Orogoth

Xbox Lives Games with Gold for August Leaked

2017-07-25T09:52:00.001-04:00

Xbox Live Games with Gold for the month of August 2017 might have been potentially leaked thanks to a promotional image for the games lineup that was discovered by SomosXbox.

The image confirms the upcoming games that will be a part of the Games with Gold lineup for the month of August 2017. There is nothing official about this image and you need to take it with a grain of salt. The following games can be seen in the promotional image for Xbox Live Games With Gold August 2017.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India
Firewatch
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Forza Horizon 2Au

Tech Review: MeElectronics Crystal Review

2017-07-22T11:19:00.000-04:00

The MeElectronics Crystal are for those looking for a solid pair of earphones, that also feature a nice stylish look.

Features and Design:

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite roster adds Spider-Man, Frank West, Mike Haggar, and Nemesis

2017-07-21T13:10:00.001-04:00

Capcom has unveiled the next four fighters on the illustrious roster for MvC Infinite.
Check out the wonderful trailer below

Destiny 2 beta is a “months old” build

2017-07-21T12:58:00.000-04:00

It looks like the Destiny beta, which has received a bit of criticism, is from a months old build. Which means players shouldn't be so worried about the full release in a couple of months.

“The PVE game tuning has changed pretty significantly since the Beta build was deployed. The nature of a Beta of this scale requires that it’s based off a build of the game that is now months old,” beta design lead Rob Engeln wrote in the latest Bungie Weekly Update.

“So, in many cases, your feedback is helping us validate changes that were previously made based on internal feedback and playtesting.”

Engeln provided a specific example. We already knew Bungie would be more generous with ammo in the release build of Destiny 2, but the designer outlined precisely how:

“In addition to retuning the drop rates, we built a system that guarantees power ammo drops for you and your Fireteam from certain enemies, giving power weapons a more reliable and predictable role in your arsenal,” he wrote.

Nintendo thinks using your phone for voice chat on Switch “is going to deliver a better execution”

2017-06-18T12:12:00.002-04:00

Nintendo has previously confirmed that voice chat on the Switch will rely on the use of an app on your phone.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Kotaku that this is just how Hori is doing it, but it won’t be the only solution.

Despite this, the company president stressed that a phone and a special app are integral to the process, he even genuinely thinks this is actually a better solution for consumers.

“We actually think that the phone is going to deliver a better, more robust execution,” he said.

“In terms of the APIs that we can build into an app, the fact that phones are ubiquitous, the fact that it allows us to do much more rapid improvements and updates to the service, that’s why we think a phone execution—and specifically a mobile app execution—is going to be better for the consumer.”

The Nintendo Switch online service is due to launch sometime next year.

Call of Duty: WWII Console Beta Dates Revealed

2017-06-18T12:09:00.000-04:00

I got some dates for the Call of Duty WWII beta,

Sledgehammer has announced when Call of Duty: WWII’s beta will be arriving on consoles, with two weekends currently planned. The first weekend will be exclusive to PS4, which begins on August 25 at 10 AM PT and ends on August 28 at 10 AM PT. After a few days to relax, the second weekend will also include Xbox One players, and kicks off on September 1 at 10 AM PT, and ends September 4 at 10 AM PT.

Currently, the only way to guarantee access to the above betas is by pre-ordering Call of Duty: WWII before it launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 3.

Nintendo Switch Online Service will only cost $20 annually

2017-06-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

Nintendo has announced detailed of Switch Online Service, the console’s equivalent of Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus.

The good news is that Switch Online Service will cost you $20 per year if you buy in via the cheapest option. That’s significantly cheaper than the $60 annual subscription Microsoft and Sony ask for.

If you prefer to subscribe to Switch Online Service in smaller chunks, you can purchase $4 monthly blocks, or three months for $8.

As well as providing special eShop discounts, voice chat via a smartphone app, Switch Online Service grants members access to a collection of Classic Game Selections. Nintendo highlighted Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario as examples.

The bad news is that Switch Online Services, including voice chat, won’t be available until sometime in 2018.

Need for Speed Payback, coming in November

2017-06-02T11:44:00.002-04:00

Need for Speed is back again this year, with the new title from Ghost Games and EA due this November on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Need for Speed Payback features three playable characters looking to take down The House, a cartel that run the casinos, criminals and cops of Fortune Valley. You can watch the first trailer right here.

