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Apple Arcade Price, Release Date Revealed

At its September event, Apple revealed new details regarding its all-you-can-eat Apple Arcade subscription service. Among the details were a release date of September 19, and a price point of $4.99 per month. The company also announced it will have a free one-month trial.

Developing…

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apple-arcade-price-release-date-revealed/1100-6469748/

PS4’s ‘Big In Japan’ Sale Kicks Off With Deals On Sekiro, Persona, And More

While we’re always spotting great deals on physical games at Amazon, GameStop, and other stores, it’s less often you see significant markdowns on the digital side of things. Fortunately for PS4 owners, the PlayStation Store has been going hard recently on the deals front. The latest sale kicks off today, and it’s an homage to the most popular games developed and played in Japan. Literally called the “Big in Japan” sale, this collection of PS4 deals includes major franchises like Persona, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and more. The sale is live now through September 24 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.

Some big new releases from 2019 are included, such as Devil May Cry 5: Deluxe Edition for $42, Resident Evil 2 for $36, Kingdom Hearts 3 for $30, and Dragon Quest Builders 2 for $48. Fans of Yakuza will be pleased to see Yakuza Kiwami 2 on sale for $25 as well as Judgment for $39. If you missed out on Persona 5, you can get its Ultimate edition marked down to $51. And the latest From Software masterpiece, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is discounted to $45.

Big in Japan sale: The best PS4 deals

There are a ton of worthwhile deals, so get ready for a long list of our picks. This isn’t everything that’s included–you can see the full breakdown of over 500 deals, including some PS3 and PS Vita offerings, at the official PlayStation blog.

See all deals at PlayStation Store

  • 428: Shibuya Scramble — $15 ($50)
  • Castlevania Anniversary Collection — $10 ($20)
  • Contra Anniversary Collection — $10 ($20)
  • Crypt of the Necrodancer — $9 ($15)
  • Dark Souls III — $15 ($60)
  • Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin — $10 ($40)
  • Dark Souls Remastered — $20 ($40)
  • Dead By Daylight — $15 ($30)
  • Dead Or Alive 6 — $48 ($60)
  • Death Mark — $20 ($50)
  • Devil May Cry 4 – Special Edition — $7.49 ($25)
  • Devil May Cry 5 — $36 ($60)
  • Devil May Cry 5 – Deluxe Edition — $42 ($70)
  • Devil May Cry HD Collection — $18 ($30)
  • DMC Devil May Cry – Definitive Edition — $14 ($40)
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ — $15 ($60)
  • Dragon Ball FighterZ – FighterZ Edition — $28.49 ($95)
  • Dragon Ball Fighter Z – Ultimate Edition — $33 ($110)
  • Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 — $15 ($60)
  • Dragon Quest Builders — $30 ($60)
  • Dragon Quest Builders 2 — $48 ($60)
  • Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster — $15 ($25)
  • Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age — $30 ($50)
  • Final Fantasy XV – Royal Edition — $25 ($50)
  • God Eater 2: Rage Burst — $15 ($60)
  • Gradius Collection — $6 ($20)
  • I Am Setsuna — $28 ($40)
  • Judgment — $39 ($60)
  • Kingdom Hearts All-in-One Package — $50 ($100)
  • Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix — $25 ($50)
  • Kingdom Hearts III — $30 ($60)
  • Life Is Strange 2 – Complete Season — $26.79 ($40)
  • Mega Man 30th Anniversary Bundle — $40.19 ($60)
  • Mega Man Legacy Collection 1 & 2 Combo Pack — $15 ($30)
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience — $10 ($20)
  • Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 – Deluxe Edition — $20 ($80)
  • Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom — $20.39 ($60)
  • One Piece World Seeker — $30 ($60)
  • Persona 5 – Ultimate Edition — $51 ($85)
  • Resident Evil (HD Remaster) — $8 ($20)
  • Resident Evil 2 — $36 ($60)
  • Resident Evil 4 — $8 ($20)
  • Secret of Mana — $20 ($40)
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice — $45 ($60)
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Croft Edition — $29.69 ($90)
  • Shenmue I & II — $18 ($30)
  • SoulCalibur VI — $20.39 ($60)
  • SoulCalibur VI – Deluxe Edition — $30.59 ($90)
  • Super Bomberman R — $13.59 ($40)
  • Tales of Vesperia – Definitive Edition — $25 ($50)
  • Tekken 7 — $15 ($50)
  • Tokyo Xanadu Ex+ — $12 ($60)
  • Valkyria Chronicles 4 — $21 ($30)
  • Windjammers — $7.49 ($15)
  • Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap — $10 ($20)
  • Yakuza 6: The Song of Life — $20 ($40)
  • Yakuza Kiwami — $10 ($20)
  • Yakuza Kiwami 2 — $25 ($50)
  • Zero Escape: The Nonary Games — $15 ($50)

