Aug 12
PC Gamers! You won’t have to spend more money to make your Xbox One controller work with your computer
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Mar 16
Crystal dynamic’s reboot of Tomb Raider has become a big hit in the gaming industry, receiving top marks and rave reviews from game sites all around the web. The game has been praised for its stunning graphics, simple game play, riveting story, and convincing protagonist. While the game is already great, NVIDIA has found a way to make the game even more so. It has released the GeForce 314.21 drivers that will dramatically improve your Tomb Raider gameplay.
NVIDIA had planned on releasing its GeForce GTX Driver support for Tomb Raider during Day 1 of the game’s launch, however the company didn’t receive the game on time to do so. It’s better late than never, and NVIDIA graphics card owners are still grateful that NVIDIA followed through with its support. The company promises that its new 314.21 drivers will improve game performance by about 45%-60%.
The company measured the performance boost on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 at both the 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 resolutions. Many users have also stated that they’ve seen dramatic boosts in performances in their games. One user stated that his GTX 580 SLI received a 49% boost in performance, with frame rates in the game jumping from 50.3FPS to 74.9FPS on the Ultimate preset.
NVIDIA does really well in updating its drivers. Just a couple of weeks ago, the company launched its 314.14 beta drivers that’s optimized for a variety of games including StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, SimCity, Hawken PhysX, and Resident Evil 6 (which will launch on the PC March 22nd). With its 314.21 updated drivers, the best GPU company is able to improve on one of the best games this year so far.
[via NVIDIA]
Tomb Raider gains NVIDIA GeForce GTX Driver support is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Mar 10
SimCity has updated its blog and has stated that its making good progress in restoring stability to its servers. Lucy Bradshaw, the General Manager of EA’s Maxis Label, stated that tens of thousands of new players are logging into SimCity everyday. SimCity’s launch on March 5th was admittedly a huge failure. The always-on DRM and the server issues with the game resulted in a majority of players being unable to login, download the game, or even unlock their game.
Bradshaw stated that SimCity is seeing major improvements. She said that they have improved their server response time by up to 40 times, doubled the amount of players in-game, and have reduced the amount of server down times. They are also rolling out new servers and replacing their old servers so that more people will be able to maintain a stable connection to the game. However, because they’re replacing the old servers, you may see some downtime in the near future.
Also mentioned by SimCity through its Official Twitter is the possibility of there being an offline mode in the future. While it won’t happen anytime soon, it may be implemented in the future. The tweet says, “We have no intention of offlining SimCity any time soon but we’ll look into that as part of our earning back your trust efforts.”
SimCity will begin updating its servers today during the evening. This is great news for those of you who have the SimCity game and weren’t able to refund it for your money back. Players will be updated through the EA forums as well as through the game launcher about pending updates. Also for those of you playing SimCity, you will also receive a free game from EA beginning on March 18th. We’re still not sure whether or not you’re allow to choose which game you get for free, or if it’s going to be a selected by EA themselves.
[via SimCity]
SimCity increases stability and considers ‘offline mode’ in the future is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Mar 09
The creator of the hugely popular Ultima Franchise, Richard Garriott, is gearing up to launch a new online sequel to the game that is going to take the RPG world by storm. The game is called Shroud of the Avatar:Forsaken Virtues. In order to create his new sequel, Garriott has launched a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of accumulating $1 million in order to finance the project. Garriott hopes to launch the game by October 2014.
Shroud of the Avatar is supposed to focus more on the player and their choices rather than just boring, old level grinding. Portalarium Inc, the company that the game will be launching through, has stated that while games have become much more graphically beautiful since Ultima, they lack the immersive, fantasy-like feel that made the Ultima series so great. Shroud of the Avatar hopes to “reinvent the classic fantasy role-playing experience”.
The game has an emphasis on solo play and players developing their own, unique stories, but players are also given the option to adventure through their stories with friends and other gamers. The game won’t be an MMORPG, nor will it really be single-player. It’s described to be a mix between both, like a persistent online world similar to Bungee’s Destiny. Everything is in the player’s hands. They are able to choose how to play the game, whether they want to explore and discover new places, battle dangerous monsters, or stay within the safety of their homelands.
The game will be fully interactive. Portalarium says, “If it looks usable, it should do something”. It will also feature it’s own original story that is deep and complex, with interwoven stories, and there will even be an alternate, fully-developed language featured in the game. Players will have their own houses (which they will have to pay taxes on) that they can decorate and furnish. There isn’t just one cookie-cutter house layout, but several and all will be marked with varying price tags. Players will also be able to build their own businesses.