Players who pre-order get access to the Platinum Car Pack, which includes five extra cars and platinum tire smoke. Those extra cars are:

Nissan 350Z 2008
Chevrolet Camaro SS 1967
Dodge Charger R/T 1969
Ford F-150 Raptor 2016
Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport 2016

Get excited because more announcements are coming with E3 on the near horizon.

PS4 firmware update 4.70 detailed

2017-05-30T16:16:00.000-04:00

This latest PlayStation 4 software update may have appeared out of nowhere, but we'd recommend not getting too excited. As many of you have already guessed, firmware 4.70 simply promises better stability and performance.

It weighs in at around 340MB, and you'll need to download it in order to make use of your console's online functionality. This isn't a big update to the system, but this just means that 5.0 is coming, and it will hopefully be another major updates chocked full of changes.

Sony updates PS4 SDK to allow access to 7th CPU core

2015-11-30T10:03:00.001-05:00

Sony has updated the PS4 software development kit to allow developers access to a previously unused CPU core.

Microsoft updated the Xbox One last year to allow access to the seventh CPU core,allowing games to run more smoothly on the system.

“Core 6 is now denoted as shared, and for new captures, Razor splits the activity on that core between user and system,” reads the Sony update. “Old captures still show core 6 as a system core, as was accurate at the time they were made.”

Star Wars Battlefront more popular on PS4 than Xbox One and PC combined

2015-11-23T10:25:00.003-05:00

Stats show that there are more people playing Star Wars Battlefront on PlayStation 4 than on the Xbox One and PC combined.

According to p-stats.com, over a 24 hour period there was a peak of 183,329 players on PS4. Over the same period there were 104,993 on Xbox One and only 48,292 on PC.

“BioShock is unquestionably a permanent franchise,” says Take-Two boss

2015-11-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

Publisher Take-Two has said that the BioShock series is still a “permanent franchise” despite last year closing down developer Irrational Games.

Although studio head Ken Levine stayed with the publisher, the majority of talent were sacked and the franchise handed over to 2K Games in California.

“The franchise is in the hands of 2K,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said last week, reports Gamespot.

“They’ll make announcements in due time about any upcoming releases. But BioShock is unquestionably a permanent franchise for our company and one that we do believe in.”

As for Levine, he’s working on something “highly creative and innovative” according to Zelnick.

Fallout 4 is Bethesda’s “most robust and solid release ever”

2015-11-20T10:09:00.001-05:00

Bethesda has claimed that Fallout 4 is its “most robust and solid release ever.”

The game came out last week and like Bethesda titles before it, has a multitude of glitches and a few serious bugs.

“It’s true that the freedom our games offer you can lead to unintentional consequences that are sometimes bad, when the game combines too many unexpected elements at once,” said the company in its latest update.

“Given the scale and complexity of the systems at work, especially when allowing you to build your own settlements, we’re happy that Fallout 4 is our most robust and solid release ever, and we’d like to thank our amazing QA staff who worked as hard as anyone to break the game so we could fix it during development. But a hundred testers will never replicate the many millions playing the game now, and we’re hard at work addressing the top issues.”

Bethesda plans to address technical problems with the game via a beta patch for Steam, which will then evolve into a full patch. This will then be rolled out on PS4 and Xbox One.

“This process has worked well for us in the past and allows us to get more fixes out faster. Expect to see more updates, that are smaller and more frequent, than a few big ones. This allows us to make sure each fix is working right, as any change can have unintentional side effects in a game this huge. We expect the first beta patch to be up next week.”

Xbox Store Black Friday sale starts this week

2015-11-18T09:55:00.003-05:00

Microsoft has revealed some details about the upcoming mega Black Friday sale for Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Microsoft is hosting a digital Black Friday sale on the Xbox Store this week. The sale starts on Friday, November 20 for Gold members, and opens up to everyone else November 24.

150 games across Xbox One and Xbox 360 will be discounted 40%-60%, with 10% more for Gold members.

In addition, from November 20 through November 30, all non-Gold subscribers can get a one-month subscription for $1, this will allow them to access the sale on time.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 campaign can hardly hit 60fps on PS4 and Xbox One – report

2015-11-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Digital Foundry published its analysis of the campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. In it, the site reveals that the game struggles to reach 60fps most of the time.

Having tested both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game, Digital Foundry reveals that for most cut-scenes, Black Ops 3 mostly maintains 1080p quality. For gameplay segments, however, things get much worse.

The Xbox One version targets a resolution of 1600×900 for gameplay, but rarely hits it according to the site – running mostly at 1280×900 in= reality. The PlayStation 4 version fares better with its mostly-active 1080p lock, dropping down to 1360×1080 occasionally.

