The Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit includes resources that include:

• Power Monitor tools
• Certification reports
• Power consumption dashboards
• Best practices

Ubisoft and 343 Industries were named as early users of the Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit with 343 Industries able to reduce energy use by 15% without impacting the player experience at all.

Ubisoft and Xbox are co-developing an energy-efficient eco-mode for users.

You can check out the full report right here.

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According to Windows Central, the survey suggested that a potential $3 subscription tier offering come with features, such as allowing users to play new first-party Xbox titles six months after launch, and would include Xbox’s slate of exclusive titles as well.

Multiplayer and EA Access games would also be accessible in this new potential tier offering.

With Game Pass reportedly falling short of it’s target in growth, back in October, it makes sense that they are exploring new tier offerings.

The post Microsoft Gauging Interest in Xbox Game Pass Ad-Supported Tier appeared first on Sudairy.

Per the report,  over £500,000 worth of hardware was taken, as the units were en route to a Funstock warehouse in the United Kingdom where the limited edition Evercade consoles were being sold.

“We at Blaze are hugely frustrated and angry that this has occurred, and with these products so close to release the timing could not be worse,” Andrew Byatt, CEO of Blaze Entertainment said in an official statement. “We have shared all the information, including evidence of theft, with the UK Police and we await news of their investigations.”

Byatt said that the company is “hopeful of recovering the stock” and said that the company had already started production on replacements to be sent out as soon as possible.

The post Blaze Entertainment Says Evercade Units Stolen in Robbery appeared first on Sudairy.

The PlayStation China Hero Project will invest over 1 million yen, or $140,000, into individual projects made within China.

Sony director of China game production Bao Bo said that the incubator will benefit teams of varying sizes, from smaller, independent studios to those with “a dozen engineers or more.”

“The scale of the third season will far exceed the previous two,” Bao said.

“We want gamers around the world to better understand the creativity that comes from China. I have always had a dream which is for console gaming to become a regular part of daily entertainment for Chinese people,” Tatsuo Eguchi, president of SIE Shanghai said.

The post Sony Planning to Expand Incubator for Chinese Games appeared first on Sudairy.

Microsoft has a deal in place to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind Call of Duty, for around $69 billion, but the deal has been scrutinized by competitions regulators, including the UKs Competition and Market Authority, with concerns that Microsoft could end up “withholding or degrading” Activision Blizzard works from other consoles or even subscription services.

Ryan spoke out about the offer.

“I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum,” Ryan said, according to Gamesindustry.biz.

“Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”

The post Playstation Calls Xbox’s Call of Duty Offer “inadequate on many levels” appeared first on Sudairy.

“Logitech G’s leadership in PC and console gaming gear make them an ideal partner to help us realize the vision of bringing a better gaming experience to gamers around the globe,” said Tencent Games Smart Solution Innovation Lab general manager Daniel Wu. “Today marks the start of a new opportunity for our companies to further push the frontiers of gaming devices.”

As of this writing, there is no official release date associated with the console, and marketing plans are not currently known although it will likely include elements of Influencer Marketing and even Video Game SEO to help scale.

Earlier this year, Xbox was reportedly planning to launch a cloud streaming device sometime in 2023, but no official statement has been issued by Microsoft since.

The post Logitech, Tencent Team Up for New Cloud Console appeared first on Sudairy.

The showcase will be held on Thursday, September 9th and it will be packed with updates from Playstation Studios, industry developers, and more as the company gears up for the upcoming holiday season.

The PlayStation Showcase begins at 1pm EST on YouTube and Twitch.

The post Playstation Showcase Coming Next Week appeared first on Sudairy.

According to Dealabs, there are three new games on the way, for free, for Playstation Plus members.

Those games are rumored to be ‘Overcooked All You Can Eat’, ‘Hitman 2’ and the multiplayer survival shooter ‘Predator: Hunting Grounds’.

While nothing has been officially announced, or confirmed, the rumored games could be heading your way later this week.

The post PlayStation Plus Game Lineup for September Leaked appeared first on Sudairy.

Spencer says that competitive platforms aren’t “really interested” in having the “full Xbox experience on their hardware”, during  an interview with Game Star.

