Windows 10 News – Xbox Chief Says Microsoft is ‘Committed’ to Windows Store But Has ‘A Ton of Work to Do’

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You’d be forgiven for being a teeny bit befuddled by Microsoft’s approach to PC gaming. On the one hand, there are constant statements saying PC gaming is a focus once more, along with Xbox Play Anywhere, while on the other, the X018 live event this weekend barely made any mention of PC whatsoever. It was all Xbox, Xbox, Xbox.

However, Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer did find a moment to touch on a potentially massive segment of its customer base, saying improvements to the Windows Store and the PC gaming experience are something Microsoft is still committed to.

“I think we’ve got a ton of work to do on Windows,” said Spencer. “And Windows is something that I’m very committed to and I’ve heard all the feedback about our store. I’m going to take a bigger leadership role with what’s going on with the Windows Store, making it really tailored towards the gamers that we know want to see the best from what we have to offer. It’s going to be a fun journey.”

Of course, this is nothing but empty rhetoric until improvements are actually made to the Windows Store interface, UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps, and actual uninhibited support for Xbox Game Pass on PC.

Spencer’s certainly talking the talk though, and the recent acquisitions of inXile Entertainment and Obsidian at least indicate that Microsoft could begin to take its PC output seriously. Throw in Age of Empires 4 and things to look positively rosy. Now we just the content to back it up.

Microsoft does a lot of talking about improving the Windows Store, but what do you think needs to be done to make it a success? Can it even become a vibrant game store, or is there too much ill will after Games For Windows Live? Share your thoughts below!

Sunset Overdrive News – Sunset Overdrive on PC Leaked by Korean Ratings Board

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UPDATE: Sunset Overdrive is heading to PC this week, a new store listing on Amazon has confirmed. Amazon suggests THQ Nordic is handling publishing duties for physical PC copies of Sunset Overdrive, a move that makes a great deal of sense as THQ Nordic has already published Halo Wars 2, Super Lucky’s Tale and Quantum Break at retail.

The Amazon listing for Sunset Overdrive has revealed a November 16th release date for Insomniac’s third-person-shooter with Tony Hawk aspirations. Having already leaked in the Steam database it appears as if a Steam release is also on the cards.

A physical copy of Sunset Overdrive will set you back just $19.99, so it seems as if we could have a bargain on our hands. This price includes all released DLC for Sunset Overdrive.

UPDATE: 06-Nov-2018 – Sunset Overdrive Appears in Steam Database, Suggests PC Launch is Imminent

Sunset Overdrive has now popped in the Steam database, all but confirming that Insomniac Games’ open-world shooter will be coming to PC shortly. 

The Steam database listing follows in the footsteps of the ESRB classification board rating Sunset Overdrive for PC last week and the Korean Ratings Board doing the same all the way back in May of this year.

What’s particularly interesting here is we certainly didn’t expect Sunset Overdrive to come to Steam. Microsoft has been pushing its Windows Store, as well as announcing Xbox Game Pass will be coming to PC in an official capacity. In these circumstances, launching Sunset Overdrive on Steam seems a little odd.

An official announcement of Sunset Overdrive on PC is now looking nailed-on for this Saturday. Microsoft is hosting its first ‘X0’ event in more than a decade, promising to cram in a whole host of announcements. The event takes place from 3-5pm CT / 9-11pm GMT pm Saturday, November 10th.

UPDATE: 01-Nov-2018 – Sunset Overdrive on PC Rated by the ESRB

Evidence of a PC version of Sunset Overdrive is mounting. Insomniac Games open-world, movement-focused shooter originally launched exclusively on Xbox One, but now a PC version has been rated by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board).

This news comes on top of the Korean Ratings Board classifying Sunset Overdrive on PC all the way back in May and certainly falls in line with Microsoft’s new plans to bring Xbox Game Pass to PC in an official capacity.

Insomniac Games has earned recent fame thanks to the critically acclaimed Spider-Man game on PS4, so it’s safe to assume they know a thing or two about open-world adventuring. Sunset Overdrive was very well received when it launched back in 2014, but sadly it arrived long before Xbox Play Anywhere was a thing.

