Matthew Wilson 2 days ago Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
While it looked like Microsoft may acquire Discord in recent months, those negotiations unceremoniously ended and now, it looks like Discord has chosen to partner up elsewhere. In a surprising announcement last night, Sony announced that it has invested in Discord and plans to integrate the app with PlayStation consoles.
In an announcement straight from Sony Interactive Entertainment head, Jim Ryan, we learned that starting next year, Discord will integrate with PlayStation consoles, a move that will include Discord friends lists, group chats and server communities accessible on console:
“Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network. Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing games together.”
Sony also has a minority stake in Discord moving forward, although the exact investment amount has not been disclosed yet. We could be moving towards a future where Sony’s PlayStation social features are replaced by Discord.
There is no reason why these integrations couldn’t also come to Xbox. Discord already has basic integration with Xbox, allowing your account to be linked to Discord to display games being played on Xbox consoles.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Discord integration on consoles is something I’ve been hoping to see for a while. Xbox and PlayStation party chat was good enough back in the day, but nowadays, it is lacking compared to PC offerings like Discord.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Gamescom 2021 will once again be an all-digital event
2020 saw many of the industries biggest events either get cancelled outright, or translated into …
(Pocket-lint) – If there’s one thing you can’t accuse the Resident Evil series of, it’s taking itself too seriously. Resident Evil 7 might have grounded things in a grittier, scarier first-person journey than the action-packed stories that preceded it, but by the end things were still plenty explosive.
Now Ethan Winters’ story is continuing, dropped this time into a chilly, frightening Eastern-European locale (no one mention Transylvania!) – and he’s up against a gallery of horrific antagonists. It’s a great ride, and one that manages to happily switch up its tone throughout.
The Winters of our discontent
Poor old Ethan – his escape from Louisiana was hardly a clean one, as veterans of the previous game will remember (Resi 8 has a handy recap video in case you’re hazy on the details).
Reunited with his wife Mia and daughter Rose, he’s in witness protection in Europe when things go sideways. Mia is out of the picture and Rose is kidnapped by none other than Chris Redfield. Things take a worse turn when their convoy crashes and Ethan wakes up alone in a terrifying village (the source of Resi 8’s title, nonetheless).
Top Nintendo Switch games 2021: Best Switch games every gamer must own
By Rik Henderson
·
Players take control to guide Ethan through the Lycan-infested hovel, and eventually gain access to the nearby Castle Dimitrescu, home to a giant vampiress, Alcina Dimitrescu, and her horrific daughters. His hopes of recovering his own child safely don’t exactly seem heartening, it’s safe to say.
Best upcoming PS5 games: PlayStation titles to anticipate
The game has an almost episodic structure, in fact, as Ethan manages to get into to a succession of new locations branching off the village, but the Castle is a good summary of what each offers.
Capcom
It’s a gorgeously rendered environment that almost oozes detail, and feels initially labyrinthine before you begin to figure out its nooks and crannies. In practise only one other location later in the game feels similarly expansive, along with the village hub itself, and you’ll come to learn each of them by feel.
Resident Evil Village’s story is not shooting for the stars – it’s knowingly pulpy stuff that has twists aplenty and a near-constant smattering of gore and visual flair to crown its beats with.
Whether you’re uncovering the motivations of foul monsters, finding out more about Chris’s involvement, or simply discovering how you might be able to save Rose, Ethan’s straight-main distress is offset by gloriously campy acting from the rest of the cast.
It’s great fun, basically, and wends its way to an enjoyably bananas final act that’s as explosive as anything the series has ever offered. Yet this doesn’t take anything away from the far quieter and creepier parts of the game’s earlier portions. It’s an impressive balancing act.
So anyway, I started blasting
With a first-person perspective returning from the last game, so too do a lot of its mechanics. Once again, Ethan is a slow mover who needs careful control, and once again your arsenal of weapons starts off minimal and requires careful investment and map-scouring to grow.
Resident Evil Village has some standout sequences that are genuinely frightening, and these divide into two broad camps. Firstly, the common experience of sneaking around an area you haven’t yet cleared, often in near-darkness, never knowing when an enemy will jump you, or when you’re about to discover an entirely new type of foe to overcome.
Best upcoming games for Xbox Series X and Series S: The top next-gen games
The other, rarer moments, see the game either strip you of your weaponry entirely, or throw so many nasties your way that running for your life, throwing cover behind you and looking for any way out, becomes the obvious choice. These sequences are thrilling – not least because a skilled player can choose to stand and fight if they really want to try – and visceral.
Capcom
It’s the former, quieter mood that’s the most consistent, though, even once you have a few more powerful guns to call upon – you’ll still be counting your ammo, juggling your inventory slots and holding off from crafting new equipment until you absolutely need it.
Eventually, though, you will have to start fighting, and the gunplay is a great blend between approachable and finnicky. Guns can be accurate when fired with rhythm and a bit of calm but, when enemies are shambling or jumping at you, it’s easy to lose your cool and miss – a lot.
That eats up ammo and, before you know it, you’ll find yourself breaking out the last of your crafting supplies to make more bullets, feeding an anxious loop of peril that brings out the very best in the game.