Related: The Best PS4 Deals For September 2019

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4s-big-in-japan-sale-kicks-off-with-deals-on-sek/1100-6469745/

New Magic: The Gathering – Throne Of Eldraine Cards Preview

As we reach fall and the leaves start to drop, so too does the next Magic: The Gathering set, and this one couldn’t be more-perfectly themed for the season of spooky movies and pumpkin spice lattes.

After three sets, Magic: The Gathering has departed the lands of Ravnica for a brand-new setting, 10 years in the making. Throne of Eldraine is Grimms’ Fairy Tales meets Camelot meets Magic: The Gathering. From knights in shining armour, to mischievous faeries and mythical beasts, this new set of cards looks like it could have been born from the pages of our favorite fairy-tale books.

As is tradition in the lead up to a new Magic: The Gathering set, cards with incredible artwork and brand new abilities are slowly revealed, and we’re thrilled to be able to bring you the first look at four new Throne of Eldraine cards today. Spoilers ahoy!

Syr Carah, the Bold

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First up we have Syr Carah, the Bold, a 5 mana-cost Legendary Creature – Human Knight with 3/3 power and toughness. The text reads:

Whenever Syr Carah, the Bold or an instant or sorcery spell you control deals damage to a player, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.

(Tap): Syr Carah deals 1 damage to any target.

So not only do we have the handy mechanic of exiling and playing a card from our library whenever we deal player damage, but we can safely snipe any target for one damage simply by tapping the card. Legendary Creature cards are also popular in the Commander format, so this might see some play there too.

Searing Barrage

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Searing Barrage is a 5 drop Instant that deals a sizzling 5 damage to a target creature. But this card also sports one of Throne of Eldraine’s brand new card mechanics, Adamant.

Adamant – If at least three red mana was spent to cast this spell, Searing Barrage deals 3 damage to that creature’s controller.

Adamant rewards your ability to play mana that matches the color of the card, so in this case playing at least three red mana of Searing Barrage’s 5 mana-cost will allow you to bypass defending creatures and take the damage directly to the player behind that target creature.

Claim the Firstborn

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Look past the slightly disturbing artwork on Claim the Firstborn and we have a very handy, cheap sorcery.

Gain control of target creature with converted mana cost 3 or less until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.

So for just one red mana you can claim one of your opponent’s creatures as your own, and have it attack on your behalf.

Worthy Knight

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Lastly, here’s Worthy Knight, a 2 mana-cost 2/2 Human Knight, with a very useful trick.

Whenever you cast a Knight spell, create a 1/1 white Human creature token.

White cards are known for helping you line your playmat with buffs or defenses, and Worthy Knight is no different. For every Knight you cast, you can create a 1/1 Human creature token. Will it be fodder to help block incoming attacks, or perhaps a creature you will buff with additional power and toughness to help take down your opponent’s defenses?

Throne of Eldraine releases October 4, with pre-release events giving you a chance to get your hands on the set early at your local gaming store later this month. Physical cards not your thing? Visit the world of Eldraine in Magic: The Gathering Arena, the classic trading card game experience on your PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-magic-the-gathering-throne-of-eldraine-cards-p/1100-6469732/

A FIFA 20 Demo Is Out Now On PS4 And Xbox One

FIFA 20 is set to release on September 27 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, but before then you can get a taste of EA’s latest footballing sim with a demo that’s available now on PS4 and Xbox One.