In terms of the ESRB, they describe Sunset Overdrive’s content as: 

“This is a third-person shooter in which players assume the role of a young survivor battling through a mutant apocalypse. As players traverse the open-world of Sunset City, they use assault rifles and fantastical weapons (e.g., grenade launchers that shoot teddy-bear bombs, guns that shoot fireworks) to kill mutant creatures, robots, and occasional human enemies. Combat is highlighted by frequent explosions, screams of pain, and gunfire. Some explosives cause enemies to be dismembered, leaving limbs around the environment; one cutscene briefly depicts a character’s head cut off by a mutant. During the course of the game, characters and environmental elements reference sexual behavior or humor (e.g., “Oh, such a bold statement! It says, ‘I am a prostitute!’” and “How hard was it to make a porn flip book?” ); a radio ad contains a running joke about a sex burger (e.g., “It’s so good you won’t be able to contain your urges to rub it all over your Sex…Burger”). The dialogue contains a handful of drug references (e.g., “You guys have been eating weed” and “Oh, when I get back with your drugs, we’ll discuss my offense at your assumption that I would know where to find drugs”). The words “f**k” and “sh*t” also appear in dialogue.”

Original Story: 23-May-2018 – Sunset Overdrive on PC Leaked by Korean Ratings Board

In a bit of surprising news, Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive has been rated for a PC release on South Korea. Insomniac’s open-world third-person shooter arrived to mostly glowing reviews back in 2014, but sadly this was long before Xbox Play Anywhere was announced, making a PC release extremely unlikely.

Four years later though, things are happening, and the Korean Ratings Board has let slip what may have been a major announcement for Microsoft at E3 2018. Two years ago, Insomniac was asked whether Sunset Overdrive was coming to PC and said “We’d love for it to come to PC, though it’s up to Xbox on that one. It could happen but the ball is in Xbox’s court.” Now, Sunset Overdrive PC is a thing, and it looks as if it’s coming soon.

If Sunset Overdrive were to be an E3 announcement, however, a PC release may not be quite enough to excite the crowd. It surely implies that an Xbox One X enhanced patch is also inbound, and even raises the possibility of a sequel. Insomniac currently has its hands full with Spider-Man, but the 275-strong team has a history of juggling multiple projects simultaneously.

Should Sunset Overdrive have passed you by, it’s a kinetic, movement-based, colour blast of a third-person shooter, set in a dystopian city that has been over overrun by mutants. They’ve been drinking Overcharge, an energy drink from FizzCo, and it’s turned them into murderous loons. Insomniac has always been great at movement mechanics, and Sunset Overdrive is no different. It’s a third-person shooter meets Tony Hawk, with players racking up kill combos while they’re off the ground, utilising a network of bounce pads and grind rails to keep tricking.

Hopefully, we’ll hear confirmation on Sunset Overdrive shortly…

Forza Horizon 4 News – Forza Horizon 4 Takes a Wee Trip to Shetland for its Fortune Island Expansion Pack

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The best racing game looks as if it’s going to be getting even better with the announcement of the Fortune Island expansion for Forza Horizon 4, as well as the gymkhana vehicle pack.

Forza Horizon 4: Fortune Island is a paid expansion that’s set in the “remote northern parts of the British Isles”. Which, if I’m brushing up on my geography, probably means the Shetland Islands. Expect lots of little ponies, absolutely awful weather, and copious quantities of haggis. Oh and Aurora Borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights.

As we’ve come to expect from Forza Horizon expansion, FH4’s Fortune Island DLC looks as if it’s going to be much more treacherous than the base game. Cliffside rallies, lightning storms, and weaving mountain runs mean this probably isn’t one for the faint of heart or slow of gear shifting.

Fortune Island is available as part of the Forza Horizon 4 Ultimate Edition or included as part of the £29 Expansions Bundle which includes Fortune Island plus another unannounced location.

Along with the expansion, Playground Games also revealed a new Gymkhana themed car pack that includes the 1965 Ford Hoonicorn Mustang V2, 2017 Ford Fiesta RS and 2016 Ford GymkhanaTEN Focus RS RX as well.

Forza Horizon 4: Fortune Island is out on December 13th for PC and Xbox One, while the Gymkhana cars will be out on November 16th.

Battlefield V News – AMD Radeon 18.11.1 GPU Driver Delivers Up to 9% Higher FPS in BF5, Hitman 2 and Fallout 76

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AMD has ushered forth a new AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.11.1 graphics card driver just in time for Battlefield V’s early access and next week’s launch of both Hitman 2 and Fallout 76.

The benefits for Fallout 76 are fairly nebulous with AMD just touting official driver support for Bethesda’s online survival RPG. However, there are some tangible improvements inbound for both Hitman 2 and Battlefield V Early Access.

First of all, Hitman 2 will benefit from 3% higher frame rates with the 18.11.1 driver compared to the 18.10.2 GPU driver while using a Radeon RX 580 8GB at 1080p screen resolution.

