Gaming headsets have gotten a lot more stylish in the past year, with companies like SteelSeries and LucidSound packing cinema-quality sound into catwalk-ready cans. Now, peripheral giant Logitech is taking them on with its newest release, the G533. This $150 headset boasts 7.1 surround sound, a simple-but-classy design and, most important to gamers, wireless capability without lag or interruption.
If 2016 was the year of virtual reality, 2017 might just be the era of VR accessories. Japanese gadget-maker Cerevo has debuted Taclim, a pair of motion controllers and shoes that provide haptic feedback in VR, vibrating in various ways as players walk across different surfaces or kick enemies in the face.
Well, this is embarrassing. It appears as if the latest patch for the PC version of Forza Horizon 3 has been slightly botched by Playground Games. The update -- which was intended to add support for the Rockstar Car Pack -- clocked in at an utterly ludicrous 53GB and may have had several unintended and adverse consequences for both the developers and players.
According to PC Gamer, the update in question actually pushed a complete and unencrypted developer build of Forza Horizon 3 on to unsuspecting PC gamers. While this build did reveal a huge list of cars that will later be implemented in the game, it also had the unintended consequence of corrupting any new save files created on this version of Forza Horizon 3. PC Gamer also mentions that the idea of having unencrypted copies of the game floating around in the wild may have some negative repercussions as far as piracy is concerned, too.
Thankfully, save files created on a previous version of the game should be fine. In a post on Playground Games’ forums, a member of the Forza Community Team went on to say that “[as] long as you have an existing save and have not created a new one on .37.2, your saved game will work correctly once the update is available.”
This build of Forza Horizon 3 has since been pulled from the Windows 10 Store. As of the time of writing, the correct playable build of Forza Horizon 3 should be .35.2.
If you do happen to have patch .37.2 of Forza Horizon 3 installed on your PC, Playground Games recommends that you uninstall the full game, then re-download it from the Windows 10 Store. Yep, you’ll have to download yet another 50+ gigabytes of data. I can only assume that this situation will be an absolute nightmare for anyone with a data cap.
Somehow, I doubt that Playground Games will address the biggest point of inaccuracy in Forza Horizon 3; the entirely unrealistic lack of traffic in Surfer’s Paradise.
I’m sorry, Playground Games, but your representation of one of Australia’s biggest tourist traps is entirely inaccurate and misrepresentative of the location that you’re meant to be depicting. If Forza Horizon 3 was more true-to-life, traffic in Surfer’s Paradise would move at approximately 0.3 kilometres an hour. While this may not make for a compelling open-world racing game, at least it’d be more realistic.
God, I hope nobody takes that last part seriously.
Grand Theft Auto Online might be the biggest cash cow Rockstar has ever created, so I at least understand, from a business perspective, why single-player DLC for Grand Theft Auto V hasn't been considered. Why actually put in that effort and spend money developing content when players are more than happy to shell over cash for in-game dollars? I mean, Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming, so what more do you want?
Thanks to the OpenIV toolset, some modders are looking to import the entirety of Liberty City into GTA V. This isn't some lame recreation of the city, either, but an exact replica that utilizes the files from GTA IV on PC. As such, to make use of this mod, you will need to own a copy of each game.
While nothing has been stated about adding extra missions, Liberty City won't be replacing any of Los Santos. LC is going to be placed somewhere in the ocean, far away from the confines of LS. To access the island, you'll need to take a plane and fly yourself over. Talk about an ambitious project; with Los Santos being one of the largest digital worlds ever created, this is basically going to double the size of the game.
It's been a while since we've seen or heard anything about Rime. The whimsical puzzle-adventure title was first shown off at Gamescom in 2013, with a young boy exploring a mysterious, tropical island. At the time it was a PS4 exclusive, however earlier this year developer Tequila Works announced that it had bought the full rights back from Sony. Today, it's been confirmed as a multiplatform release for the PS4, Xbox One and, most notably, the Nintendo Switch. IGN has all the details, including a new trailer which reintroduces the Ico-meets-The-Witness concept.
