Gaming

The news from immersive experience and beyond

Congressman Hunter used campaign funds to finance, among other lavish things, over a thousand dollars of purchases on Steam. Image via Getty Images.
Gaming
A US Congressman spent campaign funds on Steam games

Congressman Duncan D. Hunter was found in investigations to have misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign funding for personal use, buying luxurious items and vacation trips with the money. He also recently confessed he used campaign funds to make Steam purchases upwards of a thousand dollars, though he had initially tried to excuse it as his son's mistake.

steam funding investigation united-states congressman representative duncan-hunter campaign

Fri Dec 06 - PCGamer
AMD closer to toppling Intel in hardware popularity among users, Steam survey finds. Image via AMD.
Gaming
Steam survey shows AMD is close to toppling Intel

Gaming platform Steam's monthly hardware survey for November revealed that AMD is enjoying growing popularity among users, with AMD processor usage up from just 8 percent in 2018 to over 20 percent in 2019, close to the market share of Intel. AMD recently released its massively popular 3rd generation Ryzen series of processors with significant advantages over their Intel counterparts, which might explain the shift.

ryzen user steam intel amd hardware popularity 3rd-generation processor

Thu Dec 05 - PCGamer
Battlefront 2 is adding a number of elements from Star Wars episode 9, image via Lucasfilm
Gaming
Battlefront 2 to add playable BB8 in latest update

In order to promote 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker', Battlefront 2 is releasing a new update that will add a number of elements from the film. The update will include maps, ships, weapons, and BB8 as a playable character. The update is set to come out on December 17th.

disney marvel scifi first-person-shooter star-wars bb8 droid ea

Thu Dec 05 - Gamespot
Rainbow Six Siege is about to start its fourth season, image via Ubisoft
Gaming
Rainbow Six Siege to add two new operators in massive update

Ubisoft has released the latest Rainbow Six Siege operation, adding new maps and two new playable operators. The operators are currently only available for season pass holders but will be available for everyone else by December 10th. The update will also bring some gameplay changes, including limb penetration, allowing players to damage multiple enemies with a single shot.

update first-person-shooter rainbow-six-siege video-game gameplay

Wed Dec 04 - Gamespot
Halo: The Master Chief Collection opened at the number one spot on Steam charts, with Halo: Reach on 3. Image via Windowscentral.
Gaming
Halo: The Master Chief Collection opens at number one spot on Steam

The release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Steam and the Windows store, featuring PC versions of Microsoft's beloved Halo series, has long been awaited by PC gamers. Today, the release of the collection saw a flurry of downloads, bringing The Master Chief Collection to the top spot in the Steam charts, trailed behind at number 3 by none other than Halo: Reach, released earlier in the month.

microsoft halo steam reach master-chief-collection windows-store

Wed Dec 04 - PCGamer
Sexism lawsuit will cost the gaming developer 10 million USD. Image via Riot Games.
Gaming
Riot Games settles sexism lawsuit for $10m

Riot Games, the games developer responsible for the billion dollar League of Legends franchise, was sued for gender discrimination at the workplace in a 2018 class action lawsuit. The company acknowledged its shortcomings and agreed to settle the case for 10 billion USD, along with hiring their first diversity officer.

sexism million lawsuit riot-games league-of-legends gender-discrimination

Tue Dec 03 - PCGamer
Youtubers who post simulated violence will no longer have their videos be age restricted. Image via Activision
Gaming
Youtube to allow more violent video game content

Youtube has announced a new policy that would allow videos of simulated violence in video games to be visible to everyone, not just those who are over 18. However, if the violence is extreme and is the focus of the video, it may still become age-restricted. Advertisers will still be allowed to use their own standards for videos.

youtube violence videogames first-person-shooter streamers stream

Tue Dec 03 - TheVerge
The game created a lot of hype by having its own convention, image via Roberts Space Industries
Gaming
Star Citizen has raised over $250 million on its crowdfunding website

Star Citizen, a long-awaited space exploration game, has raised over $250 million in crowdfunding in order to finance its production. The game was originally announced in 2012 and has not been finished since. There has been a large amount of buzz surrounding its production this year as the game is nearing completion.

space star-citizen first-person-shooter space-exploration

Mon Dec 02 - Gamespot
Kojima is considering a Death Stranding sequel with Norman Reedus. Image via Getty Images
Gaming
Kojima considering sequel to "Death Stranding"

Hideo Kojima, creator of the Solid Snake game series who recently released his much-awaited new game Death Stranding, has revealed he is considering a sequel to the game. Kojima states he would like Norman Reedus involved again in Kojima's Death Stranding and also that he would cancel Silent Hill, but that the project would "start from zero".

norman-reedus hideo-kojima death-stranding sequel silent-hill

Mon Dec 02 - Gamespot
New World of Darkness game launch delayed. Image via VG247.
Gaming
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York release postponed

While previously slated for release on December 4, the game will now be launched a week later on December 11. CoNY is a release by World of Darkness which brings a political strategy element to the genre, with players being able to choose between two opposing sides of the Camarilla and the Anarchs. The game will release on Steam, GoG and Humble.

release world new york december vampire masquerade coteries of darkness postponed

Sun Dec 01 - PCGamer
Apex Legends has become one of the most popular online shooters in the world,image via Respawn
Gaming
Apex Legends to raise level cap and add more rewards in latest update

Respawn, the company behind Apex Legends has announced that they will be increasing the level cap from 100 to 500. This will also lead to an increase in the number of level up rewards in order to get players to come back to the game. The update is expected to attract both new and returning players alike.

gaming online apexlegends fps battleroyale

Sun Dec 01 - Gamespot
Black Friday challenge: Cards Against Humanity pitches human writers against AI. Image via the gift central
Gaming
Cards Against Humanity creators race against AI