That’s slightly undermined by the fact that you can pause and check your inventory or the map any time you like, but Capcom presumably reasoned that taking away this safety blanket would be too traumatising for most players.
Capcom
Perhaps Resi 8’s best trick is how it manages to keep things varied, though. No environment outstays its welcome – even if you’re rooting out every last bit of optional hidden treasure – and each has its own mechanics and emphases for you to master.
A next-gen horror show
The landscapes, environments and enemies of Resident Evil Village are a treat to look at, for all the gore and rotten grossness of some of their actual appearances.
Capcom
This is a lavish game and it looks its very best on next-gen. We played through on a PlayStation 5 and enjoyed a mostly stable 60fps with ray tracing on (for lighting that’s dazzling at times), and pinpoint resolutions, which are mirrored on the Xbox Series X. Less powerful consoles will make concessions on both counts, but we’d recomend choosing the higher frame-rate options if you have a choice – you’ll need that smoothness!
It looks brilliant, regardless, particularly when Capcom deigns to let you enjoy a bit of light – whether it’s the beatiful, ornate state rooms of the castle, or the sun breaking through bare trees to light the village itself.
Capcom
The details on your weaponry, on statues and monuments, in costumes and architechture, are all first rate, and it comes together to make this slightly ridiculous and horror-infused world feel about as real as you could hope.
Oozing with extras
Once you finish the story for the first time, which will likely run you somewhere approaching 10 hours, you’ll be greeted with reams of information boxes all revealing the same broad truth – that there’s plenty more to sink your teeth into.
Capcom
Whether it’s harder difficulty modes – we think the regular difficulty could have been more testing as the game wore on – or specific challenges, there’s ample motivation to revisit the story.
You’ll have the option of taking on seemingly near-impossible demands like playing through with melee-only weaponry or seeking out every collectible and note possible, all to earn more extra content like concept art and detailed 3D models to view.
Plus, the game has brought back the fan-favourite Mercenaries mode for an even more substantive extra. It drops you in locations from the story to defeat set waves of enemies to time limits, with gameplay modifiers and control over your loadout.
Capcom
It’s great fun, especially as a palate-cleanser compared to the more challenging and ammo-scarce story, and there are once again plenty of challenges to complete and grades to earn.
It also crowns a selection of extra content that’s genuinely impressive and endearing, given that almost all of the little bonuses could probably have slipped off without anyone complaining too much.
Verdict
Any time you’re starting to feel confident and familiar in one of Resident Evil Village’s environments, the game plops you down in a new one, or asks you to play in a different way, making for a smorgasbord of fear, and it all builds to a crescendo that’s both thrilling and loony.
If you’re on the Resident Evil train, this is another tour de force; and if you’re not, it’s a surprisingly welcoming place to start. The game revels in its tone, delivering an Eastern European nightmare world that’s an absolute blast to play – whether creeping carefully or going guns-a-blazing.
Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Mike Lowe.
Nike, Sony, and basketball player Paul George have collaborated on another pair of sneakers, the PG 5, with help from PS5 designer Yujin Morsawa. According to Sony, “the colors of the shoe are heavily inspired by the industrial design of the PS5” with the PlayStation’s signature circle, square, cross, and triangle shapes woven into the materials like a DualSense controller. There’s also a PlayStation logo on the tongue of the right shoe, while the left’s tongue has Paul George’s PG logo.
The release comes a little over two years after Nike and PlayStation’s last sneaker collaboration, the PG 2.5, which drew inspiration from the design of the original PlayStation console. Earlier that year, the two companies worked together on the PG2, which were inspired by the PS4.
The PG 5 shoes are going on sale in “select regions” on May 14th, and they’ll arrive in North America on May 27th priced at $120, according to Nike’s site. There’s no word on how many pairs Nike will release, but given how limited its previous run of PlayStation sneakers was, we’re expecting these to sell out fast. Fitting, given how hard it still is to find PS5 consoles in stock.
If you’re interested, Sony says you should keep your eye on the Nike SNKRS app or local Nike website for more information on release dates and availability.
It’s not an HDMI standard with much publicity right now, but HDMI QFT should be one you’re keeping an eye on if gaming is a priority. It may be one of the lesser talked about HDMI 2.1 features but this low latency technology has the potential to make your on-screen action more responsive and give your overall reaction time a head-start over the competition. So, what is HDMI QFT?
What is HDMI QFT?
(Image credit: LG / Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sony)
The QFT in HDMI QFT stands for Quick Frame Transport and, like its name suggests, it’s a technology that speeds up the transmission of each frame on its journey from source to screen. It decreases the latency between the moment when the visual data is available in the graphics processor of your gaming device and the time when that data is then rendered on the screen as a frame. The shorter that gap, the closer your gameplay can be to the live version of the action.
This is very different to something like ALLM which simply optimises an ALLM-compatible TV to gaming. While ALLM will automatically shut down your TV’s extraneous picture processing in order to reduce what’s known as ‘input lag’, HDMI QFT actively speeds up the transport of the game data itself.
It’s so effective that it can theoretically reduce that time and lower latency by multiples of milliseconds. In the world of fast-action online gaming, with input lag for TVs already down to a matter of 20ms, those extra few milliseconds could make a very big difference.