Frame-rate is a disappointment across the board, especially for a Call of Duty game. Digital Foundry reports that despite dynamic resolutions, Black Ops 3 reaches 60fps only during spots where combat is not a major component.

“On the face of it, the raw metrics we drew from our captures don’t look so bad – PS4 hands in an average frame-rate of 51fps, Xbox One is at 49fps,” the site noted.

“And it’s Xbox One where we see the most extreme scenarios where Treyarch’s precarious balancing act doesn’t really work out. A frantic shoot-out defending a control room is a low point: while PS4 sticks close to 60fps at various moments throughout the battle, Microsoft’s system frequently struggles to rise above the 35-45fps.”

Need For Speed is 1080p on PS4, 900p on Xbox One - Report

2015-11-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

The Xbox One version of Need For Speed runs at 900p and suffers from occasional framerate dips, according to a new technical analysis from NX Gamer.

The report follows the release of the game's time-limited trial on EA Access last week and, while the Xbox One version is said to hit its target 30fps framerate "most of the time", streaming issues with the game's engine can result in "sudden dips and judders".

"The frame rate and the performance is not as consistent as you would imagine or would have hoped," NX Gamer's video analysis says. "There are some serious dips down to lows of 25fps or 23fps at points. These tend to be loading/streaming issues and this is where the engine seems to suffer most."

The issues are "by no means a show-stopper," the analysis continues, "but generally while you're driving around you'll get these sudden dips and judders and you'll just feel it all as you race. But it is completely removed from any frame-pacing issues we saw in [Need For Speed] Rivals and it delivers a smooth 30fps most of the time."

The PS4 version of Need For Speed runs at a native 1080p and features fewer framerate dips than the Xbox One version, GamingBolt reports. As previously reported, the Xbox One version runs at 900p.

The writing in Fallout 4 is “everything you’d expect but better… taken to a new level,” says actress

2015-11-03T09:52:00.001-05:00

Courtenay Taylor, the voice actress who played many iconic roles in games, has a major role in Fallout 4. Taylor plays the default female character, which means anyone starting a female character will be hearing her voice for the entire game.

“I’ve never worked this long on a game and I think that does affect my excitement but also the material is great,” Taylor told IGN, revealing that she recorded 13,000 lines of dialogue over two years.

“The writing is great. It is exactly what you would expect from a Fallout game, but better – it’s more immersive. They’ve taken it to a new level.

“There’s no stone that’s been unturned. It’s like – I went to Pixar, in Emeryville once. And they were talking about the movie Cars, and the level of detail in Cars. In every car, they would know what was in the glove box, even if the glove box is never opened, these creators would know exatly what was inside.

“You couldn’t just say ‘oh, I have no idea’. Detail is fleshed out completely. And it rung the same for me on Fallout 4. Even if the camera never goes there, we know it’s there. And the effect of that level of detail is going to be apparent.”

Taylor went on to add that she felt she’d shot “an action movie with heart” after finishing work on Fallout 4, and that’s because fans expect writing to be “more cinematic” these days.

Fallout 4 is out November 10 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Destiny players grow to 25 million, putting in 3 hours per day

2015-11-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

The number of registered users playing Destiny has risen from 20 million to 25 million.

On average, players are putting in three hours per day. Activision launched Destiny the Taken King in September, a clear factor in pushing the user base up.

“Day-one downloads broke PlayStation records, day-one engagement saw the highest number of active players in Destiny’s history, daily player engagement is now well above 3 hours per day and the Destiny community has climbed to over 25 million registered players,” said Activision of the The Taken King launch.

“Since its launch, Destiny has become the most watched console game on Twitch.”

Full refund offered for Batman: Arkham Knight on PC

2015-11-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

Warner Bros. is offering a full refund for those who bought Batman: Arkham Knight on PC.

The move comes after the launch of the game proved to be such a disaster Warner had to pull the game from sale to fix it.

Unfortunately, the fix didn’t do a lot of good and the game re-released last week still riddled with bugs and poor performance.

“We are very sorry that many of our customers continue to be unhappy with the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight. We worked hard to get the game to live up to the standard you deserve but understand that many of you are still experiencing issues,” said Warner.

“Until the end of 2015, we will be offering a full refund on Batman: Arkham Knight PC, regardless of how long you have played the product. You can also return the Season Pass along with the main game (but not separately). For those of you that hold onto the game, we are going to continue to address the issues that we can fix and talk to you about the issues that we cannot fix.”

