's not forget that the 3DS is still out there making headlines. Nintendo-America has recently unveiled their new Special Edition: Lime Green 3DS XL.

The console is now available as an Amazon exclusive for the US market, and comes with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System classic Super Mario World pre-installed. Customers will need to buy an AC Adapter (sold separately) but if already owners of the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, or Nintendo 2DS can use those adaptors as the system is compatible.

The Special Edition: Lime Green New Nintendo 3DS XL is now available to buy from the US & CAD Amazon website ranging from $199.99 - $239.99 depending on what region customers live in.

Love roguelites and/or board games? Always wanted to see a Final Fantasy Tactics game with Vikings? Enjoy a bout of Chess here and there? You'll want to check out Iron Tides, an interesting looking indie that wraps up all of these themes and more.

Iron Tides is a promising looking indie that features a nice mashup of traditional game mechanics including roguelike, survival, and turn-based tactical strategy.

The indie has a Norse theme, and revolves around players exploring an endless sea in search of plunder, battles, and, of course, resources like food to survive. The combat looks pretty interesting and borrows from Final Fantasy Tactics' grid turn-based fighting system, as well as a unique character upgrade system with randomly generated class customizations.

We're hearing so much news about Sony's upcoming PS4 Pro console, but did you know that The Last Guardian has finally gone gold?!

Team Ico has been working on The Last Guardian since 2007, with the first tease of the game taking place during E3 2009... teased with a 2011 release window. Well, the team obviously missed 2011 by half a decade, as they switched development on The Last Guardian from the PS3 to the PS4, with some of the team leaving Sony in 2011.

Fumito Ueda and other developers within Team Ico left Sony in 2011, but Ueda continued on as Director and Creative Consultant for Sony's Japan Studio, taking care of the technical and programming side of The Last Guardian.

Bethesda is having one heck of a week between gameplay trailers and releases, it gets even better with the latest drop in game sales.

Top seller "Fallout" will have its prices slashed up to 66% off across Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, and PC platforms. Both base games, DLC and season pass versions will be included in the sale via the official Steam website.

Prices for selected titles:

According to Sony, developers make very little effort to enable enhancements like 1080p 60FPS or super-sampled graphics in old PS4 games on the new PlayStation 4 Pro.

One of the biggest selling points of Sony's new 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro is that it's fully backward compatible with all existing PS4 games, and can even provide performance and graphical boosts for current PS4 titles with Forward Compatibility updates.

We had originally worried that these Forward Compatibility upgrades would possibly quite an involved process, but Sony says that it's incredibly easy and only takes "a fraction of a percent" of the original game's development efforts.

UK publisher PQube revealed the trailer for arcade-style racing game "Moto Racer 4, exciting fans of the franchise. Moto Racer 4 is being developed by Microids, and published by Microids & Artefacts Studios has sold over 7 million copies throughout the globe.

No surprise with it's previous sales history, gamers are anticipating the release in the next coming weeks when it drops on November 4, 2016.

The game will involve:

Nintendo's next-gen Switch console has been making headlines all over the gaming industry in the last 48 hours. Bethesda's smash hit game "Skyrim" was amongst several titles featured in the console's footage release... but fans may be disappointed to know that the game hasn't actually been scheduled for launch on the Switch platform.

In a statement made by a Bethesda spokesperson, issued that whilst they were happy to work with Nintendo on the reveal trailer, they weren't ready to confirm any games for the Switch just yet. The Bethesda rep said: "While we are not confirming any specific titles at this time, we are pleased to announce our partnership with Nintendo and support of the Switch. We look forward to revealing specific games and details in the future."

But like all things media related it's not uncommon for a third party to create a little bit of controversy for the hype of a new release. It's not to say we won't ever see Skyrim on Nintendo Switch, it just means for now, news regarding Skyrim's specific release has not yet been officially confirmed.

Blizzard Entertainment recently announced via their Twitter page, that a new communication application has made its way to gaming desktops.

The new voice chat service aka Battle.net desktop app, is now available for download. Battle.net will give players the ability to chat across all titles developed by Blizzard. No longer will gamers have to go through a third party chat such as TeamSpeak or Skype. The download is very simple, once the user installs the latest of the app, a notice will let them know that voice chat can be enabled. Players then create a channel for themselves and customize their options.

For those who have still yet to download the Battle.net app, Blizzard is allowing a one time login to access where users will remain logged in for up to 30 days, making the process much easier.

Sony announced its new PlayStation 4 Pro console earlier this month, but since the unveiling event Sony has added 1GB of RAM to the PS4 Pro.

During an interview with Lead System Architect Mark Cerny and IGN, it was revealed that Sony has added 1GB of DRAM into the PS4 Pro, with the 1GB of DRAM being much slower than the 8GB GDDR5 RAM in the normal PS4. He said: "We felt games needed a little more memory, about 10 percent more, so we added about 1GB of slow, conventional DRAM to the console".

The additional RAM will also be used to store background applications for multi-tasking in your games, instead of reserving some of the unified GDDR5 RAM that it used for the OS and games. The new PS4 Pro will cost $400 and launch on November 10 with a 1TB HDD and remember, no 4K Blu-ray player. For that, you'd have to buy Sony's competitor in the Xbox One S.