Tag: gaming

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The Game Awards 2021 officially set for December 9

The Game Awards 2021 has gotten an official date: Thursday, December 9th.

Toronto’s own Geoff Keighley, the creator of the show, announced the news on Twitter.

As in previous years, the event will be held at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater and streamed worldwide in 4K on a variety of platforms. A specific time for this year’s show wasn’t revealed, but it’s expected to be sometime in the evening as with previous ceremonies.

Keighley did confirm, however, that Hollywood composer Lorne Balfe (Mission: Impossible) will return to conduct this year’s live orchestra. “Much more to share in [the] weeks ahead,” Keighley concluded.

Every year, the show offers a mix of awards being given to the top games and developers, as well as world premiere game reveals.

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PlayStation confirms acquisition of Demon’s Souls remake developer Bluepoint

PlayStation has confirmed that it has acquired the Austin, Texas-based studio Bluepoint Games.

Notably, the Japanese gaming giant leaked this news last year in a since-deleted tweet from its official PlayStation Japan Twitter account and is only now formally talking about it.

Specific terms of the acquisition, such as financial details, were not disclosed. However, Bluepoint is a natural fit for the PlayStation Studios family, given their long-running partnership. In fact, nearly every game that Bluepoint has made has been exclusive to PlayStation platforms, including 2009’s God of War Collection, 2011’s The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection, 2015’s The Nathan Drake Collection, 2018’s Shadow of the Colossus remake and, most recently, last year’s Demon’s Souls remake.

The throughline between all of these games is that Bluepoint was either remastering or remaking existing titles. However, Bluepoint teased in an interview with IGN that its next game would be an “original” title. No further details were revealed. That said, it’s important to note that an original game simply means it won’t be a remaster or remake; it doesn’t rule out Bluepoint working on a new game based on an existing property.

PlayStation has been on a bit of a buying spree as of late. Over the past year, the company has purchased Helsinki, Finland-based Housemarque (Returnal), Liverpool, England-based Firesprite (The Playroom) and Utrecht, Netherlands-based technical support studio Nixxes.

Image credit: PlayStation

Source: PlayStation

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Mobile Syrup

BlueStacks X emulator brings Android games to the cloud

Notable Android app emulator BlueStacks X has stepped into the world of game streaming with a new service that lets users play several Android games on the web.

So far, there are ten games available to stream, and in my brief test playing Merge Dragons!, the platform seems responsive enough to provide an adequate gameplay experience.

BlueStacks X also says it’s running on Amazon Web Service Graviton Servers, which Amazon rates highly on the AWS website. If you don’t feel like cloud streaming, you can use the regular BlueStacks X emulator to play one of the 200 other games the company offers.

In the future, the platform hopes to move all of these titles over to cloud streaming. Pre-roll ads currently support the service, but the company is considering offering a subscription service, reports The Verge.

If BlueStacks X can keep its latency reasonable, this could be a convenient way to play mobile titles without an Android smartphone. That said, like with other cloud gaming services, if you have an Android device that can play games locally, you’re likely better off taking that route.

Via: The Verge 

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Unraveling the saga of the 4K Switch Nintendo says doesn’t exist

When Nintendo first revealed the Switch OLED model a few months ago, it was difficult not to be disappointed that it wasn’t the more significant rumoured refresh many people expected.

Since then, rumours surrounding a potential 4K Switch died down — at least until now. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that several developers currently have Switch 4K development kits and are actively working on games with them.

The publication’s report says that 11 developers are working with the 4K Switch development kit, including both big and small studios. As expected, Nintendo quickly denied this claim, stating that it has “no plans for any new model other than Nintendo Switch — OLED Model..”

Bloomberg says that Nintendo planned to release a 4K Switch this October but was forced to shift its plans due to “component shortages” related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Japanese gaming giant already sent out 4K development kits to developers prior to revealing the Switch OLED model.

Developers working on 4K titles state that they expect to release their games at some point in 2022, indicating that we likely won’t see the release of a 4K Switch until that time frame “at the earliest.”

Adding more fuel to the churning rumour mill, mobile game developer Zynga denied that it currently has a 4K development kit from Nintendo. Bloomberg‘s report states that the FarmVille developer is one of the studios that currently has a 4K Switch development kit. Zynga is working on Star Wars: Hunters for the Nintendo Switch.

Earlier rumours indicated that Nintendo plans to utilize Nvidia’s DLSS technology to output 4K visuals when the console is docked.

Though it would make sense to assume Bloomberg‘s reporting is wrong, it’s likely not the case. If a rumour appears this often, there’s usually at least some level of truth to it.

This also isn’t the first time we’ve seen Nintendo deny a console’s existence, only to reveal it a few months later. Further, it’s not surprising to see a developer reportedly working on a 4K Switch title denying it has a development kit given how secretive the gaming industry typically is.

Nintendo’s Switch OLED model will release on October 8th for $449 CAD.

Image credit: Nintendo 

Source: Bloomberg 

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PlayStation’s ‘Blockbuster’ sale offers up to 70 percent off 100+ games

PlayStation’s latest promotion, the ‘Blockbuster Games Sale,’ offers discounts of up to 70 percent on 131 titles.

See below for some of the most notable deals:

It’s worth noting that Cuphead is made by Canadian indie developer Studio MDHR and is actually celebrating its fourth anniversary today, September 29th. Meanwhile, Scott Pilgrim is based on the eponymous Canadian graphic novel series and developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

The full list of ‘Blockbuster’ PSN sales can be found here. The promotion ends on October 13th.

