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Tag: Gamescom

  • Everything we played at Gamescom 2025

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    Europe’s biggest gameshow is a beast. Spanning the halls of Cologne Messe, and with E3 now out of the picture, Gamescom is a bigger deal than ever. The show also attracts thousands of public attendees, which gives the show a fairground twist in places. This year, Netflix dominated one of the halls with a faux One Piece ship, sports stadium, a Wednesday-themed cafe and a Stranger Things ice cream stall.

    Elsewhere, while Nintendo didn’t have anything new to show, it had plenty of Switch 2 consoles to convince the not-yet-convinced — and some of them had Silksong. Microsoft, too, had a substantial presence, revealing an October 16 launch date for its Xbox Ally duo of handheld gaming PCs. No price, though.

    While you can find all the news and previews on our Gamescom page, we’ve also drawn together all the other games we tested during this week’s show, several of which launch in the next few weeks.

    Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

    While the man who created Metal Gear moved onto walking sims and Hollywood best friends, Konami is more than happy to beef up and remaster the hits. This time around, it’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

    I’ll admit, Snake Eater was when I fell off the Metal Gear Solid train (or nuclear mech), and it came undone by the camouflage system and the difficult-to-navigate early areas. A very tight demo, as the Gamescom crowds rushed to early demos meant I didn’t get a chance to fully test the new style control system that (thankfully) shifts crouch and action/ confirm to separate buttons and adds a degree of camera control even in third-person. But it’s these kind of quality-of-life upgrades you can expect to see.

    Of course, the graphics are a huge leap from the PS2 original (or Nintendo 3DS version I bafflingly chose to buy), but the pulpy (occasionally delightfully camp) dialogue remains in place. I look forward to getting through at least the opening scenes now that the game has launched on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

    There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

    There Are No Ghosts at the Grand

    What a weird game. Not in a bad way. Things start off in the titular dilapidated Grand Hotel, with me renovating a room with PowerWash Simulator-inspired water guns, spray guns, sand blasters and vacuum. You can scan the area to get hints on what needs doing, while a naggy Scottish smartphone app will also try to help — but not really. There’s also a talking cat, apparently, called Mr. Bones the Bastard, but he wasn’t talking in this demo.

    The early trailer teased a mystery that needs to be solved in the village, and while I didn’t get a glimpse of that, I was soon tasked with checking out some mysterious black gunk.

    The developers even put a little more effort into the demo, with voiced lines that will likely never be heard in the retail version, teasing that the protagonist was being “onboarded” when he’s interrupted by one of the characters that populate the village around the hotel.

    Seconds later, I’m riding a scooter to the dock, with a cat enjoying the ride, fixing a boat, getting a sassy soliloquy from the woman who convinced me to drive my boat into the sea. There are plenty more songs to come as new characters join the mystery.

    As a reminder, the demo started with me sandblasting tatty wallpaper off period walls. I’m intrigued.

    Resident Evil Requiem

    We’ve got a more detailed breakdown by contributor Alessandro Fillari here, but I got a chance to get scared out of my skin too. The headline feature is the ability to play between first- and third-person perspectives. Still, it revealed an uncomfortable truth to myself: I’m a total coward and playing in third person is much less scary.

    Onimusha: Way of the Sword

    Onimusha Way of the Sword hands-on

    Capcom’s return to its samurai vs. demons series is satisfying and fun, especially when compared to more punishing games in the genre, like Sekiro. However, the early chapters have a pretty basic attack flow, and I’m keen to see how things evolve beyond that. At least they’ve got one thing right: a great villain to loathe.

    Hollow Knight: Silksong

    The long-running DLC-into-sequel-into-meme-sensation is almost here, right? The demo at Gamescom remained the most popular attraction at Microsoft’s booth. Two Xbox Ally handhelds were also running the demo, which I was fortunate enough to test on. And I can say… yep, still plays like a faster, slicker Hollow Knight.

    Having played it a heady six years ago, it’s now actually difficult to discern the differences between the early build and what is surely an almost-final snapshot of the game. One of the notable changes is its more elaborate lighting effects and details — things Redditors have pored over as each new trailer video appeared. I stand by my hands-on impressions from 2019, even if they have a fine vintage at this point.

    But when is it coming out? Oh, September 4.

    All the announcements from Gamescom 2025

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    Mat Smith

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  • Project Bloomwalker is A Beautiful Crafting Adventure About Purifying The World, and We Love It – Xbox Wire

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    Some games simply ‘wow’ you from the moment you’re permitted to enter their worlds, and in that regard, Project Bloomwalker is a blessing indeed. Revealed for the first time in the Xbox @ gamescom 2025 Broadcast, Project Bloomwalker is a beautiful survival crafting affair set in a gorgeous, anime-infused land that has been corrupted – its plant life shrivelled, and its ground turned an ashy white. As a ‘Bloom Walker’, you have the ability to cure the world of this blight, using your travelling caravan, a deceptively spacious house escorted by giant robotic legs, housing an equally giant talking cat. It’s quirky, inviting, and frequently magical.

