Author Archives: 1080Partners

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PS VR is selling in the hundreds of thousands

Category:Latest News

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Jim Ryan has talked up the “massive” interest in PlayStation VR, telling CNBC that pre-order sales for the new hardware are in the, “many hundreds of thousands.”

Ryan, who is president of SIE Europe, also addressed the possibility of a stock shortage, explaining that, “production is going exactly as we anticipated.” Sony will be keen to avoid the problems that Oculus VR faced during the launch of Oculus Rift earlier this year, when an “unexpected component shortage” caused the delivery of many pre-orders to be delayed by several months.

“We know that the replenishment cycle is a good one,” he said in the interview. “We have made decisions to further increase capacity at the back end of 2016 and into 2017, so there are going to be a lot of PlayStation VRs around the world.

“Whether that’s enough to satisfy the demands of the market, we’ll see.”

Speaking to alistdaily last week, GameStop CEO Paul Raines indicated that the attach rate for PlayStation VR has also been strong, as consumers purchased the Move controllers, PlayStation Eye camera and games along with the headset.

“Our attach rate for PlayStation VR was one of the highest of the year,” he said, before going on to praise the amount of software available for the platform on day one. “Sony has been working on VR for over four years and there are a lot of publishers who have been developing games for PSVR, which is why we’re seeing 50 games in the launch window.

“That’s a good way to put your product in the market. Wii U had 10 titles and half were shovelware and not great titles.”

The early signs are good for Sony, then, particularly when you consider that every PlayStation VR is being sold at a profit, and PlayStation 4 Pro – which has more VR-friendly specifications – will also launch before the end of the year.

Via gamesindustry.biz


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Skyrim Special Edition is ready for the stores!

Category:Latest News

Yet here we are – five years later – and we’re thrilled to announce that Skyrim Special Edition has gone gold, and that October 28 launch date is fast-approaching. All the memories – fan tributes, Mods, personal stories and even that phenomenon of taking an arrow to the knee – feel fresh again. The Special Edition features a significant overhaul to the game, including:

  • Mod support on consoles
  • Remastered art and effects
  • Volumetric lighting (“God Rays”)
  • Dynamic Depth of Field
  • Screen-space reflections
  • New snow and water shaders

Soon, players will be able experience the game on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 – with mods – for the very first time, and the Special Edition will include native 4K support for the PlayStation 4 Pro. But what’s most exciting to us is that Special Edition also means a new generation of players can create new Skyrim Memories and learn what it means to be Dragonborn for the very first time.

Skyrim Special Edition going gold also marks the first time we’re celebrating a release as an international studio. We can’t say enough about the hard work and love our Montreal studio poured into this project.

It’s enough to celebrate with a drink. Pass the mead!

In addition to our going gold announcement, we’re happy to share more technical details on the release of Skyrim Special Edition, including what you’ll need to be ready on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Skyrim Special Edition Requirements

PC System Specs

Minimum
Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-750/AMD Phenom II X4-945.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 470 1GB /AMD HD 7870 2GB

Recommended
Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit Version)
Intel i5-2400/AMD FX-8320.
8GB of ram.
12 GB free HDD space
NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB /AMD R9 290 4GB

Console Storage Needs

PS4
20 GB (North America)
33 GB (Europe)

Xbox One
17 GB (North America)
25 GB (Europe)

Skyrim Special Edition will release on Friday, October 28, on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. The game is available for pre-order in stores and digitally for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam. As a bonus, Steam users that already own the game and all of the Skyrim DLC will be able to get Skyrim Special Edition for free. Visit Steam for more details.

Via Bethesda.net


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Farming Simulator 2017 will support mods!

Category:Latest News

Farming Simulator 17 releases October 25th, and we’re continuing our series of dev blogs to give you some insight into the exciting new features coming to this latest entry. Last time, we talked about vehicle customization – now, we’re here to tell you all about mods!
Here at Giants Software, we consider modding to be an intrinsic part of the Farming Simulator experience. That’s why, in Farming Simulator 17, we’ve set up an extensive, organized system for implementing mods into the game – there’s now far greater mod support than any other entry in the series!

It won’t just be PC players who will have the chance to enjoy the replayability that mods bring. In a series first, both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have comprehensive support for modding in Farming Simulator 17!