How does HDMI QFT work?
The path of gaming data from source to screen is a lot longer than an HDMI cable. Display latency is defined as the time it takes to get a frame from the source GPU, at the moment that its ready, all the way until its painted on your TV screen.
That’s the time it takes to get through the source’s output circuits, the transfer across the cable, the processing of the video data by the TV’s chips and then finally the rendering of those frames on-screen. In real terms, that can affect things such as the delay between pressing a button on your games controller and actually seeing that action take place on the screen.
HDMI QFT can’t speed up all of that but it can accelerate things from source HDMI port to sink HDMI port, so long as both devices support the HDMI QFT standard. QFT transports each frame through the pipeline at a higher rate than normal.
HDMI QFT is an HDMI 2.1 feature, which means that it could be possible to enable it at some point on any device with an HDMI 2.1-certified port.
Which devices are HDMI QFT-certified?
At present you’ll struggle to find HDMI QFT support on any TV or games console. For the time being, neither the Xbox Series X and Series S, nor the PlayStation 5 can make use of HDMI QFT technology, and it’s unclear whether or not it can be added as a firmware update.
A clue may come from the world of AV receivers, which are often way ahead of the curve when it comes to new audio-visual technologies. All of the current Denon X Series AVRs (from the X2700H upwards) with an 8K input, and all the current Marantz AV receivers with an 8K input, support QFT. They’re also able to passthrough a QFT signal on their non-8K HDMI ports.
While older AVRs with HDMI2.0b sockets were able to add ALLM, HDMI 2.1 features such as VRR, QFT and QMS require hardware upgrades for compatibility. It seems likely that it would only take software tweaks to add QFT to any device already stocked with at least one HDMI 2.1-certified port, but we await confirmation from the manufacturers.
So, there’s a good chance that, while neither PS5 nor Xbox Series X users can benefit from the low latency gaming potential of HDMI QFT right now, that doesn’t mean they won’t be able to at some point soon. More crucial might be to have a relatively modern TV, which is likely to benefit from its own HDMI QFT update eventually at some point.
For the present, Samsung does not support HDMI QFT with its TV range nor has it any immediate plans to add it. However, with little source support and a claimed input lag of under 10ms at 60Hz and under 6ms at 120Hz on its recent QN95A TV, it doesn’t feel a pressing need.
That said, there is one manufacturer on the gaming side that is QFT-ready. Nvidia’s Ampere 30-series GPUs fully support HDMI 2.1 including HDMI QFT. So, if you’re looking to take your PC gaming to the big screen, then you’re only a TV away. We’ll keep you posted and add to this list as soon as we hear of any available.
Until then, happy, if slightly less responsive, gaming.
MORE:
Take a look at our choice of the best gaming TVs in the world.
Pick up one of the very best gaming headsets for the all-night experience.
Torn? PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which next-gen console should you buy?
Playing games on your Raspberry Pi is far easier with a good game controller. Many different game controllers can be connected to your Raspberry Pi using USB. Furthermore, some well-known console controllers can also be linked up using Bluetooth.
In theory, all controllers should work with any Raspberry Pi projects. This covers everything from generic USB joypads to the latest Bluetooth devices. So, you can expect to be able to connect an Xbox One controller and a PS4 controller to your Raspberry Pi. Controllers designed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will also work, as will Nintendo gamepads.
Own a PlayStation 5? The new Sony console features a major revision of the much-loved game controller. But despite being fresh out of the box in 2020, the PS5 controller will easily connect to a Raspberry Pi over Bluetooth, just like its predecessor. Meanwhile, Xbox Series S and X controllers are backward compatible, and can be used on an Xbox One console. The new controller design should also work with the Raspberry Pi.
In this tutorial, we’ll look at what you need to do to connect the most widely used game controllers to a Raspberry Pi: those intended for the Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles.
Connecting the Xbox One Controller Via USB to Raspberry Pi
The Xbox One boasts one of the most popular game controllers available. Also compatible with PC games, this is a well-designed, multi-purpose controller that can be easily connected to a Raspberry Pi, either using USB or Bluetooth.
1. Update and upgrade the software on your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
2. Connect the controller and launch a game such as Minecraft Pi Edition, which comes preloaded when you install Raspberry Pi OS with all the recommended software. If you can move your character with the controller then everything is ready to go. If not, go to the next step.
3. Install the Xbox One driver and then reboot your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt install xboxdrv
4. Open your game and test that you can move around.
Connecting the Xbox One / Playstation 4 and 5 Controller Via Bluetooth
Using a wireless Xbox One controller with the Raspberry Pi is a little more complicated. Two types of wireless Xbox One controller have been released. One uses wireless, while the second requires Bluetooth. How can you tell which is which?
If you have the 1697 wireless model, you’ll need to connect the official Microsoft Xbox Wireless Adapter to your Raspberry Pi. This is a standard USB dongle that should work out of the box. Simply hold the pairing buttons on the adapter and the Xbox One controller to sync, then start playing.