    During a hands-on demo at gamescom, we were invited to explore Bloomwalker’s world, and how you’ll seek to purify it. This really is the crux of the game. You’re not crafting to dominate the natural world – you’re there to heal it, and it feels truly different as a result.

    The demo begins with your character carefully escorting their house through some tainted areas, using its power to slowly restore the world around it. It’s immediately inviting; the ground around it is restored as it works – the terrain explodes into vibrant green, foliage and massive mushrooms transform from nasty, sludgy mounds to bright, rainbow hues – everything here feels intentionally placed and ripe for exploration, which is exactly what you’ll need to do.

    While the majority of the world we saw in the demo was relatively safe (sans one attack from a giant pelican), the tainted areas require some thought to explore, adding layers of puzzle to the mix. You’ll need to be prepared to encounter enemies like the aforementioned pelican, and venture into dangerous, blighted parts (taking damage as you do) until you can clear it. Luckily, there are resources like the Breathblossom that allow you to temporarily breathe in those spots, but you’ll need to work fast. For all of its beauty, Project Bloomwalker’s world can be treacherous, and it seems you’ll need to brace yourself for it in order to survive and keep your house moving.

    The house’s purification power (or ‘purrification’, according to our cat, Kuroru), won’t last forever; after a short amble to the designated spot, we’re invited to settle the house down and start crafting more purification crystals. This is the resource that allows you to keep purifying, and it can be made from a number of items scattered around the map – berries, apples, honey, and a few other special materials like luminite.

    Project Bloomwalker Screenshot

    This is where Kettlekid comes in, a creature I can only describe as the sentient, very hungry contents of a cauldron. Throwing your gathered resources into Kettlekid will create purification crystals, used to fill purification gauge so the house can keep on moving. These crystals are ferried over to your house by the absolute highlight of the demo – Oddlings. These tiny, squeaky balls of pure joy are here to help you, but they’ll need a bit of care to function effectively.

    Fortunately, you have a wooden crafting table (also equipped with legs, naturally) at your disposal, which allows you to craft little leafy beds and tents for your Oddlings to rest in. In a pinch, you can also approach Oddlings that are exhausted and give them a hug, which will not only restore 50% of their energy, but also cure a tiny part of your own soul, too. It’s truly adorable.

    Project Bloomwalker Screenshot

    Rogue Oddlings can also be found out in the wild, either stressing out in the open or concealed by a small puzzle. Once you found them, they can be adopted and recruited into your own Oddling army. While they’re a joy to have around anyway, building a larger group also expedites some automated crafting activities (like getting crystals from Kettlekid over to the house). There’s a hint of factory sim underneath all the loveliness.

    Your own ambling house is truly impressive; the quaint little cottage, while small on the outside, houses a pocket dimension of sorts – a whimsical, celestial-themed bedroom full of sparkling trinkets and cute decorations. It’s truly amazing the first time you realize that it’s bigger on the inside than the outside, with no loading screen or transition. The attention to design is really felt here – I spent a good few minutes peering into round terrariums and zooming into the walls to absorb every magical detail. It’s also where you’ll come to chat to Kuroru about what’s going on, orienting you on your next goal.

    Project Bloomwalker Screenshot

    Even with just a short time in Project Bloomwalker, I’m absolutely entranced by its whimsical landscape and characters, and its poignant premise.

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    Danielle Partis

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  • How to watch Gamescom 2025 and what to expect

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    It feels like Summer Game Fest is only just in our rear view mirror and yet there’s another video game extravaganza on the horizon. Gamescom is the planet’s largest gaming event and we’re sure to find out about a bunch of interesting new games at the Opening Night Live showcase. Xbox is broadcasting from the show floor across two days, and there will be other presentations that are worth keeping an eye on, including a “special announcement” for Hollow Knight: Silksong.

    Gamescom is taking place between August 20 and 24 this year, and we’re learning bits and pieces about what to expect from the various showcases. The affair will kick off with Opening Night Live, a showcase hosted by Geoff Keighley that bridges the gap between his two other major events, Summer Game Fest Live and The Game Awards. That will be followed by two days of Xbox broadcasts, the latest edition of the Future Games Show and three days of Bethesda streams.

    There will also be news from Ubisoft on what’s next for The Division 2. The company will host two panels related to the franchise during Gamescom. One will include more info about The Division Resurgence (a delayed mobile game), as well details about a “big Division 2 project.”

    We’ll update this preview with more Gamescom details as we get them, and embed video versions of each stream as they become available too. Here’s our breakdown of how to watch Gamescom 2025 and what to expect from the event.