The demo includes six playable teams: current Champions League holders Liverpool, Champions League runners-up Tottenham, German giants Borussia Dortmund, oil-rich Paris Saint Germain, Champions League record-holders Real Madrid, and transfer-banned Chelsea.

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You can play regular matches between the six teams to get a feel for FIFA 20’s on-pitch action, or take them to the streets in the new FIFA Street-style Volta Football game mode.

If that’s not enough, GameSpot has you covered with details on all the new features in FIFA 20 Ultimate Team and Pro Clubs, as well as a story on how Volta factors into the law of diminishing returns.

In other football-related video game news, eFootball PES 2020 is out today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can expect GameSpot’s review in the coming days.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-fifa-20-demo-is-out-now-on-ps4-and-xbox-one/1100-6469744/

Control Update Promising To Fix Console Performance Is Out Now

Last week, developer Remedy outlined its plans for the future of Control, with a patch to fix significant console performance issues top of the agenda. That update is out today on PlayStation 4, and will be available “very soon” on Xbox One and PC.

Control has received critical acclaim since its release last month, but console performance–particularly on base PS4 and Xbox One–is a sour point, as the frame rate often drops to a crawl in its most hectic action sequences. Today’s update promises to fix these problems across the board by improving stability on all platforms and improving “general frame-rate performance through optimisations made to multiple systems and content.”

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The September update patch notes also mention plenty of other fixes related to bugs and crashes, myriad progression issues, sound problems, UI behavior, and more. The update even adds an on/off toggle for both film grain and motion blur, and promises to improve map loading times.

“It’s not often that a game invades my thoughts the way Control has,” Peter Brown said in GameSpot’s review. “I’m at the point where I want to consume every last thing it has to offer. And if I’m honest, it also makes me want to go back and replay Remedy’s past games, too. Sure, it’s a faulty metroidvania in some respects, but there are so many exceptional qualities afoot that Control handily deflects any momentary ire. I can’t wait to take part in discussions about the game, to see what others have figured out, and to better understand where it all fits into Jesse’s story.”

If you haven’t picked up a copy of Control yet, you can currently grab it on sale for PS4 and Xbox One. GameSpot also has you covered with a guide to solving one of its trickiest puzzles, we’ll tell you about one of its most fascinating easter eggs, and dig deep into how Control reveals the fate of Alan Wake.

Full patch notes

General

  • Bug and crash fixes to missions, combat and overall game play
  • Fixed multiple issues with the PC launcher related to DX11/DX12 crashes

Performance

  • Improved title stability on all platforms
  • Improved general frame-rate performance through optimisations made to multiple systems and content

UI

  • Improved map loading times (map will no longer tease information)
  • Motion Blur On/Off toggle added to Options menu
  • Film Grain On/Off toggle added to Options menu
  • Fixed incorrect UI behaviour on ultra-wide monitors (PC)
  • Fixed multiple issues when incorrect subtitles are shown for multiple languages
  • Fixed issue when the game centers the aim on Jesse’s head
  • Fixed multiple UI related issues

Progression

  • Fixed an issue when player could not acquire ‘Pierce Charging Efficiency’ and ‘Spin Grouping Efficiency’ upgrade
  • Fixed issue when Crafting Charge and personal Mods would not give the Weapon/Mod but take the materials (Sorry. The Board was greedy)
  • Fixed issue that prevented players activating the Pierce weapon form upgrade
  • Fixed issue when Jesse is unable to cleanse the ‘Transit Corridor South’ Control point upon returning from Prime Candidate Program area in the mission The Face of the Enemy
  • Fixed an issue when Heptonstall would not spawn during certain story missions in the “Old Friends” side-mission (still looking for his buddy Remus)
  • Fixed issue when Hiss Barrier remains in the Directorial Override mission’s Control Room if the player dies during the binding cut scene