The best performance gains are to be found in Battlefield V though. Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB owners will net themselves 8% faster frame rates in Battlefield V at 1080p, while there is a 9% performance boost to be had for Radeon RX 580 8GB owners while playing at 1080p resolution. Those are the sort of gains that aren’t to be sniffed at, and is the equivalent of jumping from 60fps to 66fps average frame rate.

As ever, there are also a number of fixed and known issues included with the Radeon Adrenalin 18.11.1 GPU driver update.

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.11.1 Fixed Issues

When using Radeon Overlay on system configurations with the latest Windows 10 October 2018 Update some users may experience intermittent instability or game crashes. Assassin’s Creed: Origins may experience an application crash while launching or playing the game in Windows 7. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus may experience corruption when viewing lava or water. Strange Brigade may experience intermittent application crashes when using DirectX12 API.

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.11.1 Known Issues

Radeon Overlay may not appear when toggled on systems with multiple displays when Battlefield V is running. Some systems running multiple displays may experience mouse lag when at least one display is enabled but powered off. Radeon RX Vega Series graphics products may experience elevated memory clocks during system idle.

As per usual the latest AMD Radeon driver can be download through your current Adrenalin installation, or you can download it manually from over here.

Red Dead Redemption 2 News – Take-Two CEO Dodges Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC Confirmation

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The big question of Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC is surely a matter of if, not when, but Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick still won’t be drawn into confirming it’s happening.

Speaking during a conference call discussion Take-Two’s recent financial results, Zelnick attempted to dodge the question of a PC version, resorting to a stock answer that roughly translates to: ‘we’ll let you know when we’re good and ready’.

“Red Dead 1 was not on PC. Any updated thoughts on making Red Dead 2 available on PC down the road? Thanks,” asked an investor, to which Zelnick replied “Sorry, could you just repeat the question?” as he no doubt hurriedly tried to assemble the most neutered response possible.

Here’s how the rest of that conversation went down:

Investor: Yeah, Strauss, just on making Red Dead 2 available on PC.

Strauss Zelnick: On making it available on PC?

Lainie Goldstein (from Take-Two): PC.

Strauss Zelnick: In terms of ongoing releases, Rockstar will talk about what their intentions are going forward with regard to all upcoming products and that the same would hold true for platform[s]. So, in this particular instance, I can’t really give you too much clarity, apologies.

This doesn’t tell us a whole lot to be brutally honest, aside from the fact it definitely isn’t a straight ‘no’. Red Dead Redemption 2 has already shifted more than 17 million units on console and Take-Two won’t want to put a dent in this by encouraging fans to wait it out for a PC release. There’s unlikely to be an announcement of a PC version until after the holiday period at the very least, but we have little doubt that a PC port is inbound eventually.

Without delving into spoiler territory, it’s also looking extremely likely that Rockstar is planning to remake the original Red Dead Redemption within Red Dead 2 as a DLC expansion of some sorts. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel to Red Dead Redemption so the two stories could easily flow into one another nicely. Almost the entirety of the original Red Dead map is explorable already and this would be a fantastic way to offer PC players the complete package, particularly since Red Dead Redemption skipped PC entirely all those years ago.

News – AMD Won’t Use DirectX Raytracing Until Even Low-End Radeon GPUs Can Support It

If you’re a tooled-up member of Team Red staring at Nvidia’s RTX ray-tracing capabilities like a green-eyed monster, there’s a spot of bad news for you. AMD senior VP of engineering for Radeon Technologies Group, David Wang, has said AMD will not be implementing DirectX ray tracing into its Radeon graphics cards until all of its GPUs from top to bottom are capable of supporting it.

“For the time being, AMD will definitely respond to Direct Raytracing, for the moment we will focus on promoting the speed-up of offline CG production environments centered on AMD’s Radeon ProRender, which is offered free of charge,” said Wang during an interview with 4Gamer. “Utilisation of ray tracing games will not proceed unless we can offer ray tracing in all product ranges from low end to high end.”

It’s a markedly different approach to Nvidia, which has got the tech into the hands of the enthusiast market before there’s even the software there to support it. Along with this, the RTX 20 Series with raytracing DXR capabilities begins at the $600 level with the GeForce RTX 2070. It’s certainly not a cheap, or arguably even worthwhile proposition at this stage, but there’s an attraction there for those who want a taste of the future of GPU technology.

For AMD fans, it means there could be quite a wait until DirectX Raytracing (DXR) is even possible on its GPUs. Raytracing is an incredibly demanding process that’s currently only even feasible on Nvidia’s top-end graphics cards. AMD intends to wait until even its entry-level parts can achieve the feat before it officially supports DXR.