Mod Hub
The Mod Hub is central to the Farming Simulator 17 modding experience for players. From the integrated Mod Hub, you can browse all currently available mods, separated into categories (Tractors, Harvesters, Maps, Objects, etc). There’s also the option to take a look at the recently added, most downloaded and top-rated mods.
After entering a mod category, you can view all mods of that type. Once you’ve selected a specific mod, you can view its description, rating, screenshots, and the option to download it for yourself! Mods can be rated on our official website.
As soon as a mod is first submitted, it will be placed into the ‘Beta’ category. Once it’s been checked and approved, it will be placed into the appropriate category as a normal release.

Mods For PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be able to enjoy mods in Farming Simulator 17! Both consoles will have the same selection of mods to choose from.

GIANTS is already working with modding teams to provide around 25 mods at launch. We’ve worked hard to create an intuitive system for players to create and share mods that are playable on both PC and console. Both consoles will support up to 4GB of installed mods. Mods can also support multiplayer.

The PC community has always shown a great sense of creativity, and demonstrated huge commitment by adding quality content to the Farming Simulator experience. This year, with the support of Sony and Microsoft, we will be able to provide the best mods created by the PC community, and bring them to consoles. These mods will be checked internally before being released in order to meet all of the necessary console requirements. User created scripts are not allowed to be executed on consoles and must be removed from mods that wish to be available on consoles. Vehicle and tools mods must use either existing Farming Simulator licensed brands, use a no-name brand or will need to be discussed with the GIANTS team. Maps can be made for consoles (as long as they do not use extra scripts). The excellent thing is that the exact same file formats are used on both consoles and PC/Mac (textures, meshes, sounds, etc.) which makes content creation and testing on PC for consoles very easy!

Console players will be able to continuously enjoy new mods released regularly. These mods will guarantee an optimal and renewed gaming experience for all Farming Simulator 17 players.

Thanks for reading the latest in our series of Farming Simulator 17 dev blogs – look out for future posts, where we’ll be going over even more of the exciting new features you can look forward to!

Pre-order Farming Simulator 17 using the link below: https://www.farming-simulator.com/store-fs17.php

Via Official Site


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PS4 will have HD mods for Skyrim!

Category:Latest News

Mods and 4K Coming to PlayStation 4 for Skyrim and Fallout 4

We’re excited to announce that mod support is coming to PlayStation 4 for both Skyrim Special Edition and Fallout 4. Additionally, we’ll also be supporting the new PlayStation 4 Pro with both titles.

Skyrim will have these features when it launches on October 28. The new power of the PlayStation 4 Pro has allowed us to make Skyrim render in native 4k, and it looks better than ever. Here are some screens to show you just how great it looks.

Mod support will come to Skyrim first. We and Sony have worked hard to make this possible. Mods on PlayStation 4 will allow you to modify and create your own content by using our Creation Kit available here. You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do. By creating a Bethesda.net account, you’ll be able to browse and try mods right from within the game.

We are excited finally to get modding to our PlayStation fans who have supported us for so long. Modding has been an important part of our games for over 10 years, and we hope to do even more in the coming year for all our players, regardless of platform.

After the work is complete on Skyrim, we’ll be updating Fallout 4 for both mods and PS4 Pro. We expect Fallout 4 to take advantage of the PS4 Pro in 4k along with enhanced lighting and graphics features.

Thanks again for all your support. We can’t wait to hear about your new adventures.

Via Bethesda


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Augmented Reality might be the future of VR

Category:Latest News

The market for consumer VR is now in full swing, but despite bullish forecasts from companies with large investments in the space, the rapid emergence of augmented reality technology seems increasingly likely to steal its thunder.

At the DICE Europe conference in Barcelona last week, Unity Technologies CMO Clive Downie made a knowingly “bold” prediction: within the next 10 years, the number of people interacting with virtual reality on a daily basis will reach 1 billion.

Downie acknowledged that, right now, we’re in the “gap of disappointment” with VR, where the installed base is small, and the existing content, while good, is, “nowhere near what we’ve been promised.” Nevertheless, Unity – one of the biggest players in the VR space – is “100% certain” that the technology will have a huge impact on the world.

“Mobile is going to get us closer than ever,” Downie said. “No disrespect to the excellent Vive and the excellent Rift… But really, mobile is where the scale is going to be. Back to my point earlier, I think there’s going to be a billion people in VR in the next ten years, and that’s going to come from mobile.”

Downie wasn’t the only VR enthusiast to take the stage at DICE Europe, but there was one notable voice for the opposition. Klaas Kersting, CEO of the mobile focused Flaregames, expressed major reservations about the VR market ever growing beyond a niche concern.

