Naughty Dog is one of those studios that needs little introduction. Its productions like Uncharted series or the upcoming The Last Of Us 2 speak for the studio’s capability of developing amazing games. And its success comes from a very unique take to its management style. Recently former Naughty Dog technical art director, Andrew Maximov, uploaded a video on YouTube in which he talked about one unique aspect of Naughty Dog’s management style. Maximov revealed that this the studio that has released over 19 games in over 33 years has a quite unusual management structure. He said that the company has the least interest in utilizing middle management, in other words, Naughty Dog uses middle management minimally. Now for those who may not know, middle management includes designations like, dedicated managers as well as producers. something fascinating about Naughty Dog is that Naughty Dog does not have dedicated managers. As you may catch the drift that this style of management is pretty unusual, with hundreds of employees working on various aspects, under minimal management. How are they managed? in fact, how do they even synchronize with each other and produce such amazing games. Although little is know about the operating status of the company but producing marvelous games, like Uncharted series requires a heavy synchronization level. Which ultimately require the utilization of heavy middle management, still it is pretty amazing to see Naughty Dog be as brilliant as it is, without middle management. Talking about management, not everything in the management has been amazing for the studio in context. Not sure if you guys know or not, last year a former developer David Ballard, also claimed that he faced sexual harassment at the studios before he got fired. Not sure if his claims are true but if they are, then what we can understand from all this is the fact that Naughty Dog perhaps has a very open and unstructured way of management, which apparently does seem to work out for them.

After three months of silence, Activision has finally revealed the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta start date. All fans that want to check out Call of Duty’s new battle royale mode should expect the beta to drop September 10 on PlayStation 4. According to the announcement of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta rolling out early September, PlayStation 4 will be the first console to get access to the new mode on September 10th, with PC and Xbox One following after that. No date has been set for the latter, so we expect the Beta to roll with a similar pattern to the one for the multiplayer mode, which sees Playstation 4 getting a week before PC and Xbox One. If you want to partake, all you have to do is pre-order the game and you will be handed immediate access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta, which for now is private. As a Reddit user revealed, the game files from this weekend’s Private Beta will be updated for the upcoming Blackout one, so there’s no need to download the full game again. As the trailer included in the announcement reveals, you will be able to play solo, duo or in a squad, much like how it already works in Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. We are still short on information about Blackout, however, a few locations have been revealed including iconic maps from previous Black Ops titles. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has recently received a new trailer as well, revealing more information about its locations, items, and characters which are dropping into the mode from previous titles of the series. Black Ops 4 Battle Royale mode is a day-one affair which means players will have access to the mode right from the get-go. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12. Until then, here’s everything you need to know about the new mode before the Private Beta starts next month.

FIFA 19 is releasing next month and what better way to bundle it than with a brand new PlayStation 4 if you don’t already own one. Sony has announced six different FIFA 19 PS4 Bundles for Europe, available at the game’s launch on September 28th. In a detailed post over at the European PlayStation blog, Sony has revealed the six FIFA 19 PS4 Bundles both for the classic and pro edition of the console. If you don’t own a PlayStation 4 yet and are a big FIFA fan then its high time you consider getting the offer, especially with high anticipated PS4 exclusive titles releasing soon, like Spider-Man. Here are all the FIFA 19 PS4 Bundles revealed by Sony for Europe: 1TB PS4 Slim Bundle Includes DualShock 4, physical copy of FIFA 19 Champions Edition 1TB PS4 Pro Bundle Includes DualShock 4 wireless controller, FIFA 19 Standard Edition 1TB PS4 Bundle with two Dualshock 4 wireless controllers Includes Standard Edition 1TB PS4 Bundle Includes DualShock 4 wireless controller, FIFA 19 Standard Edition 500GB PS4 Bundle with two Dualshock 4 wireless controllers Includes Standard Edition on Blu-ray disc 500GB PS4 Bundle Includes DualShock 4 controller, Standard Edition The page for the FIFA 19 PS4 Bundles on the Playstation blog is currently unavailable, no reason for that revealed yet. We also don’t know if those offers are exclusive to Europe or they’ll be available worldwide as well. The safe bet is to expect some of those to be available for America and Asia as well, however, we should expect a detailed announcement regarding the matter soon. In related news, The official FIFA 19 Beta is now underway, with selected players already trying out three modes of the game. If you haven’t received your Beta code yet, fear not. You still have a chance on getting one. FIFA 19 is a soccer simulator in development at EA Sports for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch and is scheduled to launch on September 26, 2018.

The lively boy Nunu and his trusty yeti Willump have received their much-awaited (and much-needed) overhaul in League of Legends. Posting on the official website earlier today, Riot Games revealed that the duo will now be working together — borrowing heart and strength from each other — to have fun adventures together on the Freljordian plains. The overhauled kit introduces new abilities and improvements to the previous ones, while retaining the signature wintry theme in entirety. Starting with the new passive ability, Call of the Freljord, that increases attack and movement speed for Willump and a nearby ally for a few seconds. This bonus can be attained by damaging enemy champions, structures, or large monsters in the jungle. In addition, Willump gets to cleave the immediate area while the buff lasts. Consume (Q) has mostly stayed the same and still does true damage to monsters and minions for heals. With the overhaul, however, Willump can now bite enemy champions as well. The cast time has been shortened, and the ability heals more if the duo has low health. Biggest Snowball Ever! (W) is one of the new abilities that has the League of Legends community extremely excited. Nunu and Willump start rolling a snowball that increases in size the farther it is pushed, exploding and knocking up nearby enemies upon impact. The ability can also be reactivated to break free but the amount of damage and knockup depends on the travel distance. Snowball Barrage (E) is the next new offering on the docket. Nunu rapidly fires three volleys of snowballs, marking enemies and slowing them in the process. Any marked targets that remain within an area close to Willump after the ability ends will become briefly rooted. Absolute Zero (R) was obviously always going to return as the ultimate ability in League of Legends. Nunu and Willump sap heat from their surroundings to channel a devastating explosion. The longer the enemies remain inside the designated area, the slower they become. In addition, Nunu and Willump receive a nifty shield during the channeling. The champion update certainly appears to be designed around having fun. The duo should find it much easier now to go solo in the top lane, as well as having a greater impact in the jungle. Riot Games has even updated all the existing splash arts to coincide with the overhauling. Expect the new Nunu and Willump pair to start snowballing in League of Legends in either two or three weeks. The Public Beta Environment has already been updated. Provided that there are no bugs or glitches, the boy and yeti should go live with the next official update. Elsewhere, lead producer Ryan “Reav3” Mireles revealed last week that there are two new champions in the pipelines. While the second one is locked away for the time being, the first is “a rather colorful mage” for the players.