On the one hand, we have Nvidia pushing the tech, while on the other we have AMD waiting for the tech to mature before adopting it. Which of the two GPU giants is making the best move here? Do you think Intel could even come in hot and heavy with DXR support in 2019? Let us know!

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire News – Microsoft Confirm Buyout of RPG Heavyweights Obsidian Entertainment and InXile Entertainment

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The rumours were right, Microsoft has announced it has acquired Obsidian Entertainment, developer of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and South Park: The Stick of Truth, and more.

Whispers of the RPG heavyweights being bought by Microsoft first appeared just over a month ago, and now we know there was a fire giving off all that smoke. Following the release of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire earlier this year, Obsidian has no upcoming announced games.

The announcement was made at the end of Microsoft’s Inside Xbox showcase during X018, and there was also a second sting in the tale for the event – Microsoft has also bought InXile Entertainment, developer of Wasteland 2 & 3, The Bard’s Tale IV, and Torment: Tides of Numenera. InXile is currently deep in development on Wasteland 3.

Both of the studios are CRPG heavyweights and hopefully signal Microsoft’s intentions to make more headway into PC gaming. The big downside is this inevitably means Microsoft exclusivity, which means Xbox and Windows Store releases for InXile and Obsidian’s future titles. Microsoft will also be able to have the final say on what these studios are even working on, which could present for those looking after more hardcore experiences.

Nevertheless, the acquisitions could also spend great things for these two studios. There’s a heck of a lot of Interplay alumni contained at these two outfits, and they’ve both been getting by on tight budgets and Kickstarter funding in order to get by. Microsoft’s got significant cash to splash so the leash could come off, so to speak, and InXile and Obsidian could begin to get a little wild with their projects.

It brings to a close a busy year for Microsoft Studios. The publisher has now acquired six studios in 2018 alone, bringing the grand total up to 13 game development teams. Microsoft used E3 to announced it had snapped up Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Compulsion Games.

Fine news for a pair of fine studios? Or are you worried about InXile and Obsidian being under Microsoft’s stewardship? Let us know!

News – Game Subscriptions Now 6% of Total Market, Subscribers 2x as Likely to Buy Microtransactions

In totally unsurprising news, gamers who pay for subscription services spend 45% more within games according to data from market research firm SuperData. Folks subscribed to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, Origin Access and PlayStation Now are more willing to part with their cash than those who don’t.

Superdata discovered subscribers were twice as likely to spend money on in-game content that non-subscribers. This includes cosmetics, season passes, and battle passes. It makes sense, subscribers will intuitively feel as if they haven’t actually paid for a game compared to non-subscribers and would, therefore, be more willing to drop a few quid on some in-game items.

“The game subscription market heated up immensely in 2018 as game makers sought sources of consistent, recurring revenue,” said Carter Rogers, principal analyst at SuperData. “To increase the appeal of their own subscription offerings, publishers are now offering brand-new titles to paying members.”

Subscription services currently represent a relatively small yet not insignificant 6% of the overall gaming market, although this number is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

The truly unsung part of SuperData’s research though is their findings on the market split of the top videogame subscription services. Somehow, Sony has crept in like a thief in the night and made its PlayStation Now game streaming and download service the number one game subscription service in terms of revenue.

From within the videogame bubble, it’s felt as if Microsoft has been earned a lot of praise and interest thanks to Xbox Game Pass, but Microsoft’s service is in a resounding third place compared EA Access and PlayStation Now.

A grand total of $273 million revenue was earned by the top subscription services in Q3 2018. A massive 52% of this came from PlayStation Now, accounting for over half the market. It’s difficult to fathom just how this has happened. The line-up of games is pretty weak compared to Xbox Game Pass, and there’s no access to brand new titles like we see with Origin Access. Evidently being the biggest player in the console market helps a great deal of course, while the streaming capabilities mean you don’t even need a PlayStation console to benefit from PlayStation Now. PS Now is playable on PC and even pre-installed on some Sony TVs.

Do you subscribe to any gaming subscription services? Are we heading towards a Netflix-style gaming future? How would you feel about that?

 

Artifact News – Artifact Minimum System Requirements Revealed

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The time has come. Valve is about to release its first non-VR game since DOTA 2 all the way back in 2013. Artifact is a collectible card game based in the DOTA 2 universe, overseen by legendary Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield. Like Blizzard, Valve tends to make games these days that will run on just about any system, and based on the Artifact PC system requirements, Artifact is going to be no different.