To Connect the Xbox One Bluetooth Controller
1. Update and upgrade the software on your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
2. Install the Xbox One driver.
sudo apt install xboxdrv
3. Disable ERTM (Enhanced Re-Transmission Mode). While enabled, this Bluetooth feature blocks syncing between the Xbox One controller and your Raspberry Pi.
echo ‘options bluetooth disable_ertm=Y’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/bluetooth.conf
4. Reboot your Raspberry Pi.
5. Open a terminal and start the bluetooth control tool.
sudo bluetoothctl
6. At the [Bluetooth]# prompt, enable the agent and set it as default.
agent on
default-agent
7. Power up the Xbox One controller and hold the sync button. At the [Bluetooth]# prompt, scan for devices.
scan on
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The MAC address should appear, comprising six pairs of letters and numbers followed by “Xbox Wireless Controller.”
8. Use the MAC address to connect the Xbox controller.
connect [YOUR MAC ADDRESS]
9. To save time for future connections, use the trust command to automatically connect.
trust [YOUR MAC ADDRESS]
Connecting an Xbox 360 Controller to Raspberry Pi
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If you don’t have more recent controllers (or the budget to buy them), it might be easier for you to grab a controller from an older generation of consoles, such as the Xbox 360, or PS3.
1. Update and upgrade the software on your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
2. Install the Xbox One driver.
sudo apt install xboxdrv
3. Connect your controller via USB and it should just work. Wireless controllers will require a dedicated wireless receiver (the type that is developed for PC use).
Connecting a Playstation 3 Controller to Raspberry Pi
Connecting a Playstation 3 controller via USB is straightforward, but Bluetooth access requires some compiling.
1. Update and upgrade the software on your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
2. Install the libusb-dev software. This ensures the PS3 can communicate with the Raspberry Pi over Bluetooth.
sudo apt install libusb-dev
3. Create a folder for the sixpair software, switch to that folder, and download the sixpair.c software.
mkdir ~/sixpair
cd ~/sixpair
wget http://www.pabr.org/sixlinux/sixpair.c
4. Compile the code with gcc.
gcc -o sixpair sixpair.c -lusb
5. Connect the controller to the Pi using its USB cable and run sixpair to configure the Bluetooth connection.
sudo ~/sixpair/sixpair
6. Take note of the MAC code, then disconnect the PS3 controller.
7. Open a terminal and start the bluetooth control tool.
sudo bluetoothctl
8. At the [Bluetooth]# prompt, enable the agent and set it as default.
agent on
default-agent
9. Power up the Playstation 3 controller and hold the sync button. In the [Bluetooth]# prompt scan for devices.
scan on
10. The MAC address should appear, comprising six pairs of letters and numbers. Look for your Playstation 3 controller’s MAC address. Use the MAC address to connect the controller.
connect [YOUR MAC ADDRESS]
11. To save time for future connections, use the trust command to automatically connect.
trust [YOUR MAC ADDRESS]
For other Bluetooth controllers, meanwhile, generic connections should work. This means that anything – smartphone game controllers, for example – can conceivably be connected using bluetoothctl , but some calibration may be required.
Whatever device you’re using, you may need to test it. To do this, simply use the testing tool in the Linux joystick utility.
sudo apt install joystick
To test your gamepad, ensure that it is connected and run the jstest command to check that each button is registered.
sudo jstest /dev/input/js0
This article originally appeared in an issue of Linux Format magazine.
At some point during my time with Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, after I read yet another minutes-long dialogue sequence to try and learn more information about the game’s murder mystery, I realized I felt like I was slowly working my way through a long novel — one that went just a little bit over my head.
In The Final Cut, an enhanced version of the 2019 cult hit role-playing game that made its console debut on PlayStation in March, you play as a cop with amnesia investigating a murder case about a hanged man. You’ll explore a fictional place called Revachol and talk to a huge cast of characters to piece together clues about the hanged man’s killer.
Almost every conversation or interaction has an extensive dialogue tree, allowing you to respond to or direct a conversation in ways that can influence other moments in the game down the line. One time, I convinced somebody to give me the jacket off their back, which I could then wear. With another person, I refused money so that my character wouldn’t feel indebted to him.
A conversation in Disco Elysium.
Occasionally, these interactions can drag on, feeling a bit like a book chapter that just won’t end. But the game’s writing is sharp and often quite funny, which usually made all of the reading worth it.
Disco Elysium takes place in what I imagine as a parallel universe to ours. Characters frequently reference countries, races, and historical figures that don’t exist in our world but who are core to the societal and ideological makeup. While Disco Elysium’s incredible depth of historical detail made Revachol feel like a real place, at times I struggled to keep facts and information straight.
You won’t just be talking to other people, though: any one of 24 different parts of your personality, like your sense of logic, composure, or authority, can butt into conversations to discuss and debate what’s going on, sometimes even with each other. It’s kind of like Pixar’s Inside Out, if it was a murder mystery.
But like the historical details packed into the game, these traits can also have their own inscrutability. During my playthrough, one attribute sometimes relayed short stories about other police officers. Another, as far as I could tell, was something like a sixth sense about Revachol itself. As each one of your personalities jumps in, you’ll have more text to read. Usually, they add useful context, but other times, I wish they wouldn’t have said anything at all so that I could get to the next part of the game sooner.