The hour grows late as Blizzard appears to be getting ready to finally reveal Diablo IV after nearly a decade since the last installment arrived to create a divide between veterans and newcomers over the new design approach. In a surprising announcement this week, associate community manager Brand Camel revealed that there are multiple Diablo projects in the pipelines. She also teased that some of these will take more time to finish but others may possibly see the light of day in the coming months. It should be noted that Diablo IV has yet to be officially announced. However, the trail of breadcrumbs from Blizzard has made it quite evident that the much-awaited sequel exists. There is uncertainty over when the development began but if the planets align, which they seem to be doing so right now, the developer may just drop a trailer at BlizzCon 2018 in November. Stay awhile and listen. Here are thirteen changes Diablo IV should strongly consider to appease the aging player-base. Transparency and listening to the players What ailed Diablo III at the start was Blizzard enforcing changes on the pretense that it knows best. The problem was largely attributed to former game director Jay Wilson, who took a fresh approach without consulting the players. Blizzard had to ultimately remedy the situation down the road and while Diablo III turned out better with post-release improvements, it was a bit difficult to reinvigorate excitement for the installment. Suffice to say that Blizzard should learn from previous mistakes and involve the community for crucial feedback this time around. The development process for Diablo IV needs to have more transparency. Meaningful story and better content support Blizzard is renowned for creating some of the best lore ever but its writing department fell short with Diablo III. The storyline was very predictable and the few included twists hardly held enough meaning to surprise anyone. In fact, the Reaper of Souls expansion pack fared much better in comparison to the base offering. Unfortunately, this improvement was short-lived because Blizzard decided to not release any further story-based content. Whether the Black Soulstone, which was shattered to release all seven evils, will be taken by Diablo IV as a potential plot thread remains to be seen. Blizzard, however, needs to find a more immersive narrative and significant post-release content that carries weight for the sequel. Balance between online and offline content For the first few years, Blizzard had to frequently rush back and forth to give players a solid reason to continue investing time in Diablo III. The installment was released with a primary focus on the traditional single-player story-driven experience but players quickly found themselves without having anything to do. The developer was then forced to focus on the online component by introducing Nephalem Rifts, increasing the difficulty, and bettering the rewards. However, the conversation only returned to additional story content. It is true that multiplayer holds great value in any game but it is equally important to not abandon the single-player campaign. For a franchise like Diablo, there is a natural yearning for as much story-based content as possible to gnaw on. Blizzard needs to a find a balance between online and offline elements for Diablo IV. Perhaps opting for a persistent online world with regular content updates would not be a bad idea. Choosing the right narrator Blizzard did well to bring back Deckard Cain to accompany players in Diablo III. While he was killed off in the later acts for emotional value, the Horadric scholar still remained a significant part of the narrative through his journal entries. It would be a personal joy to see him return in Diablo IV even if he narrates through a spiritual or shade form. However, if Blizzard must find a new narrator, the new individual must be able to fill those incredibly large shoes. Better distinction between difficulty levels There were more than a dozen difficulty levels in Diablo III — seventeen at the time of writing, most of which had very little to do with proposing a challenge. In fact, the first several levels could be skipped and the gameplay would still be fairly easy. In the case of the latter and harder levels, even they felt unnecessary sometimes. It was not until fairly down the “Torment” tree when jumping a single level meant certain death if unprepared. Blizzard had, for reasons, split a single difficulty level into multiple levels. Diablo IV needs to amend this system for clarity. If more are required, the developer should add significant incentives and other differentiating factors to give each difficulty level a separate identity. Facial character customization What is a role-playing game without the option to customize your appearance? There is no greater feeling than spending time on a creation screen and fiddling with facial features for a tailored look. Strangely, the customization aspect was scrapped from Diablo III because the in-game characters were considered too small to show up personal changes. In addition, the developer found no use of customization since they could be hidden by helms and shoulder pads. Diablo IV should dismiss these excuses and come up with a workaround. Let players change their characters even if the most that can be seen is the hair. Elsewhere in the customization category, Transmogrification was an excellent addition to Diablo III. There is no reason why it should not return for the sequel. More grit and less rainbows Despite the limited technology at the time, Diablo II managed to produce creepy and gloom-ridden environments that fell right into the dark theme of the franchise. Diablo III had the advantage of advanced lighting and shaders for realism. However, the new-age art-style meant brighter colors that reduced grit. So where should Diablo IV stand? The new installment definitely needs to return to its dark roots. Dungeons are supposed to be morbid and that means more contrast to bring out bold contours. Exploration instead of linearity While the maps of Diablo II have often been blamed for a linear approach, selective memory fails to note that the much-loved Diablo II also followed the same lines to a certain degree. The comparison can better be made with other franchises in the same genre for better understanding. Torchlight II and Path of Exile, for example, both featured expansive worlds that felt better populated. Players seldom found themselves running from one point to the next and instead would often end up exploring to uncover secrets. Constructing a similar world for Diablo IV would not be difficult when considering the exhaustive lore in the hands of Blizzard. If the next installment will indeed be pursuing an online persistent world, it makes it all the more important to have better designed maps for exploration Bringing the environment into play It is high time that Blizzard evolves the franchise to introduce new gameplay mechanics. There should be more than just dropping chandeliers and rolling piles of logs on to clumps of enemies, which mostly proved useless in Diablo III. Divinity: Original Sin did wonders with its usage of environment. Why cannot Diablo IV offer the same by using the terrain for bonus attributes? Some classes could take advantage of holy or unholy grounds, others of the weather and obviously the incurred elements. Real talent trees instead of skill variants Blizzard went with a simplified talent system for Diablo III on the premise of accessibility, which was not appreciated in the slightest. The traditional talent trees need to return in the next installment if the developer is even remotely interested in making up for lost time. Something massive with multiple branches for players to explore and test their builds with should be the order of the day. Blizzard needs to just look at what Path of Exile has done. This will ultimately add replay value to Diablo IV since players will no longer be able to change their abilities on the fly. Raiding, not races; Bosses, not sponges When it comes to raiding parties, challenges associated with dungeons should not mean following a timer. The very idea is different from what a raid should look and feel like. While the Nephalem Rifts still stand as one of the best post-release aspects of Diablo III, the feature could use a few improvements in Diablo IV. To start off with, raids must have exploration elements. Being overwhelmed with strong enemies in an alien location sounds far better than dropping into a pit to kill as many enemies as possible. In addition, the enemies need to have some level of intelligence. The units and bosses in Diablo III looked great by design but most were simply damage-absorbing sponges in the end. There is a looming opportunity here to increase satisfaction by bettering the dungeons and their bosses. Modding and level editors How many times does it need to be said that the modding community helps increase the longevity of a product, especially if there are multiplayer components involved? Provided that Diablo IV features better and deeper online elements, Blizzard must make sure to give modders the freedom to work. There is only fleeting hope that Diablo IV will be open for the public to make and share great content. This is primarily because the developer has a history of taking a stance against modding in order to restrict the naughty ones from reverse engineering the code to create cheats. Hence, modding in Diablo IV will likely not happen but if it does, all the respect for Blizzard. Keep the Auction House from returning This is going to be a bit difficult to explain since trading is considered a mandatory feature for the franchise. Diablo III did launch with an Auction House but it was removed by Blizzard down the road. The gameplay relies heavily on gear and players were able to get their favorite lot through purchases rather than progress. This not only made the single-player campaign easier but also irrelevant. Once the Auction House was removed, Blizzard balanced the situation by increasing the drop rate of loot. Farming for gear remained as the only option, but the process yielded better results than before. In both instances the clear focus on gear made for a shallow experience. Even now in its current state, players power-level ahead to pick up high-level gear in order to start entering Nephalem Rifts. There is no incentive in going through the story campaign, apart from unlocking a few mediocre achievements. If Blizzard is going with the same focus for Diablo IV, then there is no point of bringing back the Auction House. However, if it forces players to stick with decisions made in a deep talent system and less on their wares, trading could make a fine feature.