    Gamescom schedule

    • Opening Night Live — August 19, 1:30PM ET (pre-show), 2PM (main show)

    • Xbox @ gamescom 2025 Broadcast — August 20, 9AM ET

    • Future Games Show — August 20, 2PM ET

    • Xbox @ gamescom 2025 Broadcast — August 21, 9AM ET

    • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Special Announcement — August 21, 10:30AM ET

    • Awesome Indies — August 21, 12PM ET

    • Bethesda — August 22-25

    How to watch Gamescom Opening Night Live – August 19, 2PM ET

    Watch on YouTube

    Opening Night Live perhaps won’t feature as many heavy hitters as Summer Game Fest Live or The Game Awards typically have, but one thing’s for certain: Call of Duty fans will definitely want to tune in. The two-hour showcase will feature the “worldwide reveal” of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. We’ll almost certainly get a release date here too. Reports suggest we won’t get a release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong at ONL, but we may not have to wait much longer… (more on that in a bit).

    You can also expect a trailer for multiplayer RPG Honor of Kings: World, along with new looks at Ghost of Yotei, The Outer Worlds 2, Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill f, Ninja Gaiden 4, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion and The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. You’ll get to see the opening cinematic for the World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion as well.

    It won’t all be game reveals and announcements, though — there’ll be a performance of music from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 featuring composer Lorien Testard and vocalist Alice Duport-Percier. Additionally, you’ll get a peek at season two of Prime Video’s Fallout series, which will arrive in December.

    We’ll be keeping tabs on all the news from Opening Night Live right here on Engadget. Myself, senior editor Jess Conditt and editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris will be live-blogging our way through ONL. Join us! It should be fun.

    How to watch Xbox @ gamescom 2025 Day 1 Broadcast — August 20, 9AM ET

    Watch on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok or Facebook

    One major piece of news we’re likely to get from Xbox during one of its streams (if it isn’t revealed at ONL beforehand) is the release date and pricing for the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handheld systems. Leaker billbil-kun has reported the devices will arrive on October 16, at least in Europe, costing €599 for the Xbox Ally and €899 for the higher-end Xbox Ally X.

    Microsoft had already confirmed these handhelds would be available in time for the holiday season, so that rumored release date makes sense. Either way, we should get confirmation during Gamescom of when to expect these devices, especially since the company says it will discuss the handhelds during its August 20 stream.

    This particular event will feature the likes of Grounded 2, Keeper and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The Order of Giants, an expansion for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, will be showcased alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Dying Light: The Beast, World of Warcraft: Midnight, Hotel Barcelona, Invincible Vs., Cronos: The New Dawn, Outbound, Powerwash Simulator 2 and Starsand Island.

    Along with the English-language broadcast, Xbox’s streams will be available in other languages on regional Xbox channels on the likes of YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Facebook. The streams will be available in Traditional Chinese, German, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Mexican Spanish, as well as with ASL and English audio descriptions.

    How to watch Future Games Show — August 20, 2PM ET

    Watch on Twitch or YouTube

    Actors David Hayter (Snake in the Metal Gear series) and Maggie Robertson (Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village) will be hosting this edition of the Future Games Show. This installment will feature more than 50 games across world premieres, new trailers and sudden demo releases.

    Capcom, Bandai Namco Entertainment, EA and NACON are among those who’ll be represented in this one, which will feature projects from AAA and indie publishers and studios. Several games have been confirmed to make an appearance here, including Skate (which is slated to hit early access this year), Resident Evil Requiem, Cronos: The New Dawn, Hotel Barcelona, Deer & Boy, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin and Katanaut. Not only that, there will be a post-show that will run for 40 minutes and feature more trailers, world premieres and demo announcements.

    How to watch Xbox @ gamescom 2025 Day 2 Broadcast — August 21, 9AM ET

    Watch on YouTube, Twitch, TikTok or Facebook

    Xbox will be broadcasting live from the Gamescom show floor for a second straight day. This particular stream will include details on Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2 and Overwatch 2 (perhaps with more info about Season 18, which is set to start on August 26).

    You can also expect looks at Onimusha: Way of the Sword, At Fate’s End, Age of Empires IV, High on Life 2, Jurassic World Evolution 3 and Fragpunk. In addition, the lineup for this stream includes Silent Hill f, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Lego Voyagers, Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection, Mistfall Hunter and My Hero Academia: All’s Justice.

    How to watch Hollow Knight: Silksong – Special Announcement — August 21, 10:30AM ET

    Watch on YouTube

    This is not a drill. Team Cherry has scheduled a “special announcement” for maybe the most anticipated and hyped-up game this side of Grand Theft Auto VI. The developer and publisher hasn’t revealed exactly what it plans to announce regarding Hollow Knight: Silksong, but it’s gotta be a release date, right? A deeper dive into the game would be most welcome too.

    It’s been six long years since we had some hands-on time with Hollow Knight: Silksong. However, Gamescom attendees will be able to try it out at the Microsoft and Nintendo booths on the show floor. I hope the two companies have lots of space to accommodate what are sure to be long lines.

