Among other things, Mass Effect: Andromeda's latest patch adds a weapon that could previously only be seen in cutscenes.
The X5 Ghost assault rifle had been, until now, inaccessible in Andromeda itself. BioWare revealed last month that it "was an early idea" that simply ended up as a prop, not a usable weapon. Lead designer Ian Frazier did note at the time, "That said, several folks seem interested in it, so we're investigating the possibility of turning the prop into a usable gun for a future patch."
While not a hard promise, BioWare has made good on that. GameSpot has verified the weapon now exists in-game, as pictured above. It can be researched from the Milky Way weapons category.
Andromeda's new patch also makes major balance changes on the multiplayer side and improves cinematic scenes, particularly those in the early portion of the game.
Aside from the release of an update, yesterday was an eventful day for developer BioWare Montreal. A report suggested that the Mass Effect series has been put on hiatus and that staffing changes were underway, with some developers moving over to EA Motive and others now working on BioWare's new IP. EA has since confirmed the staffing changes and clarified that there hasn't been any downsizing. It has not addressed the status of Mass Effect.
The free birthday offer is listed here and costs $5, but can be redeemed for free by using the promo code FREEGIFT at checkout.
GMG is known for its surprise discounts. Also to celebrate its birthday, the site is offering 50% off the Game of the Year Edition of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for $10 until tomorrow. A new deal will be revealed then, and another each day for the next five days.
You can get an additional 20% off that same game by using the promo code 7YEARS at checkout.
By Anonymous on May 12, 2017 12:00 am Cheetah or Barbara Ann Minerva is a character in Injustice 2. What is Cheetah's backstory and why does she hate Wonder Woman?
While the Dungeon Keeper franchise itself hasn't been given much love in recent years, other series have endeavored to keep its spirit alive. That includes the simply named Dungeons series, the most recent entry of which can be yours for free right now.
The Humble Store is currently giving away copies of Dungeons 2, which normally costs $30, to all users. You'll need a free Humble Store account in order to claim it, but doing so will net you a key to unlock the game on Steam. This offer is available until Saturday, May 13, at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET. The key must be redeemed by May 27 at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET.
Like Dungeon Keeper, Dungeons 2 reverses the standard hero-and-bad-guy setup, putting you in the role of a dungeon lord who needs to keep heroes out of his lair. In addition to designing a trap-filled dungeon, Dungeons 2 allows you to visit the surface for a sort of real-time-strategy game where you take the fight to the good guys. However, as our Dungeons 2 review notes, that RTS element is one of the weaker aspects of the game.
This isn't the only free offer out there right now. Amazon Prime members can pick up a copy of Oxenfree, while Green Man Gaming is handing out a free mystery game to all users.
Twitch Prime members regularly receive free games for PC. The latest of these is Oxenfree, the excellent atmospheric adventure game released last year. As with other recent Prime freebies, this is only for a very limited time--you'll need to claim your copy by May 15.
To do so, head over to this page on Twitch and add the game to your account. With that done, open the Twitch desktop app (or download it here if you don't already have it) and you'll be able to download and play the game with no restrictions.
In GameSpot's Oxenfree review, we awarded the game an 8/10, praising its well-written dialogue and story.
Overwatch is rumored to be kicking off a new event soon to celebrate its one-year anniversary, but it may also be getting a Game of the Year Edition.
Existing players of the game will be most interested in the prospect of a new event. Dataminers recently uncovered indications of one in a recent PTR patch, and the Overwatch Twitter account seemingly confirmed it in the most uneventful way possible. In response to a question about when the anniversary event begins, it said, "No timing details yet."
Meanwhile, TrueAchievements reports that it's discovered an Xbox Store listing for a Game of the Year Edition of Overwatch, with an accompanying release date of May 23. According to the description, it would come with the game, 10 loot boxes, skins for five characters (the same five from the Origins Edition), the Baby Winston pet in World of Warcraft, Tracer as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm, and more. Although the listing was for Xbox One, this would presumably also be available on PS4 and PC.
A price for this wasn't included, nor do we know if any of this information was intended as a placeholder. But the prospect of a Game of the Year Edition doesn't come as a major surprise; it certainly won plenty of awards last year, including GameSpot's Game of the Year.