Doom Eternal is likely one of the most anticipated games coming either this year or next year, and id Software’s creative director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton have given an interview that talks about how they want Doom Eternal content to feel compared to the 2016 Doom game. Even though he’s a silent protagonist, the Doom Slayer in the first game exuded an aura of barely-controlled rage, such as his emotes during cutscenes (such as in the prologue smashing a viewscreen in rage) but also not without a lighthearted streak (such as him fist-bumping one particular collectible Doom figurine). However, at the same time, the game portrayed the Doom Slayer as a nigh-invincible terror that frightened even the demons that were the game’s main threat, as in the backstory the Slayer had gone on a rampage across Hell, even taking down a titanic monster of a demon and leaving its bones as part of the landscape. Stratton and Martin, however, say that Doom Eternal content will make you feel even more powerful as the Doom Slayer. We got to see some of how the game will achieve this through the QuakeCon gameplay, which showed us a massive amount of carnage and showed us how in awe regular humans are of the Doom Slayer on the Martian moon of Phobos, with Martin and Stratton comparing him to a tiger that everyone else is hoping will go away. A lot of the gameplay that we saw at QuakeCon allows us to express our own interpretations of the Doom Slayer’s style to the game, such as grappling into demons and being more maneuverable and in general expressing yourself through the fight choreography. This fits into how Stratton and Martin are intending to have the Slayer portrayed; you aren’t just watching the Slayer go through this adventure, you’re also controlling him, and you are the actual Doom Slayer. We don’t have any real idea of when Doom Eternal will be coming out, but hopefully with DLC Doom Eternal content, along with all the stuff coming to the game to begin with, the game will be even better-regarded than the 2016 game. The game will be releasing on the Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

While the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of Dark Souls Remastered are already out and available, we haven’t heard anything about a date for the Switch, until now. The Dark Souls Remastered Switch release date is October 19, five months after it was originally announced and six after the other versions were released. Dark Souls was the game that shot From Software into the spotlight, even after Demon’s Souls won a great deal of praise and making the studio’s reputation of creating extremely difficult RPGs. While Demon’s Souls showed the concept could be successful, Dark Souls was the perfected version of that game, and won critical acclaim, enough to give it two sequels and give rise to the “Soulsborne” and “Soulslike” genres. The Dark Souls Remastered Switch release date is also a symbol that the games have transcended the boundaries of consoles, as previously they were exclusive to the Xbox and Playstation before slowly branching out to the PC and now to the Nintendo Switch over the past six years. And, with games like Bloodborne coming out, the Soulsborne genre has remained a powerful force especially for players that like a challenge. The Switch version of Dark Souls Remastered will be getting a network test before the game actually releases, which will allow Nintendo and From Software to be able to make sure that the game’s online play can run properly. Considering how invasions and summoning other players are a huge part of the game, to not have a working network in the game would be a big absence from Dark Souls. Along with the Remastered version of Dark Souls, a Solaire of Astora Amiibo will also be included, but we have no idea of what that amiibo will actually do yet. More information is coming, so mark the Dark Souls Remastered Switch release date on your calendar if you own a Switch.

