Announcements 0

Naughty Dog and PlayStation Reportedly Developing ‘The Last of Us Part II: Director’s Cut’

Months after rumors of the game receiving a multiplayer battle royale mode by Sophie Caraan, HYPEBEAST A director’s cut of Naughty Dog and PlayStation‘s award-winning game The Last of Us Part II is reportedly in development. According to video game industry insider Tom Henderson, multiple reports are stating that the remake of The Last of Us is almost complete and could release in the second half of this year. He added that he has also heard rumors of The Last of Us Part II: Director’s Cut, but he could not pinpoint a tentative release. “Them all releasing together could be a good compromise if [God of War Ragnarok] got delayed to Q1 2023 – But that’s just speculation on my end for the moment,” he continued. In August […]

Announcements 0

‘The Witcher 3’ to Receive Netflix Series-Inspired DLC Along With Next-Gen Update

by Jeff Yeung, HYPEBEAST Fans of CD Projekt Red‘s The Witcher 3 will be delighted to learn that the game’s next-gen update is finally coming soon, along with completely new DLC. Announcing the news over on Twitter, the official The Witcher account revealed that the critically acclaimed title’s long-awaited next-gen update for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC will finally be arriving sometime this year. While no specific date has been provided, it’s still fantastic news for fans of the developer, which has been through a pretty turbulent time following the botched release of Cyberpunk 2077. To accompany its next-gen update, CD Projekt Red has also teased new, free DLC that’s inspired by Netflix‘s live-action adaptation of The Witcher, although no other details have been revealed for the time being, so you’ll […]

Game Articles 0

Dying Light 2’s 500-hour completion time draws backlash

by Stephen Totilo, Axios A weekend promotional announcement that the upcoming zombie game Dying Light 2 will take 500 hours to complete drew a lot of negative replies. Why it matters: Big-name games keep getting longer, squeezing out other games and frustrating some players. Driving the news: “To fully complete Dying Light 2: Stay Human, you’ll need at least 500 hours,” Polish studio Techland tweeted Saturday afternoon. Some players responded enthusiastically, saying they were eager to dive into the first-person open-world adventure, in which players explore and fight their way through a city infested with zombies. But negative reactions were abundant: “That’s not ideal. Less is more,” someone tweeted. Another: “I loved your previous games but that is a huge turn off. As a father […]

Industry 0

For the videogame industry to grow, it needs to first grow up

After ‘frat boy’ culture came to light in 2021, videogame publishers need to be more inclusive to expand customer base and cure their workplaces by Wallace Witkowski, Market Watch The videogame industry appears to have hit a watershed moment in 2021 that sent a clear message: It’s time to grow up before you can grow any larger. Allegations of a “frat boy” culture and sexual harassment, rape and discrimination at Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI, +1.34% became a public-relations nightmare for the videogame publisher, directly affecting the business and ability to produce games, both in keeping current workers productive and attracting and maintaining top talent. The same type of trouble has plagued “Assassin’s Creed” publisher Ubisoft, and “League of Legends” publisher Riot Games, which this week agreed […]

Announcements 0

‘Artemis’ Is An “Earth-Sized” Open-World Game From ‘PUBG’ Creator

by Ewan Moore, Gaming Bible We’re starting to reach a point with open-world games where bigger doesn’t always necessarily mean better. Take, for example, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. That’s a damn good game, but I’m not sure it would have lost anything if Ubisoft had made its sprawling recreation of Greece even half the size it ended up being. Basically, just because developers can make a huge open-world game these days doesn’t mean that they should. With that in mind, join me as we take a look at Artemis; a brand new in-development game that promises an open-world roughly the same size as Earth. Artemis is the ambitious new project from Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, the creator of PUBG. You may recall […]

Game Articles 0

Don’t Use Quick Resume With Halo Infinite, Devs Warn

by Ian Walker, Kotaku 343 Industries is telling Halo Infinite players not to use Quick Resume, a key feature of the Xbox Series X/S, for fear of missing out on special multiplayer cosmetics. During the Halo Infinite campaign, hidden caches known as Mjolnir Armories can be found that unlock customization options for the game’s online multiplayer modes. These include several armor, weapon, and vehicle coatings as well as trinkets like dogtag charms and a pre-match, back-turned stance. That said, if you’re offline or disconnected from the Halo Infinite servers—which often happens when the game is suspended with Quick Resume—they won’t be added to your game. “The team is aware and we will eventually have a retroactive fix (you will get the cosmetics you’ve earned),” 343 Industries […]

Announcements 0

Rockstar Just Confirmed Red Dead Redemption 3

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick just flat-out confirmed the existence of Red Dead Redemption 3. by Amidu Njiemoun, Early Game We all knew it was coming, and we already extensively covered everything we know about Red Dead Redemption 3. Still, there is some sweet gratification when a game is actually confirmed, and now this is exactly what happened to the third entry in everybody’s favorite Western game: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked if franchises like GTA and NBA 2K will continue forever-ever, and this was his reply: “If it’s really, really great, it will keep going. I don’t know if you saw it, I just saw the new Bond film, that was great. You would like every franchise to be James […]

Industry 0

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant

Top executive didn’t inform board of some reports, including alleged rapes; company faces multiple regulatory investigations by Kirsten Grind, Ben Fritz and Sarah E. Needleman, The Wall Street Journal Bobby Kotick, the longtime chief executive of videogame giant Activision Blizzard Inc., received a troubling email in July 2018. A lawyer for a former employee at Sledgehammer Games, an Activision-owned studio, alleged in the email that her client had been raped in 2016 and 2017 by her male supervisor after she had been pressured to consume too much alcohol in the office and at work events. The female employee reported the incidents to Sledgehammer’s human-resources department and other supervisors, but nothing happened, according to the email, which threatened a lawsuit against the company. Within months of receiving the […]

