Battlefield 6 Rumored To Have Future Setting And New Battle Royale Mode

battlefield 5

Over the last few months, there's been various rumors popping up about the next entry in EA and DICE's Battlefield series, which many online are referring to as Battlefield 6 for now. Most of those are about the state of the online, such as having some kind of free to play mode and Battle Passes. A new alleged leak is out here now, and it appears to be quite the dozy.

According to leaker Tom Henderson, the official name of this game will not be Battlefield 6, and instead will be opted to just be titled Battlefield. It will have a future setting, though not super far in the future, more around 10-15 years from today. It will, however, include things like military robots and drones, so there will be some futuristic tech. Henderson also says that the game's multiplayer will be like Battlefield 3 and 4's 'on steroids', and a new Battle Royale mode will come with the game, though it's unclear if it'll be there at launch.

Henderson has leaked things reliably for the franchise in the past, but even so, as always take leaks with a grain of salt. If other rumors are to be believed, the game is set to get unveiled as early as May. Whatever this looks like, we may be seeing it soon.

The Falconeer Gets New Trailer And Update, "Atun's Folly"

the falconeer

There were many games that came with the launch of new generation consoles in November of last year ranging from small scale indie titles to mainstream hits. One of those on the Xbox side was The Falconeer. The game saw you in high-flying situations as you rode a giant falcon in the sky. It's been doing a good job of getting updates as well, including the free Kraken update the end of last year. Now, there's more, and it seems to include a pirate's life.

A new update has now been released for the game, called Atun's Folly. It will see a new pirate settlement where players can receive missions and raid Imperium's traders. Like the Kraken update mentioned above, this was free of charge to all versions of the game. Alongside the update, there is also a trailer giving you a look at what to expect. You can see it in full below.

The Falconeer is available now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. The Atun's Folly update is live now across all platforms. You can read our full review of the game through here.

PAX East 2021 Cancelled, Will Be Replaced With PAX Online 2021 July 15-18

PAX-Online

The COVID pandemic had a massive impact worldwide and will, in forms we may not even realize as of now, be something that has changed the course of our lives. One big hit, specifically, from last year was the mass amount of conventions and public events that were canceled outright or replaced with a digital event. While vaccines are here, and vaccination is on a steady rise, we aren't quite back to normal just yet, as shown by one event going digital-only.

ReedPop and Penny Arcade announced the official cancellation of PAX East 2021. They had announced dates for PAX events near the end of 2020, and all of them were scheduled to be in-person events. That was not to be, and in place of PAX East this year will be PAX Online 2021, a virtual event. While they said the cancellation was due to continued health concerns, they remained optimistic that PAX Unplugged and PAX West 2021 could continue as originally announced in September and December. Only time will tell there, however.

PAX Online 2021 will run from July 15th to the 18th.

Sony Officially Announces Closure Of PS3, PSP Stores On July 2, Vita On August 27

PlayStation logo

Earlier this month, there was a rumor that popped up that Sony was on the verge of closing the digital storefronts for three different PlayStation hardwares, specifically the PS3, the PSP and the Vita. Sony didn't officially comment on the rumor, but many noticed that the webstores for those stores were now down, meaning you can only access them via a version of that respective hardware. Now, though, it has been made official.

Via their official PlayStation support website, Sony has announced that the store closures will happen. The PS3 and PSP stores will be taken down in July, and the Vita will get a big more lease on life before being taken down in August. This means you lose all ability to buy games and DLC from the store, purchase in-game currency to games running on those systems, and redeem any kind of code or voucher through those storefronts. You will be able to download your previous purchases, however.

The PS3 and PSP stores will close on July 2nd while the Vita will close on August 27th. If you have any games from those systems you've been waiting on, now is the time to go ahead and buy them.

Cyberpunk 2077's Patch 1.2 Is Out Now For Consoles And PC

Cyberpunk 2077_11

Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the biggest games of 2020, but also one that launched with some of the most technical issues we've seen for a mainstream release in some time. Publisher and developer CD Projekt RED have been working on various fixes since then, which were delayed by an unfortunate cyberattack. Now, though, the time has come for the biggest update to the game thus far.

Earlier, the company released the massive changelog for Update 1.2, of which you can read more about through here. They did not give a date for the release, only that it would be 'soon.' Well, it ended up being very soon, as the patch has now gone live for consoles and PC. It includes over 500 listed changes from gameplay fixes, technical issues and tweaks to various quests. The game was pulled from the PlayStation store not long after its initial launch, but no word on whether this patch will allow it to return.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PlayStation 4 (via physical copies only), Xbox One, PC and Stadia. 1.2 is live now for consoles and PC with the Stadia version set to come at a later date.

Ratchet and Clank Will Receive PS5 Update in April

While the wait continues for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, fans of the 2016 reboot will have something to look forward. Insomniac Games has announced on Twitter that Ratchet and Clank on PS4 will receive a free update for PS5 in April. This will allow it to run at 60 frames per second on Sony's new console.