“VR is very immersive. On the other hand, it’s not very social,” Kersting said. “You wear something on your head, you filter everything out that’s around you… That creates a hurdle to using these devices. Even if the technology gets smaller and more digestible, that will still be there.

“Nobody wants to wear several kilos on their head… It’s something that will go away with time, but it will take a while. And it will take longer than people think.”

The idea that AR devices might eventually supercede VR headsets has been put forward before, not least by Epic’s Tim Sweeney, who told the crowd at this year’s China Joy that, “AR will be the biggest technological revolution in our lifetimes.” The open question for Sweeney was how long VR had before AR hardware made it surplus to the majority of requirements. That may be the window in which platforms like Rift, Vive, Gear VR and Daydream have to overcome the kind of obstacles that Kersting described – some of which are more grounded in social and behavioural norms than the technology itself – and it’s a window that may not be open for too much longer. The heavily funded AR startup Magic Leap, for example, has forecasted widespread penetration for its device within the next five years.

The eventual primacy of AR over VR is now an increasingly common point-of-view. This week, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Good Morning America America that AR will be “the larger of the two, probably by far,” citing similar reasons to Flaregames’ Kersting. “Virtual reality sort of encloses and immerses the person into an experience that can be really cool but probably has a lower commercial interest over time,” he said. “Less people will be interested in that.”

Niantic’s John Hanke – who, admittedly, has a great deal to gain from AR winning out – expressed a similar opinion on the Recode podcast. “AR is the direction that I think is far more interesting and promising – for technology and, really, for humanity,” he said. “In a VR situation, you’re isolating yourself from everyone around you and entering this completely virtual space. AR is designed to add, enhance the things you do as a human being: Being outside, socializing with other people, shopping, playing, having fun.

“AR can make all those things better.”

Via gamesindustry.biz


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Ubisoft outsells competition in key territories

Category:Latest News

French publisher Ubisoft has outsold all of its competitors across a number of key territories so far in 2016.

It says that NPD data shows that is has for six months been the top publisher by sales year-to-date in 2016. This applies to Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. In Europe and Australia it has a 14.9 per cent market share, while in the US and Canada it stands at 13 per cent.

It also says The Division is the year’s best-selling title and Far Cry Primal resides in the Top Ten. In addition, Rainbow Six Siege has seen a 40 per cent boost in active players since its last update.

The Division has certainly smashed some records since its release earlier this year, becoming Ubisoft’s biggest day one seller, setting a new Q1 sales benchmark and claiming the new IP sales record.

Via Mcvuk.com


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Xbox One outsells Playstation 4 again

Category:Latest News

Launch of Xbox One S helps push platform’s unit sales above PS4 again; gaming hours on Xbox Live up 42% year-over-year

The PlayStation 4 has consistently led console sales this generation, but the Xbox One may be gaining traction. Last night, Microsoft’s corporate VP of Xbox marketing Mike Nichols cited the industry-tracking NPD Group with the news that the Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US for August, making it two straight months atop the chart.

In July, Xbox One sales were bolstered by a price cut to the machine. Last month, the system’s numbers were helped by the launch of the Xbox One S, which adds 4K Blu-ray and video streaming, as well as HDR support for games.

Microsoft touting Xbox One’s sales performance relative to the competition is a reversal of the company’s position in recent years, as it has steadily downplayed the significance of unit sales and instead pushed Xbox Live engagement as a better metric of the business’ health.

Nichols did offer an update on the engagement front as well, saying that total global gaming hours on Xbox One increased 42% year-over-year in August.

Via gamesindustry.biz


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Homido arrives in Latin America this fall!

Category:Uncategorized

Virtual Reality is here to stay, and in the competitive world of gadgets for this new technology, Homido stands out as one of the best alternatives thanks to experience, quality and global presence. After conquering more than 50 countries in the world, the prestigious French brand will come to Latin America starting September 15, with a vast array of products for the Virtual Reality enthusiast.

Homido Headset

Leader in the creation of passive VR sets, the Homido Headset has all the advantages of Google Cardboard with top quality manufacturing at a great price. Looking to provide the best experience possible, the headset is ergonomic, has IPD adjustment, adjustment for eye distance and three options for people who wear glasses. Homido is part of an ecosystem that includes more than 300 virtual reality apps available on Google Store and app Store. It also allows viewing movies and photos in 2D, 3D and 360 degrees from platforms like Youtube or from your own phone.

