The Medium Video Goes Behind the Scenes With Its Spooky Sounds
Bloober Team's The Medium may have been delayed to early next year but it's provided an opportunity to learn even more about it. A new behind-the-scenes video highlights the process of creating music and sound with composers Arkadiusz Reikowski and Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame explaining their processes. Check it out below.
As Yamaoka notes, it's not just about creating scary sounds or startling the player but also on music and sound that's completely out of place. Combining both makes for a terrifying experience but Reikowski also emphasizes his love for silence and minimal sounds. How both styles work in unison is something we're looking forward to hearing in the final game.
The Medium is slated to release on January 28th 2021 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. It focuses on a medium named Marianne as she explores the real and spiritual worlds – sometimes both at once – to unravel a mystery. Recently, Bloober Team teased a new character based on actor Marcin DorociĆski – check that out here.
GreedFall is Coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Among the many big role-playing games to release over the years, Spiders' GreedFall has managed to stand out. The high fantasy setting, which saw players venturing to a strange island called Teer Fradee in the 17th century, was unique and emphasized one's choices. It clearly made an impression since over one million copies were sold worldwide as of August.
Thanks to fan feedback, Spiders has now announced that GreedFall will be coming to Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Additional content is also coming, which is good news since the developer didn't initially plan for the same. Expect more details on a release window, how it will leverage next-gen consoles and much more in the coming days.
Along with next-gen ports for GreedFall, Spiders is also working on Steelrising which is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. It takes place in alternate history France with King Louis XVI sending out hordes of killer robots on the populace. It's up to Queen Marie-Antoinette's robot bodyguard Aegis to take them down. A release date has yet to be announced so stay tuned.
GreedFall has sold over one million copies worldwide. Thank you so much for making the journey this incredible
!
Following our community's feedback, Teer Fradee is now coming to next-gen consoles and getting new additional content. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/hM4lcoR5Pn
— GreedFall (@greedfall) November 26, 2020
Pokemon Teases "Very Special" 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2021
Pokemon Red and Blue launched for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996, which means the franchise's 25th anniversary is almost upon us, and it seems The Pokemon Company is preparing to celebrate the occasion with all the panache and flash you'd expect. In an update on the Pokemon website, they teased "very special" anniversary celebrations for 2021, though didn't give too many details on what to expect just yet.
"The Pokémon Company International invites fans around the world to stay tuned for more information about the very special upcoming celebration of Pokémon's 25th anniversary in 2021," reads the update.
Remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have been in heavy demand for a long time, especially with the first three Pokemon generations having received the full remake treatment over the years. Fans will be hoping that Gen 4 remakes will be announced sooner rather than later.
With Pokemon Sword and Shield having wrapped up their post-launch support, the time seems right for a new mainline entry. The series' 20th anniversary in 2016 was marked by the launch of Pokemon Sun and Moon, after all.
There are a few other Pokemon games currently in development as well. That includes the free-to-play mobile MOBA game Pokemon Unite, a new Pokemon Snap title that doesn't yet have a release date, and a Detective Pikachu game for the Switch. Meanwhile, developers Game Freak have also been expanding to "create a new Pokemon series".
When Rainbow Six Siege launches on the PS5 and Xbox Series X less than a week from now, it will boast support for 4K/60 FPS, and even 120 FPS at a dynamic 4K resolution. Like many other games though, thanks to the PS5's DualSense and its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, the game will include some exclusive features on the console.
An update on the PlayStation blog states that the development team has "embraced the new DualSense wireless controller", and that it will use the controller's unique features to deliver "better immersion and improved reflexes in high-stakes gunfights."
Using the adaptive triggers, the game will emulate the resistance of a weapon's trigger, while said resistance will also vary depending on what type of weapon you're using. So while pistols will offer lighter resistance in the R2 button, the trigger will be much heavier when using weapons such as machine guns.