Those who have never played the game are also in luck. It's currently free on the PlayStation Store until March 31st as part of the "Play at Home" initiative. Other titles that are available free include Subnautica, ABZU, Enter the Gungeon, Rez Infinite, Paper Beast and more.

For more details on Ratchet and Clank (2016), check out our review here. As for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, it's releasing on June 11th for PS5 and will feature options for 4K/30 FPS and 60 FPS at a lower resolution. The story sees Ratchet and Clank working to stop a dimensional collapse and evil emperor from threatening all of reality. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Monster Hunter Rise Tops UK Charts, Super Mario 3D All-Stars Sales Surge

Monster Hunter Rise

The latest Gfk Chart-Track sales are in and it's no surprise that Monster Hunter Rise has topped the charts in the UK. It's the second biggest launch for the series in UK history, despite sales being 43 percent less than Monster Hunter World (which launched on two platforms instead of one). Sales are twice that of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the Nintendo 3DS though.

Of course, it's also no surprise that sales for Super Mario 3D All-Stars surged by 276 percent week-on-week. The reason is that it's being delisting after March 31st (which extends to the Nintendo eShop). Combine this with Nintendo reminding consumers of the same just last week and the sales increase makes sense.

Other noteworthy results for the week ending March 27th include Animal Crossing: New Horizons dropping to third place even with sales increasing by 11 percent. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury dropped from second to fourth place with sales increasing by 1 percent. Check out the full top ten list below.

  1. Monster Hunter Rise
  2. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
  3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
  4. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
  5. Minecraft Dungeons
  6. Minecraft (Switch)
  7. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
  8. FIFA 21
  9. Luigi's Mansion 3
  10. Super Mario Odyssey

Atelier Ryza Series Crosses 1 Million Units Shipped

atelier ryza 2

Koei Tecmo and Gust have announced that shipments for the Atelier Ryza series has passed one million units. A special DLC costume for both titles will be released later to celebrate. Costumes from Summer Adventure and Divertimento Embrace will be made available till March 31st for the first game as well.

As part of Gust's long-running Atelier series, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout released in 2019 for PS4, Switch and PC. It was a big success and would go on to sell half a million units in 11 months. Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy would first release in December 2020 for Japan before coming to consoles and PC worldwide in January 2021. Koei Tecmo reported 220,000 units sold as of January 25th.

For more details on the sequel, check out our review here. Additional DLC will be released for Atelier Ryza 2 as part of its Season Pass in the coming months. As for what the future of the franchise holds, stay tuned for more details.

https://twitter.com/koeitecmoeurope/status/1376474238413070337

Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition Spring Update Stream Coming April 6th

Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition

A new Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition stream is coming next week. Capcom has confirmed that the Spring Update stream will take place on April 6th at 3 PM PDT via YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. It will focus on upcoming characters like Rose and Oro will also providing updates on Season 5.

Season 5 was revealed in August 2020 and features new characters like Dan Hibiki, Rose, Oro, Akira Kazama from Rival Schools and a fifth mystery fighter. Dan was originally slated to release in Winter 2020 but got pushed back to February 2021. The livestream will likely reveal when characters like Rose and Oro can be expected.

We may also find out new details on Akira, who was originally slated to release in the Summer along with Oro. Stay tuned for more details next week. In the meantime, Capcom is also rumored to be working on Street Fighter 6 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, Xbox One and PC. It was meant to release this year but faced delays due to development troubles (though things are now back on track under a new director).

https://twitter.com/StreetFighter/status/1376535259181944838

PS5's SSD Bandwidth Leveraging Texture Streaming Could Offer Advantage Over Xbox Series X – Dev

ps5 xbox series x

The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have only been out for a few months but they've already made a huge impact on the industry. Comparisons of power are still ongoing but is there any significant advantage that one console could have over another? Paolo Pavani and Dennis Cabella of Innovina Interactive, which is developing the dystopian adventure title The Plane Effect with PQube and Studio Kiku, offered their responses on the same.

When asked about comparisons between the GPU speeds of both consoles – with the PS5 offering 10.28 TFLOPS vs. the Xbox Series X's 12 TFLOPS – and the impact on development, the duo said, "We don't think there will be much difference between the two consoles at this point." What about the PS5's solid state drive, which boasts a 5.5 GB/s read bandwidth (raw) and 8-9 GB/s (compressed) versus the Xbox Series X's 2.4GB/s (raw) and 4.8GB/s (compressed)? When asked about advantages that the former could provide, the developers responded that, "Leveraging the texture streaming technology for this could be one point of advantage for the PS5."

There's also the matter of the Xbox Series S, which has been billed as a machine capable of running titles at 1440p/60 FPS. While hitting 4K resolution on most titles will be tough, especially in the coming years, Pavani and Cabella feel that, "The Xbox Series S will be a good compromise to have excellent FPS performances at 4K, Xbox Series X will allow the gamers to experience 8K too."

The Plane Effect is currently in development for Xbox Series X, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch with no plans for an Xbox Series S version. It doesn't currently have a release window.