There are so many aspects to Shroud of the Avatar that make it sound like a promising RPG. Currently, the Kickstarter campaign has reached $557,600 in funding from 9,136 backers. There are still 28 days left, and it’s very likely that they will meet and beat their goal. There are varying levels of pledge backers, with each increasing level being more expensive (of course), but more beneficial. Go ahead and check out the Kickstarter page.
[via Portalarium]
Ultima creator launches Kickstarter for RPG sequel is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Feb 05
After one NeoGAF user spilled the beans on the project, CD Projekt RED has confirmed that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is in production. The game is being built on the studio’s new REDengine3, which was unveiled to the world just a few days back. It’ll also be the last Witcher game made by CD Projekt RED, so this is the last hurrah for the series that so many players have fallen in love with.
Those who are subscribed to Game Informer might like to know the game is this month’s cover story. That’s how NeoGAF user INDIGO_CYCLOPS found out about it – his digital copy arrived a bit early and gave away the surprise. Some of the more interesting tidbits from the cover story include the fact that The Witcher 3 will be an open world game, and that it’s in-game world will be around 20% bigger than Skyrim‘s.
In the official announcement, the company didn’t say The Witcher 3‘s world will be bigger than Skyrim‘s, but it did say that it will be 30 times bigger than The Witcher 2′s world. Make no mistake, that’s one massive world to explore. Players will also be treated to a revamped combat system, but at the moment, details on it are slim. The game will be launching in 2014 for “all high-end platforms,” leading some to believe that The Witcher 3 will be releasing for next generation consoles.
After all, REDengine3 has been developed specifically for next generation consoles, and since many are thinking that we’ll see the reveals of the next PlayStation and Xbox this year, it would make sense for CD Projekt RED to put the game on the new platform. We’ll just have to wait and see what the studio announces in the coming days and week, but it’s definitely an exciting time for series fans. Stay tuned.
[via Joystiq]
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt announced, built on REDengine3 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 29
As far as free-to-play titles go, Hawken already looks pretty great. The game supports NVIDIA PhysX, which adds a bit more eye candy over non-PhysX games, including improved weapon and particle effects. Those PhysX-enabled visuals are about to get another boost, though, thanks the addition of a previously missing PhysX feature: APEX Turbulence.
With PhysX Turbulence, Hawken‘s developers are going to turn the particle effects up to 11. Turbulence uses velocity fields to show particles-in-action, which will make things like health pickups, fires, and shields look even cooler in-game. The developers have teamed up with NVIDIA to launch a new trailer showing off what Turbulence is capable of in Hawken‘s world, and it can check it out below.
While you won’t be missing anything from the core gameplay experience if you don’t have PhysX (and by extension Turbulence) turned on, the feature definitely makes for some impressive visuals. In the trailer, you’ll get a side-by-side look at Hawken’s visuals with Turbulence turned off and on, and the differences are pretty obvious. If you’ve got a rig that can handle it, playing with PhysX enabled definitely seems to be the way to go.
The only problem is that Hawken doesn’t support Turbulence just yet. Though support for other PhysX features is already there, Turbulence functionality is still on the way. Adhesive Games says the feature is coming soon though, so you can bet we’ll keeping an ear to the ground for more information. Stay tuned.
Hawken shows off excellent visuals in PhysX trailer is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 28
We’ve still got a little while to wait before BioShock Infinite hit shelves, but what better way to pass the time than with a new trailer? The latest BioShock Infinite trailer takes on the guise of a documentary, as one Alistar Bloom attempts to uncover more information about the flying city of Columbia. Columbia, as many gamers will already know, is where BioShock Infinite‘s story will play out.
The trailer doesn’t give much about the game away, but it does set the stage nicely for the story. Interestingly enough, the trailer has that ’70s or ’80s feel, even though the events in BioShock Infinite take place long before then. So, it would seem that Mr. Bloom is looking for clues about Columbia quite some time after the events in the game go down.
It’s been a long wait, but BioShock Infinite is nearly upon us. After a number of delays, the game will now be releasing at the end of March. Two more months may seem like an eternity to those who have already been waiting years for the game, so here’s hoping that it isn’t hit with any additional delays. We can’t imagine this new trailer does much to quell the anticipation, but it’s worth a watch for any BioShock fan nonetheless. Check it out below.
We have to say, while this is certainly an odd direction for a video game trailer, we like it a lot. Perhaps we’ll see more Truth From Legend segments that give us a look into Alistar Bloom’s search for Columbia? One can only hope. BioShock Infinite is out on March 26, 2013 for Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.