“The thing about other gaming console platforms is we’re not able to bring a full Xbox experience on those platforms,” Spencer said (h/t TweakTown).

“In places where we have, like mobile phones like we’re doing now with xCloud coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate” Spencer continued.

“What we’ve done with PC in bringing our full Xbox experience there. Because we know when somebody is playing one of our Xbox games there is an expectation that “I’ve got my Xbox LIVE community, I have my achievements, Game Pass is an option for me, my first-party library is completely there”.

“The other competitive platforms aren’t really that interested in having a full Xbox experience on their hardware. But for us, we want to be where gamers want to be and that’s the path that we’re on.”

The post Xbox Game Pass Not Coming to Competing Consoles appeared first on Sudairy.

Gamed Done Quick has announced it’s plans, and schedule, for its Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon that will raise money for Doctors Without Borders amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The event, which will now be online, will start on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 10:30am CT with a pre-show, and conclude the following Saturday, Aug. 22 at 7:55pm CT.

“We’re excited to continue showcasing some of the most talented speedrunners in the world while observing best practices to keep everyone safe in the midst of a global pandemic,” GDQ director of marketing and business development Kasumi Yogi said, according to Dexerto.

Summer Games Done Quick has been raising money exclusively for Doctors Without Borders since 2013, and set an all-time high for raising money, $3 million, for the 2019 event.

The post Summer Games Done Quick Releases Schedule appeared first on Sudairy.

For players that participated in the alpha, you will be granted access to the closed beta, and invitations for alpha have been sent to those who signed up.

Additionally, more invitations to the closed beta will be sent out to Insiders as time progresses.

A new update has also been deployed, and Alpha build 1.5.4.0 fixes some bugs, improves the flight model, made tweaks to the weather, and implemented changes to some of the planes, airports, and more.

There has been talk that the game could make an appearance during the upcoming Microsoft Games Showcase.

The post Microsoft Flight Simulator Closed Beta Kicks Off July 30 appeared first on Sudairy.

Xbox boss Phil Spector dismissed the idea that games will be “held back” by Microsoft’s development studios’ efforts to create games that are cross-gen between the two consoles.

Spector when on to make the analogy to PC game, saying that you have games that are powerful with the “highest fidelity” which will also “work across a set of hardware.”

“Frankly, held back is a meme that gets created by people who are too caught up in device competition,” Spencer said, during an interview with Gi.biz.

“I just look at Windows. It’s almost certain if the developer is building a Windows version of their game, then the most powerful and highest fidelity version is the PC version. You can even see that with some of our first-party console games going to PC, even from our competitors, that the richest version is the PC version. Yet the PC ecosystem is the most diverse when it comes to hardware, when you think about the CPUs and GPUs from years ago that are there.

“Yes, every developer is going to find a line and say that this is the hardware that I am going to support, but the diversity of hardware choice in PC has not held back the highest fidelity PC games on the market. The highest fidelity PC games rival anything that anybody has ever seen in video games. So this idea that developers don’t know how to build games, or game engines, or ecosystems, that work across a set of hardware… there’s a proof point in PC that shows that’s not the case.”

Spencer also pointed out, when discussing next-gen consoles, that better load times, fidelity, frame-rate, and input latency should be celebrated, but added that you cannot “exclude people from being able to play.”

Spencer said that Microsoft wants it’s customers to play it’s games on any device they wants, adding that players are at the center of the company’s strategy because gaming is “bigger than one device.”

“Our device is not the center of our strategy, our game is not the center of the strategy,” Spencer said. “We want to enable you to play the games you want to play with the friends you want to play with, on any device. On TV, the Xbox console is going to be the best way to play console games. Xbox Series X is the most powerful console out there and it will have absolutely the best versions of our console games. But that’s not to exclude other people from being able to play.

“Gaming is about entertainment and community and diversion and learning new stories and new perspectives, and I find it completely counter to what gaming is about to say that part of that is to lock people away from being able to experience those games” he added.

“Or to force someone to buy my specific device on the day that I want them to go buy it, in order to partake in what gaming is about.”

“Gaming is bigger than any one device, and that is something as an industry that we’ve embraced all up as we bring more and more players in. I think it’s vital to the role that gaming can play on the planet.”