"Thanks to the DualSense controller's adaptive triggers, squeezing the R2 trigger emulates the resistance of an actual trigger, offering a unique feel for each weapon category and shooting gadget," the blog update reads. "For example, adaptive trigger resistance is light and quick for pistols, and heavier for bigger, powerful weapons like light machine guns. Players will also be able to feel the difference between single fire and full-automatic for full immersion."
Meanwhile, players can also expect similar implementation of the controller's haptic feedback. "Thanks to the haptic feedback players will sense impact like never before. Dynamic and immersive, haptic feedback reacts with the environment. Weapons, explosions, gadgets and so on will provide feedback directly in the player's hands."
Rainbow Six Siege will launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 1. It is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Star Wars: Squadrons' Newest Update Adds New Map, 120 FPS and 4K Support for Xbox Series X/S
Star Wars: Squadrons' update 3.0 is live now, and EA have detailed the various fixes, additions, and improvements that it brings to the game. Most notably, as EA promised earlier, support for 120 FPS has been added when running the game on Xbox Series X and Series S, while support for up to 4K resolutions has been added for the former. While the PS5 doesn't get such boosts, it does see improvements to visual quality and lighting.
Meanwhile, the Fostar Haven map has been added to the game as well, on top of plenty of new cosmetics. The update also brings with it various fixes and optimizations on a visuals front, to VR, to smooth out bugs, and more. You can check out the full, detailed patch notes through here, or check out a selection of them below.
Star Wars: Squadrons isn't the only game that's receiving such enhancements on the Xbox Series X/S, but not the PS5. Thanks to how the PS5's backward compatibility functions, other titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone and Rocket League are also facing similar limitations.
Star Wars: Squadrons is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 via backward compatibility. More updates with additional content are also inbound- read more on that through here.
PATCH NOTES:
- Added Fostar Haven as a map to Dogfight and Fleet Battles (Solo/Co-Op vs AI and PvP)
- Added next gen improvements
- The game now supports up to 120FPS and up to 4K on Xbox Series X|S
- Added an option for players on the Xbox Series X|S to prioritize enhanced visuals or enhanced performance
- Improved visual quality and lighting on PS5
- Variable frame rate support added for TVs and monitors that allow it
- The game now supports up to 120FPS and up to 4K on Xbox Series X|S
- Fixed an issue where the game could crash while changing loadouts
- Improved support for matchmaking between players with highly divergent load times
- Players who are not finished loading when the match begins will now have an additional window of time to join the match-in-progress rather than timing out on start
- Tweaked the brightness of light sources on PC so that they're no longer too bright in some instances
- Fixed issue where the sky color of Esseles would appear to change when entering/exiting the station
- Fixed an issue where the menu voice over accessibility feature could not play after entering a lobby
- Fixed issue where Steam players could fail to log in if their screen name included certain unicode characters or emojis
- Various stability improvements and minor bug fixes.
14 Most Wanted PS5 Features Sony Will Hopefully Add Soon
As far as initial sales are concerned, the PS5's launch has been a homerun for Sony, and thanks to the console's solid launch lineup, those who've managed to get their hands on the PS5 have been having a solid time with it right off the bat. Even so, the PS5 does have a few features missing that we're hoping Sony will be adding in down the line. Here, we're going to be talking about a few such features.
SIMULTANEOUS DOWNLOADS
While the PS4 allowed for simultaneous downloads, the PS5 instead puts them in a queue, which means you're only ever allowed to download one thing at a time- which is a weird step back. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, more of an inconvenience, but we're hoping that Sony will still make the decision to revert back to simultaneous downloads sooner rather than later.
SMART DELIVERY
Microsoft's Smart Delivery program has been praised by a lot of people, and for good reason, seeing as it enables cross-generation transitions for games to be a much smoother process. Just boot up one of these games on your Xbox Series X or S, and you'll automatically get the version best optimized for that system. The PS5 has no such feature, and in many cases, you even have to manually select the PS5 versions of games, since they're set to PS4 versions via backward compatibility by default. A Smart Delivery-style system would do a lot of wonders for the PS5.
