The COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals to already vulnerable nursing homes.
Next Gen Console SSDs Will Enable Games To Do More With Faster Load Times, Dev Says
Game developers are excited about the potential of next-generation console hardware, and as we get closer to seeing the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 become a reality, devs are giving us more detail about what those upgrades actually mean.
In an interview with Wccftech, game director Stuart Tilley of Firesprite, the studio behind horror game The Persistence, talked about what the SSD technology–and its faster load times–means for games developed on next-gen consoles.
“The SSD is going to be massive to allow us to create larger worlds that load faster, to move quicker within them. It opens up possibilities for us,” Tilley said. “The new positional sound stuff is great for like, for games, being able to like play sound effects that feel like they’re around you while you’re on the couch, it’s gonna make another big improvement.”
Halo: MCC Patch Notes Released For Xbox One And PC — See The Full Changelog Here
Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s recent update, which included the release of Halo 2 Anniversary on PC, caused some issues. To be fair, Microsoft warned players ahead of time that there would be issues with the release, but it was still a jarring experience for those hoping for a smoother rollout.
Thankfully, these issues are finally now going to be patched through a hotfix. The update went live at 8 PM PT on May 21, Microsoft announced in a blog post. The patch passed Microsoft’s certification process earlier in the afternoon on May 21, and now it’s finally out.
This hotfix will specifically address projectile issues with Halo 2, the general stability of Halo 3 matches, and crashes that could occur on the Halo 3 map Valhalla. Those are the big-ticket items, but the patch also fixes a series of other issues as well; you can see the full patch notes and file sizes below.
Rainbow Six Siege Team Investigating Cheat That Kicks Players From The Game
After a month of ongoing connection and server issues, the team behind Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is now investigating a cheat that kicks players from games, often incurring abandon penalties in ranked matches and occasionally even crashing the entire game.
We are currently investigating a cheat where players are being kicked out of games. We have released a hotfix to reduce some of the impact of the cheat for certain cases while we look into it further.
— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) May 21, 2020
While Ubisoft haven’t given too many details about the cheat, players in the comments have elaborated on the problems it’s been causing. While only some players have been experiencing game crashes as well as being kicked, the support team confirmed they were related to the cheat in question.
My screen just freezes mid-game and I get kicked. It doesn’t take me back to the menu either. I have to fully restart siege again. Usually it only happens once but there was a day where I had to do it 2-3 times.
— kawaiicakes (@upashna09) May 21, 2020
Thank you for the clarification! This seems to be related to the cheat we mentioned. While our team is still looking into it, feel free to send any videos you have of this to our Support team for further investigation.
— Rainbow Six Siege (@Rainbow6Game) May 21, 2020
From the account’s reply history, it looks like this issue has been affecting some players since at least May 14.
The Batman Star Jeffrey Wright Says New Movie Is “Next Evolution” Of Gotham
Actor Jeffrey Wright, who will play commissioner James Gordon in upcoming Batman film, The Batman, has provided some new insight on the upcoming comic book movie. He said in an interview with SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show (via The Hollywood Reporter) that the movie aims to offer the “next evolution” of Batman, while he also praised the film’s Batmobile.
“Like with any film, we’re working together to create a mood, to create an idea, a setting, a tone,” Wright said. “This is the next evolution since 1939 when these stories began.”
The actor said he’s working with director Matt Reeves and star Robert Pattinson on making The Batman stand as a unique version of the character and the series.
Xbox Is Partnering With The Special Olympics For A Forza 7 Tournament
Xbox is partnering with the Special Olympics USA for a new virtual event featuring the Xbox One racing game Forza Motorsport 7. The organizations are working together for a new tournament that will air on May 30.
More than 35 competitors from 11 states will take part in the competition, and you can watch the action live on Mixer, Xbox YouTube, or Twitch. The awards ceremony will take place inside of Minecraft.
“With athletic training and competitions currently postponed due to COVID-19, Special Olympics are looking for new ways to connect, compete, and just have fun,” Microsoft said in a news release. “Enveloping this event will be stories of the athletes themselves–allowing a broad fanbase to know who they are, what they care about, how they are feeling– and cheer them on as they discover new community and excitement in playing Forza Motorsport 7.”
The First 8TB M.2 SSD Is Coming
Sabrent has announced an 8TB M.2 solid state drive to join its Rocket Q family, featuring double the capacity of the next largest model, PC Gamer reports. While pricing hasn’t been released yet, it’s very likely to be out of the budget for most PC gamers–however as Steam libraries grow and game installs take up more space, it’s tech to keep an eye on.
While there are already 8TB drives available in the 2.5 inch market, Sabrent’s is the first to fit it into the smaller, cable-free M.2 form factor. As with Sabrent’s other Rocket Q SSDs, the 8TB drive uses NVMe technology with a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. While not many details are available about the new model yet, we can expect it to be quite fast based on the smaller Rocket Q models.
While we can all look forward to this tech being developed further and eventually coming down in price, Sabrent’s first 8TB M.2 model is unlikely to be that affordable for enthusiast gamers. The company’s 4TB M.2 SSD sells for $759.99, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest the 8TB model will retail for over twice that price.
Minecraft Dungeons Tier VI Redstone Mines Combat & Boss Gameplay
With a power level of 30, we take our dagger and bow build into a Tier VI level dungeon. Here’s nearly 15 minutes of combat and exploration in the Redstone Mines.
Red Dead Redemption–10 Years Later, Rockstar Reflects On The Challenges Of Crafting A Western
It’s been 10 years since the release of Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar’s much-loved ode to the wild west, and the team behind it is feeling nostalgic. IGN has published an extensive interview with many of the folks behind the game, including insights into the challenges the team faced when creating the iconic Xbox 360 and PS3 title.
One of the running themes of the interview is that the game, which was technically a sequel to the PS2 game Red Dead Revolver, faced a lot of challenges ahead of release. Art director Josh Bass, who is also co-studio head for developer Rockstar San Diego, says that while the game was in development, they “would often hear from external sources that a Western game was never going to be a success.” Ultimately, this motivated the team “to solve the challenges and create something new.”
“I knew in my heart that it was going to exceed those expectations,” Bass continues, “but at the same time we had to ask ourselves if our fans would make the emotional connection with this experience that we all had.” The game’s eventual reception was important, he says, because it proved that players had connected to protagonist John Marston.
The Alienist’s Second Season Is Premiering Soon–Check Out The Trailer
TNT’s turn-of-the-century serial killer drama The Alienist will be back for more on July 26, after the Snowpiercer TV adaptation has wrapped up, Deadline reports.
The original series follows Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), an alienist (or psychologist) investigating a series of murders involving young male sex workers. He teams up with newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) and police secretary Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning) at the behest of Teddy Roosevelt, depicted during his days as Police Commissioner.
Season 1 is based off Caleb Carr’s novel The Alienist, while season 2 will adapt the book’s sequel, “The Angel of Darkness”. The new series will see Howard, Moore and Kreizler teaming up again amidst the dark underbelly of turn-of-the-century New York, this time trying to find the missing infant daughter of the Spanish consular, Ana Linares.