Sound

  • Fixed issue when certain licensed music tracks play after enabling the ‘Mute Copyrighted Tracks’ option
  • Fixed and issue when audio is out of sync in the Dr Darling videos (PS4)

Misc

  • Fixed issue with the Charge weapon forms erroneous blast radius causing (way) too much visual damage to the environments
  • Fixed an issue where game would stall when completing a story mission and unlocking a trophy (PS4)

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/control-update-promising-to-fix-console-performanc/1100-6469742/

KFC Is Making A Dating Sim

If you thought the announcement of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise was going to be the most surprising game reveal this year, think again. Unless this is a very early April Fools joke, KFC (yes, that KFC, the fast-food chicken chain) is publishing a dating sim called I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator. What even is 2019 anymore?

“From the same people who brought you the bucket of chicken, comes the world’s first Colonel Sanders dating simulator,” the game’s bizarre product description says on Steam. You play as a promising culinary student as you try to date your classmate, Colonel Sanders. Will the Kentucky fried chicken mogul choose you to be his business partner? Or maybe something much more intimate? “Throughout your journey, you’ll be faced with life-changing decisions that will affect your chances of friendship and love. But be careful! Your choices have real consequences with real animated characters’ feelings at stake.”

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator promises to feature nine lovable characters, a secret ending, secret recipes, cooking battles, battle battles, 11 herbs and spices, a dateable Colonel Sanders, and much more. If the writing in-game is as humorous as it is in this product description then the whole thing should be genuinely funny. The art style in the trailer is actually kind of amazing, too. And there’s a dog.

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I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator doesn’t have a release date yet, but KFC (how is this real?) says it’s coming soon.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kfc-is-making-a-dating-sim/1100-6469740/

Destiny 2 Director Talks About The Highs And Lows And Why There Won’t Be A Weapons 2.0

Destiny just celebrated its fifth birthday, and developer Bungie is in a very different place to where it was five years ago. Destiny 2 has just entered its third year, the Shadowkeep expansion is imminent, and Bungie is now an independent studio having split from Activision.

Luke Smith, game director on Destiny 2, recently spoke with Kinda Funny to talk all things looting, shooting, and raiding. When asked what his lowest and most proud moments from working on Destiny, Smith is reluctant to use the word “proud.”

“A thing the team created that I look at really fondly, I think, would probably be the first raid that we released [the Vault of Glass],” he explains. “I didn’t get to experience any of [the launch] and I don’t know what happened at the studio that day, but I remember logging in the night that it came out and people were still raiding.” Smith jokingly says he was sobbing when a group in “some random Twitch stream said ‘it’s like a World of Warcraft raid in a shooter’.”

As for his lowest point, that came after the “six-week honeymoon period” following Destiny 2’s release. “That period for me lasted about a year, I think, of looking at the game and what was happening with it. Mark [Noseworthy] and I were working on some different stuff at that point, and feeling like your work is unfinished is a really bad feeling. And so I would say that period after the game came out and we really felt like our work was unfinished was a low point, and I think if there’s anything people have taken away from that period and the way that we turned things around in Forsaken and the way that we’ve gathered ourselves up this year going forward, it’s to finish what we started–like the metaphorical ‘Never Again’ tattoo Mark and I and a bunch of folks from the team have on us to not set the game adrift like that again.”

Beyond this, Smith also spoke about the guns in Destiny 2, and how a comparable Weapons 2.0 update won’t be happening. Armor 2.0 is, of course, releasing as part of the upcoming Shadowkeep expansion, drastically altering the way armor works by revamping various properties and giving you more customisation options than ever before, where universal ornaments mean you won’t have to sacrifice looks in order to construct an ideal build. Smith says this won’t be happening with weapons, though, because the guns are already pretty good.

“We’re looking at weapons overall right now. There’s a long, long, probably 2000 words, deleted scene from the director’s cut [a three-part blog Smith posted last month] that’s really looking at things like infusion in weapons and the relationships we want players to think of [with] their weapons in Destiny. We’re not working on Weapons 2.0 right now,” Smith says.