LEGACY BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY
We are, of course, glad that the PS5 is backward compatible with most of the PS4's library, especially given the complete lack of the feature on the PS4. But Microsoft have shown that having backward compatibility that spans multiple generations can be a huge selling point. Having the entire PlayStation library, from PS1 to the PS4, playable on one single system would be a massive bonus- and it's not necessarily something that Sony can't add to the PS5 mid-generation. Microsoft did it with the Xbox One, after all, and we're hoping that Sony, too, will follow in their footsteps.
8K UPSCALING
4K resolution is only just now starting to be used widely, and even it isn't an industry standard just yet. The PS5 is, of course, a machine that's capable of 8K as well, however- but surprisingly enough, there's no 8K upscaling even when you're playing the console on an 8K screen. We're assuming this is just something that's missing at launch and will eventually be added in- especially since it literally says on the PS5's box that the machine is 8K capable.
DOLBY VISION AND ATMOS SUPPORT
Microsoft proudly touted not that long ago that the Xbox Series X is the first and only console ever to feature support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The PS5 supports HDR10, of course, but not Dolby Vision, while Dolby Atmos isn't supported either (not counting Atmos bitstreaming for Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray). Seeing as the PS5 is such an impressive machine on a technical level in most other ways, it not supporting Dolby Vision and Atmos is a bit of a bummer.
MASS PS4-PS5 TRANSFERS
Data transferring from a PS4 to a PS5 is really rather convenient when you're first setting up your console- though bafflingly enough, once you're done with the initial setup, it becomes something of a hassle. During that initial setup, you can transfer data from across multiple users, but if you decide not to do it right then, after that, you can only do transfers for one account at a time. Clearly, simultaneous transfers for multiple accounts is something the PS5 can do, so hopefully, Sony will release an update that will enable users to do so whenever they want.
VRR, EXPANDABLE STORAGE
Thankfully, both these things are confirmed to be coming down the road. Variable refresh rate is one of the Xbox Series X's biggest and most useful visual features, and the PS5 doesn't have it at launch. Meanwhile, the console doesn't yet support SSD expansions either, owing to the fact that no SSDs have been certified yet for that purpose. Hopefully, it won't take too long for both these features to be added in.
QUICK RESUME
The new consoles put a great deal of emphasis on speed and usability, and on the Xbox front, Quick Resume is one of the biggest and best features that enables that. The PS5 doesn't have anything like that. Sure, it has a Switch, which is a decent substitute, especially when combined with Activity cards- but it just adds in a couple of steps that make the process a little slower. Here's hoping something that's equivalent to Quick Resume will be introduced on the PS5 eventually.
MEDIA PLAYER APP
For a console to launch in 2020 – especially one as impressive as the PS5 – and not have a media player app is honestly quite surprising, and though we doubt it's a crucial feature that will make or break the purchase for anyone, it still feels like a fundamental necessity. The PS4 didn't have a Media Player app at launch either, and it took quite a while for it to get one- here's hoping the PS5 is quicker to get one.
INTERNET BROWSER
An internet browser is far from the most crucial thing that a new console needs to have, but like the Media Player app, it's something that you'd expect one to have anyway. The PS5 is a multimedia device, after all, and for it to not have an internet browser at launch is a little weird. Granted, most people probably won't be using an internet browser on their PS5, but Sony will still probably want to tick that box sooner rather than later.
"BEST DEALS" SECTION IN PS STORE
The PlayStation Store has improved massively on the PS5. Since it's no longer a separate app and built into the console's UI itself, the experience of using and navigating the store is much faster and smoother. There is one pretty glaring omission in there though- it doesn't have a section for "Deals". Just recently, the PlayStation Store had a sizeable Black Friday sale, and yet those on the PS5 had no way to navigate these deals in a single, collated page or tab. It's a pretty baffling thing to be missing, and we're hoping it'll get sorted out eventually.
