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NASCAR 'future proofs' for hybrid power with Next Gen Cup Series cars
NASCAR rolled out its 'next gen' cars on Wednesday and said it's preparing for a shift to hybrid powertrains.
'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' combines ray tracing and 60FPS in new PS5 mode
When Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales launched on PS5, it came with two options: Fidelity and Performance Mode. The former offered ray tracing but kept the experience locked at 30 frames per second. The latter, meanwhile, dropped the ray tracing in favour of 60 frames per second gameplay.
The Xbox Series S and X will be available on monthly payment plans
Microsoft will offer two-year financing for its next-gen consoles.
The Witcher 3's free next-gen upgrade will include lots of improvements
A next-gen version of 'The Witcher 3' will take advantage of new gaming hardware.
'Doom Eternal' is getting a free next-gen upgrade
You can also upgrade 'Elder Scrolls Online' to the PS5 or Xbox Series X version.
Ubisoft says it won't raise next-gen game prices this year
The publisher said its fall 2020 games will still cost $60 on next-gen consoles.
Intel's 10th-gen desktop CPUs are coming soon, according to a Dell ad
Intel's 10th-generation "Comet Lake" CPUs appear to be just around the corner to take on AMD's Ryzen chips, according to a new YouTube video from Dell. It shows the company's latest XPS Tower desktop computers equipped with 10th-generation Intel Core processors. That's interesting, because so far, we've only seen 10th-gen Intel consumer chips in mobile form on laptops, not desktops.
NASCAR could introduce hybrid race cars by 2022
NASCAR has been talking about hybrids for a while, but it has kept quiet about a timeline. Now, the association says hybrid tech could show up in its vehicles by 2022. "We travel the world visiting other sanctioning bodies and are not ignorant to the fact that the world's going towards more hybrid technology," NASCAR's senior vice president for racing development John Probst told TechCrunch.
‘Kerbal Space Program’ gets an interstellar flight sequel
It's been four years since Kerbal Space Program (KSP) -- the spacecraft building and flight simulation game -- officially launched. While Elon Musk once called the title "awesome" and joked that SpaceX used KSP for testing software, it was due for a refresh. Today, Private Division announced that Kerbal Space Program 2 (KSP2) will arrive in 2020. As part of the reveal, it released cinematic trailer and a (dramatic) developer story.
Mazda says next-gen gasoline engine as clean as an EV, well-to-wheels
Mazda is already working on the successor to its efficient Skyactiv-X motors, and thinks it could make cars as clean as EVs, if you take into account CO2 from electricity production. The automaker believes it can increase the efficiency of the Skyactiv-3 to 56 percent, close to the maximum theoretical thermal efficiency of an "Otto" cycle gas engine, Mazda's Mitsuo Hitomi told Automotive News. If it can achieve that mark, it would reduce CO2 pollution by a quarter, making Skyactiv-3 motors as efficient as EVs on a well-to-wheels basis.
Assassin's Creed devs weigh in on the demands of 60fps
Assassin's Creed: Unity will run at 30fps on PS4 and Xbox One, and Ubisoft isn't interested in pushing that number higher because action-adventure games feel better below 60fps, Creative Director Alex Amancio told Techradar. Amancio said it's the same case with resolution (Unity runs at 900p). "If the game looks gorgeous, who cares about the number?" he asked. Level Design Director Nicolas Guérin shared the sentiment, saying that Ubisoft for a long time wanted to hit 60fps in its games, but "you don't gain that much" from it.
WWE 2K15 delayed to November on next-gen
WWE 2K15 has been delayed to November 18 in North America on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, 2K announced today. The international release of the game on the next-gen systems has also been pushed back to November 21. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will still arrive on October 28 in North America and October 31 internationally, as originally announced in May. "Visual Concepts and Yukes are committed to delivering the most authentic and action-packed WWE experience to date, including release for the very first time on next-generation consoles," Visual Concepts President Greg Thomas said via press release. "The additional development time enables our talented teams to ensure the WWE 2K15 next-gen experience fully meets our expectations." The game will feature a historical rivalry mode that focuses on two feuds in WWE's history: CM Punk versus John Cena and Triple H versus Shawn Michaels. [Image: 2K Sports]
Video compares Grand Theft Auto 5's PS3 and PS4 trailers
Sony introduced Grand Theft Auto 5 for PS4 with a brief trailer during its E3 2014 press conference last week, and now Digital Foundry created a video to compare it with similar footage from the game's PS3 version. Some of the side-by-side trailer's more stark contrasts include crashing waves, more animals moseying about and some instances of enhanced lighting and details on items like factories and vehicles in the PS4 version. GTA 5 may have been part of Sony's press event, but it will also launch on Xbox One and PC this fall after first arriving on PS3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013. Take-Two shipped 33 million copies of the game on the previous-generation systems as of mid-May. Aside from updated visuals, it will receive a video editing feature designed for "advanced movie-making" on PC. [Image: Rockstar Games]
Microsoft to take Xbox One to 26 new countries in September
On sale in 13 countries, Microsoft's Xbox One is already pulling in the sales. Now that A+ titles like Titanfall and Twitch game streaming are finally with us, the company is ready to take the next-generation console to new markets: 26 of them in fact. Gamers on all continents will be served, but you'll have to wait until September to get your hands on Redmond's new black box. In the meantime, check out if you reside in one of the confirmed markets in the list after the break, and then wait a few short weeks until Microsoft shares more information on its local launches.