    How to watch Awesome Indies — August 21, 12PM ET

    Watch on YouTube and Twitch

    The Indie Arena Booth will host more than 200 games for Gamescom attendees to check out, but you won’t necessarily need to be there in person to see them. Many will be featured in an hour-long showcase called Awesome Indies. Here, we’ll see “exclusive trailers, first peeks at never-before-seen gameplay, amazing premieres and exciting newcomers,” according to Gamescom.

    There are a lot of interesting games being featured at the booth, including Cairn and Strange Antiquities. I’m particularly hoping the showcase will include some more details about Ball x Pit, which is one of my most anticipated games right now, Militsioner and the creepy-looking Fractured Blooms.

    How to watch Bethesda broadcasts – August 22

    Watch on Twitch

    There will be plenty from the Bethesda side of the Xbox division as well. The publisher will be broadcasting from the Xbox show floor at Gamescom for three days, starting on August 22. According to Microsoft, these streams will include “developer interviews, game showcases, community segments, crafting highlights and live IRL tours.”

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    Kris Holt

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  • Life Is Strange: Double Exposure lets you do more than rewind time

    Life Is Strange: Double Exposure lets you do more than rewind time

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    Life Is Strange: Double Exposure simultaneously serves as a welcoming return and an exciting leap forward, as fan-favorite protagonist Max Caulfield steps back into the spotlight with new friends, a fresh mystery, and reality-bending abilities. I took the game for a spin during Gamescom and the demo revealed, to my surprise, that Double Exposure may be the series’ most mechanically intriguing entry yet.

    With the game set a decade after the events of the original Life Is Strange, the now-adult Max has left Arcadia Bay and works as an artist-in-residence at Caledon University in upstate Vermont. She’s formed a new friend circle in Moses, a science enthusiast, and Safi, daughter of the university’s president. Since the cataclysmic events at Arcadia Bay, of which both endings will funnel into this narrative, Max has sworn never to use her time-rewind power again. However, her new peace becomes shattered when Safi is mysteriously murdered, prompting Max to attempt to save her by winding back the clock for the first time in years. For reasons unknown, the lengthy period of inactivity has caused Max’s power to evolve, and she manages to tear through the fabric of time and space to access an alternate timeline where Safi still lives but remains in mortal danger. Thus, Double Exposure becomes a double murder mystery with players utilizing Max’s newfound Shift power to jump between timelines to discover the identity of the killer in one reality while preventing Safi’s murder in the other.

    The Gamescom demo takes place shortly after Safi’s murder. I won’t spoil the narrative details, but Max must retrieve Safi’s camera from a classroom while avoiding detection by a snooping detective. While the room is locked in her current timeline, the same may not be true in the alternate reality. Keeping track of which timeline you occupy is easy thanks to an icon in the upper-left corner labeling the reality as “Living” or “Dead,” referencing Safi’s fate in that world. Using Max’s Pulse ability, another new trick that lets her detect and reveal ghostly elements from the other timeline without doing a full swap, I find a glowing weak point between realities where switching timelines becomes possible. Making the jump sees Max pull apart the current reality like she’s opening a pair of curtains to instantaneously cross over to the other side. The snappiness of this transition makes for a cool visual.

    Getting my hands on Safi’s camera becomes an involved exercise in exploring the two-story room, finding clues and hitting dead ends that can only be circumvented by switching to the other timeline. Elements such as the room’s layout, the characters’ current activities and moods, and the location of important items differ in each timeline, and the crux of puzzle-solving involves figuring out how gathering information in one world answers a question in the opposite one.

    What begins as a simple search for a safe spirals into using an astronomy chart to find a vital constellation referenced by Moses, then activating a projector to overlay a star chart on a classroom mural in such a manner that the orientation of the constellation reveals the hidden location of the safe’s item. Solving this single puzzle requires several timeline shifts to unravel smaller riddles that logically build toward the solution.

    Upon solving this puzzle, the detective forces his way into the classroom, triggering a stealth sequence where I need to escape the room undetected. Simply sneaking past him isn’t enough; I need a loud object to create a distraction, and it can only be found in the Living reality. Since the patrolling investigator blocks certain routes in the cluttered, box-ridden room, getting past him requires a few strategic uses of Shift, as he’s not present in the Living timeline.

    While Double Exposure seems to test your noodle more than previous entries, it still heavily emphasizes managing character relationships and steering the story through dialogue choices. However, timeline hopping adds some spice to this formula. While a character may be hesitant to reveal a crucial personal secret in one timeline, their counterpart may be more forthcoming, offering information that can give Max the upper hand. Resorting to using knowledge Max technically shouldn’t possess may not go over well, though, adding a thoughtful wrinkle to conversations.

    The Double Exposure Gamescom demo sold me on Shift as a fun mechanic, and I’m excited to see how the game further leverages it to tell its tale. Tack on the return of Max and I’m itching to see how this multiversal murder mystery unravels.