Source: IGN
Acer is bringing out a beast of a portable gaming machine, the Predator 21X, next month.
It's a 21-inch laptop with a curved IPS display (2560 x 1080 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate), built-in Tobii eye-tracking tech, a full-sized mechanical keyboard, a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080s running in SLI, an Intel Core i7-7820HK processor, 64GB of RAM, and up to four 512GB SSDs.
How much is too much? Such questions weren't asked. The naysayer of the group was asked to leave the room. The Predator 21X starts at $8,999 and will ship in North America starting in February.
Given the name and steep cost, I feel like this thing should maybe come with a cloaking device. And considering its presumed weight, it could probably stand to include a gym membership as well.
Bundle Stars is running an encore on its Winter Sale, with most deals returning for the next 48 hours (until about Thursday morning). If you were in a deep slumber during Steam's sale, this is now your second chance to pick up excellent titles at dirt-cheap prices.
Some of the more interesting titles are MMO Elder Scrolls Online and The Secret World, both at under $10 for their standard edition, and a historic low price for The Secret World. Coupled with the 10% off code below, you'll find many titles beating Steam prices handily at Bundle Stars.
If you missed out on 70% off Doom, this is now your second chance to pick up the #1 top-selling title during this season's sales. Bundles not to miss include Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for $4.49, Baldur's Gate: The Complete Saga, and Batman Arkham Bundle -- all of which will give you plenty of gaming hours on the cheap.
Winter Sale Encore Top Picks
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Overwatch's Winter Wonderland event may be over, but Blizzard has one more present in store for players: a new map. Blizzard's been teasing the new control point map for a few months now, promising a new control point map with new environmental hazards and traversal options. Indeed, that's all here -- Oasis features jump pads that launch players high in the air and an active highway filled with deadly traffic. And yes, getting in the way of a car is a one-hit kill.
Source: Blizzard
Alien: Covenant, the sequel to Prometheus and a prequel to Alien, won't be the only piece of media to feature Xenomorphs this year. In fact, it probably won't even be the most terrifying. Another project might get that edge because of its immersive format.
According to Variety, Fox Innovation Lab is creating an Alien: Covenant virtual reality experience to complement the movie. It's said to be "a paid title on major VR platforms." No release date has been announced, but the film hits theaters on May 19; sometime around then is almost a certainty.
Fox Innovation Lab has said that the VR experience is "a dread-inducing journey into the depths of the Alien universe" and that "Viewers will discover the true meaning of terror as they navigate through horrifying alien environments and a story where every decision could mean the difference between life and death."
Little else is known about this, but the description doesn't necessarily come off as a traditional game. It sounds more like a choose-your-own-adventure story with different paths that make it replayable. As if escaping a Xenomorph once weren't enough.
However this turns out, it's not the first time Alien has been adapted for VR. Leading to the launch of Alien: Isolation, developer Creative Assembly put together a demo for Oculus Rift. It never saw a commercial release, but Sega said late last year that there's still a chance it could eventually become a fully-realized VR game. In the meantime, Alien: Covenant's take seems like it should be a perfectly suitable way to get your VR scares.
Ridley Scott, Fox Innovation Lab Team Up for 'Alien: Covenant' Virtual Reality Experience [Variety]
CES 2017 starts here. Alongside reports, hands-on impressions, analysis and a live stage broadcast all week, we will be liveblogging all the major press events and keynotes. From Intel to Samsung, ASUS to Sony, these are the ones you can't miss.
The mainline Assassin's Creed series just isn't my particular brand of comfort-food gaming, but its 2.5D subseries, Chronicles? I think I could get down with that trio. If you don't mind going through Uplay (Windows only), there's a new Humble Bundle that can help you score all three titles for a buck.
Pay $1 or more:
Pay more than the average (~$7):
Pay $15 or more:
I asked Brett, our resident Assassin's Creed whisperer, for advice. "A case can be made for any one of the three Chronicles games, because there's no real reason all three exist." Fair enough.
