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Fortnite is getting updated visuals on PC alongside season 7 launch

Fortnite is getting a visual boost on PC very soon. As part of the upcoming Chapter 2: Season 7, which will launch on June 8th, the PC version of the game is getting a new “epic” graphical setting.

Epic says it will include “new and enhanced effects plus improved post-processing features and shadow quality.” Among other changes, it sounds like many of the great visual enhancements that came to the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game are coming to PC, including “more advanced explosion effects.” In other words, after you update, try to find a rocket launcher to play with.

As part of the update, the system requirements for Fortnite are now getting a tweak. Basically, there are now three ranges: epic, recommended, and minimum. Here’s what you’ll need:

Epic specs

Nvidia GTX 1080, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, or equivalent GPU
4GB VRAM or higher
Intel Core i7-8700, AMD Ryzen 7 3700x, or equivalent
16GB RAM or higher
NVMe solid state drive
Windows 10 64-bit

Recommended specs

Nvidia GTX 960, AMD R9 280, or equivalent DX11 GPU
2GB VRAM
Core i5-7300U 3.5GHz
8GB RAM
Windows 10 64-bit

Minimum specs

Intel HD 4000 on PC; Intel Iris Pro 5200
Core i3-3225 3.3GHz
4GB RAM
Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit

Season 7 kicks off on June 8th — and it looks like it’ll add an extraterrestrial element to the game.

Next God of War delayed until 2022 but will come to PS4 too

The next God of War game has been pushed to 2022. The game, intended for PS5, was originally planned to launch sometime in 2021. Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst confirmed the news in a post shared on the PlayStation blog, saying “we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.” We also learned today that a PS4 version of the next God of War is in development.

The studio posted a tweet confirming the delay.

Where does this leave Sony’s other big-budget single-player game, Horizon Forbidden West? Hulst says the team is tentatively planning on a holiday 2021 release, but the team won’t nail down a release date. He says that the development of both Horizon and God of War have been “affected by access to performance capture and talent.”

While the news of God of War’s delay and uncertainty surrounding the release window of the next Horizon title might be disappointing, Hulst made a statement about avoiding crunch at its studios. “With these things, something’s gotta give. It cannot be the quality of our titles, and it surely won’t be the health of the wellbeing of our amazing team.”

Get £50 to spend at the PlayStation Store when you buy a Sony Bravia XR TV

(Image credit: Future / The Boy From Medellin, Amazon Prime)

Sony is giving away a £50/€50 PlayStation Store voucher with select Bravia XR TVs.

The promotion is already up and running in seven European countries: UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. All you need to do is pick out a Bravia XR TV (LED or OLED) at a participating retailer between June 1st and July 31st 2021.

According to the official announcement on Sony’s website, you can redeem the £50/€50 gift card for, “anything on PlayStation Store: games, add-ons, subscriptions and more”.

Not familiar with Bravia XR? The range boasts some of the best TVs in the Sony 2021 TV line-up and featues the Japanese giant’s “cognitive intelligence” tech, which aims to optimise every pixel, frame and scene to produce the most lifelike picture possible.

As you’d expect the Bravia XR range is a decent match for a next-gen console such as the PS5. The presence of HDMI 2.1 with support for 4K@120Hz and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) should help you max out the PS5’s capabilities.

The XR line-up covers Sony’s top-tier models. The 55-inch A80J starts at £1999/€2299 (around $2800, AU$3600) while the A90J Master Series, the firm’s top 4K OLED for 2021 costs from £2699 ($2800, around AU$3700). Not cheap, but recently we called the 55-inch XR-55A90J “simply one of the best TVs we’ve tested”.

The Bravia XR models also come with free access to Bravia CORE, Sony’s high-bitrate video streaming service, which promises lossless Blu-ray-quality “streaming up to 80Mbps.”

MORE:

Your guide to the Sony 2021 TV line-up

Samsung 2021 TV lineup: everything you need to know

Our pick of the best Sony TVs

Samsung reportedly bringing HDR10+ to gaming

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung could enable HDR10+ for gaming, according to a German blog post spotted by HDTVtest. The article claims Samsung executives are working with ‘various unnamed studios’ to set up a steady supply of HDR10+ titles.

The HDR10+ format was created by Samsung and is a competitor to Dolby Vision. Like Dolby Vision, HDR10+ is all about adding dynamic metadata to the HDR signal to deliver more detail. Unlike Dolby Vision, companies don’t need to pay a fee to license HDR10+.

The report doesn’t reveal whether Samsung is planning to bring the technology to games consoles or reserve it for mobile devices such as the HDR10+- supporting Samsung Galaxy S21.

