Category: Gamespot

Battlefield Hardline, the upcoming cops-and-robbers first-person shooter from Visceral Games, has “gone gold,” meaning the studio has completed initial development on the project. The game is now headed to factories for mass production, and to digital shelves.

The news comes from the official Battlefield Twitter account. A tweet was accompanied by the image at left, showing a man with a golden gun (unfortunately, not that golden gun).

Though Hardline is still weeks away from its official release date, more than 7 million people have already played the game through its recently concluded open beta.

Visceral learned a lot from the beta, and is implementing a series of changes as a result, including weapon tweaks and more.

“Going gold” is indeed an important milestone in the development of any game. But Hardline is an online-heavy game, and development on the title will remain ongoing long after its initial release. After all, DICE is continuing to support Battlefield 4, a game that originally launched in fall 2013.

The Hardline release date is March 17 in the US and March 20 in the UK on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. The game was originally scheduled to launch in October 2014, but publisher Electronic Arts later delayed the game so it could add “more innovation.”

Powered by WPeMatico

Square Enix is preparing to release a remastered version of one of the early–and arguably the most derided–Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest.

Although the publisher has yet to make a formal announcement, UK-based studio Dark Design Games has already tweeted about the project, opened up preorders on its website, and released the trailer above. Dark Design claims the game runs at 60 frames per second in HD mode, despite what would appear to be a problematic frame rate in the video. The site notes the graphics, audio, and gameplay have all been remastered.

The company’s website lists Mystic Quest: HD Remaster (conspicuously lacking the Final Fantasy name) as coming to PC and Android on March 13 for $7.99. Preordering entitles you to unspecified “bonus content.” We’ve contacted Square Enix to find out more and will report back with any additional details we receive.

Mystic Quest was originally released for Super Nintendo back in 1992 (and on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010). Despite carrying the Final Fantasy name, it lacked many of the defining aspects of the series in an attempt to make it easier to play for newcomers. Perhaps most notably, this includes a lack of random encounters. The game was, uncharacteristically for the franchise, released in North America before Japan, where it would be retitled Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest.

Powered by WPeMatico

In January, we learned that Nvidia incorrectly labeled its GTX 970 card, leading to fans accusing it of exaggerating the card’s specs. Since then, the GPU manufacturer has been hit with a class action lawsuit for false advertisement.

GTX 970 cards are marketed as having 4 GB of video RAM, but many gamers have found that if the card demands more than 3.5 GB, in-game performance begins to drop off. Nvidia has acknowledged the issue and said that this happens because the card splits its memory into two chunks–one with 3.5 GB and one with 500 MB. When the system needs more than 3.5 GB, it has to use a slower process to access the remaining memory, and that can cause framerate dips and generally slow performance.

For the most part, the issue only affects those playing games at very high resolutions, typically 1440p or 2160p, but the GTX 970 was directed at gaming enthusiasts that wanted a slightly cheaper option than Nvidia’s flagship card, the GTX 980.

The lawsuit also lists inaccuracies in the reviewer’s guides it sent to hardware critics. This second part is a much bigger problem, because while the 970 does technically have 4 GB of video RAM, it doesn’t actually have the 64 render output units (ROPs) or the 2048kb of L2 cache that many publications claimed.

As we explained in January, that discrepancy is key, as it represents an oversight by Nvidia’s marketing department and explains why the card can’t access the last chunk of its video RAM effectively.

The lawsuit alleges that Nvidia “engaged in a scheme to mislead consumers about the characteristics, qualities, and benefits of the GTX 970.” The suit seeks an injunction against Nvidia, legal fees, full refunds for those that purchased the card, as well as restitution.

Nvidia has yet to respond to the suit.

Powered by WPeMatico

Have you ever wondered just how many Kickstarters have actually delivered on their promises? NeoGAF moderator Stumpokapow has decided to log every game-related Kickstarter project that pulled in more than $75,000 as of June 2014 in one large spreadsheet.

The document not only lists games, but also grades their progress on a scale from “admitted failure” to “released.” There’s also a nine-month grace period to give developers a reasonable amount of time to make progress before assessing their progress.

At time of writing, of the 186 of the successfully funded projects, 63 have made their way to market, while ten have been classified as failures. Some of the more infamous disappointments include Code Hero, The Stomping Land, and Yogventures

The next scheduled update will be in late March, but for now the majority of games on the list have been released or are making progress. Even so, the document’s creator notes that “virtually no Kickstarter games from any dev at any budget level with any final release quality have released on time.”

Instead, Stumpokapow suggests basing decisions on whether the money developers are asking for is in “the realm of sanity.” Adding, “A dev that asks for $20k to fund a dev team of 10 for a year cannot guarantee the project will release. A dev that claims their game will go from concept art to release in 4 months when the game has any scope at all is simply wrong.”

Powered by WPeMatico

Shuhei Yoshida, the head of Sony’s worldwide games development studios, believes that the industry must strive to create more unique content instead of just repeating successful formulas.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Yoshida said “the industry’s focus has narrowed too much. Can we continue producing interesting new products? That’s become a real concern.”

According to sales monitor NPD, only two of the ten best selling games of 2014 in America were a new IP (Destiny and Watch Dogs), one a sci-fi first-person shooter and the other an open-world action title. Other games on that list include sequels to Madden, NBA, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Smash Bros, as well as ports of Minecraft, along with two different Call of Duty games.

While Sony does internally develop sequels and spin-offs of its own, it is also know to support unique games such as Journey, The Unfinished Swan, Puppeteer, and Heavy Rain.