BioShock Infinite trailer sets the stage for Columbia is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 27
It’s nearly time for Dragonborn to launch on PC, and eager Skyrim fans will be pleased to know that its now available for pre-order now on Steam. Skyrim‘s latest DLC went up for pre-order this weekend, a little more than a weekend before it becomes available for download. As far as we can tell, there isn’t any bonus you get for pre-ordering, aside from getting the payment part of the transaction out of the way early.
Therefore, it’s really only worth pre-ordering if you’re sure this is something you want to buy anyway. Dragonborn will set you back $19.99, and though that price seems a little steep, Xbox 360 players have said plenty of good things about the expansion. In it, you’ll be leaving the lands of Skyrim and adventuring through Solstheim, an island located to the north of Tamriel (specifically, Solstheim is north of Morrowind, where the third game in the series takes place).
While there, you’ll come face-to-face with the first Dragonborn, collecting new weapons and items and fighting new enemies along the way. If you’re a big Skyrim fan, many will tell you that Dragonborn is worth the rather steep cost of admission. At the very least, it seems to be a more worthwhile add-on than Dawnguard and Hearthfire were.
Dragonborn will be available for PC on February 5, 2013. After months and months of waiting for some kind of DLC offering, Dragonborn will also be releasing for PS3 next month, along with Hearthfire and Dawnguard. Are you planning on picking up Dragonborn when it becomes available on PC?
[via Steam]
Skyrim Dragonborn DLC now available for pre-purchase on Steam is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 24
Get ready Dead Island fans, because Deep Silver has delivered the first gameplay trailer for the newest game in the series, Dead Island: Riptide. The gameplay trailer goes on for more than nine minutes, and puts the game’s new Hub Defense mode into the spotlight. In Hub Defense, players will scavenge for equipment to defend their base and then fight off wave after wave of zombies, with the goal of keeping all of the survivors alive.
Of course, it’s a little more involved than that, as it gives players the chance to build up their defenses in between waves. The person walking us through the demo, Deep Silver creative producer Alex Toplansky, says that you’ll need to use everything that causes damage during the onslaught, so you’ll need to be sure that you collect all of the guns and explosives you can in the lead-up to the attack.
We also get to catch a glimpse of boat driving, which Toplansky says will be necessary to get around parts of the island. The footage actually looks pretty good for being in the pre-alpha phase, if not a little too similar to the original. If you only wanted more Dead Island action without much of a shake in terms of gameplay, it looks like Dead Island: Riptide might be the game for you.
Keep in mind that since this is pre-alpha footage, a number of features could change before the game releases. That being said, we don’t have too much longer to go as Dead Island: Riptide is set to launch on April 23, 2013 in North America and April 26 in Europe. Will you be returning to the world of Dead Island after getting a look at this gameplay demo?
[via VG247]
Dead Island: Riptide trailer shows off pre-alpha gameplay is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 23
Crysis 3 won’t be arriving in North America until February 19, but you can check out the game’s multiplayer mode a few weeks early thanks to a freshly-announced open beta. Today Crytek revealed this open beta, saying that it will go live on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on January 29. That happens to be next Tuesday, so Crysis fanatics don’t have much longer to wait until they can get some hands-on time with the game’s multiplayer.
Of course, you won’t have access to all of the multiplayer’s modes and maps during the beta, as that would take a lot of fun out of the full release. Instead, Crytek will only let you test out two modes and two maps. The first mode is called Hunter, which cloaks two players and tasks them with hunting down the others. Once you’re been killed by a cloaked hunter, you become one yourself, with the ultimate goal being either to survive or turn all of the other players into hunters before the round ends.
The other mode, Crash, seems to be typical territories fare, with two teams vying for control over crash-landed alien pods. Your team will gain points as it holds the territory, along with gear that will help you defend it from the opposing team. The two maps featured in the beta are called Airport and Museum, and they should support both multiplayer modes on display.
Players will also be given a taste of the game’s leveling system, as Crytek and Electronic Arts will allow them to level up to rank 10 while playing, unlocking new weapons and add-on for their Nanosuits. The beta will continue on for two weeks, after which time it’s a short wait for the launch of the game. To go along with the beta announcement, Crytek has also released a new trailer that focuses on the abilities of the Nanosuit, which you can see above. Who’s ready for some Crysis 3 multiplayer action?
[via Crysis Official Site]
Crysis 3 multiplayer beta kicks off next week is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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