However, it’s interesting to note that Dolby Vision is supposed to be exclusive for the Xbox Series X and S for the next two years. Could Samsung be working with Sony to bring HDR10+ gaming to the PS5? It’s certainly a possibility.

The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S systems have supported Dolby Atmos since launch, with Dolby Vision support expected later this year. Microsoft recently announced a Dolby Vision HDR test program for Alpha Ring members ahead of ‘general availability’.

Only a handful of titles make use of Dolby Vision HDR (Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Borderlands 3 are the biggies) but last month Microsoft revealed plans for a major push into Dolby Vision gaming.

If the rumours are true, HDR10+ for gaming could bring better contrast and more vibrant colours to your favourite titles, although you’ll still need a compatible 4K TV.

MORE:

Our round-up of the best gaming TVs

Read our PS5 review

Read our Xbox Series S review

AMD confirms it’s powering the gaming rig inside Tesla’s Model S and Model X

Remember when Elon Musk claimed you’d be able to play The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 on a 10 teraflop gaming rig he’s stuffing into the new Tesla Model S and X? AMD is officially providing the guts — during its Computex 2021 keynote, the chipmaker just revealed that the new Tesla infotainment system consists of an AMD Ryzen processor paired with an AMD RDNA 2 GPU.

“So we actually have an AMD Ryzen APU powering the infotainment system in both cars as well as a discrete RDNA2-based GPU that kicks in when running AAA games, providing up to 10 teraflops of compute power…. we look forward to giving gamers a great platform for AAA gaming,” says AMD CEO Lisa Su.

And if you combine that information with another piece of news AMD revealed today, plus a earlier leak in January, we may now have a passing idea of how powerful that “10 teraflop” infotainment system could theoretically be: likely a little less than Sony’s PS5.

You see, leaker Patrick Schur dug up a Tesla block diagram in January that singled out an AMD Navi 23 GPU specifically for Tesla’s new vehicles, and today AMD announced the new Radeon 6800M, 6700M and 6600M laptop graphics chips — the weakest of which just so happens to use Navi 23, AnandTech reports.

As we learned today, that Radeon 6600M chip comes with 28CUs and 1792 shader units— compared to the 36CUs and an estimated 2304 shader units worth of RDNA 2 GPU in Sony’s PlayStation 5, which also claims to be a 10-teraflop gaming rig. While it’s not quite apples-to-apples, it’s largely the same technology beneath, and a smaller number of cores on the same GPU architecture suggests we should expect slightly less performance from a Tesla compared to Sony’s console. (The higher-end Radeon 6700M / Navi 22 has the same number of CUs as the PS5, for what it’s worth.)

Performance depends on the software platform, though, as we’ve seen with the 10-teraflop PS5 and the 12-teraflop Xbox Series X — and a recent job posting by Tesla suggests game developers may actually be building for Linux if they want to target the new Tesla in-car gaming rigs.

Linux isn’t necessarily a benefit when it comes to gaming performance, though. Google’s Stadia cloud gaming also boasted 10 teraflops of performance from its AMD GPUs, but ports of games from Bungie and Square Enix didn’t look nearly as good as they did on weaker Xbox and PC hardware at the service’s launch.

The most important question is probably still the one I asked back in January, though: Who is going to sit in their $80,000 sports car and play a triple-A video game?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that the Model S Plaid, which includes the new AMD system, will start deliveries on June 10th.

EA’s new multiplayer dodgeball game is now free to play until you reach level 25

EA just released its chaotic and fun new multiplayer dodgeball game, Knockout City, on May 21st, and for the launch, had put together a special promotion: the full game would be free to play until May 30th, after which you could pay $19.99 on the platform of your choice if you wanted to keep playing. (It’s also included with an EA Play or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.)

But on Sunday, EA and developer Velan Studios announced that even if you missed that window to try Knockout City without paying for it, you can still check it out without dropping a dime: the game is now free to try up until you level up your “Street Rank” (Knockout City’s take on a Fortnite-like battle pass) to 25.

Block Party is over, but new players to Knockout City can still start brawlin’ for free!

If your friends are just joining us, they’ll be able to play for free and level up to Street Rank 25 before purchasing the game. That’s also enough game time to teach them to pass the ball. pic.twitter.com/aWjPjKS0ES

— Knockout City (@knockoutcity) May 30, 2021

That level cap should give you few hours of playtime to try Knockout City for yourself and decide if you want to pay full price for it. And I recommend you give the game a whirl — I was impressed with just how well it captures the feeling of actually playing dodgeball.