Image credit: PlayStation

Via: Lbabinz

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Here are the free games hitting PlayStation Plus in October 2021

PlayStation offers a few games at no additional cost to those subscribed to its PlayStation Plus service every month.

Now, the company has revealed the trio of games that will land on PS Plus in October, which are the same three that were leaked earlier this week.

PlayStation 5 owners can snag the multiplayer shooter Hell Let Loose, while the Canadian-made golf sim PGA Tour 2K21 and visceral fighter Mortal Kombat X make up the two free PS4 games.

All three games will be available for free through PS Plus from October 5th to November 1st.

PlayStation Plus costs $11.99 CAD/month, $29.99/three months or $69.99/year.

September’s free PlayStation Plus games, which include Hitman 2, will remain available until October 4th.

Image credit: Team17

Source: PlayStation

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Toronto-made Xbox indie game Echo Generation will release on October 21

Toronto-based indie developer Cococucumber has revealed that its adventure game Echo Generation will release on October 21st.

The game is coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Steam, with a simultaneous day one launch on Game Pass for Console and PC.

The release date was revealed in a new trailer:

Inspired by both coming-of-age films and horror novels, Echo Generation follows a group of kids in a small fictional Canadian town as they investigate supernatural occurrences. In terms of gameplay, the kids will fight off against bizarre creatures in classic RPG-inspired turn-based combat while recruiting pet companions to assist them.

On Xbox Series X, 4K/60fps will be supported.

Image credit: Cococucumber

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The voices of Mario, Master Chief and Nathan Drake are coming to Fan Expo Canada

Fan Expo Canada has announced three video game-related guests, and they’re rather big ones.

The voices of Super Mario‘s Mario (Charles Martinet), Halo‘s Master Chief (Steve Downes) and Uncharted‘s Nathan Drake (Nolan North) will all make an appearance at the Toronto-based convention in October.

It’s a pretty notable get for the show, as the actors each play the characters representing the “Big Three” in gaming — Nintendo (Mario), Xbox (Halo) and PlayStation (Uncharted).

Fan Expo Canada is operating under a ‘Limited Edition’ format this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that total attendance will be capped 25,000 people and the show is running for three days (October 22-24) instead of the usual four. With that in mind, Martinet is set to appear all three days (the website incorrectly lists him for “Thursday” as well, despite the show not taking part on that day), as is North. Downes, meanwhile, is set to appear on Friday only.

The actors will offer autographs and photo ops at their tables. It seems like some sort of joint panel to share their respective experiences in gaming would also make a lot of sense, but one hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. We’ve reached out to Fan Expo and will update this story once a response has been received or an official schedule has been revealed.

Other guests at this year’s Fan Expo include Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian and the upcoming Canadian-made Far Cry 6), Toronto’s own Stephen Amell (Arrow, Heels) and Robbie Amell (The Flash, Upload), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead), Montreal’s own William Shatner (Star Trek) and Ray Fisher (Zack Snyder’s Justice League).

Tickets start at $35 CAD — you can learn more here.

Source: Fan Expo Canada

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This AirTag-sized miniature Game Boy replica comes with five games

How small does a handheld console need to be to qualify as ‘portable?’ Whatever the answer might be, TinyCircuits’ Thumby definitely falls under the criteria.

Thumby is the world’s smallest handheld gaming device, measuring at 29.5mm x 18mm x 8.5mm (1.2-inch x 0.7-inch x 0.3-inch), roughly the same size as Apple’s AirTags.

The miniature handheld features a black and white 72 x 40 pixel resolution OLED screen along with a functioning D-Pad and A/B buttons, and comes with R.F.S.D., TinyAnnelid, TinyDelvere, TinyTris, and TinySaur Run preloaded. However, thanks to the device’s micro USB port, you can create your own games for the handheld and upload them to the miniature Game Boy replica.

Thumby’s tiny 40mAh lithium-polymer battery manages to offer enough power for roughly two hours of gameplay, and its 2MB of storage should be more than adequate for a reasonable number of games.

TinyCircuit is launching the device via Kickstarter for $19, with its estimated delivery scheduled for February 2022.

Image credit: TinyCircuits

Source: TinyCircuits

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Microsoft Store will soon let users access Amazon, Epic Game stores

Microsoft has revealed it will soon allow third-party app stores to integrate into the Microsoft Store.

The first two digital storefronts to join the Microsoft Store are the Amazon and Epic Game Stores, according to Microsoft.

“Today, we are sharing that Amazon and Epic Games will bring their storefront apps to the Microsoft Store over the next few months, and we look forward to welcoming other stores as well in the future,” writes Giorgio Sardo, the Microsoft Store’s general manager, in a recent Windows blog post.

Further, the blog post indicates that users will be able to search quickly for their intended store through Microsoft’s search icon or by browsing.

Microsoft says its store is also opening up to other browsers like Opera and Yandex, which are rivals to Microsoft’s own Edge browser. That said, Chrome and Firefox are still not in the Microsoft Store, and Steam and GOG aren’t part of this announcement either.

Microsoft says that this update is all part of a broader suite of changes coming alongside Windows 11, including Android apps coming to the operating system.

Source: Windows Blog Via: The Verge