Square Enix has announced intentions to divest ownership of IO Interactive, the Danish studio behind the Hitman series.
In a statement to its investors, the Japanese publisher reported what it described as an "extraordinary" $42 million loss for the financial year ending March 31, 2017. This is a result of the company's decision to to narrow its focus on key franchises and studios.
"To maximize player satisfaction as well as market potential going forward, we are focusing our resources and energies on key franchises and studios," it said in the statement. "As a result, the company has regrettably decided to withdraw from the business of [IO Interactive], a wholly‐owned subsidiary and a Danish corporation, as of March 31, 2017.
"This decision has resulted in booking of the extraordinary loss amounting to 4,898 million yen, including disposition of the content production account related to the business and impairment loss of intangible assets, in the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017."
The statement indicates that the loss comes not only from its decision to offload IO Interactive, but also cease production on its ongoing projects, which likely includes more Hitman episodes. Square Enix went on to state it has begun discussions with new investors that could potentially purchase IO Interactive.
"Whilst there can be no guarantees that the negotiations will be concluded successfully, they are being explored since this is in the best interests of our shareholders, the studio and the industry as a whole."
The wording doesn't provide any assurance on the future of IO Interactive if a new investor isn't secured, though it could mean the studio is closed and its staff displaced. Furthermore, it's unclear whether the sale of IO Interactive would also include intellectual properties for any of the games it has developed.
In August of last year, IO Interactive said it was planning to release two more seasons worth of Hitman content. However, splitting the property from its developer could mean this never comes to fruition. Of course, it could also be that a new investor is able to negotiate the purchase of the property along with the studio.
Square Enix became IO Interactive's parent company when it acquired Eidos Interactive in 2009. In addition to Hitman, the studio is known for developing the Kane & Lynch series, as well as underrated action-adventure game Mini Ninjas. A job listing spotted in February also indicated IO Interactive was working on a new IP.
This news comes as part of Square Enix's announcement of its financial results for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2017. Despite what you might assume given the IO Interactive news, Square Enix enjoyed record net sales (up 20% year-over-year) and operating income (up 20.3%). This was attributed in part to the release of big games like Final Fantasy XV and the PS4 version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, as well as "strong download sales of previously released catalogue titles."
This story has been updated with additional details regarding Square Enix's financials.
The broadcast begins this coming Monday, May 15, at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET. It will consist of a whopping 886 episodes of the show being aired back to back over the course of 18 days, coming to an end on June 3. Once it begins, you can watch it here.
According to Twitch, the marathon "features the most comprehensive collection of episodes available, including many that have only aired once and are unavailable elsewhere online."
Coinciding with this, a fundraising campaign will be held to support PBS, the station Misters Rogers aired on for the majority of its 30-plus-year run. Viewers in the United States will be able to donate to PBS through a panel located on the stream's Twitch page.
Once the marathon ends, it won't mean the end of the show on Twitch. According to its channel page, it will play it "on a regular basis post-marathon," though an exact schedule hasn't been announced yet.
Microsoft recently revealed the specs for its Xbox Project Scorpio, so we thought it would be fun to build a PC inspired by the company's upcoming console. While we won't be able to recreate the system exactly using off-the-shelf PC parts, since Microsoft uses heavily customized components, it helps that the Project Scorpio is based on the PC's x86 architecture. We're also going to benchmark our rig to get a rough approximation of how games might run on Project Scorpio.
Walking You Through Our Xbox Project Scorpio PC Build
Our Xbox Project Scorpio build is actually going to be very similar to our PS4 Pro-inspired PC we built last September. Our new graphics card, the AMD Radeon RX 580, is the most significant change, and because it's more powerful than the RX 480 we used in our PS4 Pro-inspired PC, we're also upgrading our power supply. Let's take a look at all of our components.
Project Scorpio uses a six teraflop GPU based on AMD's Polaris architecture. Considering AMD's recently released Radeon RX 580 is a 6.1 teraflop graphics card that's also based on Polaris, we think it's a great fit for our build here. These GPUs aren't exactly the same, mind you. Project's Scorpio uses an integrated graphics solution that offers 2569 shaders, which is more than the RX 580's equivalent 2304, but the RX 580 has a higher 1257MHz core clock, and tops the console's 1172MHz speed.