Your personalities in Disco Elysium.Image: Studio ZA/UM
You can also level up each of them as “skills” to give you advantages during the game. I put a lot of points into my empathy skill, for example, which meant that Empathy (the character) would often chime in with advice about how to respond empathetically in a situation.
Putting points into skills also helps with “checks,” where the game rolls a virtual dice to determine if you succeed at an important action. (Saying the right thing in a conversation can help with the potential success of a check, too.) You can retry most failed checks by leveling up a specific skill.
Some checks can only be attempted once, though, and I liked those the best — I always held my breath while I waited to see if I had succeeded or failed. They also felt like they had the most impact on the story itself, particularly near the end, where a dice roll can mean the difference between someone living or dying.
A check in Disco Elysium. Image: Studio ZA/UM
Overall, the game’s systems make for a fun twist on typical role-playing mechanics. Instead of leveling up external skills like magic power or speed, it really feels like you’re building your character’s personality.
Developer Studio ZA/UM added some new features to the original game, which was first released in October 2019, for The Final Cut. Every line is now fully voiced, and the acting is consistently excellent. There are some new quests that let you explore your character’s political ideologies. And The Final Cut marks the game’s first appearance on consoles, hitting PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. (It’s coming to Xbox consoles and Nintendo Switch later this year.) The game was a bit buggy for me on PS5, especially at launch, but Studio ZA/UM has released several patches that have fixed the majority of issues I ran into.
Bugs weren’t the only thing that detracted from my experience, though. The game punts you to a short loading screen every time you transition to a new area, which got annoying over the course of the 24 hours I spent with it. Getting to the quests menu takes three button presses. And the text is very small, even on the largest setting.
But if you’re willing to immerse yourself into the world of Revachol and put up with some small annoyances along the way, Disco Elysium tells a satisfying story that I really enjoyed. Like a huge, epic novel, the game can at times be enigmatic, opaque, and a little too long. But as is often the case for those kinds of stories, it’s well worth slogging through the boring stuff to see the game all the way to its fantastic end. I’m glad I read this one all the way through.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is available now on PS4, PS5, PC, Mac, and Stadia. It’s set to release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Nintendo Switch later this year.
Mustafa Mahmoud 13 hours ago Console, Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
Starfield is the next big game from Bethesda Game Studios. Teased all the way back in 2018, nothing else has been shown from the game, leading many fans to assume it to be a long ways away. According to one leaker however, Microsoft is hoping to get the game out of the gate by the end of this year.
According to Jez Corden (of WindowsCentral and the Xbox Two podcast), as well as Rand Al Thor 19, Microsoft is “trying their hardest to get the game out for this holiday. They really want Starfield out this holiday,” with the game currently said to be “basically sort of finished – it’s in bug squashing mode right now, very much like Halo Infinite, and it would be a big boon for Game Pass and Xbox if both Halo and Starfield could launch this fall.”
This isn’t the only statement made by the duo, with them claiming that “I’ve been told, by very reliable people, that Starfield was 100% an Xbox exclusive. I’ve even made bets about it, and I don’t bet unless I know I’m willing to bet. So I’m really, really confident that Starfield is only releasing on Xbox when it does.”
Ever since the announcement that Microsoft had acquired ZeniMax Media (and by proxy Bethesda), the future of Bethesda titles has been somewhat uncertain, especially regarding those which had already been announced prior to the acquisition (such as Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI).
If what has been reported is true, then it will be interesting to see how the perception of both PlayStation and Xbox is impacted by this decision – and whether Starfield will in fact manage to release by the end of this year.
KitGuru says: Do you think Starfield will be exclusive to Xbox (and PC)? Will future Bethesda games impact your console purchasing decision? Do you think Starfield will come out this year? Let us know down below.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Mustafa Mahmoud 14 hours ago Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
When the soulsborne genre was first introduced in 2009 with Demon’s Souls, it was nothing more than a niche interpretation of the action-RPG genre. Since then, not only has the gameplay stylings expanded outwards into its own genre, but souls-like games are competing on a commercial front too. Such is the case with Nioh, which has now sold over 5 million copies across the duology.
Making the announcement, Team Ninja revealed that Nioh 1 and 2 have sold a combined 5 million copies worldwide. Nioh 1 first launched in February 2017 for the PlayStation 4, before coming to PC later that same year. This was then followed up by its sequel just over 3 years later in March 2020. Once again, the PC release came later, launching in February of this year.
From the sales breakdown provided, which puts Nioh 1 at 3 million copies sold and its sequel at 2 million, the franchise is on the up and up, with the sequel selling faster than the first entry, and securing the series as a viable franchise despite being exclusive to PlayStation consoles (and PC).
Despite the sales success, Team Ninja previously announced that they have no plans for Nioh 3 at this time. It will be interesting to see whether this newly achieved milestone affects their decision.
Both Nioh and its sequel received a consistently high reception from both critics and fans alike, and until now serves as the only real souls-like series to be placed on similar standing with FromSoftware’s own output in the eyes of the fans. It will be interesting to see what Team Ninja has planned next.
