rumor

SteamWorld developer Image & Form hints at new project “coming soon”

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SteamWorld developer Image & Form hints at new project "coming soon" 1

Developer Image & Form, the creator of the SteamWorld series of games, released a new video today that hints at a new project they’re working on- and it’s coming sooner than you think. That’s straight from the video, which you can watch at the end of this article. They’re the people the few SteamWorld titles, … Read more

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered leaked by Australian Classifications Board

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Sniper Elite V2 Remastered leaked by Australian Classifications Board 2

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered has been leaked by the Australian Classification Board. This is the Australian version of the familiar ESRB rating system used here in the United States. And this time around, their rating content leaked that the newest Sniper Elite remaster is on its way. Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is created by Rebellion and published by … Read more

Possible Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order details and speculations leaked on Reddit

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Possible Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order details and speculations leaked on Reddit 3

A leak on Reddit claims that the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be scheduled for November 2019. The post has been credited by various people working for the company, but then again, they could all be fake.

The Reddit post dumped a bunch of information regarding many Star Wars projects. As suspected, the Reddit community was skeptical as ever because of all the other rumors about this game that are circulating the web. Later, a reliable source in the Star Wars community wrote a post mentioning details about Star Wars: Episode IX. This was written by MakingStarWars- a reliable source in the community. Even though it may still be wrong, there is a good level of trust.

They reported that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be released in November of next year. And they said that the game takes place 5 years after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and is based on the main character, Cal. Cal is a padawan who survived Order 66 and has a mentor figure “who is a woman named Ceres.”

MakingStarWars claims to get their details from a Star Wars Marketing Presentation by Disney.

With these two pieces of proof, we can slightly agree that the game will be scheduled for release within the announced date and we get to see some of the game’s plot. Then again, nothing is confirmed.

Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars action-adventure project doesn’t have much information on the web since the game’s original announcement back in 2016. There have been plenty of rumors and speculation, but nothing that can debacle the upcoming action-adventure.

The only real, solid, info that fans have garnered is basically the title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and a release window of “Holiday 2019” during EA Play this year. There will be more news released in April 2019 during the Star Wars Celebration event. With all this time and so little information, plenty of speculations have surfaced regarding the game.

Rumor: Two new map variants coming to Black Ops 4; Firing Range Night, Seaside Sunset

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Rumor: Two new map variants coming to Black Ops 4; Firing Range Night, Seaside Sunset 4

Two new maps have been leaked and will be coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in the near future.

Well, they’re not exactly new maps, but rather, map variants. Variants are nothing new to CoD games, as Modern Warfare Remastered had multiple seasonal variants of game maps. This feature is also coming to BO4 as two new game files have been leaked from the game’s data.

Call of Duty fanatic NecrosCinema claims that a friend reported information about two new map variants added to the game after the latest Black Ops 4 update:

  • Firing Range Night
  • Seaside Sunset

From these map names, we can already see which newly modified maps and what variant they’ll receive. Firing Range will get a Night mode and Seaside will get a Sunset mode.

And he claims to have footage of these new variants. You can see the footage attached to the end of this post- straight from NerosCinema. There’s no set release date for these maps right now, but they’ll likely be going live soon enough because they’ve been added to the game already and there’s no point in keeping them there to hog up resources and make download unnecessarily lengthy for players, right?

These are the first few map variants in Blacks Ops 4, following the launch of Nuketown which is a whole new map released for all platforms last week- with PS4 owners getting the map a week ahead as part of a Sony/Activision deal.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available on PS4, PC, and Xbox One and is now a little over a month old. You can check it out on Amazon here.

This post contains affiliate links where barrelrolled may receive a small commission upon sales. (This helps us feed our writers the good brand of ramen noodles rather than the generic, store brand.)

Microsoft releasing (another) Xbox One refresh Spring 2019; Disc-less, $100 cheaper

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Microsoft releasing (another) Xbox One refresh Spring 2019; Disc-less, $100 cheaper 5

A report released earlier today claims that Microsoft is working on a new disc-less Xbox One console in 2019 by Thurrott. This would be the third console refresh for the Xbox One so far, with the original being the Xbox One, followed the Xbox One S, then the Xbox One X. Do we really need that many refreshes? Why not just make the next-gen Xbox and compete with the PS5, which has already garnered some attention with its (finally) backward compatible emulation.

There hasn’t been any solid confirmation regarding this from the big M, but the report details show that the console will release sometime next year and not allow users to insert any physical discs into the Xbox. Microsoft is also releasing a new “disc to digital” program that allows users to turn the physical discs magically into a digital format. Well, not actual magic is involved in the process. It’s just swapping a code at specific retailers.