In 2012, the company released Tokyo Jungle, an idiosyncratic animal survival game, which sold more than 231,000 copies.

The game’s director, Yohei Kataoka said “if it wasn’t for Sony, there is no way I would be doing this now. It was like an angel investment, something unheard of in the games industry.”

Powered by WPeMatico

Activision is getting the band back together, according to a new report.

The publisher is working on an all-new, “more realistic” Guitar Hero game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, according to Kotaku UK, which cites two different sources.

The new Guitar Hero game, which wasn’t given a name, will be announced at E3 in June, according to one source.

The music game, which would be the first since 2010’s Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, will sport a “more realistic” visual look, compared to the “cartoonish” style of past games, according to another source. Expect more authentic-looking artists and even crowds.

In addition, the report claims that Activision is making new guitar peripherals to launch with the Guitar Hero title, though no further information was provided. The new Guitar Hero game is reportedly scheduled to launch before the end of 2015.

An Activision representative said: “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation, but have previously said, that as one of the most beloved entertainment franchises, we would only bring Guitar Hero back if we developed the right innovations to usher the franchise into the new generation of gaming.”

Activision officially put the Guitar Hero franchise–as well as the Tony Hawk series–on hiatus in early 2011. It was already confirmed that Tony Hawk will return this year on Xbox One and PS4, and now it sounds like Guitar Hero is making a comeback too.

A seventh Guitar Hero game was in development, but Activision canceled this project.

Previous Guitar Hero developer Neversoft and RedOctane are no longer in operation. Kotaku’s report doesn’t name a developer for the new game outright, but does say the title is coming from one of Activision’s developers on the United States west coast.

The rumored revival of Guitar Hero comes less than a week after another report claimed Harmonix was working on a brand-new Rock Band game for Xbox One and PS4.

The Guitar Hero series was once a juggernaut, $2 billion business for Activision. However, sales of later games dropped dramatically. The latest entry in the series, Warriors of Rock, sold fewer than 100,000 copies during its debut month.

Powered by WPeMatico

Sony has issued a notice reassuring fans that the free PlayStation Plus version of Driveclub has not been cancelled, following an interview with a company executive that had casts doubts over the project.

In a statement sent to GameSpot, Sony explained that it is trying to create a network that can handle the estimated stresses of releasing an online-centric triple-A game for free. The corporation could not, however, provide a timeline for completion of its work.

“Although currently we do not have an update regarding the timing for the launch of the PS Plus Edition, we are continually working on improving the server capacity to enable us to launch the PS Plus Edition as quickly as possible,” the statement read.

Sony’s statement comes amid doubts over the prospects of the PS Plus edition–which was first promised in June 2013–after a PlayStation executive appeared to hold off making any promises.

Jim Ryan, the chief executive of PlayStation Europe, was asked in a recent interview whether the release of the free version would arrive soon.

“That’s still being looked at,” he replied.

When asked whether the free version would ever ship, Ryan replied: “I can’t say anything at this stage.”

At E3 2013, months ahead of the release of the PlayStation 4, Sony made a pledge that PlayStation Plus subscribers would be given a free abridged version of Driveclub as a reward for their membership.

But the matter was complicated on several occasions, first in October 2013 when the racing sim was delayed just weeks ahead of its launch. It was delayed again in early 2014, and when finally released in October that year, it launched with major server issues that knocked its network infrastructure offline.

During the disaster launch, a decision was made at Sony to postpone the free version, likely in order to prevent the online problems worsening.

Months of waiting followed while fans hoped that the free version would still ship. Then, in early February this year, a representative for the game’s developer, Evolution Studios, told a fan that the build “still needs a lot of work“.

Powered by WPeMatico

Bungie.net and Destiny will be offline for a few hours tomorrow for maintenance, Bungie has announced on Twitter. The maintenance being carried out will be server-side and gameplay will not be affected.

Bungie also confirmed that update 1.1.1 will still be implemented this month. The patch will introduce compulsory match-making to weekly heroic strikes, removing the ability for players to solo them. This will affect all levels of the Weekly Heroic, though Nightfall will remain unaffected. Matchmaking has yet to be implemented for Raids, which Bungie says are more reliant on “groups of communicative players who are invested in each other.”

Other changes which are part of patch 1.1.1 include a fix to the heavy ammo bug, balance fixes to weapons, and the ability to view a player’s in-game reputation with faction vendors.

Destiny’s next downloadable content pack will launch sometime in the second quarter of this year, and is called House of Wolves. Bungie has said it won’t make the same mistakes in this DLC, with plans to improve the progression system.

Powered by WPeMatico

Chicago’s 40,000 square foot Pac-Man restaurant Level 257 is now open for business, at least for some. The venue is now letting “beta testers” make a dinner reservation and sample the food and entertainment before it opens to the public later this year.

Chicago Eater went inside Level 257 and snapped a series of lovely photos of the space. It’s not just a restaurant, however. In addition to seating for 180 people, it has a bowling alley, ping pong tables, and of course, Pac-Man video games to play, among other things.

Level 257’s cocktails are named after video games. Some of these include “Game Over,” “1 Up,” and “Midway.” Check out the restaurant’s menu here. And definitely be sure to look through the whole image gallery at Chicago Eater.

As for the name, Level 257 is a reference to Pac-Man’s infamous killscreen, which pops up during the 256th board. Overall, the restaurant aims to offer a “fun dining” experience.

Level 257 is located at the Woodfield Mall in Chicago. For more on the venue, and to make a reservation, head to the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Powered by WPeMatico