Despite the critical acclaim that Dishonored 2 got, and the big reaction to the standalone expansion “Death of the Outsider”, Arkane Studios has announced that they will be taking a break from Dishonored games for a while, so the next game likely won’t be coming out anytime soon for you big fans. Dishonored has, for the past few years since its debut in 2012, been telling us the story of a number of special individuals in a hostile and oftentimes frightening and eldritch world as they are given the power to take revenge on those who wronged them by a being known as the Outsider. With their wide-open levels, wide array of special abilities, variety of different tools, and narratives that change based on how you play, the Dishonored games have become some of Arkane’s best-known. However, with Arkane taking a break from Dishonored for the time being, who knows where the studio will go next. Not even Arkane itself knows where the series will be going next; Dishonored 2 took place after a large time skip, with Emily Kaldwin all grown up and ready to take her place as Empress while her father and bodyguard Corvo stood by her side, along with Death of the Outsider, which was intended to serve as the finale to that story. Who knows what the world will be like in Dishonored 3, if that game ever happens. Arkane lead designer Ricardo Bare has said that whether you’re in Dunwall or Talos-1, environmental storytelling and deep world building play a big part in Arkane games. Both the Dishonored series and last year’s game Prey had a large amount of worldbuilding in a variety of ways, ranging from newspaper clippings and documents found to exposition, which helped to establish the sort of world you were in. While Arkane’s break from Dishonored is well deserved, hopefully that break won’t be too long before we can get back to making use of crazy powers in all sorts of different ways.

Ninja is the most popular stream right now who happens to play a lot of Fortnite and has gained huge success while playing it. Recently he has got some heat from the fans and Twitch users after he mentioned why he doesn’t play with women. Ninja recently talked with Polygon explaining why he doesn’t play with women while streaming as he said: If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we’re playing with one another, and even if there’s a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever. This raised a lot of questions as Twitch personalities and many people criticised him so Ninja decided to clarify himself on Twitter. I wanted to take a moment to address the discussion around the article that came out over the weekend. While I understand some people have implied my views mean I have something against playing with women, I want to make clear the issue I’m addressing is online harassment, and my attempt to minimize it from our life. It is something that affects all streamers, especially ones that make their relationships public. I wanted to bring attention to this issue and my comments should not be characterized as anything beyond that. He also then went on to mention how he celebrated his first-year anniversary with wife and he mentioned that his family is the most important thing to him and he’s doing best to protect them. Ninja has a huge following and he’s without a doubt the best player of Fortnite as he continues to his road to success. He also talked about Fortnite and why there’s no cross-platform support by Sony. We think that it all comes to personal preference and Ninja is doing something he loves so he’s avoiding to be distracted by ending up doing something foolish.

The Chief Creative Officer at Sega Toshihiro Nagoshi revealed in an interview how the Yakuza Series could have ended up on Nintendo rather than Sony. The Yakuza Series did great work Sony but one story from the past of Sega’s journey towards game development has exposed what could have been for the action-adventure Yakuza Series. Toshihiro Nagoshi told the Edge magazine during the interview that Nintendo was quite overwhelmed by the job done on the Yakuza Series: I’ve never said this before, but while we released this game with Sony, I’d done presentations about it to Microsoft and Nintendo. Back then they said, “no we don’t want it.” Now they say, “we want it!” (laughs) They didn’t understand the reason why I created it. Nintendo later tried to do two exclusives but failed to succeed as good as Sony. Nagoshi also revealed Nintendo’s obsession with the Yakuza franchise publishers before. At that time Sega had just switched from hardware towards the game development market. The Yakuza Series publishers were keen on proving their worth to the industry. For this reason, Sega developed F-Zero GX and Nintendo was left quite stunned by the quality work the Yakuza Series developers were able to produce with limited resources and budget. The game is still considered a classic in futuristic racing games: After it released, I got a call from Nintendo. They said they wanted to see all the source code for the game, and wanted me to explain how we’d made that game, in that timeframe and with that budget, in detail. They were wondering how we’d done it – they couldn’t figure it out. We were able to achieve something a lot higher than what Nintendo had expected. Yakuza series is being reported to add another title to the collection. Meanwhile, check out the Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life coming out in 2019. Source: NintendoEnthusiast

It’s been less than a day since we got to play our last match in Black Ops 4 after the multiplayer Beta of the game came to an end. Just after saying thanks to the fans for the feedback and ending the beta, Treyarch has already started to tease something new about Black Ops 4. This was found on Twitter, Treyarch’s and David Vonderhaar’s account as they all shortly changed their display pictures to something interesting. The new picture contains a symbol taken from Black Ops 4, revealing a skull. 1 of 4 PreviousNext Though it’s very hard to figure out what this all actually means but our guess is that it is for the upcoming Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta. Blackout mode in Black Ops 4 is the next Beta scheduled by Treyarch and will be available to us in September. Other than that it could mean something else, maybe a new mode or something related to perk systems, possibilities are endless. If you did get a chance to play Black Ops4 multiplayer Beta then our friendly advice to you is to not delete the game as it will automatically turn into Blackout Betain September so you will not have to download it all over again. Black Ops 4 Beta also gave us the first look at the latest mode in Call Of Duty games, called Heist. In this mode, two teams will have to locate a bag full of cash and deliver to the extraction point afterwards. Also, players will have limited lives and you also have the ability to revive your teammates for the first time which is really fun and competitive. As for the reviews, people had some mixed responses to the game and we saw that influencers were really not happy with the new changes in the game. Black Ops 4 is scheduled to release on October 12, 2018, for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Thanks, Dualshockers