KitGuru says: What do you think of Nioh? Do you play souls-like games? Which is your favourite? Let us know down below.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Home/Software & Gaming/Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is getting upgraded for Xbox Series X/S and PS5
Matthew Wilson 15 hours ago Software & Gaming
Back in 2019, EA finally broke its Star Wars curse with the release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, an excellent single-player adventure set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Now later this year, the game will be upgraded to take advantage of Xbox Series X/S and PS5 hardware.
Over on the official Star Wars website, we are starting to see announcements ahead of May 4th, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. One of the announcements is an early tease of Jedi Fallen Order heading to next gen consoles.
“Coming this summer, we’re excited to announce the next-gen release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, bringing a number of technical improvements to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S console versions of the game. This will be a free cross-generation upgrade to current owners.”
We’ll have to wait a little bit longer for specific details on these technical improvements, but higher resolutions and 60 frames per second gameplay seem like natural upgrades for these new consoles. In fact, the game can already run at 60 frames per second on next-gen hardware in backwards compatibility mode, but this new update should improve graphical fidelity at this performance level to further optimise the experience.
KitGuru Says: I’ve been wanting to give this one a replay recently, so I’ll be looking forward to the next-gen upgrade. Are any of you going to be jumping back in to Jedi Fallen Order when the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 version launches?
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Mustafa Mahmoud 15 hours ago Console, Featured Tech News, Online, Software & Gaming
Each month, Sony offers a number of titles for free to all of those who are subscribed to its PlayStation Plus service. For the Month of May, subscribers can get their hands on Battlefield V, the next-gen version of Wreckfest and more.
Beginning on the 4th of May, PS Plus subscribers can purchase and download:
Battlefield V (PS4)
Stranded Deep (PS4)
Wreckfest (PS5)
Battlefield V is the latest entry in the much-loved first-person shooter franchise from DICE. Taking players back to WWII, Battlefield V offers many different ways to play, from Grand Operations and the cooperative Combined Arms, to the single player War Stories, or even a battle royale mode known as Firestorm. Ahead of its next game set to launch later this year, Battlefield V offers the latest and greatest that the series is known for.
Stranded Deep is an open world survival game, which sees you brave the ocean and the land, scrounging to stay alive. Critical reception for the game was mixed, though fans of the genre may find enough unique in it to warrant a playthrough.
The final game available is Wreckfest: Drive Hard, Die Last. Only playable on PlayStation 5 – though can be purchased by all PS Plus players regardless – Wreckfest is a full-contact racer which lets you create carnage with up to 24 players using all types of vehicles. Though not the most intellectually stimulating game, Wreckfest will offer plenty of fun for you and your friends.
All three of these titles will be available to purchase for free from the 4th of May until the 31st – but will of course remain in your library for as long as you are a PlayStation Plus subscriber.
KitGuru says: What do you think of May’s line-up? Are you excited for the next Battlefield game? Do you like Sony’s current approach to PS Plus? Let us know down below.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Mustafa Mahmoud 2 days ago Console, Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
The Last of Us is one of the PlayStation’s most prestigious first-party franchises, with both entries garnering near universal critical acclaim (despite Part II seeing more controversy from fans), and selling millions of copies. Therefore, it may come as little surprise that the team at Naughty Dog already have a third game outlined – though it is not in development.
Making an appearance on the Script Apart podcast (and as transcribed by IGN), Naughty Dog’s co-president Neil Druckmann revealed that while “I don’t know how much I want to reveal… [co-writer Halley Gross] and I did write an outline for a story, that we’re not making – but I hope one day can see the light of day – that explores a little bit what happens after this game. We’ll see.”
Without delving into any spoilers, the ending of The Last of Us Part II offers multiple different avenues with which a sequel could take. Furthermore, with the second game being titled ‘Part II’ it would be interesting to see whether a hypothetical 3rd entry would be Part III, or take a different subheading. Druckmann’s statement seems to suggest the former, but who knows.
While there is little doubt that Naughty Dog would be given the go-ahead to make a 3rd game in the franchise if they wished to do so, it is understandable that the team have put the idea on the backburner. With The Last of Us Part II only releasing last year, a multiplayer game on the way, and rumours of a remake of the first game, the team likely does not want to saturate the market with The Last of Us, instead opting to maintain its reputation as a flagship franchise.
Still, the idea of a 3rd Last of Us game is compelling, and it would be interesting to see where the team would take the universe next – but just don’t expect it any time soon.
KitGuru says: Would you like to see a 3rd entry in the franchise? What did you think of Part II? Where would you want to see the franchise go next? Let us know down below.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Home/Software & Gaming/Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.22 brings further optimisations and fixes
Matthew Wilson 2 days ago Software & Gaming
At this point in time, CD Projekt Red has picked up work on upcoming, new content for Cyberpunk 2077 but there is still a team working to squash lingering bugs and improve performance. The latest patch does just that, with some more open world and quest fixes, as well as further optimisations.
Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.22 is now live across all platforms, addressing “the most frequently reported issues”. For quests and open world, we have the following fixes:
The Metro: Memorial Park dataterm should now properly count towards the Frequent Flyer achievement.
Fixed glitches in Johnny’s appearance occurring after buying the Nomad car from Lana.
Fixed an issue in Gig: Until Death Do Us Part where it was not possible to use the elevator.