NATIVE VR
The PS5 supports the PSVR, but with a catch- you can only play VR games through backward compatibility, even if it's for games that have native PS5 versions. So with games like No Man's Sky or the upcoming Hitman 3, if you want to play them in VR on the PS5, you have no choice but to play their last-gen versions. Native VR support is something that Sony should prioritize adding to the PS5, especially if upcoming technical showcases like Resident Evil Village feature VR support.
1440p SUPPORT
This has gotten plenty of attention in the last few days. The PS5 not featuring support for 1440p resolutions is a baffling error for a console that is 4K capable (or even 8K capable, as we mentioned earlier), and a huge bummer for those who play their games on 1440p monitors. To be fair, Sony has indicated that this is something they would consider adding in if there was enough demand for it. Well, there seems to be plenty of demand for it, so let's hope it doesn't take too long for this to be added to the PS5 in a future firmware update.
PS5 SAVE BACKUPS
Save backups on the PS5 are kind of tricky. Though you can backup your saves to the cloud, you can only do so if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber- there's no other way to backup your save data. That just makes no sense- why the PS5 can't allow users to backup their saves to external USB drives is beyond us. Hopefully, Sony will see the logic in letting users do that and allow it sooner rather than later.
Cyberpunk 2077 Bugs Will be Low-Level, Multiplayer Details Planned for Q1 2021
The clock is ticking on the release of Cyberpunk 2077, especially with CD Projekt RED re-affirming the current release date in its recent financial report. As far as bugs go, CD Projekt president Adam KiciĆski noted that many bugs caused by general features have been fixed. The remaining ones are low enough in level that players won't see them.
Answering in the post-Q3 earnings call (transcript via Seeking Alpha), KiciĆski said, "So, in terms of bugs, we are all aware of them. Of course, such a big gang can't be just bug free. That's the kind of obvious, but we believe that the level will be as low as to let gamers not see them. And fortunately, some bugs extended previous were caused by some general – I would say general features and many of them are already fixed.
"So, what gamers will get will be different from what – and what we viewers will get in this final review is it's better than what previewers, got."
Though multiplayer is still a ways off from release, KiciĆski did confirm that there may be some kind of update in Q1 2021. He also noted that it wasn't considered a "mode" per say but more like a "standalone product" that has ties to the single-player. "So, first, we don't call it modes. It's a separate dedicated production, a big production. And we plan – we think about it as a standalone product. Obviously, it's not entirely standalone as it comes from the universe of Cyberpunk and is very much related to the concept of single player Cyberpunk we – I came up with.
"But from our perspective, it's – is another independent production and independent team of people works on it. And there's – I said already we are not focusing right now on talking too much about other future products, products that are to be released after Cyberpunk. So please be with us in the first quarter of next year when we plan to share some strategy update. And I believe Cyberpunk multiplayer will be possible."
CD Projekt RED has yet to discuss its post-launch DLC (which will be free) and paid expansions. Perhaps more details on the same will also be coming early next year. In the meantime, Cyberpunk 2077 is currently slated to release on December 10th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia. It will run on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 as well but the developer noted that previous-gen platforms run the game "surprisingly" well given how large the world is.
Phil Spencer Says Pre-Order Woes For PS5, Xbox Series X/S Will Push Thinking About New Order Models
While this year did see the launch of new generation consoles from both Sony and Microsoft, for many it was a frustrating experience. Consoles selling out at launch is nothing new, of course, it happens with almost any new major system launch, but this year was…different. Ask anyone who tried to pre-order and well, you're bound to get a lot of tales of frustration, confusion and constant F5'ing. In part, of course, this was due to the pandemic, but there's more at work here. For instance, scalpers are using far more advanced bots to grab up pre-orders to then sell at markup and sometimes pre-order times are just dropped without warning (such as Sony did this year with the PS5). Phil Spencer knows your woes and thinks it'll lead to other purchase models being looked at.
Speaking with The Verge, Spencer talked about the frustrations felt during this pre-order period. He said both he and his PlayStation counterpart, Jim Ryan, expressed it as being a problem. He thinks ultimately these problems will lead to more buying models being looked at, giving a few examples, and that the current way of doing things on their end may be outdated.