Only just a press release declared that The Chinese Room has come under one the studios of Sumo Digital. Sumo Group’s Cheif Executive Officer, Carl Cavers confirmed the acquisition earlier today. Representatives from both groups exchanged their words in the press release. Carl Cavers shared his contentment over this union: I am really pleased that Dan has chosen to join Sumo Group. We believe Dan’s renowned creative abilities will add real value to Sumo Group. The Chinese Room has an outstanding reputation and its acquisition will enhance and extend Sumo Digital’s capabilities. Having a studio in the south of England opens new doors for the Group and we are confident that it will create exciting opportunities. Creative Director at The Chinese Room also expressed his gladness by saying: I’m thrilled to be joining Sumo Digital, a network of studios I’ve got a huge amount of respect for. Sumo will provide the support and experience I’m looking for to take The Chinese Room to the next level. Our aim is to build on the reputation I’m proud to have earned, to create a truly world-class studio delivering bold, imaginative new games. We’re already working on some really fantastic new concepts, alongside discussions with partners about some of the games we already have in the pipeline. The future of the studio is incredibly exciting and being part of the Sumo family is absolutely central to that. Meanwhile.MD at Sumo Digital stated his admiration for The Chinese Room too: I’m delighted that Dan is joining Sumo Digital, and very much looking forward to The Chinese Room continuing to create the unique, innovative games they are known and loved for. Sumo Digital now has made The Chinese Room their fifth studio and are continuing to grow rapidly. However, the criticism received by the acquired video game publisher might put a question mark on whether Sumo Digital made the right decision or not. Besides, the acquired company have had some terrible decisions made in the past too. Let’s see if other video game publisher or specifically CD Projekt Red have something to say to them just like before.

There’s a lot of hype for Avengers game since last year when Square Enix and Marvel announced that they are working on an Avengers game which they are referring to as Avengers Project for now. Surprisingly yesterday, Crystal Dynamics announced that they have created a new studio to work further on the game. Crystal Dynamics announced that they have created a new studio called Crystal Northwest, based in Bellevue and the main objective of the team is to work on the development of The Avengers Project which everyone is waiting for. The former member of Gas Powered Games, Chad Queen is the head of Crystal Northwest and James Loe is also there, who’s known for his work in the gaming industry for over 20 years. Vincent Napoli, lead designer of God Of War has also joined the team along with co-founder of Dead Space, Ben Wanat and many more. We have strengthened our teams and created a new, talented studio to bring the best gaming experiences to our players, We have assembled a team of veterans and industry leaders to create gaming experiences that exceed the expectations of our passionate community. Our new studio in Bellevue and the new hires at Redwood Shores reflect our ongoing commitment to the most ambitious project we have ever created. We will continue to build on the fantastic growth that Crystal Dynamics has seen in recent years, and we look forward to providing fans around the world with an unforgettable Avengers experience. With the latest update and additions, Crystal Dynamics contains some of the most known and successful developers which guarantees us a game we all would love to play. Well, we really hope that this Avengers Project game turns out to be a superhero movie that we are waiting for just like Spiderman as there have been rumours that the upcoming Avengers game is an Ultimate Alliance Reboot which will be very disappointing if it turns out to be true.

Bethesda wants Crossplay for Elder Scrolls Legends and might force Sony to deliver on this. The company has a vision for the game and the lack of crossplay from Sony does not fit right with it. Bethesda’s Pete Hines made it clear that Elder Scrolls Legends is a game that has been made with crossplay in mind. The following is what he had to say in this regard: (Legends) is a strategy card game that encompasses both single and multiplayer. It is both cross-platform play and cross-platform progressive. It is our intention in order for the game to come out, it has to be those things on any system. We cannot have a game that works one way across everywhere else except for on this one thing. Sony has been very stubborn when it comes to working on and providing crossplay for different games even though fans and devs have been asking for it as long time now. The following is what Pete Hines further went on to say regarding the matter: It is our intention in order for the game to come out, it has to be those things on any system. We cannot have a game that works one way across everywhere else except for on this one thing. The way the game works right now on Apple, Google, Steam, and Bethesda.net, it doesn’t matter where you buy your stuff, if you play it on another platform that stuff is there. It doesn’t matter what platform you play on, you play against everyone else who is playing at that moment. There’s no ‘Oh, it’s easier to control, or it has a better framerate on this system.’ It’s a strategy card game. It doesn’t matter. I think Sony should let Elder Scrolls Legends have its way, it is just a bit of fun nothing more. For more information regarding Elder Scrolls Legends and crossplay, stay tuned to SegmentNext. Let us know what you think about Elder Scrolls Legends and whether or not this is something that you are interested in.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the next game in the Assassin’s Creed series. The game is getting a couple of new features and the naval combat is being redesigned. Game Director on Odyssey Scott Phillips talked about the matter and here we are going to look into what he had to say regarding the matter. First, he talked about how new tech is being used in order to support the seamless open world. The following is what he had to say in this regard: We felt like it was a good time to bring back something that fans were really happy with in past Assassin’s Creeds. Origins touched on it a little bit, and then we sort of redesigned it – had to build all new tech in order to support the seamless open-world nature. The combat system has now been changed in order to fit the game. One of the features is that the more damage you do to an enemy ship the more attacks you unlock and the unlocked attacks are more powerful. We knew that it’s very different from 17th-century pirate ships, so we had to approach it from a different way. The new naval combat system in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, should be unlike anything that we have seen in the previous game and the following is what Phillips had to say in this regard: It’s much more sort of Fast and Furious but it is authentic to that time period and how they would have fought, which is something that we try to aim for… that it passes that sort of sniff test of ‘Yeah, that’s about right. It will be interesting to see what Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will be like and with Gamescom 2018 around the corner, we might be able to get a closer look at what the game has to offer. For now, what we know for sure is that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will not have multiplayer and that the director wants to bring it to the Nintendo Switch but its complicated. Let us know what you think about Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and whether or not you are interested in playing the game.