Microsoft's upcoming console has 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, but only eight gigabytes of it is relegated to the GPU (For reference, the PS4 Pro has 8GB of GDDR5 RAM total). Fortunately for our purpose, the RX 580 graphics card is also equipped with 8GB of GDDR5 video memory. This helps us achieve VRAM parity. Finally, both GPUs also support 4K, HDR, and HDMI 2.0.
Central Processing Unit
Project Scorpio uses a heavily-custom eight-core AMD CPU. Reports suggest that it's not based on AMD's more recent eight-core Ryzen processors, but are more similar to the company's Jaguar-based accelerated processing units. On the PC side of things, APUs usually take the form of more entry-level dual or quad-core processors that trade in CPU performance for a little more integrated graphics power, but considering we're using a dedicated video card, we won't be tapping into any integrated graphics.
This means choosing an equivalent CPU isn't easy, but we do think there is a compelling case for AMD's 2012-released FX-8350 CPU, which released right around the company's Jaguar-based APUs. Like Project Scorpio's system-on-a-chip (SOC), the FX-8350 offers eight CPU cores. While most games aren't optimized to use more than four cores, Microsoft says that it's burgeoning DirectX 12 API will be able to leverage more CPU cores in games that take advantage of it.
The FX-8350 4GHz core clock speed does make it faster than Project Scorpio's 2.3GHz frequency, but considering our computer has to run a full-fledged desktop operating system (Windows 10) on top of the games, there's a case for having some extra processing power here.
Cooler
Microsoft hasn't always used the best coolers (Xbox 360, we're looking at you). While Project Scorpio doesn't use a fancy water cooler, Microsoft asserts that its upcoming console uses a high-end vapor-chamber cooler, which will help keep the console cool and quiet. Though the FX-8350 comes with a stock cooler, it's anything but premium, and often sounds like a leaf blower. To help us achieve a little parity in the cooling department, we went with AMD's higher-end Wraith air cooler.
Motherboard
For our motherboard, we went with Gigabyte's 970A-UD3P, which offers the AMD AM3+ socket support we need for our CPU. It also offers high quality audio capacitors coupled with an audio noise guard, which should help us get close to parity with Microsoft's claim that Project Scorpio will offer high quality audio.
RAM
Compared to traditional PCs, Project Scorpio's RAM setup is very unconventional. The console uses 12GB of GDDR5 memory, which is a RAM type that's relegated to graphics cards in the PC space. Microsoft says that eight of the 12GB will be dedicated to Project Scorpio's GPU.
PCs, on the other hand, use the slower DDR RAM that's better at handling all-around computing tasks. Because we can't use GDDR5 as system RAM, we opted to use 8GB of the slower DDR3 memory, which is clocked at 1600MHz. While you can argue we should use only 4GB of system RAM, because DDR3 is slower, coupled with the fact that our rig has a heavier desktop OS to carry, we figured 8GB of DDR3 represents a reasonable compromise.
For any respectable gaming PC, 4GB is not enough. In general, if you have a ton of RAM, it most likely won't make your gaming PC any faster, but if you don't have enough, it can create an unnecessary bottleneck. That's something we wanted to avoid.
Storage
Project Scorpio will offer a one terabyte hard drive. Considering Microsoft's Xbox One S featured a 5,400rpm solution, we're going to assume that Project Scorpio's HDD is going to be the same. As a result, we went with a 1TB 5,400rpm hard drive from Western Digital.
Power Supply
Project Scorpio will use a 245-watt integrated PSU that Microsoft asserts is very power-efficient. While our EVGA Supernova solution carries a noticeably higher 550-watt output, it offers enough juice to power our system. It, too, is also very power efficient with its 80 Plus Gold rating.
Case
Right now, we don't know what Microsoft's upcoming console will look like exactly. Images of the developer kits make it look somewhat similar to the company's Xbox One S console with its mostly white and black look. Our mid-tower Deepcool Tesseract case will probably be a bit larger than Project Scorpio's chassis, but it offers enough space to house all of our components. Aesthetically, it's also mostly white and black.
