Toadette's my gal :heart:

There is a Battle Chasers video game on the way

what the actual fuck is going on right now I don't even

On Twitter, Game accidentally gave away their stock of PSVR and said they were getting in 6,000 with 3,000 of then selling overnight on the 15th (which was unpublicised, only way to find a link was via Twitter). I think it's safe to assume Amazon got around the same with how big they are, then ShopTo and Zavvi less. Pretty much points to a conservative, small launch in October.

MightyApe in New Zealand have confirmed that all orders now are for the second batch and that batch is coming pre Christmas. With PSVR being Amazon's number 1 seller in games for 3 days straight despite selling out the day 1 stock in minutes, hopefully Sony can keep up with demand.

Honestly surprised it's doing so well. Thought that it would only sell a small amount until more people actually got to try it.

Fallout 4 Season Pass is free accidentally on PSN in Europe

https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-...LLOUT4SEASPASS

And it's fixed.

So normally I'd be all "grain of salt" about this being on Kotaku and probably not even post this, but Klepek is usally pretty good at getting multiple confirmations and that so unless Kotaku has corrupted his brain since leaving Giant Bomb and having his beard shaved by the New Day, there's at least some substance to this.

Sony are doing a Playstation 4.5 as well to run games at 4k

http://kotaku.com/sources-sony-is-wo...4-5-1765723053

I could buy internal pressure from within Sony for the Playstation division to push 4k TVs and UHD Blu Ray, so maybe? Could help get the next level for VR as well.

Feels like a weird time to be on a console right now.

I think this is what has everyone in "upgrade mode". It also makes it seem like they want to "compete" with PC in a sense.


If this is how consoles are going to begin cycles, then booooooooooooooooo at them.

I'm so glad I give zero fucks about VR or any other nonsense. Just give me good ol' PC gaming

If I had to guess, its probably mainly due to their upcoming VR headset since they recently stated about having very strict requirements for the device and devs should probably stick to making party games. Other stuff will benefit as well but priority was probably for VR to help close some of the tech gap while keeping it affordable.
http://www.destructoid.com/sony-is-n...r-349329.phtml

That and probably another recent instance of them wanting Microsoft to get all the online heat/anger first before making their own similar announcement.

I could see them upgrading to a new model, like the slim, but the 4K stuff can't be right. Maybe it'll just upscale to 4K. Patrick is probably right about the source but I don't buy the 4K speculation at all. That is way beyond a trivial upgrade, if it's even feasible.

They're coming up to the time that they could do a 'slim' edition, and maybe they want to go all in and build in something to help support the PSVR? I don't see that being the best move either, there's no advantage to increasing your hardware cost inherently.

The only way I could see 4k in games being feasible would be if AMD's new architecture being amazing to make it the same price as a launch PS4 to get a mid range GPU in there again. Nvidia is claiming that their next chip Pascal has 2x the performance at every price level so maybe?

If developers are just being briefed and they don't have dev kits, I'm guessing we'd be 2 years away at the earliest. if AMD's new chips aren't good enough, I could see it still being billed as a 4k device as it outputs in 4k and plays UHD blu rays, but games just run somewhere between 1080p and 4k depending on graphical quality and just upscales.

Today's News:
1) SALES:

• Sony currently holding a Flash Sale on PSN with Transformers Devastation at $17.49 among the games on sale.
  http://www.destructoid.com/this-psn-...9-349588.phtml
  https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-...FLASHSALEWEBLP
• One year memberships for Playstation Plus currently on sale for $40 at a reliable eBay retailer's online shop.
  http://www.destructoid.com/get-a-yea...0-349551.phtml

2) A supposed image of the Nintendo NX's controller is rumored to have been recently leaked online and is very similar to a patent image revealed last December.
http://www.destructoid.com/are-these...--349431.phtml

3) Microsoft announced Alan Wake, Pac-Man, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night have recently been added to the Xbox One's compatibility list. Halo Wars is expected to be among the next batch of games based on recent Xbox One preview programs.
http://www.destructoid.com/castlevan...e-349413.phtml
http://www.destructoid.com/halo-wars...m-349511.phtml

4) According to reports, Valve's paid user-mod store for DOTA 2 is currently dealing with similar problems that plagued the previously failed Fallout 4 mod store. At least one paid mod was recently discovered to contain about 15 art assets that were stolen or plagiarized from other mods.
http://www.destructoid.com/does-dota...--349480.phtml

5) For those in Europe, Nintendo announced a special edition bundle for Star Fox Zero priced at £79.99 will include two Star Fox series amiibos, a Star Fox hat, and a Star Fox designed shirt.
http://www.destructoid.com/star-fox-...e-349529.phtml

6) Telltale Games teased they will reveal more details regarding their upcoming Batman game during their panel at SXSW tonight.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/fir.../1100-6435782/

Interesting clarification:

http://i.cubeupload.com/SqohAK.png

it's just what Sony is talking about to devs though, but they must see some kind of affordable possibility.