Uncharted 4's multiplayer runs at 900p/60fps

2015-10-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

Uncharted 4's multiplayer will run at 900p/60fps, Naughty Dog has confirmed.

That means that the game's multiplayer will run at a higher framerate but lower resolution than the single-player campaign, which will run at 1080p/30fps.

The specs were reportedly confirmed by the developer shortly after Uncharted 4's multiplayer reveal at Paris Games Week yesterday, where Naughty Dog showed off the first footage of the game's online component.

The developer had previously suggested that it was aiming to get the single-player campaign running at 60fps, too, but lowered it to 30fps to ensure it could "make the best game possible".

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End launches on PS4 on March 18, 2016.

PS4 console sales now 'well over 25 million'

2015-10-28T10:56:00.002-04:00

PS4 console sales now stand at "well over 25 million", SCE Worldwide Studios VP Michael Denny has revealed.

Denny's comments follow three months after Sony announced that PS4 had crossed the 25m milestone, although the platform holder has remained quiet on providing an updated figure since.

"I don't think there's a better time to buy into PlayStation - PS4 particularly," Denny told GamesIndustry.bizat Paris Games Week. "Our installed base now is well over 25 million. That gives us a massive community of gamers, supported by a lot of new community features. We've got great games out there, more coming through. We're looking forward to 2016, it's an exciting time."

Rise of the Tomb Raider can stand on its own against Fallout 4, says Microsoft

2015-10-27T10:06:00.003-04:00

Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg explains why Rise of the Tomb Raider could still hold its own vs. Fallout 4.

Making things even more challenging, Rise of the Tomb Raider is releasing on the same day as Fallout 4. Microsoft knowns there’s plenty of competition, but remains confident the game will do well in spite of it.

“The challenge is that you have to look at the production schedule. You want to make sure that you don’t rush the game so that it’s not done or of high quality. That is always the number one priority,” Xbox’s head of marketing Aaron Greenberg told KindaFunnyGames.

“The challenge with Tomb Raider is if you go a week later you’re against Star Wars Battlefront, if you go a week earlier you’ll be against Call of Duty Black Ops 3 and if you go two weeks earlier you’re against Halo.

“And then you go late and then you’re like well, the consumer doesn’t have any money left to buy the game so there wasn’t a better scenario for us except that was the week it was not going head to head against Call of Duty or Star Wars Battlefront. We felt like the Fallout audience-they are not direct competitors per-se, but you are right, it’s two big, big titles launching at the same time and we hope people will buy both.

Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider are both out November 10.

Halo 5 pre-order players met with slow downloads, “too early” to play error message

2015-10-27T10:04:00.001-04:00

Some Halo 5: Guardians players are having issues with being able to log into the game.

According to various reports via Polygon, those who pre-ordered the game from the Xbox Store and have downloaded the 54.84GB file are being met with a “too early” to play error. The shooter released today and was ready to play at 12.01am ET.

Many are also having issues with slow download connections, with users reporting longer than expected download completion.

Several suggestions on how to fix some of the issues have been posted on two separate reddit threads. Suggestions range from hard-resetting the console to cancelling the download and restarting it with a wired internet connection.

Microsoft to focus on Xbox Live users, not console sales

2015-10-26T09:46:00.000-04:00

Microsoft intends to report Xbox Live user numbers as a primary metric during its financial updates, rather than console shipments.

Microsoft will from now on focus on the amount of Xbox Live users it has when reporting financial success, rather than the number of console hardware shipped.

That’s according to a report by GameInformer, which notes that as of last week Microsoft did not report quarterly shipments of the Xbox One and Xbox 360, although it did note that hardware sales were down.

Focusing on Xbox Live, it will incorporate both Silver and Gold users in a bid to measure engagement with players.

“Full next-gen demo” of Star Wars Darth Maul game in development

2015-10-26T09:43:00.001-04:00

Red Fly Studio wants to re-pitch cancelled Darth Maul game to Star Wars Battlefront publisher EA.

Red Fly Studio has said it intends to pitch a demo to EA of a game based on Star Wars anti-hero Darth Maul.

The developer had originally worked on a Darth Maul game for last-gen systemsbut it was shitcanned after eight months work.

“We are currently working on a full next gen demo of all things Maul to show to the powers that be. It’s been a lot of work on our off time,” said Red Fly’s Dan Borth in an AMA.

“We have been burning a candle for this game since it was killed in hopes we can get it turned back on again. IF that is to happen we need to approach EA with a demo that will impress them. I think we have that or are close to it. Still it is completely not up to us.”