Spec Chart
GPU
AMD Radeon RX 580
$275
CPU
AMD FX-8350 with Wraith cooler
$138.98
Motherboard
Gigabyte 970A-UD3P
$133.48
RAM
8GB DDR3 1600MHz
$59.02
Storage
1TB 5,400RPM WD HDD
$49.99
PSU
EVGA 550-watt 80-Plus Gold PSU
$84.99
Case
Deepcool Tesseract
$35.99
OS
Windows 10
$99.99
Total
$877.44
Our completed Xbox Scorpio-inspired PC.
Benchmarks
Considering Microsoft is heavily touting Project Scorpio as a "true 4K" capable console, we wanted to test that claim. We chose half a dozen games available on both the PC and Xbox One, and analyzed how they performed across a wide variety of graphical presets at 4K resolution.
Forza Horizon 3
Microsoft worked with developer Turn 10 Studios to show off Project Scorpio running an unreleased build of Forza at 4K with a 60FPS framerate. While we don't have access to that build, 2016's Forza Horizon 3 is on the PC. When we ran the racing game at its ultra preset, it achieved a 35 average FPS. While it was playable, it didn't hit the 60FPS mark. It wasn't until we cranked the settings down to the low preset did we start to hit 60. And for whatever reason, we started to see a lot of in-game artifacting here, though that may reflect more on the PC port or AMD's drivers than our system. It is important to note that Forza Horizon 3, with its open world setting, may not be truly representative of the build that Turn 10 recently produced. There's also a chance that the developer has access to low level APIs that would make Project Scorpio run the game's engine more efficiently.
Gears of War 4
Considering Gears of War is one of Microsoft's leading exclusive franchises, it was a no-brainer for us to test Gears of War 4, which came out late last year. Fortunately, the PC port of the game has a built-in benchmark. When we ran Gears at its ultra preset at 4K, it achieved a 27 average FPS. Considering most people don't consider anything below 30 FPS to be playable, we cranked the preset down to high. Here, it achieved a 37.5 average FPS, which crosses that playable threshold. The frame rate was also pretty consistent, so we can definitely see Project Scorpio running the game at 4K with these approximate settings. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the game running above 60 average FPS. Even on the lowest preset, where textures looked noticeably worse, the PC averaged just 53.8 FPS. This could speak to the quality of the PC port, but as it stands, unless Microsoft can make some significant optimizations, we doubt Project Scorpio will consistently hit 60FPS at 4K with Gears of War 4.
Overwatch
Overwatch is not very graphically demanding. When we ran Blizzard's first-person shooter at its ultra preset, our rig averaged 64 FPS. It did hit a low of 44, however, but it was still highly playable overall. We can see Overwatch running in 4K at max settings, or something close to it, on Project Scorpio with smooth framerates.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the few PC games at the moment that support DX12. When we ran the game's benchmark at its max preset with 4x anti-aliasing enabled, it averaged 12.2 FPS. That's super choppy.
It's important to note that AA is very graphically demanding and makes much less sense at 4K, where the ultra high resolution inherently mitigates most of the jaggies for you. When we disable AA and set the game to its high preset, our rig achieved a 36 average FPS, which is playable. When we lowered the preset to medium, the average frame rate went up to 40.6. Attempting to see if we could reach 60 average FPS at 4K, we turned the settings down to its lowest preset, where it averaged 50.8 FPS. This makes us think Project Scorpio probably won't run Rise of the Tomb Raider at 60 FPS. If we had to guess, it will probably target around 30 FPS with graphical fidelity set somewhere between high and medium.
Fallout 4
At Microsoft's E3 press conference last year, we saw Fallout 4 featured in Project Scorpio's announcement video, so we wanted to benchmark Bethesda's open-world RPG on our rig. When we ran the game at its highest preset, it achieved a 39.2 average FPS. It did dip below the 30FPS playable threshold with a low of 28, however. When we disabled anti-aliasing at 4K, the average rose to 45.3 and the game never dipped below 39 FPS. This makes us believe that Project Scorpio can almost max out Fallout 4 shy of a few sensible performance tweaks. Could our rig handle the game at 60FPS? Yes, but we had to turn down the settings to the game's lowest preset to accomplish this.