Announcements 0

Microsoft adds 76 more games to the Xbox backward compatibility program

It’s the final update to the library. by I. Bonifacic, Engadget Microsoft added a total of 76 games to the Xbox backward compatibility program, the company announced yesterday during the Xbox 20th anniversary event. Highlights include the entire Max Payne series and F.E.A.R franchise, in addition to Skate 2 and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II. Every title Microsoft added supports Auto HDR on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. You’ll also see an increase in resolution when playing original Xbox games. The Xbox Series X and Xbox One X will render those titles at four times their native resolution, while the Xbox Series S will do so at three times and Xbox One S and Xbox One at double. Additionally, 11 titles will […]

Opinion Piece 0

The Call Of Duty machine is grinding the series into dust

It doesn’t matter if each year’s new Call Of Duty is good, all that matters is that there is a new Call Of Duty by Sam Barsanti, A.V. Club Every year since 2005, Activision has published a Call Of Duty game. That’s 16 main entries in the series, made possible by a rotating stable of developers and an increasingly large group of studios that exist just to support whichever one of them is running point on that year’s Call Of Duty. The idea is that each studio can spend two or three years making a game, but since there are so many studios making Call Of Duty games, Activision can put them out annually and keep making money. And it’s a great way to make money! Which in […]

Industry 0

Man arrested Sunday following argument over a video game

by Ken de la Bastide, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind. ANDERSON — A dispute about the settings on a video game resulted in the arrest of Robert Baker on potential felony charges. The Madison County prosecutor’s office Monday was given an additional 72 hours to file formal charges against Baker, 45, 1800 block of West Ninth Street, after a 2½-hour standoff Sunday. Bond was set at $10,000 full cash by Criminal Magistrate Kevin Eads. Baker is facing preliminary charges of domestic battery with the use of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony, and intimidation, a Level 6 felony. According to a probable cause affidavit, Anderson police were dispatched at 9:11 a.m. Sunday to the 200 block of West 37th Street. […]

Industry 0

Teenager Stabbed To Death, Has Consoles Stolen In Home Invasion

by Ewan Moore, Gaming Bible Three men have been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly breaking into a 19-year-old male’s home and stabbing him to death before leaving with his PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles. The incident took place in Des Moines, Iowa. Law & Crime reports that Taylor Scott Austin (20), Tyrone Glen Davis (20), and Daniel Fletcher Jackson (18) have been charged with first-degree murder after breaking into the Polk County home of Cory Elifritz. The trio are alleged to have knifed the young man before leaving him for dead while they robbed his home.  Officers were called to the house on October 28, where they found Elifritz lying in a pool of blood having suffered from multiple […]

Announcements 0

Facebook changes name to Meta as it refocuses on virtual reality

by Elizabeth Culliford and Sheila Dang, Reuters Facebook Inc is now called Meta, the company said on Thursday, in a rebrand that focuses on building the “metaverse,” a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the successor to the mobile internet. The name change comes as the world’s largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its services. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company’s live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its work investing in the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service, which will continue to be called Facebook. The metaverse is a term coined in the dystopian […]

Announcements 0

New Tech Lets You ‘Feel’ Holograms Like STAR TREK’s Holodeck

by Matthew Hart, Nerdist In what is undoubtedly another step toward an IRL Star Trek holodeck researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed holograms people can “feel” with their hands. The interactive holograms are quite basic at this point, but the proof of concept is certainly there. And, incredibly (dare we say magically?!), the system relies ultimately on illusions and air. Design Taxi picked up on the new, tangible holograms, which the research team recently described in a paper published in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems. Professor of Electronics and Nanoengineering Ravinder Dahiya led the team that aimed to pair holograms with “aerohaptics.” That is, the process of creating feelings of touch with jets of air. To create the interactive holograms the researchers […]

Industry 0

Marvel sues artists and their heirs to block them from rights to Spider-Man, other heroes

by Diana Dasrath and David K. Li, Variety Superhero factory Marvel asked a federal court on Friday to block artists behind iconic figures such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, and those artists’ heirs, from wresting away control of those valuable rights. The federal civil suits from Marvel Characters Inc., filed in the Southern District of New York, claim the work of several artists and authors belong to the company and not to those original creators or their heirs. Those artists, or their descendants, had previously filed action with the U.S. Copyright Office seeking termination notices to end Marvel’s control over their characters. In the multiple civil actions filed by Marvel, attorney Daniel Petrocelli cited the precedent of the court siding […]

Game Articles 0

“Diablo” developers speak on game and company issues

by Stephen Totilo, Axios The creators of “Diablo II: Resurrected” say people should “do what they feel is right,” when considering whether to buy next week’s big release from Activision Blizzard. Why it matters: “Resurrected” is the first game from Activision Blizzard since California filed an anti-discrimination suit against the company, largely over sexism, harassment and other workplace problems at Blizzard, where the “Diablo” series was created. “It was definitely very troubling to hear these types of things,” “Resurrected” design director Rob Gallerani tells Axios, referring to the misconduct allegations. “And we really wanted to support our colleagues and our co-workers.” Between the lines: The remake is primarily being made by Vicarious Visions, a studio in upstate New York that has long worked on non-Blizzard games and was not […]