Humble Assassin's Creed Bundle [Humble Bundle -- Thanks, Edinko]
With the big Switch event just 10 days away, there are a lot of rumors swirling about what upcoming games might surprisingly land on Nintendo's new platform. Sega and Atlus are going to nip that in the bud right away.
Here's Atlus/Sega PR manager John Hardin straight dashing dreams on Twitter:
Rating board listings often pan out, and if that's the case for Ace Combat 7, we might just see the PlayStation 4 flight game on Xbox One. A rating for that unannounced version has surfaced in Taiwan.
Good news? Good news. You can quickly catch up with this trailer from late last year.
My history with this series is short-lived, but I hold out hope that one day, if and when the stars align, I might seriously get into it. Ace Combat 7 has me particularly intrigued with its virtual reality support. In-cockpit space dogfights are cool and all, but I wouldn't something more grounded for a change.
And while it shouldn't need to be said, a PC port would be nice as well.
Ace Combat 7 rated for Xbox One in Taiwan [Gematsu]
Rhianna Pratchett is a veteran video game writer who most recently penned the scripts for Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, but today on Twitter she announced her amicable departure from the series. Pratchett helped usher Lara Croft, the franchise's legendary protagonist, into the modern era when Crystal Dynamics rebooted the series in 2013.
Source: @rhipratchett, @tombraider
Well-rounded Blizzard fans will soon see some familiar-yet-slightly-off additions to World of Warcraft. A parodied version of the Overwatch crew is crossing over for a limited time.
Blizzard is set to bring The Brawler's Guild back to World of Warcraft, which is a one-person arena challenge mode. During the wave-based battles, players will encounter Overwatch characters that they have to fight against. Blizzard has cleverly dubbed this "Ogrewatch."
World of Warcraft site Wowhead has datamined the event and found that seven Overwatch characters are confirmed thus far. They'll appear in World of Warcraft as Hudson (Wintson), Dupree (McCree), Stuffshrew (Junkrat), Blinker (Tracer), Boargut (Roadhog), Render (Reaper), and Steingardt (Reinhardt). Some of them can be seen in the video that's embedded below.
Ogrewatch will be added as part of World of Warcraft's 7.1.5 update. The patch is currently live on Blizzard's Public Test Realm, but it's not yet fully released. Blizzard hasn't said when it'll be available for everyone, but within the first couple weeks of January seems to be a good bet.
Legion Rank 1-7 Brawler's Guild Fights [Wowhead via PCGamesN]
The person who has guided Lara Croft since her 2013 reboot is moving on. Tomb Raider lead writer Rhianna Pratchett has parted ways with developer Crystal Dynamics.
The announcement was revealed on Crystal Dynamics' tumblr where the studio released this brief statement: "Crystal Dynamics and Rhianna Pratchett are announcing today that Rhianna is off to pursue new adventures separate from the Tomb Raider franchise. Rhianna was instrumental in helping us find Lara's voice in the 2013 origin story, and through Rise of the Tomb Raider she shaped Lara into the evolving heroine we know today. The entire team thanks Rhianna for her dedication and tireless efforts on the games. Please join us in wishing Rhianna the absolute best in her next adventure."
Pratchett made a few comments on Twitter, thanking former co-workers and saying "So, I'm packing up my climbing axe plus a little venison jerky for the road, and bidding a fond farewell to Lara. Onwards to new adventures!"
Pratchett has a storied career in games. Apart from the pair of Tomb Raider games, she has been a writer for titles such as Mirror's Edge, Prince of Persia (2008), BioShock Infinite, and Thief. Last year, Rise of the Tomb Raider won for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing at the Writers Guild of America Awards, and the Outstanding Achievement in Character categories at the DICE Awards; Pratchett obviously played a significant role in the game earning these accolades.
Pratchett vaguely made mention of a "new adventure" in her farewell note, but didn't specify as to where she was going next. We'll have to wait to see where she turns up. Wherever it is, that studio's getting one hell of a writer.
Rhianna Pratchett to Pursue New Adventures Separate from the Tomb Raider Franchise [tumblr]
After a round of testing, Blizzard has added the Control map Oasis to Overwatch. Now all of us, regardless of platform, can know the thrill of dodging traffic and jump-padding like maniacs.
