gaming

Steam‘s concurrent user count has just reached a new all-time high. No doubt aided by the long holiday season, the gaming platform saw a massive surge in users over the past week, at one point reaching a record-breaking 27,942,036 users online at the same time according to SteamDB. Roughly eight million of them were in-game, while the remaining 20 million were simply on Steam browsing through its platform or messaging friends. Of those that were gaming, the largest portion was playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, while Dota 2 came in with the second-most players. The top 5 are then rounded out by PUBG, Apex Legends, and GTA V. Other top-played games include Team Fortress 2, Rust, ARK: Survival Evolved, Destiny 2, and even the 2013 title PAYDAY 2...

Despite the critical acclaim and widespread popularity of Halo Infinite, one of its team leads has already announced their departure. Moving on from 343 Industries is the game’s lead narrative designer Aaron Linde, who had previously worked on other massive Xbox titles such as Gears of War 3 and Destiny 2: Shadowkeep as well as other beloved games including Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Guild Wars 2: Living World. While the creative didn’t reveal exactly why he has decided to leave, he did inform fans that he’ll be joining the research and development team over at Riot Games, which focuses on developing new ideas. “Bittersweet news to report: I’m departing 343 Industries to pursue a new opportunity in 2022,” Linde announced on Twitter. “It was a terr...

Samsung on Monday introduced its new game streaming discovery platform, the Samsung Gaming Hub, at CES 2022. Powered by Tizen, the new platform bridges the gap between hardware and software for a streamlined player experience. In tandem with the Gaming Hub’s reveal, Samsung also shared details about several partnerships with leading game streaming services, including NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Stadia™ and Utomik, that will bring their full libraries to the platform. “Our Samsung Smart TVs provide the ultimate entertainment destination for everyone across generations, interests, and viewing preferences,” said Won-Jin Lee, Corporate President at Samsung Electronics in a statement. “We know that gaming continues to increase in popularity for our customers and we have bridged the gap between o...

Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda has revealed his New Year’s resolution for the company. 2021 proved to be a game-changing year for NFTs and blockchain technology and Matsuda hopes that moving forward to 2022, the company will continue to break barriers in the blockchain gaming world. In a recent New Year’s letter from Yosuke Matsuda, the president dubbed 2021 as the “Metaverse Year.” While he did not directly share plans for NFTs in Square Enix games, he said that the company will be placing an emphasis on watching gaming trends in the metaverse, “The metaverse will likely see a meaningful transition to a business phase in 2022, with a wide range of services appearing on the scene. As this abstract concept begins to take concrete shape in the form of product and service offerings, I a...

Hideo Kojima rang in 2022 by revealing that he will be starting work on an unnamed and unspecified “radical project.” The Kojima Productions founder took to Twitter to confirm the news, writing, “This year, I’m going to start a new work in earnest, and move to the next level of experimentation with a radical project. I’m also hoping to get the video team going. And I may start doing something like a radio project?” The so-called “radical project” cannot be confirmed as a video game title as Kojima Productions launched a new film, TV and music division in November 2021, but Kojima did previously tease that he is working on two new games. Death Stranding star Norman Reedus also revealed in August 2021 that a sequel is currently in negotiations, possibly meaning that Kojima Productions will h...

More than two years after its initial release, fans can now finally play CAPCOM‘s Resident Evil 2 remake in virtual reality. Created by modder “praydog,” the new mod works for both the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes and converts both third-person gaming experiences into a haunting, adrenaline-fueled first-person shooter. On top of this impressive feat, the mod is also exceptionally comprehensive, offering full motion controls and even 3D collision with certain melee weapons like a knife, so you can hack and slash your way through hordes of zombies. To make the VR experience seamless, you’ll also be able to watch all the games’ cutscenes in 3D directly on your headset, although players should note that some scenes might break because you’ll be able to see things origi...

James Bond and classic Nintendo fans will be delighted to learn that a new series of leaks now suggest that GoldenEye 007 is headed for Xbox. The new leaks were discovered by Twitter gaming personality Wario64, who found a series of Xbox achievements for the 1997 Nintendo 64 title along with a new thumbnail. The entire list consists of55 achievements, rounding out at 1,000 Gamerscore, and also appears to include both single-player and multiplayer modes. The film franchise itself hasn’t confirmed anything so far, but a re-release of the game might not come as a surprise given that 2022 marks the British spy’s 60th anniversary. It also won’t be the first time GoldenEye 007 was headed for the Microsoft console. Back in 2007, a version of the classic was being developed for Xbox Live Arca...

Square Enix has just teased the newest Final Fantasy Trading Card Game expansion — Rebellion’s Call. Featuring artwork from Ryoma Ito, Akira Oguro, Yukihiro Kajimoto, Gen Kobayashi, Toshitaka Matsuda, Fumio Minagawa, and Miki Yamashita, the set brings back legacy cards like Firion [6-019L], Veritas of the Dark [8-136L], and Yshtola [12-119L], and other characters from BEFORE CRISIS – FINAL FANTASY VII. Players can also expect premium starter decks: Golbez vs. Cecil. Look for these boosters to hit stockists’ shelves in early August of this year. In other Final Fantasy news, the development of Final Fantasy XVI is delayed until the end of 2022 due to COVID-19. Read Full Article

It’s been quite some time since SEGA stopped building video game hardware, with the Dreamcast being the last in the line. However, the Japanese video game company recently flexed its console-building prowess through a sleek machine dubbed “the World’s Fastest PC.” Made in conjunction with Intel and ASRock, the unit features top-of-the-line PC components, including a Core i9-12900K processor and ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax motherboard, along with 32 gigabytes of RAM and 2TB SSD. As a cheeky nod, SEGA attached the unit on wheels and zipped the machine across Chiba Prefecture’s Mobara Twin Circuit. The PC was made to mark SEGA’s Steam Winter Sale, which will end on January 5. To enter for a chance to win the unit, you must be a resident of Japan, follow SEGA Official on Twitter, along with retweeting...

Logan Paul recently announced that he spent $3.5 million USD on a box of first-edition Base Set Pokémon cards, but now it seems that the collection could possibly be fake. Over at PokeBeach, the Pokémon TCG fansite compiled a whole roster of evidence showing numerous inconsistencies and issues with the box of cards Paul purchased, suggesting that the YouTube personality could’ve fallen victim to an elaborate scam. The cards first surfaced on Canada’s eBay back in March 2021 but the post was full of errors, and the seller (named number1pokemonmaster) gave a series of contradicting accounts of how he came to actually acquire or own the collection. From there, the box set sold for a mere $72,500 USD, whereas usual sealed cases would go for hundreds of thousands, suggesting that other col...

Playstation has announced a trio of games coming to Playstation Plus this January, featuring Persona 5 Strikers, Dirt 5 and Deep Rock Galactic. Persona 5 Strikers, Deep Rock Galactic, and Dirt 5 are available with PlayStation Plus starting January 4. Full details: https://t.co/ehw153oCPc pic.twitter.com/BLrE2Zh0vY — PlayStation (@PlayStation) December 29, 2021 Available for Playstation 4, Persona 5 Strikers features a new story that follows the Phantom Thieves on a road trip across Japan that quickly goes awry. The new story is filled with combat that aims at redeeming the hearts of the imprisoned. Next up is Dirt 5, which will be available for both Playstation 4 and Playstation 5. The simcade racing video game features an array of cars, off-road racing, a Playgrounds creator mode, 70...