Pascal was advertised at 2x performance/Watt compared to Maxwell, and that's not related to what game developers can extract either. The 16nm node brings a TDP decrease so the power consumption will be lower. The performance with the smaller die coming this year won't be 2x that of the GTX 980 Ti or the Titan X by any means. Ditto with AMD and Polaris (14 nm) but these are also smaller dies and definitely won't be enough to do 4k gaming. All this before the part where these are discrete GPUs and not APUs which are what will be used.

4k games at lower settings and frame rates won't look great tbh. I would rather they target 1080p, high or 1440p, mid-high and upscale to 4k rather than native 4k.

It is 2x per watt, but the claims before that were that 'big Pascal' (eg the Titan equivilent) could do 2x the actual performance of the 980ti. NVidia are going to hold that chip back as always, but if AMD can do a similar jump at every price level within the next 2 years, I think it can be done. The APU is still mid-range equivilent; 2xing the current APU would make some (and key word on some) games 4k capable.

it's going to be interesting if it happens. not sure if I'm on board with it or not in terms of purchasing, but going to be fun to track.

The problem is that APU dies can't fit HBM memory yet nor have the memory controller for it, and the upcoming GPU dies from AMD are slated to use it. The Zen-based APUs that are slated to use HBM will be available next fall based on their time line so that could potentially work.

I think you've nailed it, I've not taken into account the HBM. I wonder if using that in a custom way could allow HBM to be stacked on a an APU, like a special motherboard with a wider APU die or something. Or they try to make this a premium system and actually do have a seperate nano style GPU that's sort of XB1 sized?

Just thinking aloud at the possibilities. Like I said, Klepek has proper journalist chops unlike most people in games media, so if he has multiple sources saying the same things, Sony at least have something in the idea pipline.

It will depend on how much Sony wants to spend and charge customers, but of course it is doable. I have some PC systems here that fit the same footprint as the XB1 and have liquid cooled cpu and GPU(s) but no one in their right mind will pay for this to be a console.

If this isn't a PS4 Slim or whatever, then I would assume it's a zen based APU with native HBM and DDR4.

Yeah, in my head right now, I'm thinking of a premium PS4 with the hardware for the PSVR breakout box built in, plays 4k blu rays, bigger than the current PS4 and has a dedicated GPU for $5-600. Much like the PSX PS2-based media system; totally optional. All games still run on the regular PS4, but as part of the dev certification, since most PS4 games come out on PC or are Sony made, there's a PS4K mode that runs the game at a higher setting. Maybe one or two exclusive games like the New 3DS, but almost every game is just enhanced by the new hardware.

Sells enough to be worth it, but not enough to replace the PS4 as it stands now.

Dedicated GPU is a stretch, but the rest sounds reasonable. Anyway let's see what happens.

If they can't get HBM on an APU, I think that's all they can do. Honestly, we could wait, but I think speculating is the most fun we can have in the current console clusterfuck. At the turn of the year, I thought it would only be VR and Nintendos new thing to look forward to, but now it seems MS and Sony want to complicate things! Even if I don't want to buy their new things, I kinda like it.

Fair enough. It's the closest console owners will come to the joy and anguish of PC DIY upgrading every so often. The drama and gossip is.. something else.

Hey, and I've got that too! Upgraded the laptop to a 980M and going to upgrade the desktop from a 560ti to Pascal most likely. Going to wait for the higher end Pascal though as the current rumors are pointing the launch Pascal chips to be at best 970 replacements with GDDR5X rather than HBM2.

Since my laptop has a better CPU than my 2500k, might even see how these external graphics cards work out and cosider plugging one of them into the laptop rather than upgrade the desktop.

I can't break NDA but rumors point to the June Pascal GPUs to not be GTX 970 replacements, but closer to GTX 980 Ti or higher.

Does your laptop have a USB type C thunderbolt connection? I haven't tried out the newer eGPU solution but the ones from last year were so-so.

Woohoo baby. I won't post that over at GAF as a sourced rumour ;) Got both USB C and Thunderbolt which I believe are on the same bus so it's ready. I've heard good things about the Razer solution, so waiting on some benchmarks compared to a regular PCI-E card in a desktop and i may go that route if it works.