The post Xbox Series X Aren’t Held Back by Cross-Gen Development appeared first on Sudairy.

It’s a good response to current times, with a number of people now forced to work at home due to COVID-19 and associated Stay-at-Home orders and quarantine practices.

“By giving developers access to our PC Content Test App (PC CTA) they can remotely connect to their Xbox Development Kits from their PC, allowing them to test, play and iterate as if they were in the office. It also prevents them from having to download daily builds to local hardware in the home, which can often take hours,” Microsoft stated.

Infinity Ward, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Rare, Turn 10, Undead Labs and Eidos Montreal are among some of the major studios that have been using this technology since it went live.

“Using the PC Content Test app enables us to bring back our old workflows wholesale. Installs to kits on-site are now minutes rather than the hours it takes to download remotely, and we have the flexibility to react when something goes wrong,” Rare’s technical director Sean Davies said.

The post Microsoft Announces Project xCloud for Developers appeared first on Sudairy.

Stardew Valley 1.5 update… notice anything new in Willy’s shop? Progress on the update is coming along steadily. It’s still in a “nose to the grindstone” phase, but some good milestones have been met. This update adds a significant new piece of end-game content and much more! pic.twitter.com/FmjgDJnqYO

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) July 6, 2020

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Clocking in at 135 MB, the patch is now available across all platforms.

Apex Update 1.42 Patch Notes

• Stability Improvements and Bug Fixes.
• Fixes addressing Loba’s tactical usability on World’s Edge. There are still some known cases we’re continuing to work on but it should work much better now.
• Mobile Respawn Beacon has been added to all modes.

The post Apex Legends Update 1.42 Arrives appeared first on Sudairy.

This entry follows the first, which was Man of Medan that was released in August 2019.

According to the official synopsis: “Trapped by a mysterious fog in the abandoned town of Little Hope, four college students and their professor search desperately for a means of escape whilst visions from the town’s gruesome and sinister past haunt them from the shadows. In order to stay alive, they must uncover the mysteries behind these dark apparitions before evil forces drag each of their souls to hell.”

The post The Dark Pictures: Little Hope Arrives on October 30th appeared first on Sudairy.

Summer is in full swing!

Xbox Games with Gold for July 2020

Xbox One

• WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship (July 1-July 31)
• Dunk Lords (July 16-August 15)

Xbox 360

• Saints Row 2 (July 1-15)
• Juju (July 16-31)

The post Xbox Games with Gold: July 2020 appeared first on Sudairy.

Halo 3 has been a favorite among the original Halo trilogy, and is popular based on it’s multiplayer function, which kept fans coming back for more and more.

A July 14th debut builds some buzz ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X showcase that is scheduled for July 23rd, where the company plans to show off first-party games, which includes Halo Infinite.

The post Halo 3 Arrives on PC on July 14 appeared first on Sudairy.

Clocking in with a pricetag of $119, or 12,800 yen in Japan, the Astro City Mini, according to Sega’s official press release, measures 150mm across, 67mm deep, and 30mm high (could be an error).

Sega also revealed the first 10 games for the mini and they include: Virtua Fighter, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder, Alienstorm, Alien Syndrome, Columns II, Dark Edge, Puzzle & Action: Tant-R, and Altered Beast.

The Astro City cabinet was first introduced in 1993 and is an iconic arcade gaming cabinet in Japan.

The post Sega Announces Mini Arcade Cabinet appeared first on Sudairy.

Valorant July 7: Patch Notes 1.03

WEAPON UPDATES

Guardian

• Price reduced from 2700 >>> 2500.
• Rate of Fire reduced from 6.5 >>> 4.75.
• Penetration power increased from Medium >>> Heavy.
• Input queue updated from 0.083 >>> 0.1175.
  • Up until now, the Guardian has lived in a strange position in the arsenal. Price-wise, it remained close to the premium rifles while not adequately competing with their power, making it too pricey as an alternate economic option, but not powerful enough to be considered as a premiere weapon choice. Its fast fire rate made it more powerful in close range situations than we’d like, given our goals for the weapon’s long-range, precision shot fantasy, and—despite its semi-automatic, heavy-hitting firing style—it matched other rifles in terms of penetrating power. We hope these changes will sharpen the Guardian’s identity as a long-range, versatile weapon, with its heavy penetration values and lower price providing some more nuanced choice competition to the rifle category of the arsenal.