Aside from the trailer and screenshot gallery, here's a little backstory on the setting: "Researchers and academics from around the region came together to found a city dedicated to scientific progress without restraints—a monument to human ingenuity and invention. The city and its inhabitants are governed by the Ministries, a collection of brilliant minds who possess many secrets that have attracted the interest of powerful organizations from around the world."
I've not yet tried Oasis, but I'm eager to do exactly that tonight (assuming it comes up much in the map rotation). My holiday break was largely spent getting back into Overwatch rather than finishing up any number of games I've half-started, and yep, I'm hopelessly hooked again. I still feel like I'm learning the intricacies of Eichenwalde, even now, but we could definitely use more maps.
You probably know Rime as that island adventure game with the Ico and Wind Waker vibes. Hey, me too! The project garnered a fair bit of attention these past few years, and for good reason, but its production woes have surrounded it in a thick haze. I've repeatedly wondered if it'd ever see daylight.
But, there's progress. Now that developer Tequila Works has another publisher on board (after securing the rights from former publisher Sony) and a May 2017 multiplatform release in mind, things are looking up for Rime. With all that said, here's a "re-reveal" trailer that surely needed to happen.
This footage looks very much like what I recall of Rime all those years ago -- or at least what I expected from it, conceptually. Now Tequila just needs to bring it home. I'm still down for this type of game.
Rime Re-Revealed for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch – IGN First [IGN]
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) takes place in Las Vegas at the beginning of each year. It's sort of an odd one for us in that it's just a smidgen too tech and hardware-centric to really get excited about. It's on our radar but it rarely makes waves.
This year there's at least one guaranteed wave. BioWare has a spot in the Nvidia's press conference where it'll show new Mass Effect: Andromeda gameplay. Mass Effect's Twitter account confirmed this recently:
Once again, I played entirely too many games in 2016.
If you count mobile titles and everything I reviewed, well over a hundred. I don't know for sure, I didn't keep track because it's been one of the busiest and most stressful years of my career, but it's easily somewhere in that neighborhood.
And in the spirit of 2017, here are some of my favorites from that lot. Most of you know how I roll -- I don't really do ordered lists, so this is just a bunch of stuff that I really dug in 2016.
Right now, going all-in on PC virtual reality means going big: you need a big space for room-scale VR, a big, powerful gaming PC and a big wallet to buy it all with. ASUS wants to make one of those things smaller. Unfortunately, it's not the price. The new ASUS VivoPC X is a compact gaming desktop that's powerful enough for virtual reality, but still small enough to be moved in a pinch.
Via: MsPowerUser, Verge
The premise of MidBoss is a common one (a weak imp wants to be top dog), but the way they actually reach that goal, gameplay-wise, sounds dope.
The concept is that you'll be constantly possessing strong foes throughout the game, as you embark upon a roguelike adventure. Yes it's randomly generated each playthrough, which might not appeal to a lot of you folks out there, but the posession element mixed with traps and save-deleting potions sound awesome.
I also dig the sorta-kinda Disgaea art with its western sensibilities MidBoss is currently targeting a March 2017 release on PC. You can pick up the gist by watching the trailer below.
Third party hardware manufacturers have been chomping at the bit to peddle their NES Classic wares, and you know what? I don't blame them. With how horribly Nintendo has handled the distribution in North America, you'd be hard-pressed to find an official controller, much less an actual unit. And those controllers, mind, are $10 at retail, but have been going for up to $100 due to the shortages.
But as it turns out those third party options are pretty good, and in addition to the Nyko Miniboss, My Arcade's GamePad Classic is pretty decent too.
Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia was delayed into 2017, but according to a recent interview from Famitsu, it's "99.9%" done. So just in case you wanted to jump into yet another Square Enix mobile Final Fantasy game, it looks like you won't have to wait that much longer.