Why would Microsoft be doing this when they could just release the next Scarlett console? The report states that they want to lower the price of a new console by $100 due to no disc drive. But would people still want to buy this current-gen when they can go next-gen? We’ll have to see.

The report also states:

“The company also has a revised Xbox One S SKU that is targeted for later in the year that focuses solely on cost reduction but does feature a disc-drive for those who still prefer the traditional way to buy your games.”

Microsoft still hasn’t decided on whether Scarlett will come with disc drives or not, but a decision will be made “shortly.” right now, the disc-less Xbox One will arrive Spring 2019 and is already in production according to the report. Then again, we haven’t heard news from many other media outlets so this could be a dud entirely. We’ll find out soon enough.

Source: DualShockers.

Fornite’s V6.22 leaked new vehicle may just be the A.I.M skin

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Fornite's V6.22 leaked new vehicle may just be the A.I.M skin 6

The A.I.M skin that’s given as a reward to Fortnite players who’ve completed a whole seven week’s worth of S6 characters just launched today. The skin is regarded as a Legendary skin and was released just before the Week 7 Challenges rolled out.

Players have discovered a chimney over at Flush Factory with a parachute draped upon it. The ‘chute has the same logo on it as the A.I.M skin, and theories have sprouted across the web with high regard that the character used the parachute to land on the Fortnite map.

Data miners have uncovered that the item name for the parachute is “Robo_Chute” which seems fitting that the parachute was used by the A.I.M robot character so it holds the popular theory. But then again, there’s no actual solid evidence of whether or not Epic Games just placed it there or if an actual in-game event took place. Player reports state that noises every half hour were heard that sounded like an incoming plane from the skies.

A tweet on Twitter by a player named VSuntzu14 captured this plane sound effect, and players pointed out that it sounds very similar to the leaked V6.22 files. You can hear the mysterious sound effect here:

Note that all the of files were bundled in the same directory called “vehicles” so it could just be a plane that they plan to add later on. Possibly a new Fortnite vehicle rather than the A.I.M story. Epic has said nothing about this and posted no new updates, so we’ll just have to wait until an official word comes out of the horse’s mouth.

Stay tuned for updates (as always).

Harry Potter action RPG leaked; Game details and trailer

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Harry Potter action RPG leaked; Game details and trailer 7

A Harry Potter action RPG game has been rumored and news has been surfacing the web today. Harry Potter hasn’t made any headlines lately, but he’s back in an online video game that’s been leaked and the gameplay sounds pretty awesome with all the rumors surrounding so far. But then again, it’s all rumors and speculation at this point. The game could just be a cheap phone game for all we know.

The leak was posted on Reddit earlier today with some basic details that the upcoming game is an ARPG (action RPG) set in the 19th century and will allow you to create your own character with unique abilities. The plot is something along the lines of being accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but a late acceptance. From there, you carve your own adventure.

Here’s the post from the original Reddit thread:

Set in the 19th Century (1800s) Wizarding World, this third-person open-world action RPG game centers around your character with unique abilities who has earned a late acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are a newly arrived fifth-year student to Hogwarts that demonstrates a latent gift for magic with a unique ability to track and identify remnants of a pottant ancient power.

Upon arrival, strange events begin to materialize In the Forbidden Forrest and trouble begins to brew within the castle walls. Together with Professor Elezar Fig, you embark on a journey through both familiar and never before seen locations to bring to light the truth behind these mysterious occurrences.

On your quest you will craft potions, master new spells, and discover fantastical beasts, you will battle Dark Wizards, Goblins, and other supernatural enemies and uncover the truth about your destiny. The Fate of the Wizarding World lies in your hands.

And here are some key features from the game from the same post:

  • Journey to Hogwarts to become one of 8 different Wizard types.
  • Experience Hogwarts, make new friends, uncover new secrets, and change the fate of the Wizarding World.
  • Experience a new magic system that creates countless possibilities to master magic.
  • Freely explore the Wizarding World for the first time.
  • Choose your house and friends at Hogwarts, and decide to pursue a path of good or evil.
  • Create your own witch or wizard, and experience an all-new story separate from the books or films.

From this, we can assume it’s going to have online capabilities from the “make new friends” feature, unless they mean specifically through NPCs.

Warner Bros. Interactive was seeking senior writers back in 2017 for Avalanche Software with  “with a deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation,” which could mean that the Disney Infinity developer could be responsible for this game. Another theory is that this is being developed by RockSteady. Awesome online ARPG or cheap phone game? Who knows.

