Game Tech News

One of the most unique games shown at E3 this year is called “A Way Out.” It’s the second title by director Josef Fares, and it’s explicitly designed for multiplayer, either via the PlayStation Network or sitting side by side on the couch. Games with extensive co-op modes are comparatively rare, but games that literally require co-op play are basically unheard of. The game doesn’t take place entirely in split screen, but much of the action and gameplay uses that presentation method (the video below showcases how things work).

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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nintendo had one serious competitor — Sega. Other game consoles from various companies existed, to be sure. But only the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive (the system was branded differently in different markets) came anywhere near to matching the SNES in total shipments. The total count was 49.1 million for Nintendo, 33.75 million for Sega, and just 10 million for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine. Sega games from this era are still remembered fondly, and the new Sega Forever collection available on mobile devices should be a huge hit. Unfortunately, profound emulation problems are sinking the project.

According to the Sega Forever website, the service is a “free and growing classic games collection of nearly every SEGA game ever released from every console era – Master System, Genesis/Mega Drive, Dreamcast, and more. Available on iOS and Android mobile devices.”

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Mode 7 freaks, get ready: Nintendo has unveiled the Super NES Classic Edition, a miniature version of the beloved SNES in the vein of the NES Classic Edition that everyone wanted and few people were able to actually buy.

The system will come with 21 games, including many of the titles that made the SNES*famous. Built into the system is Zelda: A Link to the Past (widely considered the best Zelda in the 30-year-old series, at least arguably before Breath of the Wild on the Switch). It also includes some of my favorite games from back when I was in college, like F-Zero, the pack-in Super Mario World, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Castlevania IV, and Contra III: The Alien Wars, plus all-time classics like Super Metroid and Mega Man X.

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When Nintendo announced the NES Classic Edition last year, fans salivated at the thought of top-notch emulation for 30 classic titles, with the potential to add more games once modders took the machine apart to see what it could really do. Then, when Nintendo said it was going to ship more systems in the wake of overwhelming demand that the company, whose product sales projection department is apparently staffed by 19th-century employees who still think the real money is in playing cards, it only did enough to*keep the eBay markup down to “just” two to three times the base system price.

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When we covered Microsoft’s new plans for a new GPU analysis tool last week as part of the Fall Creator’s Update, we had some questions about how the tool would function and what information it would present. We’ve since spoken to a Microsoft spokesperson with some knowledge of the situation who was willing to share some additional information on how the tool will work and what it can do.

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Ever since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One X (formerly known as Project Scorpio), there’ve been questions about how the platform would handle backwards compatibility with Xbox One titles and what kind of benefits those games could expect. Microsoft has made a lot of promises about 4K, and while the company’s E3 demos showed games like Forza hitting those targets, the company didn’t reveal a great deal of additional information.

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Historically, GPUs have been designed as monolithic dies with all of their functionality under one ‘roof.’ This hasn’t always been the case — the earliest GPUs sometimes used separate chips for specific functionality. Both AMD and Nvidia have, at various times, used different cores to provide support for additional monitors or to bridge connections between PCI Express and AGP.

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Over the past few years, the Canadian developer and publisher Beamdog and its subsidiary, Overhaul Games, have earned a reputation for well-received updates to beloved titles previously released by Bioware and Black Isle Studios. After a successful overhaul of MDK 2, Overhaul Games and Beamdog have released Enhanced Editions of Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment, along with an all-new expansion for Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.

The Enhanced Editions and new content have been generally well-received. Some have reviewed a touch more strongly than others, but scores of 78 – 82 (or the equivalent in other systems) are common. Overhaul Games would like to move on to the second game in the Icewind Dale set and the last title they haven’t enhanced that uses Bioware’s Infinity Engine. But there’s just one problem — no one can find the source code to Icewind Dale 2.



The original game is still available from sources like GOG.

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Steam’s Summer Sale officially concluded last week, but Valve had one last surprise in store for cheaters who had hoped to score cheap replacements on games (or to build up a larger stockpile of titles while cheating in others). On July 6, Steam banned more than 40,000 people — 40,426 according to Steamdb.info — vastly exceeding its previous daily ban record.

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A new report claims that Oculus is working with Qualcomm to design a headset that won’t require tethering to a PC or phone, and will sell for as little as $200. This standalone headset would be a huge step forward for the industry, and it couldn’t come at a better time for Oculus.

Oculus may have first demonstrated the VR’s ability to generate community excitement, thanks to its fabulous Kickstarter debut. But the company has struggled over the last 12 months. Hardware shipments were delayed due to component shortages. Palmer Luckey was accused of misrepresenting the price; after insisting for years it needed to be roughly $300-$350 to have a chance at gaining mass market share, the actual product launched at $600. Toss in a temporary attempt to implement DRM that was removed again after massive user outcry, and you’ve got a partial list of what’s been pissing off Oculus Rift buyers over the last 15 months.

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