“It’s the type of thing where we could bet on that right now, but what we really are looking at is how are we going to continue to grow build crafting. And that’s the frontier we’re exploring right now. I can imagine at some point taking a look at weapons down the road, but I think that’s pretty far down the road. I think there’s some stuff that we’re going to continue to improve about weapons, like I’ve been seeing a bunch of chatter and sentiment around, like, ‘We want certain weapons from certain activities to feel more special.’ I think there’s good feedback that I’ve been seeing there. But there’s not an active, ‘Let’s overhaul weapons!’ Nope, those are good. Let’s figure out what the behavior we want players to have, like the emotion we want them to feel with their items, and figure out what the right thing to do with weapons is once we have that answer.”

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launches on October 1 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-director-talks-about-the-highs-and-lows-/1100-6469739/

The New Pokemon Mobile Game Is Making Lots Of Money From Microtransactions

The newly released Pokemon mobile game, Pokemon Masters, is making lots of money from microtransactions. The free-to-play game made more than $26 million during its first week to stand among the highest-grossing Pokemon games ever for its first week.

According to SensorTower, which supplied the data, only Pokemon Go ($56 million) made more money than Pokemon Masters during its first week in the Pokemon franchise on mobile. Another important distinction that speaks to Pokemon Go’s incredible popularity is that its $56 million in first-week microtransaction revenue came from only five markets, while Masters launched in 60+ places.

By comparison, Pokemon Quest made $3 million during its launch week; Pokemon: Magikarp Jump took in $1 million; and Pokemon Rumble Rush brought in $300,000 over its first seven days.

According to SensorTower’s estimates, Japan was largest region for Masters in terms of grosses with $16 million. Almost $4.5 million came from the U.S., while microtransaction revenue in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France made up the rest of Masters’ top five regions based on grosses. Another noteworthy statistic is that 72 percent of microtransaction sales were on iOS; 28 percent came from Google Play.

This quick success for Masters is no surprise, as the game reached 10 million downloads worldwide in only four days.

Pokemon Masters is set in an island region called Pasio, where famous Pokemon trainers and their partner Pokemon have gathered for a Pokemon Masters League tournament. Unlike most traditional Pokemon games, you aren’t able to catch your own Pokemon in Masters; rather, you recruit other Sync Pairs and form teams with them to take part in three-on-three real-time battles.

If you’re just setting off on your Pasio adventure, be sure check out our roundup of everything you need to know about Pokemon Masters. We’ve also broken down what Scout Points are and how to get them, as well as how to evolve and Mega Evolve Pokemon in the game.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-new-pokemon-mobile-game-is-making-lots-of-mone/1100-6469737/

Gears 5 Dev Explains Why They Refused To Compromise On Frame Rate

Microsoft’s next big game, Gears 5, is out now on Xbox One and PC. Following 2016’s Gears of War 4, it is developer The Coalition’s second brand-new Gears of War game since studio owner Microsoft bought the franchise in 2014 from Fortnite developer Epic Games. To get a closer look and deeper insight into the game and the franchise in general, GameSpot spoke with studio technical art director Colin Penty.

He spoke about a number of different topics, including the thinking behind Gears 5’s noticeably brighter colour scheme, the technical challenges of creating the most expansive and sprawling levels the Gears franchise has ever seen, and how The Coalition is now hitting its stride and gaining the confidence to take risks and try new things with the franchise following its run at Epic Games.

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Penty also told us about how Gears 5 will perform on the OG Xbox One and Xbox One S, stating that its campaign will run at 30fps on the older machine just like Gears of War 4. That being said, Penty said The Coalition applied some technical wizardry to get more juice out of the older hardware through temporal upscaling. Additionally, the studio was able to achieve the smooth 60fps frame rate for all of the game’s multiplayer modes–Versus, Horde, and Escape–on the older Xbox hardware, which is something Penty said he is proud of.