Fixed an issue in Epistrophy where the player could get trapped in the garage if they didn’t follow the drone and ran into the control room instead.
Added a retrofix for the issue we fixed in 1.21, where Takemura could get stuck in Japantown Docks in Down on the Street – for players who already experienced it before update 1.21 and continued playing until 1.22, Takemura will now teleport to Wakako’s parlor.
Fixed an issue preventing the player from opening the phone in the apartment at the beginning of New Dawn Fades.
Fixed an issue where the player could become unable to use weapons and consumables after interacting with a maintenance panel in Riders on the Storm.
This patch will also fix instances of NPC clothing clipping, an issue with subtitles not being properly aligned and memory management improvements for the PC version, which should reduce the number of crashes. On the PC side, further optimisations are now in place for skin and cloth rendering, which should now have less of a performance hit.
For consoles, the Xbox One version gets additional GPU and ESRAM optimisations and memory management has also been improved for the game on PlayStation 5.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: We’ve had several months of bug fixing patches, hopefully soon, CD Projekt Red will be ready to start discussing plans for future Cyberpunk 2077 content. We know new story content is coming thanks to the efforts of dataminers, so it is just a matter of when we’ll start seeing announcements.
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
Matthew Wilson 2 days ago Console, Featured Tech News
Sony just released its quarterly earnings report, giving us a look at how well PlayStation has sold during its first full quarter on the market. At this point, Sony has sold 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles, boosting gaming revenues to new heights.
By the end of 2020, Sony had sold 4.5 million PS5 consoles, meaning another 3.3 million units have been sold between January and March 2021. The numbers likely would have been much higher if supply could keep up with demand – right now, it is still very difficult to buy a next-gen console. The PS4 has also continued to sell well, with another million units sold during this quarter, bringing lifetime sales of the console up to 115.9 million.
Of course, the launch of the PS5 also brought a boost to Sony’s gaming and network divisions. PlayStation Plus has grown to 47.6 million subscribers, a 14.7 percent increase year-on-year.
Over the last fiscal year, Sony sold 58.4 million copies of first-party games. Sony expects strong sales to continue in the next financial year, as exclusives like Horizon Forbidden West and the next God of War start to release. These new games will also see an increase in costs for Sony though, as it plans to invest even more in software development.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Sony’s gaming division is doing very well, just as expected. Are any of you hoping to pick up a PS5 soon for upcoming exclusives?
Become a Patron!
Check Also
Monster Hunter Rise has outsold Street Fighter V in just one month
For most of its history, the Monster Hunter franchise had seen support from a select …
The hit social deduction game Among Us is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 sometime this year, Sony announced during its State of Play presentation on Thursday.
Like on other platforms, the game will support crossplay and online multiplayer so that you can play with your friends no matter what platform you’re on. But PlayStation players will be the only ones who can get exclusive Ratchet & Clank-themed cosmetics: a skin and hat to dress up like Ratchet and a pet that is an adorable little Clank.
AMONG US – COMING TO PLAYSTATION
get ready to welcome a whole new crew on board!! ✨ on PS4 and PS5 consoles later this year ✨ exclusive Ratchet & Clank skin, hat, and pet ✨ crossplay and online multiplayer
tell your friends but more importantly.. tell your enemies heh pic.twitter.com/E6BduFfNwU
— Among Us (@AmongUsGame) April 29, 2021
Among Us blew up last year on PC and mobile devices, eventually becoming 2020’s most-downloaded mobile game, but the game didn’t debut on consoles until a surprise release on Nintendo Switch in December. Two days after, Microsoft confirmed the game would be hitting Xbox consoles sometime in 2021, and now, we know it’s on the way for PlayStation consoles, too.
Sony also showed off 16 minutes of stunning gameplay for the PS5-exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart during Thursday’s show.
(Pocket-lint) – As the world continues to be gripped by a pandemic not seen in generations, it comes as no shock that gaming has been affected like just about everything else. Games release schedules have been adversely hit in particular, with fewer releases, especially of a triple-A standard.
Thank the heavens for Returnal, then. Not previously considered in top tier terms, the PlayStation 5 exclusive has however earned its stripes and could be one of the few titles to conversely benefit from global woes, with a greater number of eyes on it now than perhaps in more normal times.
It’s obvious why it could have been previously overlooked and underappreciated. Developer Housemarque is hardly known for its action-adventure titles, for starters, having largely made its name with indie retro-inspired shooters. Early trailers and marketing fanfare were uninspiring too, making it seem more like an Alien-esque shoot-’em-up than the deeply layered, third-person shooter-platformer-survival-horror roguelike it has turned out to be.
Back once again
That’s not to say it isn’t heavily inspired by Alien and the works of HR Giger – the art style seems so influenced, you could swear it had been directed by Ridley Scott. But originality seeps from every pore, and it is as far removed from other Sony exclusive in recent memory.
Take the plot, for example. It is far more involving than “travel to a planet, shoot everything and leave”. It is structured, subtle (at least initially), and is eminently playable. That’s to say, it intertwines with the gameplay. There are few cut scenes and, indeed, little preamble. Instead, you discover the story as you play, whereby you feel like you are driving it rather than the other way around.