VR benchmark
Microsoft also asserts that Project Scorpio is a console that's capable of delivering "high fidelity" VR, so we put it through the SteamVR benchmark. Here, it scored a "high" 7.4 score. According to Valve, this classifies it as "VR-ready" rig.
Conclusion
Due to hardware and software limitations, you shouldn't expect our Project Scorpio-inspired PC to run exactly like Microsoft's upcoming console, but we think there are enough sensible similarities here that should give us a rough ballpark figure of performance. Analyzing the results of our Project Scorpio surrogate, we can see Microsoft's forthcoming system running games at 4K, though it's likely that all games won't run at 60FPS, or will have to make some graphical fidelity compromises.
Bethesda has released a new trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming Morrowind expansion, and the video highlights the political intrigue and assassination that will take place between the region's Great Houses.
The expansion brings players back to the setting of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and one of its main narrative arcs tasks players with becoming involved in the politicking of the Great Houses. According to a press release, players will have to "negotiate their competing allegiances to the three great houses: House Hlaalu, House Redoran, and House Telvanni."
The expansion costs $40 if you already own ESO, or you can buy both the base game and ESO: Morrowind for $60. The collector's edition is $60 if you own the base game and $80 if not.
Paragon, the MOBA for PS4 and PC developed by Epic Games, is getting a big update next week, and today the developer detailed what players can expect.
The most significant addition coming in the Age of Intellect patch is a new hero, named Phase. She's a ranged Support whose main ability is Telekinetic Link, which lets her connect to teammates to heal them. You can check out Phase in action in the trailer above, and all of her abilities are listed below.
"Phase began to exhibit powers at a young age and was sent to Tryon Industries for special 'care,'" Epic stated in a press release. "When the other subjects staged a break out, she joined the cause. Once free, she hid her powers blending in with everyday life in Omeda City, until, that is, she was led to Agora."
The update also changes and tweaks the other characters in the game to improve usability. According to the developer, the update is meant to encourage players to approach battles differently. Heroes like Steel and Murock have been made more viable in combat, while others like Shinbi have "seen changes to unlock [their] full potential."
The in-game card system has also received attention. Niche cards have been reworked, and Epic has updated the balance for all of the cards. The entire system is still undergoing a complete overhaul planned for sometime this year.
You can see the full patch notes over at the Paragon website. Age of Intellect launches on May 16. Epic releases a new hero every three weeks, so you can expect the next one to arrive in early June.
Phase patch notes:
Telekinetic Link (RMB/R1)--Creates a link between Phase and an one target friendly Hero. Can be reactivated to pull the tethered target to her. Additionally, Phase passes her Health Regen to her linked ally. Using any of Phase's abilities (or reactivating Telekinetic Link) gives her a quick Health Regen boost.
Psychic Flare (Q/Square)--Phase emits a blast of light around her and her linked target. The blast both deals damage and Blinds enemies caught in the area of effect.
Energy Lance (E/Circle)--Phase fires a stream of energy from her hands, dealing damage and a stacking slow every hit. If she can keep her lance on the target long enough the slow will stack into a root.
Hyperflux (R/Triangle)--Both Phase and her link will gain a short Movement Speed boost, increased Attack Speed, Mana Regen bonus and Cooldown Reduction. Mana Regen of +75. Upon cast, she and her linked ally will get a 2 second decaying Movement Speed burst (like Muriel's boots).
Added Shadow Lynx Phase Skin to the in-game store.
Added Sluggo Disapproves Emote to the in-game store.
By Anonymous on May 11, 2017 08:15 pm Head back to Morrowind in the The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind. Bringing the cut-throat world of Dunmer politics, assassins and the great houses into the world of Elder Scrolls Online. Launching on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on June 6.
By Anonymous on May 11, 2017 08:02 pm Paragon's Age of Intellect update brings a new hero into the mix. Phase, the new ranged Support is available to play Tuesday, May 16
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Head back to Morrowind in the The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind. Bringing the cut-throat world of Dunmer politics, assassins and the great houses into the world of Elder Scrolls Online. Launching on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on June 6.
Paragon's Age of Intellect update brings a new hero into the mix. Phase, the new ranged Support is available to play Tuesday, May 16
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