Mini Homido

Virtual Reality glasses for a portable VR experience on your phone, and the possibilities are endless, as museums, fairs, airplanes and stores can use them to enhance their customers’ experience with 3D displays and virtual displays. Thanks to its durable construction, users can experience hundreds of hours of VR on their own phones, with more than 1,000 applications available for iOS and Android. Enough, at the end of your session, Homido Mini can be folded for storage in your pocket.

Homido 360 Camera

Create your own videos in 360 degrees with this portable camera. Fully compatible with iOS and Android phone, takes pictures and video. With Two CMOS 4, it promises to put your videos right in the middle of the action. It has an image resolution of 1920 x 960 px and 3008 x 1504 px with 30FPS video. Supports Micro SD (SD/SDHC up to 32GB) memory and can be connected by WiFi and Micro USB.


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7 new trends for videogames

Category:Latest News

The focus of this year’s Develop, the annual game developer conference held in Brighton, was unmistakable: virtual reality. The aim of conference is to highlight and discuss current trends. This year, however, VR dominated the schedule to the extent that sometimes it was difficult to find a non-VR talk to attend, but with so many developers and other industry members in one place there were plenty of other discussions on the fringes. At least until Pokémon Go came out.

In a Q&A session, Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail said: “The industry moves so fast that I think a lot of advice from two years ago, unless it’s very generic advice, does not really apply in the same way anymore.”

Here, then, is what we heard the games industry talking about this year, and what could change the way games are made in the near future.

1. VR with friends rather than alone

Proponents of virtual reality are eager to fight back against one of the platform’s key criticisms: that it’s isolating. Dave Ranyard, previously studio head of Sony London and now an independent VR developer, made clear at a panel discussion that he believes the future of VR is a social one, and that it will be about being transported to another place and doing something cool with your friends.

In the opening keynote, Oculus’s head of developer strategy, Anna Sweet, said: “When you get two people together in a virtual space, and you actually get to see how they move and how they talk, and how they interact with the world, it lets you connect as if you were really actually in that room with them. And it’s pretty powerful.” She recounted a story where two people who had never met, but had spent 10 minutes in a VR space together, were able to recognise each other by the way they moved. Solomon Rogers, co-founder of a VR creative agency called Rewind, told a very similar story in his talk “Consumer Virtual Reality – Hope or Hype?”, describing his ability to recognise another VR player as his wife from her gestures alone.

2. Physically collaborative games

VR and its experimental tech contemporaries are exploring new ways to incorporate the body as more than just an anchor to the physical world. As Ghislaine Boddington, creative director of body>data>space, noted in her talk on virtual reality and the “internet of bodies”, the hope for the future is in recognising and augmenting physical bodies in games and play. She offers technologies like programmable gels used with the body in more intimate ways, such as rubbing “gels on to erogenous zones”, allowing partners to “connect together at a distance”.

Boddington also noted the future of physically collaborative and increasingly social spaces in AR, as seen in the very popular Pokémon Go: “Pokémon Go is definitely a collaborative share space. The Pokémon Go site, along with many others, allow the individual to join with the group into the middle, both in a physical and a virtual way.”

3. The future of augmented reality

Pokémon Go came to the UK on the third and last day of the conference, and it felt like everyone in Brighton was catching Magikarp and Shellder and Seel and all the other water Pokémon the seaside town had to offer. Had this international hit been available a little earlier, the conference schedule would surely have contained a few more panels about augmented reality. Whether we can expect to see an AR-heavy Develop 2017 will depend on whether Pokémon Go represents the start of a new trend, or if it’s simply a one-off success carried by an already successful brand.

Hunicke might not be looking to make the next Pokémon Go, but she’s still interested in the potential of augmented-reality games that “make the world more silly and joyful, and less logical”.

4. The next step for mobile: TV

As consoles evolve into something more resembling multimedia entertainment devices than dedicated gaming machines, it seems that everyone wants in on the widespread accessibility of the dominating mobile market model. Ismail thinks this points the next stop for tablets and smartphones: “If mobile really wants to make the next step, what it’s going to do is connect to TVs.”

Mediatonic’s Jo Haslam reports that the number of UK households with only one television set has increased, from 35% a decade ago to 41% now, and she says mobile screens are the reason. With 70% of smartphone owners in the US playing mobile games monthly, the need for separate television sets in homes to play games has become unnecessary. While mobile devices might have their technical limitations, Haslam says the aim of successful mobile, and social, game design is to “never let tech get in the way of a good idea”. The overwhelming success of Pokémon Go, despite the app’s many failings, should settle the console/mobile war solidly in favour of the handheld.