Ubisoft to publish next-gen Tetris
Ubisoft announced plans to publish a new game in the Tetris series for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 today. While no details were given for the new game, the announcement makes mention that it will land on both platforms' digital channels, Xbox Live and PSN. It's hard to imagine what would make for a truly "next-generation" experience in the storied series, which turns 30 this year. Of the more innovative features the block-based puzzler has seen over the years are online competitive multiplayer modes as well as spins on the traditional Tetris formula in the form of puzzles, the "stack rotation" catch mode found in Tetris DS and the three-dimensional take on the puzzler in Tetrisphere for N64. Given what's hot in video games right now, we're hoping the next-gen Tetris game takes place in a procedurally-generated universe with roguelike treasure-collecting elements and emergent storytelling.
Rise of the Triad dev working on next-gen 'Project Ascender'
Interceptor Entertainment, Aalborg, Denmark-based developers of Rise of the Triad and iOS ports of Duke Nukem and its sequel, are currently working on a game known as "Project Ascender." The game is in development for PS4 and PC, and has been in the works since September. The project's existence is made known through two Interceptor developer LinkedIn profiles, namely that of CEO Frederik Schreiber. The other LinkedIn profile in question, for Executive Producer Khaled Ibrahimi, lists a 2014 release window for the project. The project linked in Schreiber's profile lists 19 team members on the project, including IP Creator Scott Miller, co-founder and CEO of 3D Realms.
GameStop sells through PS4 allocation, 2.3 million people on 'first to know' list [Update]
GameStop has sold through all of its PS4 reservations and some additional allocated consoles it received from Sony, the retailer announced during its third quarter earnings call. GameStop President Tony Bartel added that the company has "over 2.3 million customers on the 'first to know' list, which indicates continued demand for months to come" for Sony's console. "Although we won't reveal the total amount of units for competitive reasons, our share was higher than on any previous console launch, and our sell-through since launch was 80 percent higher than the total amount of PS3s that we sold in our 2006 fiscal year," Bartel said. Bartel corroborated Sony Computer Entertainment of America CEO Jack Tretton's recent projection that the PS4 would sell 3 million units in North America by the end of the year, noting that GameStop expects "to sell a large portion of that." In regards to projections for Xbox One sales, which launched today, Bartel said "the value of our reservations and the additional allocation is 15 percent higher than the amount of Xbox 360s that we sold during our entire 2005 fiscal year. So we are poised for a powerful launch." Update: As a clarification, GameStop has informed Joystiq that the 2.3 million people on its 'first to know' list is for PS4 and Xbox One customers combined, not just the former.
EA: 140 million gameplay minutes logged on PS4 in five days
140 million gameplay minutes were logged on Electronic Arts-published PlayStation 4 games, the publisher revealed via Twitter yesterday. The data is spread across five days of EA's PS4 games being on store shelves. Across the same period of time, the publisher said that over five million online gaming sessions were logged as well. Likewise, EA president Peter Moore recently estimated that one in every three PS4 games sold are EA-branded products. EA's data comes from its five PS4 launch games: Battlefield 4, Need for Speed: Rivals, NBA Live 14, Madden NFL 25 and FIFA 14. Battlefield 4 has suffered a number of issues since its next-gen launch, including game crashes and loss of save files for the game's campaign. Given that the Xbox One launches tomorrow, the number of online games and minutes logged by players will certainly grow.
Xbox One vs. the PlayStation 4: A battle over services, not chips
If you start counting from the Magnavox Odyssey, we've been playing console games for seven generations now. Yes, it's crazy to think of, but it's even more alarming to realize that the industry has been in an all-out "war" since generation three. For better or worse, competition became a part of the hardware cycle. The players (you know, Sega, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft) have changed several times through the years, but until recently, the game hasn't -- the console wars were fought over who had more bits, what had the most RAM and how fast a machine could render frames. Now, as we kick off generation eight, we're seeing a very different kind of contest. We're not saying that hardware specifications don't matter -- they absolutely do -- but this time, the two leading armies are packing painfully similar heat. On paper, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 really aren't that different. So, what's going to win the war? Software, services and brand.
Rayman Legends jumping to next-gen consoles in February
During today's first half of fiscal 2014 earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot noted that Rayman Legends will launch on Xbox One and PS4 in February 2014. It was revealed during the call that the game has sold "right around one million units" across all of the platforms it is available on, that being PC, Vita, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U. The game's sales contributed to a gross profit of €202.2 million ($271.5 million) for the half-year. The news follows Ubisoft's adjusted forecasts for sales following its decision to delay The Crew to Q2 of fiscal 2015 and Watch Dogs to spring 2014, after which the publisher's shares dropped 25 percent. Rayman Legends and Splinter Cell: Blacklist were listed as two games that underperformed in their initial sales by Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez following the aforementioned delays, and today's earnings call noted that Splinter Cell: Blacklist has sold "close to two million units."