The Nvidia RTX 1180 is supposed to be the next generation GPU based on the Nivida Turing architecture and we have been hearing that the graphics card will have a significant performance boost as compared to the GTX 1080 that came out more than 2 years ago. Here we have some benchmarks that seem to concern the Nvidia RTX 1180. According to the Nvidia RTX 1180 benchmarks the graphics card performs similarly to the Titan V, which is a very expensive graphics card. The mainstream GPUs are not supposed to cost that much and if the Nvidia RTX 1180 is able to provide that level of performance even at a moderately higher price then this will indeed be something that the fans will be interested in. 1 of 2 PreviousNext The Nvidia RTX 1180 benchmarks show that the graphics card performs 36% better than the GTX 1080 (about 50FPS), 30% better than the GTX 1080 Ti, 18% better when compared to the TITAN Xp. At present, the Turing core announced by Nvidia can reach 16 TFLOPS, and that is 6% higher than TITAN V. These are indeed some impressive number and I hope that the Nvidia 1180 can deliver this kind of performance but there is no way of knowing whether or not this is indeed the Nvidia RTX 1180, so you will need to take this information with a grain of salt. We will have to wait for the official announcement from Nvidia and from what I have heard, that is not too far away. The Nvidia RTX 1180 should be announced later this month. Nvidia has already released the RTX Quadro which was one of the trademarks that Nvidia registered a while ago so we can be pretty sure that the RTX branding will come to the mainstream graphics cards as well. Partners have already talked about working on custom models and we have talked about why you might want to skip the reference design model. For more information regarding the Nvidia RTX 1180 stay tuned. Let us know what you think about the Nvidia RTX 1180 and whether or not this is something that you are interested in getting.

When the games of Bethesda Softworks were in their prime, the video game publishers decided to further restrict open criticism by announcing a new review policy back in 2016. Bethesda Softworks has since faced a lot of backlash from companies and customers alike. The Senior Vice President for Global Marketing of Bethesda Softworks, Pete Hines revealed in a recent interview the reasons which lead to Bethesda Review Policy changes. In a discussion with VG24/7, Pete Hines commented on the formal company policy being actually changed by saying. We put out Evil Within 2 and sent it out to press well in advance, and we did the same thing for Wolfenstein 2. Then there were other games that we sent out at launch. I think we’re going to continue to evaluate what makes the most sense. In the case of Elder Scrolls Online, we don’t have a choice. Fallout 76 is the same way, it’s a server – the game is either up or it’s not. We will continue to figure out what makes the most sense. As of now, the Bethesda review policy changes have not yet been announced but Hines did admit that the company is aware of the need for change: We’re constantly iterating and reevaluating. It just didn’t make sense The Bethesda Review Policy was getting in the good game reviews. The games that were being reviewed were doing really good with reviews but it was all inside an orchestrated box. However, the single-player games were not really trending and a good word had to be spread with a biased Bethesda Review Policy. Eventually, they got what they wanted but in the meantime, the Bethesda Review Policy was putting a question mark on the credibility of the video game company. Hines responded on this issue by saying: We did it the first time because there was the whole thing about transparency and companies needing to be transparent. We were like, ‘Well, you want us to be transparent, this is what we’re doing’. Then it ended up being the focal point and, honestly, we were tired of reading reviews where the first paragraph spent more time talking about our review policy than the game. So we decided we’re not going to keep drawing attention to it – we’ll send out copies and maybe people will start talking about the game instead of talking about policies. So we did Bethesda yet again decided to release review copies ahead of pre-launch last year. Bethesda Softworks is keen on handling matters internally whether its game development or public review policy. Bethesda Softworks is quite mindful of the legalities and policies which was seen in the case where they sued Warner Bros.

A brand new Spiderman PS4 new launch trailer has been released and it seems to promise one thing for sure, among many other things that it will bring in, a pitch-perfect comic book feel for Spiderman comic book fans. In the newly surfaced Spiderman PS4 trailer, we see Peter Parker as Spiderman meeting up with Miles Morales, following that some amazing swing byes in the traffic, we can see him atop a car, which is en route on the freeway. We also got to see some brief glimpses of Sinister Six, apart from that this trailer highlights some of the key aspects in terms of cinematic moments, which imply that Insomniac is very keen on making sure that this upcoming Spiderman PS4 game does not disappoint the Comic Book fans. All the while keeping intact, the gaming and PS4 audience. This upcoming game is expected to tell the kind of original story that has not been explored in any of the prior releases, with so many unique roles, performed by very talented artists alongside other aspects, the devs seem to have pushed the hype bar a little too high. Let us hope that this atop hype bar, does not drop down. However, after seeing this trailer, you will have a certainty of this game to be a disappointment. Talking about this game to not be a disappointment, creative director Bryan Intihar in an interview shared the inspiration of this game. He said that Insomniac Game’s Sunset Overdrive has helped the devs redesign New York City. As you may know that Sunset had a really complex geometry and advanced elements, so the studio has had a great help using that game, as a form of physical and spiritual inspiration from it. For the Batman Arkham fans, Bryan Intihar has also assured that Spiderman PS4 will certainly level up to Batman Arkham Legacy standards, and perhaps exceed expectations. Let us hope that turns out to be the case. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Simon Cowell has given One Direction fans fresh hope of a reunion after insisting the group's legacy is too important for Harry Styles and company not to regroup. The music mogul helped create the band on Britain's The X Factor talent show in 2010, when he was a judge, and he oversaw their early success. The group announced a hiatus in 2016 and the bandmates have been focusing on solo ventures ever since, with no sign of a get together in sight - but Cowell insists it's inevitable One Direction will return one day soon. "I just think the legacy is too big not to go back to at one point," he tells Entertainment Tonight. "Plus they have enough songs. I didn't realise how many hits they've had... "When they do get back together it will be a huge event," he adds. "But look, they're all doing their own thing and they're all being successful. But I have a feeling it will happen. I really do. I'd love it to happen. "Everyone would love to see them back together, even if it was just a series of concerts." Cowell, who is currently working with One Direction star Louis Tomlinson on the new season of the The X Factor in the U.K., admits he has always had a great fondness for the boys. "Individually they were all great," he gushes. But Simon has a new star in his eyes - young British singer Courtney Hadwin, who is tipped to win the current season of his show America's Got Talent, after wowing him and his fellow judges with a rendition of James Brown's Papa's Got a Brand New Bag in the show's first live round of the season on Tuesday (14Aug18). "You always remember that one performance where you go, 'That's gonna make a difference'," he explains. "That was one of those moments. It was incredible."