Eh, the rumors I mentioned are already out there from a lot of "journalists" so it's nothing new. They could be true, or false.

Yeah, I am waiting on benchmarks and FCAT frame rates on eGPU vs PCI-E GPU myself.

Awfully reasoned analysis by Rog over Sony getting all iteration happy.

What do you mean? The XBox story was based on what MS have said, the Sony story is based on sources, wwhich Rog clearly doesn't believe yet. Even if they're both as true as each other, he probably has the same reaction as much of the public. MS played a blinder with the cross netwrork announcement because it forced Sony to say "uhhhhh, it depends per game, but they can ask!". I t was akin to the Sony "This is how you borrow games" video.

This is more Sony letting MS test the waters since they are just briefing people right now, so if both upgrades happen, MS will go first and Sony will adapt

I love how massive a baby you are about all this. In addition to all your other flaws, you're a massive console warrior and have harboured a grudge for weeks because of what your beloved company is doing. So all you can manage to take out is that I must suck Sony's cock. Maybe you didn't leave #gamergate, maybe they kicked you out because you were too bias.

Xbox Done

MS asked in a survey of your like to "trade in" your digital games for 10% of the cost.

For £5 I'd probably just leave them in case I ever get the itch to play again.

The cost of the game at current level? Or the cost of the game you paid originally?

Just in case anyone cares, the ex-GameTrailers crew are back together and doing a Patreon for their new thing called Easy Allies. Already over $11,000 per month after 6 hours.

https://www.patreon.com/EasyAllies

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SXrab4xqyvg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Today's News:
1) The director of The Division, Ryan Barnard, has recently left Ubisoft to join IO Interactive as the new gameplay director for the studio.
http://www.destructoid.com/the-divis...t-349806.phtml

2) Update to Telltale Games episodic Batman series news as the studio revealed the first episode will arrive this summer and is being developed by the Tales from the Borderlands dev team.
http://www.destructoid.com/telltale-...r-349610.phtml

3) First gameplay trailer for Pokemon Go was recently released by developer Niantic.
http://www.destructoid.com/first-pok...t-349973.phtml

4) The developer of the Scribblenauts series 5th Cell has recently shut down according to tweets from the studio's lead animator. Layoffs started last week with the shut down occurring today.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/scr.../1100-6435886/

Sony closed Evolution Studios. Seems 2 million sales + season passes aren't good enough anymore.

Did Driveclub ever even get fixed? It seemed like a perpetual disaster

Yeah, about a month or so after launch. They've still been releasing free updates and bonus DLC to the season pass past what was promised too.

Also, it was quite funny as part of Sony's statement said they were "looking into other job opportunities for those affected" and a bunch of Americans were going "At least Sony is doing the right thing!"... No, they actually legally have to in the UK. We have employment laws here.

Today's News:
1) SALES & FREEBIES

• Major Nelson revealed this week's sales on the Xbox Marketplace. Also revealed the annual Xbox Spring Sale starts today and lasts till March 28th.
  http://majornelson.com/2016/03/21/sp...potlight-sale/
• For those in Canada, Toys R Us is currently having a "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" sale on amiibos from now until March 27th.
  http://www.destructoid.com/canadian-...n-350080.phtml
• Treyarch announced the Nuketown map in Call of Duty Black Ops III is currently available for free for all PS4, Xbox One, and PC owners of the game.
  http://www.destructoid.com/black-ops...e-350070.phtml

2) Update to Hasney's Evolution Studios news as the studio was hit with a wave of layoffs last month to set up its eventual closure and official reason is due to Sony's restructuring plans for their European studios.
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/so...r-e/1100-5420/

3) Update to the recent 5th Cell shutting down news as the studio revealed they are not shutting down but had to layoff a portion of their staff due to a recent project in development being canned.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...s-project.aspx

4) Telltale Games announced Season 3 of The Walking Dead series will be arriving later this year.
http://www.destructoid.com/telltale-...r-350262.phtml

5) Capcom is currently considering the idea of making a new Mega Man game based on a recent survey.
http://www.destructoid.com/capcom-pu...n-350133.phtml

6) During a recent interview with IGN, Bungie's former composer Marty O'Donnell revealed Halo 2 was never originally planned to have an abrupt ending and only occurred due to the studio running out of time to develop the game. The original plans story-wise would have been similar to certain parts of Halo 3's story.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hal.../1100-6435921/

A recent survey?

The fact that they needed a survey to tell them people want new mega man, is so god damn capcopm I don't even