On Xbox One X, Gears 5 runs at 1080p/60fps across campaign and all multiplayer modes. Penty said the team refused to compromise as it did with Gears of War 4. “We put a line in the sand early on in development of Gears 5 that we wanted the campaign to be 60fps on Xbox One X,” he said. “We didn’t want to have a compromise like Gears of War 4 where you had to choose 1080p/60fps or 4k/30fps. It was a large amount of work across a lot of disciplines to pull it off, but I really think it was worth it and is probably the best example of harnessing the additional power of the Xbox One X.”

Also on the subject of hardware, Penty said he is “definitely super excited” about the forthcoming release of Microsoft’s next-generation console, Project Scarlett, in Holiday 2020. “We don’t have anything to announce right now in terms of Gears with the new hardware–but I’m definitely super excited about what the new hardware could do. Having dedicated ray tracing cores is huge,” he said.

You can read the full interview below.

Gears 5 is available now on Xbox One and PC. You can buy the game outright or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass to get it at no extra cost. GameSpot’s Gears 5 review in progress currently scores the game a 7/10.

After playing some of Gears 5 I was immediately struck by the brighter colours, especially in the snow and the red sand. The Gears series is known for dark and grimy scenes, so can you talk about the art direction for Gears 5 and what you wanted to achieve? Was it a purposeful change to introduce brighter, more colourful environments?

Looking back, Gears of War 4 was a game that dominantly took place at night as that fit the tone better. While being still quite a colourful game it was also quite dark as a result. With Gears 5 we were excited to have gameplay levels that mostly took place during the day and that was definitely a deliberate decision. Having the majority of the game set during the day makes the game feel much brighter and compared to Gears 4 allows a lot of the vibrant colours to come through as a result. We also improved the HDR output tremendously from Gears of War 4 so the vibrancy of the image in HDR is amazing.

With Gears 5, you’re multiple entries into a franchise people know very well and have strong feelings toward. What were some of the challenges of staying true to the heart of the series as it relates to the art direction, but also pushing things forward and trying new approaches?

This is something our art director Aryan Hanbeck could probably answer better than myself. I will say that after shipping Gears: Ultimate Edition and also Gears of War 4 the Coalition art team has a pretty good feeling of when something “looks” like it belongs in the Gears universe or if it doesn’t. I think this frees us up to experiment with more confidence in Gears 5 and know that we will be able to keep the look authentic to Gears ultimately.

Moving on the subject of technology, Gears 5 is releasing about six years into the Xbox One’s life cycle. What kind of experience can people expect on the OG Xbox One hardware?

For the Xbox One and Xbox One S we were able to squeeze a bit more performance and quality out of the older hardware. Our campaign on Xbox One is running at 30fps just like Gears of War 4, but we were able to improve the image quality substantially in Gears 5 by using Temporal Upscaling – this way we always render at 1080p having a much sharper image, and only scale the “internal” resolution if needed for GPU performance. We also pushed to get Horde and Escape mode running at 60fps on Xbox One for Gears 5 so that way all of our MP modes are a consistent 60fps on Xbox One. I think gamers will appreciate that.

For Xbox One X, what kinds of things have you done under the hood to take advantage of the increased horsepower and speed of the console?

We put a line in the sand early on in development of Gears 5 that we wanted the campaign to be 60fps on Xbox One X. We didn’t want to have a compromise like Gears of War 4 where you had to choose 1080p/60fps or 4k/30fps. It was a large amount of work across a lot of disciplines to pull it off, but I really think it was worth it and is probably the best example of harnessing the additional power of the Xbox One X.

For multiplayer on Xbox One X we were able to introduce additional rendering features since we are running the same frame rate as Xbox One. We have screen space reflections and higher quality ambient occlusion as result.

Our cinematics also have much higher quality reflections, lens flares, depth of field, and motion blur on the Xbox One X compared to the original Xbox One and Xbox One S.

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Gears of War 4 was released in 2016, and in terms of technology, that’s a long time. So what’s an example of something we’ll see in Gears 5 that maybe wasn’t possible technically last time around?

