gaming

Activision has now removed the samoyed skin from Call of Duty: Warzone following allegations of plagiarism. The skin was first made available under the Floof Fury pack for in-game operator Kim Tae Young for the game’s fourth season, but Chinese artist Sail Lin quickly noticed the similarities with a design they created two years ago. Since the revelations, Activision received a large amount of backlash from the gaming community and has now issued a statement of apology on top of pulling the skin from the game. “We have the utmost respect for creativity and content creation,” said Activision. “We love the Loyal Samoyed, but regrettably we erred in our process and have removed this imagery from the game. We apologize for the misstep.” As Polygon points out, it’s not the first time ...

Every FIFA video game is special in its own way, but this upcoming edition is arguably the biggest in history. As the last title under the ‘FIFA’ name, EA Sports went all in on delivering a breathtaking experience that will continue its legacy for years to come. Last month, HYPEBEAST spoke with Sam Kerr as she made history becoming the first female footballer to grace the global cover alongside Paris Saint-Germain and France superstar, Kylian Mbappé. To add, FIFA 23 will also feature women’s club teams for the first time with the inclusion of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Division 1 Arkema at launch. In terms of gameplay, Hypermotion2 has revolutionized the experience by offering over 6,000 true-to-life animations made from millions of match capture frames — translating into t...

Video game streams have seen a decline in both viewership and hours streamed over the past quarter, according to new numbers from Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet. The drop in streamers and viewership could be attributed to the gradual passing of the pandemic, which is allowing people to spend more time outside than being stuck at home. Across Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming, a combined 7.36 billion hours of livestreams was watched by viewers, marking a significant 18.1 percent drop year-over-year and an 8.4 percent decline compared to Q1 of 2022. Streamers were only live for 273 million hours as well, equating to a 19.4 percent plummet from the same period last year and 12 percent from last quarter. Twitch continues to perform the best in the industry, holding 76.7 percent of the ...

Take-Two Interactive is now adding to what appears to be the gaming industry’s ever-expanding list of delayed titles with a new postponement for the launch of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Originally set to release back in March, the new turn-based strategy game from Marvel and Take-Two’s studio Firaxis was already pushed back once to October, but the publisher is now delaying it further in order to polish up the experience. “We have made the decision to move back the launch timing of Marvel’s Midnight Suns to ensure the teams at Firaxis Games and 2K deliver the best possible experience for our fans,” the company wrote in a release to Polygon. “The title will launch later this fiscal year on Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. The Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch versions...

28 years after the launch of Nintendo’s Super Punch-Out!!, a series of new cheats have been discovered. Published by Unlisted Cheats on Twitter, the codes offer new ways to play the classic boxing video game. Super Punch-Out!! was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1994 as a sequel to 1987’s Punch-Out!!. Players take the form of Little Mac on his journey to earning the title of World Video Boxing Association champion. During three-minute-long matches, players have to knock out their opponents using jabs, undercuts and hooks. One of the cheats Unlisted Cheats uncovered allows players to pick any of the game’s fighters for a single one-off match, including those from the Special Circuit. The second chat transforms Super Punch-Out!! Into a multiplayer ga...

Pokémon GO is the latest company to make full use of Cross Shinjuku Vision‘s outdoor advertising technology. Like last year’s realistic giant 3D cat, this advertisement celebrates felines for International Cat Day. While these “cats” take on a different shape compared to last year’s billboard — featuring the likes of various regional Meowths, Glameow, Purrloin, Litten, and Espurr — this ad utilizes the same technology for a real 3D effect that makes each Pokémon pop out and appear to be interacting with the building itself. The billboard ad also has a section where a number of Poké Balls give off the illusion that they are rolling off the side of the building. Those in Toyko can witness this Pokémon GO 3D billboard from now until September 5 at the Shinjuku East Exit. In other news, Pokémo...

Leaked footage has now surfaced showing a brand new Xbox Elite Controller from Microsoft. Uploaded by YouTube user Nicholas Lugo, the minute-and-a-half-long clip reveals a new Series 2 model from the gaming giant that carries a white color scheme with contrasting black accents around the grips as well as the analog sticks and a touch of silver on the D-pad and the triggers and paddles on the rear. Notably, it’s the first time the premium controller has been released in a white edition since the launch of Series 2 all the way back in 2019, and given that the original Series 1 model was also available in white eventually, the leaks probably won’t come as a surprise to many gamers on the platform. Regardless, it’s still a nice addition for setups that currently run the Xbox Series S, allowing...

Back in 2021, Netflix took the dive to expand on its entertainment offerings by entering the gaming industry, even acquiring Finnish mobile game studio Next Games for more than $72 million USD back in March this year, but it now appears that the venture might not be paying off the way the streaming giant hoped it would. According to a new report from CNBC, numbers from Apptopia show that while Netflix’s games have been downloaded a total of 23.3 million times globally, only 1.7 million players are actually accessing those games on average each day. With 221 million subscribers, the numbers equate to just slightly above 10% who have downloaded one of Netflix’s games, and less than 1% who actually play them. Overall, the company has now released 24 games on mobile platforms and the numb...

Blizzard is now running a closed alpha test for Diablo IV and leaks have already begun surfacing online. According to Kotaku, the current test build is roughly at 67GB and some of the screenshots coming from leakers showcase the new game’s character creator as well as the five confirmed classes Blizzard previously announced. There are also other details such as the title’s difficulty selector or specs, although the footage has since been taken down. Most interestingly, the leaked screenshots and videos fully capture the watermarks that alpha and beta builds or previews usually have to indicate to Blizzard exactly who is responsible for them, meaning the studio most likely already knows who the leaker is and has taken action against them. Since the closed test was made available only t...