Knockout City is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Nintendo Switch, and it offers crossplay multiplayer, meaning you can play with your friends no matter what platform they’re on.

Today I learned the PS5’s controller can buzz along to your music on Spotify

The DualSense controller for PS5 has great haptic feedback for games like Returnal and Demon’s Souls. But today I found out that it’s also good at humming along to tunes on Spotify when plugged into a PC.

While browsing Reddit, I stumbled across an ancient thread from six months ago where a user explained that, by plugging in a DualSense and tweaking a few settings, the device’s built-in haptics motors will do their best to play your music from the Spotify app on Windows 10. If you press your ear to the controller, it’s like listening into the world’s smallest rave ever, perhaps with a few Astro Bots in attendance.

I assume you just ran to go get your controller to try this out — because that’s the same reaction that I had. Okay, but first lower your expectations before you get started. The haptics likely won’t blow you away, as they aren’t tuned for this particular use case — this is just for fun!

Plug your controller into your PC via a USB-C cable and wait for Windows to automatically install the driver.
Once it’s installed, tap the speaker icon near the bottom-right corner of your display where the time is shown. Set “Speakers (Wireless Controller)” as your audio output.
Open the Control Panel and click “Sound.” From there, click on your current audio output and select the “Properties” button just below that.
Click “Enhancements,” the third tab from the left on the pop-up window. Check the box next to “Speaker Fill,” then hit “Apply.”
You’ll need to restart the Spotify app for the haptic playback to begin. Once you start the app up again, you should be able to feel your music. You might even be able to hear the haptics motors doing their best at playing the music if you press the DualSense to your ear.
If you actually want to listen to your music, in addition to feeling it in haptics form, just plug a set of headphones into the DualSense’s 3.5mm jack and the audio will be passed through. Your audio setup will look a little silly this way, but who cares?

Here’s a track that I feel shows off the effect well. Click the Spotify logo in the top right of the embed to have the track open within the PC app:

Watch 14 minutes of stunning Horizon Forbidden West gameplay

Sony showed off 14 minutes of Horizon Forbidden West gameplay on a PS5 in a new State of Play presentation on Thursday. In the footage, protagonist Aloy fought against some giant animal-like machines and some human enemies on a beautiful post-apocalyptic beach settlement.

The presentation revealed that Aloy has some new tools to get around in Forbidden West, like a diving mask to let her dive underwater and a Breath of the Wild-like hang glider. And much like in the first game, it looks like you’ll still be slinging a lot of arrows against your enemies, both human and machine.

Aloy and Erend in Horizon Forbidden West.

Image: Sony

Horizon Forbidden West, a sequel to the hugely successful Horizon Zero Dawn, is expected to be one of Sony’s biggest titles this year, especially given that there are still few major PS5 games to look forward to in the near future. The game is also coming to PS4.

We still don’t know when it will come out, though. In 2020, developer Guerrilla Games said that it’s “aiming” to release Forbidden West in 2021, but in a new blog post, Guerrilla’s Ben McCaw said that “we don’t have an exact release date yet, but development is on track and we’ll have an update for you very soon.”

Among Us is free on the Epic Games Store

Among Us, the multiplayer game that soared in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, is the latest free title on the Epic Games Store. If you have an account for that storefront, you can download it for free until June 3rd (it normally costs $5). You can then join friends in the game’s newer Airship map, and good news: those friends don’t all need to be playing on PC. The game supports cross-platform multiplayer, so players of the Android, iOS, PC, and Nintendo Switch versions can play together. The PS4 and PS5 versions of the game will support crossplay, too, once it launches later this year.

Among Us

Among Us, developed by InnerSloth, released in 2018. But in 2020, the game saw a huge influx of players during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team has been updating the base game with maps and features instead of pursuing a sequel.

Epic Game Store

This promo is part of Epic Games’ Mega Sale that’s happening until June 17th. A new mystery game will be free each week, so once Among Us’ time is up on Thursday, June 3rd, another game will become available. NBA 2K21 was the previous free game during the sale event.

If you’re in the mood to buy games, you might be eligible to get an Epic coupon, which will knock $10 off the cost of any game that costs $14.99 or more. Head to this page, sign in to your account, then try to redeem the coupon.

OLED Nintendo Switch could be announced in next two weeks

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo could announce its OLED Switch console in the next couple of weeks. Sources have told Bloomberg that the portable games console could be unveiled ahead of the E3 gaming conference which kicks off on 12th June.

Assembly is planned to start in July, with the console going on sale in September or October, they added.

An announcement ahead of E3 would let publishers showcase their full range of Switch games at the conference.