But even though it's that close, they're still targeting an "early 2017" release, with a date to be announced soon. Opera will feature voices for an all-star cast of sorts similar to World of Final Fantasy, where they'll be recruited through campaign play. There's going to be around 20 in all, and although it's a mobile title that's likely going to exploit some sort of microtransaction hare-brained scheme, there will not be a gashapon (capsule toy) random element to it like they've done in the past.
That's the bar now -- it's low.
Final Fantasy [Famitsu via Siliconera]
Looking over this list of series that are turning anywhere from five to 30, a wave of nostalgia and surprise ran over me. I mean, Mega Man's 30th? Rad as hell. Phantasy Star turning 30? I totally forgot, I was more of a Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest man in that era. Bushido Blade turns 20? Hell yes, and give us another actual follow-up at some point Square Enix.
But that "surprise" took shape in many forms, like Assassin's Creed's 10th. or Dishonored's 5th. Or the Wii U's 5th anniversary in November of 2012, which it won't even celebrate as Nintendo has killed the system off and stopped production in 2016.
That 20th section is killer too, with heavy-hitters like Einhänder, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Gran Turismo -- man, the PlayStation kicked ass. Check out the full list below and speculate about how awesome the celebrations will be, and what Nintendo will snub next.
The XPS 13 2-in-1 might be Dell's biggest laptop news at CES this year, but the company also has some major updates in store for gamers. Take the new Inspiron 7000, for one, a $799 laptop that really pushes the boundaries of what you'd call a "budget" machine. The company's Alienware laptops are also getting another performance boost, thanks to the addition of Intel's latest seventh generation CPUs.
If Acer's $9,000 Predator laptop has you in sticker shock, take a breath: The company also trotted out some affordable gaming notebooks at CES. Specifically, the company is rolling out a refresh of it Aspire V Nitro laptops, outfitting 15- and 17-inch models with new seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7700HQ processors, NVIDIA GeForce 1060 or 1050 graphics, built-in Tobii eye-tracking and up to 16GB of RAM. The internals aren't the only upgrade, either: The new Nitro also features a USB-C port, a fingerprint sensor and the option for a 3,840 x 2,160 UHD display. The new models, dubbed the Nitro 'Black Edition' start at $1,199. Looking for a powerful notebook for a little less? Acer has one more option for you.
You knew Acer's wonderfully overdone Predator 21X gaming laptop was going to cost a pretty penny, but probably not this much. The PC maker has revealed launch details for its 21-inch desktop replacement, and the system will cost a mind-numbing $8,999 when it ships in February -- you may have to choose between this and a nice used car. There are plenty of reasons for the over-the-top price tag, at least. In addition to the signature 21-inch curved 1080p display and mechanical keyboard, you're getting an overclockable 7th-generation Core i7-7820HK processor, 64GB (!) of RAM, dual GTX 1080 graphics chips, Tobii eye tracking, as many as four 512GB solid-state drives in a RAID stripe and a 2TB hard drive. You probably won't need to consider a replacement for a long, long while. And don't worry if this is absolute overkill, as there's a vaguely affordable model in the mix.
Source: Acer
Since Did You Know Gaming has covered basically every classic series ever at this point, they need to start to work into the more granular type stuff. You know, breakdowns of characters and the like.
But this actually works well with Nintendo games, as their tireless development efforts and attention to detail allow for some interesting case studies. Such is the case for Ganon, the low key pig-man enemy of Link and Zelda that has a surprisingly robust backstory, both in and out of the games themselves.
He's also half-man half-bear half-pig, and makes a cameo appearance in Seinfeld.
WildStar billed itself with such a good premise before its launch -- a haven for former hardcore MMO (mostly WoW) players to enjoy themselves among the current free-to-play landscape. But Final Fantasy XIV kind of came out on top of the subscription pile, and WildStar fell by the wayside, eventually becoming free-to-play in September 2015.
Even though you rarely ever hear about it it's still going, and it's getting a brand new 'massive' content update soon, which will be revealed tomorrow. Although it's still fun to go back in and check out my home space every so often, I wish the community took to this one from the start -- it's a really colorful, fun little MMO romp that just didn't do enough in its marketing (or endgame) to stand out from the pack.