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    marcus.stewart

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  • An Inside Peek At Indiana Jones’ Gameplay Looks Whip-Crackingly, Fist-Punchingly Fun

    An Inside Peek At Indiana Jones’ Gameplay Looks Whip-Crackingly, Fist-Punchingly Fun

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    There’s a fairly good chance that you, like us, keep forgetting that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a first-person game. Each time we see any footage, it’s a jarring moment to remember that this isn’t a reskinned Tomb Raider or Uncharted, but instead puts us directly inside Dr. Jones’ head. This is exacerbated by so much of the stuff we’ve seen in trailers constantly jumping to cinematic third-person views, given how odd of an angle it is when trying to show off the game. But now we’ve seen ten minutes of in-game footage, and it’s starting to make more sense.

    The Top 10 Most-Played Games On Steam Deck: October 2023 Edition

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    John Walker

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  • ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP

    ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP

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    ASUS stellt ersten 1440p 480Hz Gaming OLED Monitor vor (ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP)

    Im Rahmen der gamescom 2024 hat ASUS ROG einen neuen Gaming-Monitor vorgestellt. Hierbei handelt es sich um den ersten 1440p 480Hz Gaming OLED Monitor.

    Der ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP ist ein 26,5-Zoll OLED Gaming Monitor der über eine QHD-Auflösung (2.560 x 1.440 Pixel) verfügt. Damit es für Gamer aber auch interessant wird, hat dieser eine Bildwiederholrate von 480Hz und eine Reaktionszeit von 0,03ms GtG.

    Dank MLA+ Technologie erreicht das Panel eine Peakhelligkeit von 1.300 nits. Das sieht bei HDR-Content richtig gut aus. In meinem Video auf Tiktok könnt ihr den Monitor in Aktion erleben und wenn ihr dort beim Game auf das Lagerfeuer achtet, das war wirklich besonders hell. Abgesehen davon haben wir hier aber auch einfach top Farbwerte, alles sieht richtig gut aus.

    Der Monitor kommt im typischen ROG Gaminglook daher, was man z.B. am Standfuß sieht. Dort wird auch das ROG Logo in Rot auf den Schreibtisch projiziert, war schon sehr cool aussieht. Natürlich darf auch RGB nicht fehlen, hier haben wir dann auf der Rückseite das ROG-Logo.

    ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP

    Der Monitor lässt sich natürlich schwenken, neigen und auch in der Höhe verstellen, also ganz wie ihr es möchtet und wie es für euch angenehm ist. Er hat dünne Displayränder und macht sich ganz gut auf dem Schreibtisch. Ich hatte die Möglichkeit ein wenig mit dem Monitor zu zocken und es hat richtig Spaß gemacht.

    Einen Preis und eine Verfügbarkeit für Deutschland hat ASUS leider noch nicht bekanntgegeben, aber sobald ich hier neues höre, werde ich es nachreichen.

    ASUS zeigt streng limitierte Warhammer 40.000 Space Marine Grafikkarte

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    Johannes

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  • asus warhammer grafikkarte

    asus warhammer grafikkarte

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    ASUS zeigt streng limitierte Warhammer 40.000 Space Marine Grafikkarte

    Im Rahmen seiner Pressekonferenz im Vorfeld der gamescom 2024 in Köln hat ASUS zusammen mit AMD eine Grafikkarte im Warhammer 40.000 Space Marine Design vorgestellt. Einziger Wermutstropfen, man wird sie nicht kaufen können.

    Die ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XTX Space Marine 2 Collectors Edition Grafikkarte ist extrem streng limitiert und zwar so streng, dass man sie nicht einmal kaufen kann. Es wird zum Leidwesen der Warhammer 40.000 Fans nur 20 dieser Grafikkarten geben und man kann sie nur mit etwas Glück in einer Verlosung gewinnen. Zum Beispiel am Freitag auf der gamescom in Köln.

    Die Grafikkarte kommt in den Farben der Ultramarines, also Blau und Gold daher und sieht richtig schick aus. Abgesehen vom Design ist es natürlich einfach nur eine Radeon RX 7900 XTX Grafikkarte mit 24 GB VRAM, mit der man mit allen aktuellen Games seinen Spaß haben wird.

    ASUS Space Marine Grafikkarte

    Passend zur Grafikkarte gab es dann auch noch einen Show-PC im Ultramarine-Look von 3XS Systems. Wirklich schick ist er geworden und ebenfalls in den Ultramarine Farben Blau und Gold. Auch ein Reinheitssiegel an der Seite darf natürlich nicht fehlen. An der Seite hat wahrscheinlich ein Tyranid das Gehäuse aufgeschlitzt und man kann dort auch einen Blick auf die Grafikkarte werfen.

    ASUS Space Marine PC

    Wenn man schon so eine seltene Grafikkarte hat, dann will man sie natürlich auch jeden Tag beim Zocken bewundern. Der PC hat neben der Space Marine Grafikkarte ein ROX Strix X670E-F Mainboard und eine AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. Dazu gibt es dann noch 2x 16 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 Arbeitsspeicher und eine Corsair MP600 CORE XT 2TB SSD. Auf jeden Fall ein Traum-PC für Warhammer 40.000 Fanboys wie mich.