The new machine is likely to be more expensive than the current model, which it will eventually replace, leaving the OLED model and Switch Lite as the two models in Nintendo’s line.

The new console is thought to be called the Nintendo Switch Pro, though its official name is only known to a handful of people within Nintendo.

Its main selling point is the screen. According to leaks, it will be bigger than the current model’s (7in vs 6.2in) and use OLED technology to offer better contrast and colour (the current model has an LCD display). OLED is also more energy-efficient, which could mean better battery life – crucial for a console you can play on your travels.

It’s also thought to boast a new Nvidia chip with 4K upscaling, which would make game graphics look far better on a big-screen TV without the need for huge file sizes.

Next-gen games consoles are in the midst of a chip shortage caused by the pandemic, meaning the PS5 and Xbox Series X have been in short supply since launching in November 2020. Hopefully, the situation will be a distant memory by September, or will the Nintendo Switch Pro be another console that struggles to meet demand?

MORE:

Next-gen console showdown: PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which is better?

Find your Xbox: Xbox Series X stock update

And the same for the PS5: Sony PS5 stock and where to buy

The PS5 will be profitable next month — and Uncharted 4 is coming to PC

In February, Sony revealed it was selling the PlayStation 5 at a loss — but that’s imminently about to change. The PS5 should hit break-even in June, and become profitable the very same month, according to a presentation the company shared with investors (PDF) during its investor day today.

Needless to say, that’s fast — happening before the company has even managed to catch up with demand, in the midst of a global chip shortage. (We bemoaned the needless drama of buying a PS5 just days ago!)

Mind you, this is for the standard PS5, the one where Sony has to supply a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive and pay as much as $8 per console in licensing fees, and charges you an extra $100 at retail. It’s not clear if Sony’s driveless PS5 Digital Edition is more or less profitable.

Profitability isn’t the only intriguing disclosure in Sony’s presentation, though. Buried in the filing is the excellent news that an incredible game is coming to PC — the previously PS4/PS5 exclusive Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, a blockbuster action game that we loved enough to write both spoiler-free and multiple spoiler-iffic reviews.

Sony had previously promised more PlayStation exclusives would come to PC, and Sony’s presentation makes it clear why the company is interested. See that little “ROI 250%+” note? If I’m reading it correctly, that means the iffy PC port of Horizon: Zero Dawn nonetheless managed to make more than double the money that Sony invested in bringing it to gaming computers.

It makes me wonder, very strongly, about the mysterious circumstances that surrounded Sony’s announcements of Demon’s Souls and Final Fantasy XVI.

Oh, by the way: sure looks like Sony just confirmed that God of War: Ragnarok is the official name of that upcoming game! Could be a mistake or a juxtaposition of two vaguely related logos, though.

Also genuinely surprising to see them maybe just confirm God of War: Ragnarok as the next game’s official title?

After we’ve all spent so long calling it that, makes sense to lean in, I suppose! pic.twitter.com/7YYm6cngZ9

— Jonathon Dornbush (@jmdornbush) May 26, 2021

Correction: Sony’s presentation today came from its Investor Day, not its Corporate Strategy Meeting. The Corporate Strategy Meeting was yesterday.

Microsoft is holding an Xbox and Bethesda showcase on June 13th

Microsoft’s big E3 event to showcase upcoming Xbox and Bethesda games will kick off on Sunday, June 13th at 1PM ET. It will be a 90-minute show.

“The show will be focused on games from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and many game creators from our partners around the world,” Aaron Greenberg, general manager of Xbox games marketing, said in a blog post.

Microsoft completed its huge acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, in March, so this event will be the first opportunity to see what the two companies have been cooking up together. The acquisition doesn’t mean that all Bethesda games are now Xbox exclusives — the upcoming Deathloop, from Bethesda-owned Arkane Studios, is debuting on PS5 and PC — but Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has already said that “some new titles in the future” will only be coming to Xbox and the company’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

There are a lot of potential titles that could be on display during the June showcase. We could get our next look at Halo Infinite following its rough showing last July and subsequent delay to this year. (It’s set to launch in the fall.) Psychonauts 2 seems tantalizingly close to release, especially after a recent update video posted by developer Double Fine, so we might get some news about the long-in-the-works sequel. Microsoft announced upcoming new titles in the Fable and Forza Motorsport series last year, so we may hear more about those games and other titles revealed at last summer’s Xbox showcase. And from Bethesda, fingers crossed we’ll finally learn more about Starfield and the new Indiana Jones game.