Being able to achieve more with technology is probably 50% the technology itself and 50% the teams ability to execute using that technology. So I think with Gears 5 certain things would fall into one or the other category. Something like Temporal Upscaling was technology that just didn’t really exist in a useable state in 2016. On the other hard large overworld levels in Gears 5 we wouldn’t have been able to pull off in Gears 4 from a technical stand point–partly because our team wasn’t quite ready to take something that complex on, and partly because some of the technology wasn’t quite ready yet. For example having dynamic shadows that can be seen for kilometers in the distance wasn’t something we were capable of in 2016 technologically while maintaining performance.

“We had to deal with a lot of technical challenges due to the larger worlds. Issues that were just minor annoyances in our linear levels became massive problem for our larger levels” — Colin Penty

Something else that I’m really proud of is the investment from our team in character materials, models, and facial animation systems in Gears 5. We created a dynamic iris caustic system that simulates light bouncing around the iris, as well as implemented proper sub-surface scattering on the eye and many other improvements. We cleaned up our facial wrinkle maps and blood flow tech to really make it sing with our skin material and facial animation. All of these improvements were mostly things we learned while finishing Gears of War 4 that we wouldn’t have been able to properly do without that experience doing 2016’s game.

One final example I can think of is our tessellation and cone step mapping technology – both of these weren’t really possible to a high level of quality–at least for us–in 2016. Employing these on Gears 5 allowed our materials to have a lot more depth and allowed us to do some pretty incredible snow and sand deformation around the players feet and from the skiff.

One of the most striking parts about Gears 5, at least in the amount I’ve played thus far, is that the levels are far bigger and more expansive. What were some of the technical challenges related to taking this approach? And on the other side, what opportunities does this present?

We had to deal with a lot of technical challenges due to the larger worlds. Issues that were just minor annoyances in our linear levels became massive problem for our larger levels such as streaming, memory, 60fps performance, snow and sand deformation, and visual pop-in. Opportunistically I actually think it forced us to make systems that were more scalable and robust than anything we would have normally built–thus helping us on our linear levels, split screen modes, and other SKU’s such as PC that could harness these new scalable systems.

The ambition of Gears 5 is immediately noticeable with its massive levels and more open-ended structure. What had to happen under the hood, technically, to allow this to happen?

We had to learn how to stream our game in a different way – we ended up splitting our streaming sections in the overworld levels into granular sub-components like “large, medium, small” so we could stream areas in at different speeds. We also had to get familiar with Unreal’s landscape system and train our art and design teams on how to get the most out of that system – then had to augment it a lot with some of Epic’s latest Unreal Engine work as well as some modifications of our own.

We abandoned baked shadows and go to a fully real-time shadowing system as we couldn’t afford to store kilometers of shadow map data on disk or in memory. Our shadows in the distance are real-time ray-traced. We focused on writing a sand and snow deformation system that did a proper displacement on the sand and snow when the player foot pressed into the ground.

“I’m definitely super excited about what the new hardware could do. Having dedicated ray tracing cores is huge.” — Colin Penty

We made the system persistent so the trails would stay for a long, long time. Finally, we wrote a paintable volume fog system that allowed the artists to paint fog in the world wherever they wanted it – this gives the overworlds a great sense of atmosphere while maintaining 60fps on Xbox One X.

A new Xbox, Scarlett, is coming in about a year. I’ve read that The Coalition plans to support Gears 5 for a very long time after release. I know you can’t talk about unreleased hardware, but at a high level, what are your thoughts on even more increased power with the new console in terms of what it will allow you to do technically, but also creatively?

We don’t have anything to announce right now in terms of Gears with the new hardware–but I’m definitely super excited about what the new hardware could do. Having dedicated ray tracing cores is huge.

On the multiplayer side, what are some of the technical innovations you’re implementing to make Gears 5 a top-notch multiplayer experience?

I’m probably most proud of being able to achieve 60fps on Xbox One and Xbox One X for Versus, Escape, and Horde. It really helps with playability and consistency. We also brought a lot of our campaign tech into our multiplayer maps–for example we use volume fog in some of our MP levels and some levels also use cone step mapping. Our MP levels always output at 1080p due to temporal upscaling and all outdoor MP levels use shadow cascades for dynamic crisp shadows, which is a big step up from Gears of War 4’s soft baked shadow maps.