MAP UPDATES

Haven

• Removed spot where Spike was unable to be retrieved once dropped.

All Maps

• Fixed multiple spots where players were able to clip inside level geometry
• Removed more locations where Sova’s sensor arrow was able to go through walls.

MODE UPDATES

Spike Rush

• New Orb: Twin Hunters.
  • Capturing the orb releases two hunting wolves to track down the two nearest enemies (from orb location, they will not change targets after spawning).
    • Wolves speed up when they spot an enemy and dash at them when close, slowing and near-sighting for 4 seconds upon impact.
    • Wolves have 150 HP and can be damaged.
    • Wolves will time out at 15 seconds, or when their target is killed.
• Split: Orb Location.
  • Mid defender side orb has been moved onto mid platform to make it slightly less defender favored.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Surrender changes

• Unrated Mode vote requirements to pass changed from 100% to 80%.
• Competitive Mode vote requirements to pass remains at 100%.
• You can now call a surrender vote starting with round 5 versus round 8.
• A new button in the in-game menu has been added to call a surrender vote.
  • We know it can be at times challenging to get a surrender vote to pass given it has historically required an unanimous vote. For Unrated Mode , which is meant to be lower stakes than Competitive (no rank on the line), we have made adjustments so if the vast majority of the team wants to surrender (80%) they can now opt out of that match and find a fairer fight sooner.
  • For Competitive Mode we plan to keep the vote requirement as unanimous, because surrendering has an impact on your rank (all unplayed rounds count as loss credit), we want to make sure the team is in full agreement before a decision is made that will negatively impact a player’s rank. We’ve also slightly reduced the minimum rounds needed to be played so that if players have a particularly bad start, they can opt out of that match earlier.
• In the Collection screens, there is now a checkbox to toggle between showing all items or only owned ones (additional options and improvements for managing your collection will be coming in future patches).
• Fixed a bug where the mission “You or your ally plant/defuse spikes” sometimes did not take into account plants and defuses by allies.
• Transition screens and startup screens are now letterboxed.
• Fixed text overlap issues in the Battlepass and Contract screens in some languages.
• Players in custom games with cheats enabled can select a different Agent to use on the next round in the cheats menu.
• Removing a friend will now prompt a confirmation dialogue.
• Pressing Escape while typing in the chat box will clear the message.
• Revised layout of confirmation dialogs to make primary action larger and always on the left; applied color in various places, like using red for destructive actions; revised the locations of some confirmation and cancel buttons for consistency.
• Minor fixes for visual artifacts on Bind on Intel GPUs.
• Minor render improvements for modern hardware.
• Added an error popup for crashes on startup linking to troubleshooting guide for crashes.
• IME input on payment windows will now work correctly (Japanese/Chinese).
• Players can now view individual skin levels in the collections and store view.
• Updates to censored hit impact effects for better readability.
• Added Agent silhouettes for observers.
• Improved render performance for silhouettes.
• Agent health bars are now visible to observers.
• Fulfilling a buy request while moving will no longer interrupt your movement.
• Custom Games Tournament Mode:
  • Custom games can now be set to Tournament Mode. This allows every player in the game to have access to the Toggle Match Timer cheat in game without having all other cheats enabled. It also allows observers to be flagged as moderators, which grants them access to additional cheats that they can use as necessary. Regular observers cannot use cheats anymore.
  • We’ll be looking at expanding the list of moderator cheats in future patches.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed a Cypher bug where traps that were placed such that they were on the inside of a doorway, would not trigger when someone walked through them.
• Fixed an issue with the Match Timer hitching under unstable network conditions.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn’t jump off ascenders if jump was bound to the mousewheel.
• Fixed some visual issues that could occur when reconnecting to the game while dead.
• Fixed Barrier phase announcement showing up in normal games for observers.
• Fixed various UI issues on observer scoreboard.

The post Valorant Patch Notes 1.03 Unveiled appeared first on Sudairy.