Best PS5 games: Amazing PlayStation 5 titles to pick up
All you know at the beginning is that you are a pilot, Selene, who has crash landed on an alien planet. The planet, Atropos, turns out to be aptly named after the Greek goddess in charge of every mortal’s thread of life, and that sets up a cycle of life and death that runs throughout.
Atropos is ever changing, largely deadly, and often mysterious. It is also, for a reason that may become clearer as you progress, locked in some form of time loop – each time you die, you reappear at the crash site and must start your progress almost afresh.
Sony Interactive Entertainment / Housemarque
Now, this might sound like it could get repetitive or frustrating, but Housemarque beautifully balances the concept with clever gameplay decisions. First up, Returnal is a roguelike in order to keep things fresh each time you die and restart. There are six biomes to explore throughout the game, each with increasingly harder-to-tackle enemies. Each biome is also made up of differently sized rooms that shift around to present a different maze each life cycle.
The second example of ingenuity by the developer is that some power-ups and abilities remain with you once found the first time, making it easier to progress each time. Enhanced weapons you come across will disappear – leaving you with the same starter pistol – but you will be guided to a pick-up point earlier in your subsequent progress, in order to re-equip you for the perils you already know lie ahead.
In addition, the game tends to bring forward more advanced rooms to get you closer to your goal more quickly. This allows you to avoid having to tread the same areas over-and-over again – and helps stave off frustration as you essentially want to just get back to the part where you died before.
Sony Interactive Entertainment / Housemarque
This is vital, really, as Returnal is one of the hardest games around right now. Up there with the toughest Souls games for sure (pay attention Demon’s Souls fans).
Ah, shoot
For its cunning complexity and mysterious, unravelling plot, Returnal is surprisingly simple to just pick up and play.
Sony Interactive Entertainment / Housemarque
It’s a third-person shooter at its heart, with enemy battles largely taking place over a distance as you blast away with whatever gun you have chosen to carry (you can only use one at a time). Each gun has a primary and secondary firing modes, with the latter particularly damaging but needing a cooldown after each shot.
This offers the first instance of the game’s cunning use of the PS5’s DualSense controller. To fire the primary shot – which is endless but can overheat – you just need to either pull the right trigger or slightly press the left trigger too for aiming. Pressing harder on the left trigger will activate the alternative firing mode. Haptic feedback is also used throughout the game, with every tiny droplet of rain or other special effect offering minute rumbles that ripple around the pad. This is what Sony clearly expected when it first announced the DualSense’s unique properties. It is immersion on another level, that’s for sure.
Best PS5 accessories: Get key extra gear for your PlayStation 5
Rooms in Returnal can be empty – save for an item chest or object to interact with – or they can be filled with horrors. Alien creatures on Atropos seemingly only want to send you to oblivion, and that’s where the fun starts. If you have the weaponry and skillset, you can have some glorious battles, even with the most basic of baddies. The studio’s undoubted experience with top-down shooters comes to the fore, with shooting patterns and styles seeming more in tune with 2D shoot-’em-ups. It makes for a decent challenge each time.
Sony Interactive Entertainment / Housemarque
More challenging still are the end-of-biome bosses, who each take so much punishment before yielding. Whereas, you can take only a little before you die and have to repeat the process again. Still, the power-ups found along the way each time can help, while early battles prepare you well for later, much harder foes.
Pretty deadly
We’ve touched upon the interesting uses of the DualSense controller, but they aren’t the only examples of why this is a next-gen title only. Returnal uses just about every trick in the book, visually, including ray tracing and 60 frames-per-second. You couldn’t have a fast-paced shooter without the latter, to be fair.
It is also stunning looking. Yes, it invokes the spirit of Scott’s original Alien and, even more so, Prometheus, but there are neon flourishes throughout that make scenery and enemies pop. When played on a decent HDR TV, it is a true feast for your eyes.
Sony Interactive Entertainment / Housemarque
Our first couple of runs were mainly spent looking around, to be honest. Not just for clues or ways to navigate the maze, but to soak in the majesty. The game runs in dynamic 4K, which must dip at times in order to maintain high frame rates, but we didn’t really notice.
Steelseries celebrates its 20th anniversary, a legacy of glory
By Pocket-lint Promotion
·
Best upcoming PS5 games: PlayStation titles to anticipate
There are some grainier sections and some less detailed textures – such as the house (you’ll know what we mean when you see it) – but nothing too overt and certainly nothing to spoil the enjoyment.
Verdict
Returnal is a superb game that is well timed and gratefully received. It’s not the first game to use the eat, sleep, rinse and repeat concept. It won’t be the last either, with Deathloop coming later this year. However, it does it in a clever, interesting way that never tires.
There is also a great fog of mystery that permeates the game that has you wanting to progress, even when the action is sometimes unrelentingly difficult. It reminds us of Control in that way. Indeed, it too has a strong lead female character and overarching sense of something that’s not quite right with the world.
But, at the same time, it is very much its own beast and Sony will be cock-a-hoop that it has a truly original exclusive on its hands. One that will surely become a new, valuable IP.
It could also help Housemarque become more of a household name. It’ll certainly be less pigeonholed in future, that’s for sure.
Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Mike Lowe.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