Britney Spears has been forced to hand over $100,000 (£78,800) to her ex-husband Kevin Federline to cover his legal costs as their child support dispute rumbles on. The Toxic hitmaker has been at war with Federline for months after the former dancer demanded triple the $20,000 (£15,800) he already receives to help care for the couple's sons Sean, 12, and Jayden, 11. Britney's father Jamie, who serves as her conservator, reportedly offered his former son-in-law an extra $10,000 (£7,900)-per-month, but Federline declined the sum, and is continuing his legal battle for more. Attorneys for the two sides met in court earlier this month (Aug18), when the judge ordered the pop superstar to help her ex with his mounting legal fees, according to The Blast. However, the lawmaker's decision wasn't all in Federline's favour - both parties were also instructed to each pay $10,000 to officials at a dispute resolution company in an attempt to settle the case out of court. Their next hearing has been set for October (18). The former couple shares custody of the boys, but in his original filing, Federline explained he wanted to re-evaluate the child support agreement that has been in place for the past decade because his income has been in a steep decline. In contrast, Federline claimed Britney has been raking in millions, thanks to her lucrative Las Vegas concert residency, which she wrapped at the end of 2017. Britney, who is currently on a global tour, hit back at his request for the big bump in child support, claiming she already covers all of their boys' monthly expenses, including tuition, extracurricular activities, clothing, and anything else they need.

Cardi B will open the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on Monday night (20Aug18). The performance will be her first since she became a mum to baby daughter Kulture last month (Jul18). MTV bosses made the announcement on their VMAs Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon, writing: "WANNA PARTY WITH CARDI??? @iamcardib will open the 2018 @VMAs. You don’t wanna miss this. August 20th at 9pm on MTV." The Bodak Yellow hitmaker extended her lead over all nominees for the prizegiving earlier this week (beg13Aug18) after snagging another two nods for Song of the Summer. The new mum dominated the main VMAs shortlist with 10 nominations when it was unveiled last month, but now she will also have double the chance of winning the Song of the Summer category too, thanks to I Like It, her latest hit with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, and her Maroon 5 collaboration Girls Like You. The VMAs performance marks the second time Cardi B has bumped up her post-pregnancy stage return. She initially planned to make her comeback at the Mala Luna festival in Texas over Halloween weekend (Oct18), but then announced she would take centre stage at the Global Citizen Festival on 29 September (18), when she'll perform alongside Janet Jackson and The Weeknd. She recently pulled out of plans to join Bruno Mars on tour this autumn (18) after confessing she had "underestimated" the struggles of motherhood.

Hip-hop icon Lauryn Hill has been put on blast by jazz star Robert Glasper for allegedly disrespecting her fellow musicians. The former Fugees singer/rapper has developed a reputation for her tardiness and her sometimes erratic behaviour both on and off the stage over the years, and in a candid new radio interview on The Madd Hatta Morning Show in Houston, Texas, Glasper aired his grievances against Hill, recalling how she had treated him over a decade ago. In the radio rant, the acclaimed Grammy-winning pianist revealed Lauryn initially reached out to him around 2006, inviting him to "audition" to win a spot in her band for a show - an offer he declined after directing her to check out his hit albums if she wanted to hire him for a gig. Two years later, a mutual friend who worked as a musical director, asked if he wanted to perform with Lauryn as part of a private 20-minute set in New York, for which she was reportedly paid $500,000 (£394,000). "We rehearse a whole week, like 10 hours a day," he remembered. "Every day she comes in and changes the show, changes what she wants to do. Completely. The last rehearsal, she doesn't show up. Her manager comes in and says, 'Lauryn's not really feeling the way you guys have been learning the music, so we're going to cut your pay in half...'" Glasper insists the group was a "superband" which had done nothing wrong, claiming Lauryn simply "likes to fire bands". He ended up threatening to quit the show altogether until he was paid for his work upfront, knowing she wouldn't be able to hit the stage without him as the "principle piano player". Glasper went on to reveal rumours about Hill's demands for people to only refer to her as "Ms. Hill" and not to "look her in the eye" are "100 per cent true", before attacking her for acting so superior when she hasn't done enough to deserve it. He highlights one example relating to allegations that Hill failed to give credit to the writers and musicians behind her iconic 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - the members of New Ark sued the singer/rapper over the lack of proper recognition and settled the suit out of court in 2001 for a reported $5 million (£4 million). "You've already stolen all of my friends' music," he ranted. "Miseducation was made by great musicians and producers that I know personally. You got a big hand off of music you didn't even write (sic)." Glasper continued, "She likes to take credit so she can become this super person. If you're a super person, and you're that talented, do it (again). You feel me?" He then compared his experience with Hill to working with music veterans Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Herbie Hancock, who were all a pleasure to collaborate with. "Lauryn Hill should be able to be cool," he concluded. "You haven't done enough to be the way you are. You just have not. The one thing you did that was great, you didn't do." Hill has yet to respond to Glasper's cutting remarks. She is currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill with a special tour, although she recently cancelled a string of dates due to "production issues" following fan complaints about a July (18) gig in Toronto, Canada.