5. The rise of specialised stores

The number of games on Steam is on the rise, and with it, the number of games that go unplayed or unnoticed. Nearly 37% of all registered Steam games go unplayed , and it’s no secret that many indie games – even good, critically acclaimed games – get lost amid a sea of other green lit games. In light of this, smaller more specialised distribution services are becoming more important.

6. Design that puts feelings first

The design practice underlying Hunicke’s studio Funomena, and the focus of her keynote, is one she calls “feel engineering”. As Hunicke describes it: “Feel engineering is the process by which you create a game backwards from the feeling you want to create in a person forward towards the mechanics and the dynamics of the game itself.” She notes that while feel engineering isn’t easy, due to its time commitment, high cost, and level of emotional investment asked from development teams, it’s worth it. Hunicke speaks to the positive studio culture of feeling-focused engineering, and its contrast to the toxicity of crunch is evident. “The process of making it is so delightful,” she adds. “It’s so much better than anything I’ve ever done.”

We’ve already seen aspects of feel engineering in the mobile market, with games looking to reverse-engineer social situations people already find fun. Haslam outlines how the design of “co-operative shouting game”.

7. Feeling twitchy about YouTube and Twitch

Youtube and Twitch have been key players in the games industry for a few years now, but recently the kinds of celebrity YouTubers that Ian Baverstock, cofounder of publisher Chilled Mouse, said last year were “parasitically living off the games industry” have come under scrutiny.

When asked whether he would distance himself from YouTubers who were found to accept undisclosed payment in exchange for positive reviews, Ismail said, “There’s no value in a review like that anymore, right? If somebody is known to take money for a review, then that review is immediately worthless to everybody, so it’s a waste of time and actually kind of reflects poorly on my business when that goes up.”

Via The Guardian


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e-Olympics, the new money maker

Category:Latest News

A gaming tournament that is aiming to be the “Olympics of e-sports” was showcased at the Rio Games on Monday 15th, with participants able to win medals instead of prize money, reported CNBC.

E-sports refers to competitive gaming where teams or individual gamers play each other while other people watch in stadiums or online.

The International eGames Group, a company backed by the U.K. government, is hosting the games which will debut in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018, where the Winter Olympics takes place.

It will be a medals-only competition with players having the chance to take home gold for their country. Each country will have a national squad playing in teams or as individuals for different games. National qualifiers will be held in different countries in 2017 with the finalists meeting in South Korea for the inaugural eGames tournament.

In Rio where the Olympics are being held, the International eGames Group organized a two-day competition as a showcase for the games. The games will be streamed globally on Twitch, a company Amazon bought in 2014 for nearly $1 billion.

E-sports is a big business with the market set to be worth around $1.23 billion by 2019, according to SuperData Research. There are large tournaments around the world offering big prize money. A tournament called Dota 2 International this weekend had a prize pool of $20 million.

But Chester King, the chief executive of the International eGames Group, said the company wanted to start their own Olympics-style tournament, because e-sports was becoming too focused on money.

“The reason why we have established what we are doing on the eGames is the fact that we were concerned that e-sports was going too much down the poker route, it was all about money rather than national pride,” King told CNBC in an interview on Monday.

The International eGames Group was set up to manage the commercial and sponsorship rights on behalf of the International eGames Committee (IEGC), which is organizing the tournament in South Korea.

E-sports has been able to draw a millennial audience, a potentially lucrative audience for advertisers. King said he is looking for sponsors for the South Korea tournament and e-sports could attract big names.

“The growth is amazing at the moment and what’s interesting is there are a lot of brands getting into e-sports particularly because it’s the hard to reach demographic of children or people aged between 12 to 24 that aren’t actually watching TV anymore,” King said.

Big businesses are betting in e-sports being a huge area of growth. Last week, Microsoft bought a video game streaming service called Beam and companies such as Intel are sponsors of major global e-sports tournaments.

Via CNBC


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1080partners Twitter

In case you were curious to know what Mr. Toad's glamour might've looked like in #TWAU Season 1 - if he could've afforded it - here's some concept art for you.

Now how could he not afford a glamour and yet afford to drive a car in NYC? 🤷

#TWAUs1fables.

Following the news that Sony will increase the price of the PlayStation 5 in several markets, Microsoft has confirmed that it will not adjust the price of the Xbox Series X and S. https://bit.ly/3ANCOxx

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