Here’s a video going around talking about the development of the game and some base concept footage:

https://youtu.be/2-HER1xKQl4

 

Telltale Games on its final chapter – Possible shutdown imminent

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Telltale Games on its final chapter - Possible shutdown imminent 8

Telltale Games’ co-founder Kevin Bruner released a report earlier today where one of the studio’s co-founders has officially confirmed that the future for the studio behind epic, narrative-driven, emotional games such as The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead may be ending its final chapter- in other words, Telltale Games may be shutting down.

Kevin Bruner, the former co-founder of the company, posted a personal statement on his blog titled “Telltale closure” and goes over some of the issues the company has undergone, including huge layoffs and is in the thoughts of shutting down. Bruner said that the news comes from various sources that they’re shutting down due to financial struggles in the past few years. Bruner says:

“[He was] saddened at the loss of a studio that green-lit crazy ideas that no one else would consider [and] sometimes it seemed like we had more than we could handle but we stuck together and forged ahead”

Bruner is no longer working for the studio, but he cites very different visions between him and the company’s Board of Directors. He left over a year ago but notest hat he and the Board had different ideas for the direction to take the company and he also filed a lawsuit against Telltale seeking damages for his removal from the Board.

Sources say that the lawsuit is still ongoing between Bruner and Telltale, but his statement does cite various sources that Telltale is about to shut down with only a small staff remaining on the drawing board and is facing major financial struggles.

No official word has been reported from the official company at this time. Stay tuned for updates.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 1000 (SDM1000) can compete with Intel for lower-power chipsets

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Qualcomm's Snapdragon 1000 (SDM1000) can compete with Intel for lower-power chipsets 9

Details regarding the new processor rumored as the Snapdragon 1000 (SDM1000) has surfaced. You’re probably already familiar with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 850 CPUs which are used in PCs. They’re essentially a faster version of the same chip you’ll find in a typical smartphone.

The Snapdragon 1000 (or should we call it the “K?”) is built for computers from the start. It has a giant footprint compared to the previous ARM chipsets, which measure 20mm x 15mm compared to 12mm x 12mm for the 850, and would use about 12W of power across the system. It’s a direct competitor to Intel’s line of low-power CPUs.

A design found in import databases gives some new hints about what to expect from this new powerful chipset:

  • It could be hooked with up to 128GB storage models- two of them
  • It could have up to 16GB of RAM
  • A possible gigabit Ethernet and socketed CPU design
  • 6.5W power draw with a total of 12W for the entire SoC
  • Utilizes ARM’s Cortex-A76 architecture for faster speeds (35% increase)
  • 802.11ad WiFi
  • Gigabit LTE
  • Power management controller

The SDM1000 is still very much classified, although one of its employees mentioned working on the chip as a Windows multimedia Project Engineer. With its speed, low-power consumption, and applications, it can be a good rival chip for Intel’s related chips. ARM-powered computers are already starting to trend in the market with their cheaper pricing and on-par performance that meets demands of typical consumers.

Image via Qualcomm

Apple rumored to be ditching physical buttons on the Apple Watch

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Apple rumored to be ditching physical buttons on the Apple Watch 10

FastCompany released a report today saying that Apple will release a future version of the Apple Watch that’ll have touch-sensitive buttons instead of clickable ones.

This applies to both the crown and traditional single button watches that currently show the apps recently used. However, the button configuration won’t change. They’ll stay the same and the user will be able to touch each one and the watch will provide haptic feedback.

A similar change was made to the iPhone 7, which was filed with mixed reactions. MacBook trackpads did the same thing with localized feedback.

It’s also said that the change will be made to free up space in the device for other parts. This could also help with water resistance also as Apple is rumored to be working on a new biometric sensor to the buttons. This shouldn’t be surprising given their history of ditching buttons when possible.

The next Apple Watch is due for release this Septemeber. If this feature isn’t implemented yet, it’ll likely be next year’s model instead.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey description leaked on the PS Store

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Assassin's Creed Odyssey description leaked on the PS Store 11

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey had a description leak on the PS Store for just a tidbit in time.

A post was found on Reddit that had someone show off a screenshot of the game’s description. However, the only confirmation about this game is a tweet from the official Twitter account that only says “SEE YOU AT E3” in bold letters on a new logo and title.

There isn’t much about the game beyond that.

From the leak, we can see that the game will be during Spartan times where your choices affect the outcome of the game. If the description is accurate, the game will likely take place in Greece. This would be the first time a game from the AC series has taken place in this setting. It’s been mentioned multiple times already in the series.

The image for the game’s art shows off some Greek weaponry that the Spartans toted during their time in wars. Spartans would venture in the night to stealthily assassinate targets, so it’s fitting for the next title.

As of now, this is all just hearsay. Nothing is confirmed. We’ll have to stay tuned and wait for the announcement at some point during E3.