    ASUS Space Marine Grafikkarte

    Als ASUS die Grafikkarte auf der Bühne vorgestellt hat, war ich auf jeden Fall hin und weg. Als allerdings angekündigt wurde dass die Grafikkarte mit einer Stückzahl von nur 20 erscheinen wird, wurde meine Euphorie dann doch etwas getrübt. Ich hätte mich wirklich über solch eine Grafikkarte in diesem ganz besonderen, aussergewöhnlichen Design gefreut und mit mir sicherlich auch ganz viele andere Warhammer-Fans.

    Faurecia Aptoide Automotive auf der droidcon 2024

    ASUS stellt ersten 1440p 480Hz Gaming OLED Monitor vor (ROG Swift OLED PG27AQDP)

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    Johannes

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  • Prepare for world domination when Civilization VII arrives in February 2025

    Prepare for world domination when Civilization VII arrives in February 2025

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    Firaxis Games announced the release date and shared gameplay for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII at Gamescom 2024. The strategy game will launch on February 11, 2025. It’s been a long wait for fans since Civilization VI arrived back in 2016, and today’s announcements at Gamescom mark a few departures for the storied empire-building series.

    For starters, the game will be released across platforms. It will be available on PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox and Nintendo Switch at launch. Past entries in the series have arrived on console much later post-release, and sometimes with very clunky ports. Hopefully this approach means a better console experience for Civ VII.

    There are also some big changes in gameplay that the team highlighted during a Gamescom livestream. In previous Civilization games, you’d pick one famed leader from history and stick with them for the scenario, guiding their single empire across the decades and centuries. With Civ VII, you’ll pick a new civilization at the start of each age that will continue building on what you’ve already accomplished.

    Your options at the start of a new age will vary based on historical context and what you’ve already done with your current civilization. A full game will have three time periods – the Antiquity Age, the Exploration Age and the Modern Age – or you can opt to play a single-age scenario. For even more variety, players will also be able to mix and match, picking from the whole roster of potential leaders and pairing them with historically inaccurate locations. This should yield a whole new array of intriguing and entertaining situations for players to create.

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    Anna Washenko

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  • This Was The Best Xbox Showcase In Years (And The Hardest To Root For)

    This Was The Best Xbox Showcase In Years (And The Hardest To Root For)

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    A Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign that looks like Mission: Impossible by way of an Adam Curtis documentary, a Gears of War prequel that shows fans E-Day and the birth of the series’ iconic “Lancer” chainsaw gun, and a trailer that showed Perfect Dark isn’t just still alive, it’s potentially thriving. Microsoft’s 2024 summer showcase was the best that Xbox has looked going back to the Xbox One years. But it’s come at a huge price, and one the company doesn’t seem ready to acknowledge publicly.

    Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger

    Insiders had been hyping the showcase for days, in part due to the fact that its full list of reveals and announcements had already leaked to some in the media and beyond. Fans have been burned before, expecting Xbox to finally turn a corner only to have the football pulled once again and realize the platform is still in another one of its inescapable “rebuilding” years. The proof is always in the games themselves, and how successful they are can only really be determined once they get into players’ hands. For now, though, the showcase delivered.

    There was over sixty minutes of games big and small, offering everything from zombie survival to nostalgic teen hangout, punctuated by massive first-party franchises and third-party teases. If you own an Xbox Series X/S there will be plenty to play this year and next. Xbox game studios head Matt Booty’s perennial promise for a steady cadence of quarterly Xbox games worth showing up for might finally come true. The only thing missing from the event was any accountability for what, and who, Microsoft has sacrificed to get here.

    It’s been just over a month since the company announced it’s shutting down three studios and reshuffling a fourth. One of the casualties, Tango Gameworks, and its 2023 hit Hi-Fi Rush, seemed to symbolize the best of Xbox in the Game Pass era: a hyper-stylized passion project from a newer team that wowed critics and won awards and wouldn’t have been possible without the “let a thousand flowers bloom” strategy behind the platform’s pivot to a Netflix-like subscription library. In a crushing reversal, however, the deep-pocketed tech giant cut the team, along with storied immersive sim makers Arkane Austin and others. According to internal comments from Booty and the head of parent company Zenimax, there just wasn’t enough bandwidth for one of the three most valuable companies in the world to manage so many studios.

    The bad news and bullshit explanation might not have gone down like a lead balloon if Microsoft hadn’t announced mass layoffs just months earlier across several departments, including newly acquired Activision Blizzard. The cuts hit everyone from the Overwatch 2 team to Call of Duty makers Sledgehammer Games, and included the cancellation of Odyssey, a survival crafting fantasy game that might have become the first new franchise from Blizzard in nearly a decade. Microsoft spent $69 billion on the acquisition, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer toured the Activision Blizzard King offices shortly after the deal was finalized last fall, and then in early 2024 the mask came off.

    Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer blamed the heel turn on a combination of investor pressure and the stagnation of the console gaming market in interviews with Game File and Polygon. In other words: capitalism. But the complete closure of Tango Gameworks, originally founded by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami to train a new generation of creatives, seemed especially capricious. The Xbox team didn’t mention the developers it’s laid off and their contributions in its remarks to a live audience ahead of the showcase today, or during the pre-recorded event itself. (Even after learning its fate, Arkane Austin worked hard to push out Redfall’s much-needed final update.)

    Instead, Spencer opened the showcase by promoting Black Ops 6 and the company’s desire to bring one of the most popular franchises to even more players through the power of a $17-a-month subscription. It maybe wasn’t surprising given the billions Microsoft paid to acquire the series, but the choice to open the show this way underscored the new reality of an Xbox brand that now needs to make a return worthy of all of those investments. “I haven’t been talking publicly about this, because right now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals,” Spencer told IGN later in the day, away from the hundreds of thousands of fans tunning into the showcase.

    He continued:

    It’s obviously a decision that’s very hard on them, and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we’re doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It’s not about my PR, it’s not about Xbox PR. It’s about those teams. In the end, I’ve said over and over, I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make.

    The showcase, meanwhile, didn’t even clear the bar set days prior by Geoff Keighley at the Game Awards host’s own showcase. Xbox president Sarah Bond, who responded with corpo word salad when asked about studio closures last month, closed out the Xbox showcase by pointing to the future instead of dwelling on the recent past. “It’s our mission to make Xbox the best place to play, by including our own studios’ games on Game Pass at launch, by bringing your games into the future with our commitment to game preservation, by pushing the boundaries in our future hardware, and to empower you to play your games wherever you want on Xbox console, PC, and cloud,” she said. “This is what defines Xbox today and in the future, and we’re hard at work on the next generation.”

    It was a commitment aimed at reassuring fans still recovering from the shock of the brand’s recent pivots. But the future is built on the past, and every shiny new Xbox game now comes with the question of what will happen to the teams Microsoft has purchased or partnered with, once it no longer feels like they serve its bottom line.

    Update 6/9/2024 9:10 p.m. ET: Added comments from Spencer’s post-show interview with IGN.

     

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Will Still Come To PS4 And Xbox One

    Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Will Still Come To PS4 And Xbox One

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    Image: Activision

    We’re now halfway through the life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but Call of Duty doesn’t appear to be giving up on the last-gen consoles that preceded them yet. A leak out of GameStop suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will still come to PS4 and Xbox One, but continue to cost the same as the $70 “next-gen” versions.

    The Best Reveals From The Game Awards 2023

    An apparent photograph circulated by CharlieIntel shows the SKUs and prices for 2024’s Call of Duty in GameStop’s inventory system. The image lists Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS4, with a $70 price tag for each, and the Xbox One version seemingly included via Smart Delivery. Insider Gaming reports that it’s been able to independently verify that the data in the image is real, and two GameStop employees Kotaku spoke with corroborated the claim as well, confirming that pre-order SKUs are currently live in their system.

    If made official, this would be the longest that Call of Duty has ever remained cross-gen. When the series originally made the jump to PS4 and Xbox One back in 2013 with Call of Duty: Ghosts, it remained on PS3 and Xbox 360 for two years after that until Activision ditched the older consoles with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. With Black Ops 6, PS4 and Xbox One will have continued receiving last-gen versions for a surprising five years in a row.

    If you’re wondering why this might be the case, look no further than the fact that roughly half of PlayStation users are still playing on a PS4. The last-gen install base remains huge, and cutting it off from one of the most expensive games to make would be leaving a ton of money on the table. PS5 exclusives like Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already appear to have suffered poorer sales as a result of that.

    Of course, Xbox players aren’t likely to notice the price hike anyway since most of them will be able to play Black Ops 6 with a paid Game Pass subscription. Microsoft is reportedly planning to bring the series to the Netflix-like library later this year, though there are also rumors that it might raise the monthly service’s price once it does.

    Activision declined to comment.

    Update 5/24/2024 5:45 p.m. ET: Added Kotaku’s own sourcing and independent corroboration.

             

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Microsoft Doubles Down On More Affordable But Weaker Xbox Series S

    Microsoft Doubles Down On More Affordable But Weaker Xbox Series S

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    Ever since Baldur’s Gate 3 exploded in popularity after its August 3 release date, the fact that it’s not coming to Xbox Series X/S the same time as PS5 has reignited the controversy around Microsoft’s console strategy and its commitment to a policy that seems like it will become increasingly unworkable in the years ahead.

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    Baldur’s Gate 3 supports local co-op splitscreen, and developer Larian Studios has been very public about its struggle to get that feature working on the less powerful Series S. Microsoft requires games to launch with the same modes on both Series X and S, and despite Baldur’s Gate 3’s popularity, no exceptions were made for the critically acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons RPG until now.