Maintaining their yearly tradition of parodying capitalism on Black Friday, the creators of the "Cards Against Humanity" card game are currently hosting a 16-hour live stream where they race against an artificially intelligent neural network trained to write CAH cards, with the best selling team winning the challenge. The loser will have their job replaced by the winner, though it is unclear if this is a joke.

network black artificial intelligence cards against humanity neural friday

Sat Nov 30 - TheVerge
Global link has been up for nine years and is shutting down in February, image via Shutterstock
Gaming
Pokemon Global Link is shutting down and users are being given free Pokemon

Nintendo has announced that Pokemon Global Link is going to shut down in February and all current users will be given free Pokemon as compensation. The service has been used by players to battle each other online for the past nine years. It is going to be functionally replaced by Pokemon Sword and Sheild's new Battle Stadium feature.

pokemon nintendo globallink pikachu

Sat Nov 30 - Gamespot
Valve is releasing a VR game and it is Half-Life: Alyx. Image via Valve.
Gaming
Valve announces Half-Life: Alyx for VR

Almost three years after Valve declared that they would release three full-length VR games, the company has announced the first of the games to be an installment in the Half-Life franchise, called Half-Life: Alyx. This marks the first additional release to the franchise since 2007, over a decade ago. The name suggests that the VR game will almost certainly involve Half-Life 2 protagonist Gordon Freeman's best friend Alyx Vance.

steam halflife valve vr alyx gordon freeman

Tue Nov 19 - TheVerge
Halo: Reach is coming to PC on December 3. Image via Microsoft.
Gaming
Halo: Reach gets Dec 3 release date on PC

Following Microsoft's announcement earlier in the year stating they would be releasing their classic Halo game collection on PC, the company has now announced it is also adding Halo: Reach to the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a bundle of all six originally released Halo games remastered for PC gaming. The company add Halo: Reach on PC to The Master Chief Collection on Steam on December 3rd, priced at $39.99.

gaming pc microsoft halo masterchief steam reach

Fri Nov 15 - TheVerge
China is one of the largest markets for video games, image via China Daily
Gaming
China introduces Curfew on Online Gaming

The Chinese government is taking steps to stop the spread of video game addiction within the country. They have now banned all children under the age of 18 from playing online games from 8 am to 3 pm, they will now only be able to play for 90 minutes on weekdays and 3 hours a day on the weekend.

gaming china addiction videogames onlinegaming

Mon Nov 11 - DGSMedia
A teen dies during an intense gaming session// Image via The Spinoff
Gaming
An intense gaming session claims the life of a 17-year-old gaming addict

Piyawat Harikun died of a stroke due to playing an all-night, multiplayer game session. His father, Piyawat Harikun learned of his demise as we went to his room in the morning, only to find his body collapsed near his bed. Harikun wants his son's death to be a warning for parents whose children are game addicts and take steps to curb their addiction before it gets too late.

gaming addiction video-games online-gaming

Wed Nov 06 - TheSun
PlayStation 5 price leak suggests Sony's 2020 console will be 'affordable'
Gaming
You'd probably be able to afford PlayStation 5 according to latest price leaks

Sony's all new PlayStation 5 console is set to launch in 2020 but there's already a lot we know about the next generation console thanks to the rumors spreading around. Even though we exactly don'y know how much it's actually gonna cost but according to the leaks, Sony is focusing more on market penetration and market acceptability so the console even though might not be cheap but definitely will be affordable.

gaming playstation-5 sony

Mon Nov 04 - Mirror
Overwatch 2 with all new Story Mode
Gaming
Yes "Overwatch 2" is coming and with a Story Mode

The most awaited Overwatch 2 is coming with all new Story Mode. Even though the main focus of the game would be player-vs-player battles but now Overwatch 2 will introduce a player-vs-enemy mode as well. Players would form teams to work against the AI agents to complete different objectives.
The sequel would also be featuring two new characters Sojourn and Echo. However, there are still no details on the release date of Overwatch 2.

gaming blizzcon overwatch-2

Sat Nov 02 - Vice
Stadia gaming service by google ( source : Forbes )
Gaming
You probably won't have stadia on its Launch on November 19

Google Stadia - a game streaming service offered by google is the netflix for gaming is launching November 19 but only "If you were one of the first gamers who pre-ordered and have received your Founder’s Editions" according to google. Sadly there is no news for the rest of us who didn't order the bundled Chrome cast + Stadia Controller + 3 months Stadia pro membership

google stadia gaming

Wed Oct 16 - TheNextWeb
Pokemon Go
Gaming
Pokemon Go Bringing Giratina Back Next Week

Mewtwo may be leaving Raid Battles in Pokemon Go very soon, but another Legendary is set to return in its place. Giratina, the Legendary Ghost/Dragon Pokemon from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, is making an encore appearance in Raids beginning 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on September 23, giving you another chance to add it to your collection.Giratina will appear in five-star Raid Battles until October 17.

pokemon-go giratina

Sun Sep 22 - Gamespot
Batman with Catwoman
Gaming
Batman, Catwoman and Gotham City come to Fortnite

It didn't take long to learn just what Epic had in store for Batman's arrival in Fortnite. However, there's also a Catwoman outfit, and Gotham City itself is in the game -- there's an appropriate backdrop for your adventures, including the option to fly like Batman with unlimited re-use of your glider.
Complete challenges until October 1st, meanwhile, and you can earn cosmetics like a Catwing glider and Batman-themed imagery.
This is far from the first major Fortnite tie-in.

batman fortnite catwoman gotham

Sun Sep 22 - Engadget