With Gears 5, this is now The Coalition’s second brand-new Gears game after taking over the franchise from Epic. Do you feel you’re now hitting your stride and blazing your own trail?

I feel like we have more confidence with the franchise now and are more comfortable taking risks. I’m really happy with how we were able to add new gameplay elements like Jack and the overworlds and not break the core loop of what makes Gears feel like Gears.

I understand you’re also able to talk about the development of new and existing characters in Gears 5, so at a high level can you talk about Kait and her trajectory in this game?

Gears 5 is all about Kait’s journey and her discovering what is the nature of her connection to the swarm. I don’t want to spoil anything!

From what I’ve played so far, the relationships between the characters–old and new–are more nuanced and dynamic than ever. Can you talk about the kind of story you wanted to tell in Gears 5 and how you go about balancing and pacing a story with so many different characters and interwoven storylines?

Gears 5 is all about Kait’s story, but of course we also wanted to develop and flesh out the other characters as well. To get the pacing of the story correct it’s a lot of collaboration between Rod Ferguson our creative director, Matt Searcy our Campaign Director, Bonnie Jean Mah our Narrative Director, and Tom Bissell our writer to get the story and pacing correct throughout the campaign. It’s a delicate art!

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gears-5-dev-explains-why-they-refused-to-compromis/1100-6469734/

New Switch Update Out Now, Here’s What It Does

The latest firmware update for Nintendo Switch has arrived, and it includes a number of new features, tweaks, changes, and fixes. Version 9.0.0. (released September 9) introduces a new search feature for the News channel, a new QR code option to sign in to your Nintendo Account, and new touch screen sensitivity settings. The update also introduces the ability stop the Switch from recognizing inputs from the console buttons, except for the Capture and Home buttons. This only applies to the newly released Switch lite.

Additionally, the new Switch 9.0.0 update adds a section to account pages for “Online Play Invites,” and as it’s name suggests, this is where you’ll see invites from friends for supported games. Finally, the new patch fixes what sounds like a very serious issue. Apparently, there was a bug that completely prevented Fire Emblem: Three Houses from booting at all, instead returning an error. This problem has been fixed with the update through general system and stability improvements, Nintendo said.

This issue was reportedly affecting those who purchased the Three Houses season pass recently, though it’s unclear how widespread the issue was or if anything else could trigger it. Whatever the case, it’s fixed now.

You can see the full 9.0.0 update notes below, as posted on Nintendo’s website.

Nintendo Switch Firmware 9.0.0 (September 9, 2019) Update:

  • Added a search feature for the News Channel.
    • Channels can be searched using filters or free text.
  • Added “Display QR Code to Check In” to User Settings.
    • You can display a QR Code on-screen to check in using your Nintendo Account.
  • Alarm Notifications have been added to System Settings > Notifications.
    • You can check or delete pre-set alarms.
    • Alarms can be set up only within supported software (to be added at a later time).
    • A controller firmware update may be required to use this feature.
  • You can now configure touch screen sensitivity settings.
    • Select between Standard and Stylus sensitivity (optimized for stylus input).
  • Added the option to turn on/off the system button input (Nintendo Switch Lite only).
    • When this setting is turned off the system no longer receives input from the console buttons, with the exception of the Capture and HOME Buttons, and can only be operated from a wirelessly paired controller (sold separately).
    • This setting is on by default and can only be turned off if a compatible controller (sold separately) is wirelessly paired to the console.
    • The setting will automatically turn back on when the console is restarted or after returning from sleep mode.
  • Added “Online Play Invites” section to the User’s page.
    • Invites from friends to join online play in supported software will be displayed in this section.
  • General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.
    • Resolved an issue where some users can’t start the Fire Emblem: Three Houses game, and get an error instead.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-switch-update-out-now-heres-what-it-does/1100-6469733/