    Larian director Swen Vincke said the studio had arrived at a solution after meeting with Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming’s CEO, at Gamescom this week. “Series S will not feature split-screen coop, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series,” he tweeted, with the games now confirmed to arrive before the end of 2023.

    Spencer was asked about the apparent Series S conflict in a Eurogamer interview earlier this week. “I don’t see a world where we drop S,” he said. “In terms of parity, I don’t think you’ve heard from us or Larian, that this was about parity. I think that’s more that the community is talking about it. There are features that ship on X today that do not ship on S, even from our own games, like ray-tracing that works on X, it’s not on S in certain games.”

    It’s unclear if Spencer means that split-screen gameplay in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t a requirement on Series S. Kotaku reached out to both Microsoft and Larian Studios to clarify the situation. What is clear is that the company doesn’t plan to abandon Series S support for games in the near future. “We’re going to learn from this experience as well because we don’t love that [Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t on Xbox yet],” Spencer told IGN in a separate interview. “But I don’t think it’s something that’s a fatal flaw in the system. It’s partners prioritizing their time, us listening and being a good partner to them.”

    Image: Larian Studios

    The Series S has been raising questions from the very start. As Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier pointed out on August 24, even prior to its 2019 release there were concerns from game developers that the difference in performance could make realizing their full “next-gen” ambitions more difficult on Xbox. Anecdotal reports from Gamescom are that developers there have been privately sharing frustrations about the challenges presented by the Series S as well.

    Spencer noted to IGN that games like Diablo IV work fine across both platforms, and reiterated that Microsoft wants to open up gaming to more people, and sees the Series S’s low price as a cornerstone of that strategy. At $300, the less powerful console is the same price as the Nintendo Switch and $100 cheaper than the disc-less PlayStation 5. Over the recent holiday period, it was briefly marked down even further to $250. And the option to subscribe to Game Pass means Series S owners can access a huge library of games, including new blockbusters like Starfield, without shelling out hundreds more.

    The popularity of the Series S for players might also be what makes it that much harder for Microsoft to leave it behind. “I also wouldn’t expect and don’t think it makes sense for Microsoft to drop Xbox Series S support or have some titles only ship on Xbox Series X,” tweeted Niko analyst Daniel Ahmad. “The primary reason being that Series S makes up a significant part of the Xbox Series X|S install base and people did indeed buy it to play ‘next gen’ games.”

    Don’t expect big price drops

    As laudable as the goal of an affordable next-gen console is, we’re already nearing the three-year anniversary of the Series X/S, traditionally the halfway-point in a console’s lifecycle. If there are already rumblings of some games struggling to support certain features on Series S, it seems likely to get worse by 2024, especially for timed exclusives getting ported directly from the PS5. That would be the same year in the Xbox One’s lifecycle that Microsoft released the Xbox One X mid-generation refresh that aimed to offer 4K resolution and higher framerates. A similar new console has already been ruled out this time around, however.

    Spencer told Bloomberg in June that he doesn’t feel an “imperative” to release a more powerful version of the Series X, and reiterated that at Gamescom. We’re focused right now on the increased storage Xbox Series S,” he told IGN. “But no, like I said, we’re kind of at the end of the beginning in my mind. So I think we need to let devs settle on this hardware and get the most out of it.”

    Art shows off the new all-black Xbox Series S with expanded storage.

    Image: Microsoft

    Sony, meanwhile, appears set to launch a PS5 Slim within the next year. While it’s not clear if that console will have meaningfully different specs than the existing ones, it would still be a significant iteration on the hardware, especially if reports of a standalone attachable disc drive for the PS5 are also accurate. Microsoft hinted at the new console in a Federal Trade Commission court hearing in June, and footage of what’s believed to be the case at a manufacturing plant in China recently leaked as well.

    Whatever new console or hardware refreshes arrive in the years ahead, Spencer warned players not to expect prices to significantly drop like they have in previous generations. “You’re not going to be able to start with a console that’s $500 thinking it’s gonna get to 200 bucks. That won’t happen,” he told Eurogamer. “It’s not the way it used to be where you could take a spec and then ride it out over 10 years and ride the price points down. It’s why you see console pricing relatively flat.”

    In fact, prices have been going in the opposite direction. Microsoft raised the price of the Xbox Series X/S abroad, following in Sony’s footsteps from a year prior. Even the Nintendo Switch, released over six years ago, remains the same $300 today that it was then. The Mario maker has now sold over 125 million units. So far at least, Microsoft doesn’t seem on track to hit even half of that. It’s currently at 21 million according to a presentation slide that leaked earlier this summer, with hardware sales slowing down instead of speeding up.

    Starfield could change that when it arrives on September 1. Director Todd Howard says he plays it almost exclusively on his Series S and it works just great on the cheaper console.

    Update 8/24/2023 11:59 a.m. ET: Added new information about Series S version of Baldur’s Gate 3.

       

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    Ethan Gach

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