Artifact Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows 7 32-bit CPU: Intel Core i5-650 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon II X4 610e 2.4 GHz RAM: 4 GB System Memory GPU RAM: 256 MB Video Memory GPU: GeForce GT 730, Radeon R5 240 or Intel HD Graphics 520 DX: DirectX 11 HDD: 4 GB Available Hard Drive Space

Artifact is based on the Source 2 game engine that also powers Dota 2 and VR game The Lab. This doesn’t really tell us a great deal other than it’s an engine Valve is intimately familiar with and so we don’t really expect to see any performance issues whatsoever.

As for the minimum system specs, Artifact is a card battling game with some nice looking character animations but there’s not a whole lot going on visually. As a result, Artifact’s system requirements are very low. A bottom of the barrel first-gen Core i5 processor clocked at least 2.4Ghz, or an AMD equivalent, will do the trick, together with just 4GB system memory and a modest 128MB DX11 video card such as the Intel HD Graphics 520. For AMD or Nvidia equivalents, we’re talking low-end sub-$100 models like the GeForce GT 730 or Radeon R5 240.

With only a couple of weeks to go until launch, and with Artifact being a very undemanding game, it’s looking unlikely we’re going to get an official set of recommended requirements for Artifact. To be honest, we’re not expecting a great deal of graphics options to mess around with anyway, so if you meet the minimum spec for Artifact you can probably play the game exactly as it was intended.

 

As ever, remember you can always check out how well your PC can run Artifact System Requirements here, where you can check benchmarking and performance from other users. Compare your graphics card to Artifact GPU benchmark chart and we also have an Artifact Frames Per Second system performance chart for you to check.

Hitman 2 (2018) News – Hitman 2 PC FPS Report and GPU Benchmarks

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Earlier today we took a look at all of Hitman 2’s graphics options and their varying performance impact, but how does it actually run? IO Interactive recommends a top-end GeForce GTX 1070 as the ideal GPU for Hitman 2, so we were keen to put it through its paces with the trusty GeForce GTX 1060 6GB to see how it holds up.

Hitman 2 features significantly higher PC system requirements than Hitman 2016, with IO Interactive increasing the size of the environments and adding a number of new graphical effects.

Hitman 2 System Requirements

Hitman 2 Graphics Options

Hitman 2 Display Settings

Fullscreen Resolution Display Mode V-Sync V-Sync Interval HDR

Hitman 2 Graphics Settings

Supersampling Level of Detail Texture Quality Texture Filtering SSAO Shadow Quality

Hitman 2 PC Performance Breakdown And Most Important Graphics Options

Hitman 2 Benchmarks

Hitman 2 benchmarks and frames per second analysis performed on GeForce GTX 1060 6GB | Intel i7-5820K | 16GB DDR4

For this Hitman 2 benchmark, we used a GeForce GTX 1060 equipped with 6GB video memory. This is a fair bit weaker than the recommended GPU, a GeForce GTX 1070. It’s backed up by 16GB DDR4 memory and an Intel Core i7-5820K CPU.

Hitman 2 GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 1080p, 1440p and 4K Benchmarks

(Click to expand) 

  1080p 1440p 4K Low 89 66 34 Medium 80 57 30 High 72 47 27 Ultra 68 44 26

 

 

As you can see, the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB runs Hitman 2 with relative ease at 1080p. The GeForce GTX 1060 has been the 1080p GPU of choice for a couple of years now and it’s still going strong. Frame rates can dip below 60fps on Ultra but it’s never gameplay affecting.

It’s also feasible to use a GTX 1060 to run Hitman 2 at 1440p, although no massively recommended. There are more FPS fluctuations at this resolution and it’s not really worth the visual hit from dropping all of the graphics settings.

As for 4K, this doesn’t come recommended at all. 4K 30fps is on the table but we noticed a significant amount of hitching and performance hiccups so we’d recommend you stay well away.

One important thing to note is that not only are there not many graphics settings to tweak in Hitman 2, but they also don’t massively affect the visual quality nor the performance. There’s only a 30% uptick in frames per second when switching from Ultra to Low at 1080p in Hitman 2. If you meet the system specs this shouldn’t be a problem, but anyone hovering near the minimum requirements for Hitman 2 (2018) won’t have much opportunity to mess around with graphics options to optimise the performance. There’s a minimum threshold to Hitman 2’s visuals that’s quite high.

Is Hitman 2 more demanding than Hitman 2016? 

Hitman 2 features significantly higher system requirements than Hitman 2 but this doesn’t actually translate to a more demanding game. Going back and playing the original Hitman we discovered performance was practically like-for-like despite Hitman 2 being a marginally better-looking game. IO Interactive has done a great job here as Hitman 2 certainly looks better thanks to its more detail reflections. If you could play the original Hitman then chances are you can also play Hitman 2.