EA Sports detailed the changes in patch notes posted on their official website:

“Hey FIFA Fans,

The latest version of the Server Release Notes are now available.

This is a summary of the changes that have been made, and the issues that have been addressed, via server releases between June 10 2020 and June 30 2020.

This covers multiple versions of FIFA 20, including FIFA 20 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch, as well as the FUT Web and Companion Apps. When changes only apply to individual titles, it will be made clear in the notes below.

Made the following changes for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC:

• Made an adjustment intended to improve the online performance in a match that is being impacted by frequent network jitter.
• During an online match with frequent network jitter, this change is intended to help hold a steady frame-rate and reduce visual stutters.

Addressed the following issues for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC:

• Sometimes, the Bob Marley 75th Anniversary kit would clash with referee kits.
• Updated Alex Stevanovic’s nationality.
• Zachary Elbouzedi’s hairstyle was not displaying correctly during match replays.
• Addressed several miscellaneous audio issues.

Addressed the following issue for the FUT Companion App:

• Updated the spelling of Erling Håland’s name.

Thanks to those who’ve provided feedback. Throughout the course of the FIFA 20 season, we’ll provide you with more information and updates if and when they become available. Be sure to follow @EAFIFADIRECT on Twitter for the latest news and updates.

– The FIFA Team”

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With the end on the horizon for Modern Warfare, as Treyarch prepares for their 2020 release, players are putting in more time in both Modern Warfare and in the insanely popular Warzone.

According to a post on Reddit, some new weapons are in the works, and they seem to be similarly styled to what fans of Counter Strike Global Offensive normally see in game.

Weapon inspections coming to MW soon from r/modernwarfare

The post Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Leaks Show Off CSGO-Style Weapon Animations in the Works appeared first on Sudairy.

According to insider and Fortnite data miner iFireMonkey, LTMs like High Explosive, Close Encounters, Sniper Shootout, and Unvaulted are all set to arrive on Fortnite.

Considering his consistency in delivering leaks, iFireMonkey may be right on the money, but he does note that the dates could be changed by Epic:

?Summer Splash LTMs | Party Size + Dates [ET]?️ pic.twitter.com/Sp5LSgUCfY

— FireMonkey • Fortnite Intel ? (@iFireMonkey) July 6, 2020

Additionally, more limited-time modes will be added with the upcoming v13.30 patch, the same update where cars are expected to arrive in Fortnite, apparently for July 21st.

The post Fortnite Leak Reveals New LTMs for Summer Splash Event appeared first on Sudairy.

Allegations of sexual harassment, abuse, misconduct, and inappropriate behavior has popped up over the past week which has cast a negative light on the community.

Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios, Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada, and D’Ron “D1” Maingrette were among some of the pro players that have been hit with allegations.

Nintendo has issued a statement condemning the behavior.

“We are deeply disturbed by the allegations raised against certain members of the competitive gaming community” Nintendo said in a statement issued to BBC. They are absolutely impermissible.

“We want to make it clear that we condemn all acts of violence, harassment, and exploitation against anyone and that we stand with the victims.”

The post Nintendo Issues Statement Regarding Alleged Abuse in Super Smash Bros. Community appeared first on Sudairy.

Director Neil Druckman, along with others who worked on the game, shared some of the messages that they have received following the release of the highly-anticipated game.

“You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it,” Druckman said on his official Twitter  page. “Unfortunately too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent.” Based on screenshots he shared the messages contained homophobic, transphobic, antisemetic, and other hateful remarks. “Hopefully covid 19 kills your whole toxic feminist studio,” read part of one of the messages.

Last week, Laura Bailey, who provided the voice for Abby, tweeted out screenshots of the some of the nasty messages that she had received, adding; “I try to only post positive stuff on here…but sometimes this just gets a little overwhelming.”

“Although we welcome critical discussion, we condemn any form of harassment or threats directed towards our team and cast,” Naughty Dog stated, on their official Twitter page. “Their safety is our top priority, but we must all work together to root out this type of behavior and maintain a constructive and compassionate discourse.”

The post Last of Us 2 Dev Condemns Online Harassment of Those Who Worked on Game appeared first on Sudairy.