Aerosmith have confirmed reports of a Las Vegas residency by announcing the name of their 2019 run of shows. The Aerosmith: Deuces Are Wild residency will begin on 6 April (19) at the Park Theater at the new Park MGM resort. The show is being billed as "one of the most immersive, state-of-the art audio and video technology experiences in Las Vegas," created by Grammy Award-winning producer Giles Martin, the man behind the music for Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles Love show in Sin City. Steven Tyler and his bandmates have teamed up with THX and L-Acoustics for the residency to deliver the world's first THX Certified live performance presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound. In total, the band has booked 18 performances, which will run until 9 July (19). Guitarist Joe Perry leaked the news a few days early in an interview on Sirius XM radio's The Beatles Channel, telling host Dennie Elsas, "We're going to be doing a residency in Vegas starting next spring. What we want to do is something that I haven't seen before... just downsizing our live show, just playing in a smaller place. We want to do something different. We're in the middle of the production now. What we're talking about is having an experience that you wouldn't be able to see on a regular Aerosmith tour." "I feel like we've been out of the wind for a while," he added, "and it seems like it would be a really cool thing to bring some of the history back, so the production is gonna look like that. But without losing what we are: a hardcore rock and roll band. "We're having almost weekly conversations about the production and how we're gonna keep it true and honest to the heartbeat of the rock and roll that we play but still add an element that people will want to see. I haven't been this excited about a project with Aerosmith in quite a while."

Phil Collins is interested in a Genesis reunion with his teenage son on drums. The rocker came out of retirement last year (17) and is currently touring with his son Nicholas on his Not Dead Yet! tour, and he's so impressed with the kid's kit skills, he insists he's good enough to hit the road with his old band, which last performed together over a decade ago. "I wouldn't say there isn't not a possibility," he tells Rolling Stone when asked about a Genesis reunion. "Me, Mike (Rutherford) and Tony (Banks) are pretty close still. I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't play the drums, but anything is possible." The veteran musician, who had to hang up his drumsticks due to injury, admits his former bandmates are just as impressed with his son's skills after catching a Collins concert last year (17). "They both were raving about Nick," he says. "Mike made the appropriate comment of, 'He just gets it. He just gets what is needed and what is required and why you're doing this for that song'. "I thought that was a wonderful thing to say. He was 16 at that point. I think that, yeah, if we did anything I think it would have to be with Nick on drums because I don't think I'm capable of it. I think their opinion of Nick is high enough for them to take him onboard as part of the band." And his son is clearly up for the gig - he told Rolling Stone in January, 2017 that he would be "ecstatic" if he was ever called on to perform with Genesis. "That Genesis stuff, drumwise, is something else; absolutely unbelievable," he said. "But to be honest, I don't think there will be another Genesis reunion tour. They did it in 2007 and I doubt it'll happen again."

Nicki Minaj's mother has gone public with her efforts to overturn her son Jelani's child rape conviction. The rap star's brother was found guilty of predatory sexual assault of his 11-year-old stepdaughter last year (17) and he is currently facing 25 years to life in prison, but his mum and lawyer David Schwartz are determined to clear his name. During an appearance on The Hip Hop Hood Report, Carol Maraj tells veteran host Charles Fisher her son didn't get a fair trial because jurors ignored the evidence and decided he was guilty before the defence team had presented its case. Nicki's mum claims prosecutors used "inconclusive DNA evidence", and now has proof from an alternate juror that others on the panel had made up their minds about Jelani based on media reports they should not have had access to during the trial. "People (jury members) were just talking," she says. "They totally ignored the evidence and they went by their own mind and their own feelings and they already had him guilty way before the trial ended." Carol and her son's lawyer are now trying to have the conviction overturned on the basis of jury misconduct, and she tells Fisher she still can't understand why the panel wasn't locked away during the trial. "For a high-profile case such as this... (I can't understand) why Nassau County (officials in New York) didn't put these jurors away, sequestered somewhere, so that a child's father, a mother's son will get a fair trial... That was not done." Maraj also claims the case was a "witch hunt", and insists that jurors were negatively influenced by her daughter's celebrity and notable absence from the trial. The alternate juror, who has now signed an affidavit for Minaj's mother and the defence team, insists Jelani should be a free man today because there was no real evidence against him. Earlier this year (18), Minaj's brother asked a judge to dismiss the guilty verdict in his child rape case after he was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child last November (17). During the trial, his defence lawyers claimed Jelani's estranged wife, Jacqueline Robinson - the mother of the girl at the centre of the drama - set him up as part of a $25 million (£19.7 million) extortion plot just four months after they tied the knot in a lavish wedding, which Anaconda hitmaker Nicki paid for. Robinson, who filed for divorce in 2016, denied the allegations during her testimony, while the court also heard evidence from the victim and her younger brother, who claimed he walked in on Maraj assaulting his sister. Nicki has never commented on the case publicly, but she previously helped to secure her brother's freedom following his arrest by putting up two of her homes for collateral as she covered his $100,000 (£78,000) bail.