Long-time rumours of Google's impending foray into gaming were confirmed today when the internet giant announced its game streaming service, Stadia.
Stadia will be supported by TVs, tablets, laptops, and phones. The service will work with existing controllers on PC and laptops, but Google is also releasing its own controller for the service which connects directly to the Stadia servers via WiFi.
Beyond the lack of tradition console or gaming PC requirement, the platform will also forgo any need for physical media or download.
The streaming nature of the service allows for a number of new features, including the ability to view a game world from a number of perspectives.
Another feature described by Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert was the concept of "state share" where a player can link to a particular moment in their game – location, inventory, etc – and share that link with others.
Apex Legends' Battle Pass goes live tomorrow, beginning the game's first official season of play under the name 'Wild Frontier.'
The pass will be available for 950 Apex Coins (about NZD$16) and will unlock most of the game's characters, including newcomer Octane – who releases as part of season one.
As described by PlayStation Blog,
No matter how you felt about No Man's Sky at launch, I think we can all agree that Hello Games has gone above and beyond in bringing the once-troubled title closer to the original promise and even exceeding that vision in some ways. The studio has already released a plethora of substantial game-changing free updates but still have even more planned.
In a recent blog post, the studio confirmed that the next chapter in the evolution of its procedural space exploration title will arrive in the form of No Man's Sky: Beyond which will again be free to all existing players.
The studio promises three significant new features staggered throughout the Beyond update, with the first component being No Man's Sky Online.
Ubisoft Toronto and EA Motive founder, Jade Raymond has announced her new position as a VP at Google.
Further details surrounding her role within the company are yet to be revealed, however an upcoming keynote from Google at GDC '19 will likely bring answers.
Long time rumours of a Google gaming console have indicated the company's desire to break into the gaming industry – likely with a streaming device.
It turns out the announcement 343 Industries teased back in January was a one-two punch...
First of all, Halo: Reach is being added to the Master Chief Collection for Xbox One, secondly, the entire collection is coming to PC.
The addition of Reach to the console collection will offer 4K/HDR at 60FPS for Xbox One X users.
Turtle Rock, the developers behind the cult classic Left 4 Dead, has announced that it is developing what looks to be a spiritual successor to what is arguably the best zombie game to date (name a better zombie game...I'll wait).
Billed as a co-op shooter, which sets players against, you guessed it... hordes of the undead. With Valve's increased resistance to actually making games, fans have been clamouring for a sequel for years, to no avail.
Turtle Rock Studios also created the not-so-well-received Evolve, but this upcoming project will see the studio “going back to [its] roots and at the same time innovating on them.” As expected, details are scarce, with no screenshots or footage yet, but the studio is more than aware of the fan expectations and stated that they are "going all out to surpass everything [they’ve] done before."
Heart Machine, the developers of the phenomenally successful Hyper Light Drifter has revealed its second game.
The new game, Solar Ash Kingdom looks to be a significant departure from the teams first game in almost every way, as a teaser trailer reveals what appears to be a fully 3D world. There's not a lot to go on yet as the trailer focuses on several stunning panning shots of the locations players will likely visit during the course of the game. We're treated to beautifully alien techno-coloured worlds and get a glimpse of the player character gliding their way smoothly across the clouds before confronting a giant one-eyed monster with an energy based weapon.
Speaking to IGN, Heart Machine's Alc Preston stated that Solar Ash Kingdom sets itself apart from the studios first game due to "a whole new set of incredible tech and key innovations."
With Judgement already released in Japan, the game has seen a very positive reception and was scheduled for a western release on June 21. This could all change as news broke that Pierre Taki, a Japanese actor and member of the pop group, Denki Groove, has been arrested in possession of Cocaine. Taki is well known for roles in Shin Godzilla and Attack on Titan, and even voiced Olaf in the Japanese dub of Frozen.
As instructed by the police, Pierre Taki took a mandatory drug test which showed cocaine in his system, which lead to an official narcotic investigation. Although no drugs were located, police claim that the actors failed drug test and a South Korean Won note, which they allege was used in the dastardly deed is more than enough to place the actor under arrest.
Drug use is hugely frowned upon in Japanese culture with many a celebrity's careers coming to a premature end after being outed. Sega responded promptly to the news by halting all digital and physical sales of Judgement in Japan. While they may have hired the actor to do a few lines, the ones he ended up doing where far removed from what the company had in mind for his role.
Dead Cells developers, Motion Twin have revealed that the previously announced 'Rise of the Giant' DLC is releasing this month for PC.
The DLC will arrive in the form of a free update for the PC version on March 28, and will see players entering a brand new area called 'The Caverns'. Along with the expansion of the map, the 'Rise of the Giants' DLC will feature a brand new boss, ten new enemies, ten new weapons, new items and mutations along with a hidden level and boss fight for "very advanced and skilled players to explore". On top of this new content, a new 'Skinning system' is being added, and include more than fifty new character outfits for players to discover.
Along with the new content, Motion Twin is also making several quality of life improvements to the smash-hit game, including a new specialist shop, a new cursed gem, food drop re-balancing and an increase to overall player health. Check out the full patch notes here for a detailed breakdown on all of the changes coming.
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