"We want people to feel like there's some consoles to go buy, and it's not just the day where everybody gets to go pick up their console. I don't know if that's the right decision in today's world. That's very old world thinking, people are going to go line up outside of a store, kind of last decade thinking. I think we should challenge ourselves on that. Is that really the supply chain through the consumer that we're talking about, that is a reality? We talked to our retail partners about this as well.
"I do think this business is going through, both for us and Sony — Jim Ryan [at Sony], I have a lot of respect for him, we both have lamented how these preorders have gone and what problem are we really solving when we seem to still have as many upset customers as we have, because they can't get our product. I do think it's going to push us to think about new models. It could be, reserve your slot. It could be doing things more direct with the customer. Still could have the retailer fulfill the order, but just so people can have more clarity on when they can get a console. It's something we're working on."
The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S weren't the only mass produced entertainment products released this year. Apple released new iPhones and Macbooks, for instance, and while they came later than usual, they had no significant delays or stock issues. So clearly, there is an alternative going forward. For now, though, all the new generation systems seem to be having stock issues that will hopefully be remedied by the beginnings of next year.
Yuke's Senior VP Confirms Their New Wrestling Game Became Upcoming AEW Title
It was last year when Yuke's and 2K games parted ways on the WWE license. It was the end of an era as the developer had been part of that license since before 2K held it (back when THQ had exclusive rights) and had been instrumental in creating WWE titles for roughly two decades. It wasn't too surprising when earlier this year it was announced that Yuke's was developing a title around AEW, a new rival wrestling promotion, considering that long history. We also got confirmation it's been worked on in some form since last year as well.
Yuke's Producer and Senior Vice President Hiromi Furuta last year talked about a new wrestling game they were developing. At the time, they had not left the WWE licenses so it wasn't clear what they were working on. Now, speaking to VGC, Furuta confirmed that game became the upcoming AEW title they're working on when asked. It wasn't always the case it seems, but it seemingly shifted into that once the deal with the new wrestling promotion was made.
"At that time there was the possibility of it becoming something else, but your understanding is correct. However, it was very recently that we began making the game with AEW. Unfortunately, [it's] too early for us to discuss [details] at this time."
It's unclear at this point what the AEW game will look like, though it seems to be going in a more arcade-like, over the top style that WWE/WCW titles had in the late '90s and early 2000s before they started to lean heavily into simulation. AEW is also much more comedy-focused than WWE, so that approach makes a lot of sense.
Furuta also says she doesn't look at this new project as a direct competitor to whatever WWE 2K will now look like in their absence, and the developer is more focused on just creating it as an AEW product. There's no time frame for when to expect this title, but it'll make the first time in many years there will be more than one wrestling product on the market, so it should be interesting no matter what.
Just Cause 4, Rocket Arena, And Worms Rumble Are December's PS Plus Titles
We're at the point now to where the year is slowly winding down. Thanksgiving is here (if you're in the United States) and December is right around the corner. It's been a year I imagine a lot of us want to put behind us with hope that 2021 will be a lot better. With one last month also comes one last month of free titles for PS Plus and now we know what Sony is giving us to close out the year.
The final PS Plus selection for 2020 consists of three titles. First up is the multiplayer-focused Rocket Arena, a unique 3v3 title all about blowing each other up. Then you have the massive open world title from Avalanche Studios Just Cause 4 that will allow you to also blow up a lot of stuff, but in a huge sandbox world. Finally, like last month, we have a game that will be debuting day and date on PS Plus, Worms Rumble, a new entry in the franchise all about worms blowing each other up in turn-based warfare.
All three titles will be available to redeem for PS Plus members starting December 1st. All three games will also be redeemable on either PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4.
December's PlayStation Plus games bring the chaos, with Worms Rumble, Just Cause 4 and Rocket Arena leading the line-up: https://t.co/VCTOJtmOH2 pic.twitter.com/foo1B6tss6
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) November 25, 2020