Western Digital’s Latest WD_Black SSDs Target Consoles, Affordable PCIe 4.0

(Image credit: WD)

While in-person Computex has been canceled, companies still have new product to roll out, and today Western Digital adds a trio of new drives to its gaming-focused WD_Black line. There are a pair of D30 Game Drives targeting next-gen consoles, with one model aiming for the PlayStation 5 market, and a WD_Black D30 Game Drive SSD for Xbox targeting Sony’s console competition. But for PC builders and gamers, the internal WD_Black SN750 SE will be of most interest, as it brings PCIe Gen4 support at a starting price of just $49.99. But without DRAM, it will probably have a hard time making it to our best SSD list.

But first, let’s tackle the console-focused externals. Both models will come in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities, with the Xbox model starting at $99.99 and the more generic WD_Black D30 Game Drive SSD starting at $10 less ($89.99). Both come in typical bulky-looking rugged housings with detachable stands, with the non-Xbox model delivering claimed speeds of up to 900 MBps. This drive will allow you to play and store PS4 games, but only allow for archiving of PS5 games. (The PS5 only plays the latest-gen games from the internal SSD).

The D30 Game Drive SSD for Xbox, meanwhile, will ship with a one-month membership of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to help make up for the slight price difference. Similar to the other drive, you’ll be able to play and store Xbox One games on the drive, but only archive Xbox Series X/S titles. WD says the white-accented Xbox-branded drive should arrive in June, while the more generic black model should be available today at “select retailers” and the WD Store.

(Image credit: WD)

Shifting to the new internal M.2 drive, the WD_Black SN750 SE is an NVMe drive that supports PCIe 4.0 (and is also backwards compatible with Gen3). WD says it will deliver read speeds of up to 3,600 MBps. So it’s no barn-burner, but WD says it will consume up to 30% less power than the previous SN750, which may help its appeal for laptop gamers. Note, though, that this model will be a DRAM-less drive, which no-doubt helps keep costs (and power consumption) down.

The WD_Black SN750 SE will start at $49.99 for the 250GB model. Pricing on the 500GB and 1TB capacities has not been revealed, nor is there a mention of a 2TB model. But we’re sure to learn more (and hopefully have a full review for you) as we get closer to availability. WD says the WD_Black SN750 SE is available for preorder from WD now, and will land on store shelves this summer.

Square Enix and Team Ninja working on Final Fantasy spin-off inspired by Souls games

Over the last year, Square Enix has announced a slew of new Final Fantasy projects, including expansions for Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy XIV, as well as the next major game in the series, Final Fantasy 16. It looks like the publisher isn’t stopping there either, as rumours are pointing to another new Final Fantasy spin-off game.

Speaking with Fanbyte, sources confirmed, that Square Enix is working with Team Ninja, the studio behind Ninja Gaiden and Nioh, to develop a new Final Fantasy spin-off inspired by games like Dark Souls and Nioh.

This will be a more accessible take on the genre, so don’t expect it to be as gruelling as a Souls game. Apparently, there is already a playable demo planned for this summer, similar to what Team Ninja did in the past with early demos for Nioh. This game is currently expected to be announced at E3.

The final little piece of information we have on this is that it will apparently be a PS5 console exclusive, with a PC release coming a bit later down the line.

KitGuru Says: I loved the Nioh games, so I’m intrigued to see something similar in a Final Fantasy setting. It looks like we have our first surprise of E3 to look forward to.

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Next-gen version of Fallen Order release date leaked

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was one of the biggest games of 2019, selling well over 10 million copies. The 3rd person action-adventure game received PS5 and Series X|S support shortly after the consoles’ launch, but a bespoke next-gen version was also promised to be coming – with a new retailer listing suggesting that the team is aiming for an end-of-June release.

According to two separate Brazillian retailers, the PS5 (and series X|S) versions of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order are set to release on the 26th of June, just over a month away. Being two separate retailers, and the nature of their status within the country itself lends credence to this release date being legitimate.

EA previously announced that a native PS5 and Series X|S version of Fallen Order was in development, with a release set for some time in Summer – though no specific date was given at the time. Currently, little is known about this remaster, with the team only revealing that it will bring “a number of technical improvements to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S console versions of the game,” and that “this will be a free cross-generation upgrade to current owners.”

With its release date seemingly so close, hopefully more specifics on the exact details will be revealed sooner rather than later. Furthermore, with the previous-gen version already receiving next-gen patches, it will be interesting to see what specific upgrades are coming to this native port.

KitGuru says: Did you play Fallen Order? What do you want to see from this upgrade? Are you excited for a sequel? Let us know down below.

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