News Picks/Weekly Round-up from Auryn Cox @Ciaran’s Customs

CyberPunk2077 is Out Now

The wait is finally over, the most anticipated game of the year Cyberpunk2077, launched last week on Pc, PS4 and Xbox one.

However, the game has been met by mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. While the games characters, side quests, strong RPG mechanics and open world setting have all been praised, the game has been heavily criticised for its buggy launch and its poor performance, especially on consoles.

According to Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan, Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 looks very blurry, running between 720p and 900p resolution, and the framerate for any driving around the big city areas is constantly at around 20. While some indoor battles run well at 30fps, they can drop to 25fps.

Currently it seems that Pc is the best option for playing Cyberpunk2077.

The game has also come under scrutiny after a journalist suffered an epileptic seizure while playing. The developers Cd Projekt Red have since added an epilepsy warning to the game and are working on a permanent fix.

The game currently has a 7/10 rating on Steam from ‎61,455 reviews. It seems that if you can get the game to run properly it’s a fun worthwhile next gen RPG experience otherwise you’ll be waiting on patches and bug fixes before you can truly enjoy the game.

Halo Infinite to release spring 2021 according to Master Cheif Mo-Cap Actor

Although there’s no official release date set for Halo Infinite, one of the games main mo-cap actors is confident in a 2021 spring release.

Bruce Thomas, the mo-cap actor for the games main character Master chief was speaking to Dan Allen Gaming (via Reddit) about his work on Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War and was also asked about his time as Master Chief.

Thomas has done the Mo-cap for the iconic sci-fi hero ever since Halo 4.

“We have wrapped up Infinite, I believe, unless we’re going to try and do some more as the COVID comes to a halt,” Thomas told Dan Allen gaming.

“But as far as I know it’s in the can, and ready to go for next spring. “he said.

It remains to be seen whether or not the games developers 343 industries will stick to the proposed 2021 spring release but from his comments it seems that everything that was scripted has been performed, meaning there’s probably not any drastic changes on the drawing board.

Halo Infinite was revealed during the summer to a mixed reception. A delay was announced in August, and since then we haven’t heard much from 343 although they have promised to communicate more with fans in the coming months.

The Witcher: Enhanced edition is free on GOG Galaxy

The original Witcher game from CD Projekt Red is now available free via GOG galaxy.

To get CD the fantasy role-playing game, you have to download the GOG Galaxy app, go to "recent" view and click to claim The Witcher. Then the game should show up in your game’s library inside the app and in your GOG.com collection.

This comes as CD Projekt red launch their newest RPG cyberpunk2077. The developers also reminded fans via Twitter that they get 100% of the sales money if you buy from the company's own digital store, GOG.

Is the free original Witcher promo a guise to get fans to use GOG? Probably, but a free game is a free game and its definitely one worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

Medal of Honor: Above and beyond has launched to generally poor reviews.

The virtual reality WW2 game has been described as critics as being boring and bland. The games multiplayer section was praised as well as the 'Gallery' mini documentaries included in the game. However, most reviewers can’t justify the games €60 price tag.

The game also requires a hefty 180GB of storage space, a huge amount for a VR game.

Respawn told Polygon Medal of Honor actually requires 340GB of space to unpack and install before it settles on a 180GB storage footprint. And it highly recommends installing the game on an SSD rather than an HDD.

Silent Hill Creator leaves Sony to Found new Studio

Keiichiro Toyama, the creator and director of the Silent hill games has left PlayStation after 20 years to found Bokeh Game Studio with some former colleagues.

The new studio released a video of the developers sharing some of their reasons for going independent.

"Until now, there was a company providing us with a work environment, where we would decide what to do from there," says Junya Okura, the lead designer on Gravity Rush who has taken on the role of Game Director at Bokeh.

"As we turn independent, we have to prepare everything ourselves. It is hard, there are responsibilities, but we have our freedom. This is the most important. I want to enjoy creating from now on," he said.

Also collaborating with Toyama in his new venture is The last guardian producer Kazunobu Sato.

"First, I want to fulfill our fans' expectations," explains Toyama, now Bokeh creative director. "But at the same time, I want to go back and enjoy how fun it is to make games. I want to share that feeling with the players."

Bokeh has yet to tease any future projects, but it seems clear the developers are looking to make games without the boundaries sometimes imposed by a larger parent company.

Hitman 3 Gameplay Trailer drops

IO Interactive released the first gameplay trailer for Hitman 3, which gives us a good idea of what to expect from the next instalment in the series.

This game is the final of the current Hitman series and, as well as your progress carrying over from Hitman 2, will include all of the content from both previous entries.

While the gameplay looks to be pretty much the same as the previous two entries, that’s no problem as the first two games were highly enjoyable and well-polished stealth masterpieces.

Among other features Io boasts that this entry will be able to have up to 300 'active' NPCs in a given environment and has previously said the way elusive targets work will be changed.

It was also confirmed this week that Hitman 3 on the PS5 would include a free copy of the PS4 version so that users can use the PSVR features.

Hitman 3 will be released January 20, 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox one, Xbox series S/X and will be an Epic store exclusive on Pc.

The Game Awards 2020

It’s that time of year again: The Game Awards 2020, and as per usual they have brought a number of new releases and big announcements.

This year’s Game of the Year winner was The Last of Us Part II, beating nominees, Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

At the game awards it was also announced that Rare’s Nintendo 64 first-person shooter gem Perfect Dark is getting an Xbox reboot.

BioWare revealed a teaser trailer for a new Mass effect game and while it doesn’t show anything concrete I’m sure fans will be happy to know a new game is in the pipeline.

That wasn’t the only trailer from BioWare, the Canadian video game developers also released a teaser trailer for the next dragon age game. The dragon age teaser offered a few more details than Mass effects, showcasing characters and motivations, but is still definitely more of a teaser than a proper game spotlight.

The newest addition to the Smash bros roster was also announced. The villainous Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII will be playable in game this December.

Sony released a trailer for a new IP ‘Season’. Although the trailer doesn’t offer much in terms of gameplay Sony suggests that the PlayStation 5 game is an “atmospheric adventure bicycle road trip game” about a woman from a secluded community who gets to explore the world for the first time… before the world ends, that is.

Left 4 Dead hasn’t seen a new entry in more than a decade and Valve hasn’t exactly been super prolific with its franchises recently, so the original team behind the series is launching its own spiritual successor, Back 4 Blood. The trailer which was also shown during the game awards clearly follows in the footsteps of its forebears, delivering a fast-paced hectic co-op zombie romp.

Another road trip game was announced during the awards ceremony, Road 96. Road 96 finds you attempting to break free of an oppressive regime and cross the border, but you’ll have to rely on the kindness of drivers to pick up your hitchhiking self. It’s a procedurally generated voyage, which means different experiences every time.

As it turns out Halo infinite isn’t the next game fans will be seeing the Master chief in. In another cross over event the beloved spartan will be coming to Fortnite as a skin. The legendary multiplayer stage Blood Gulch is also being added to Fortnite’s creative mode for custom games.

Also announced during the 2020 games awards The Callisto Protocol is a new game from a new studio established by former Dead Space dev Glen Schofield and it aims to deliver the same kind of outer space survival horror experience.

Nvidia’s GeForce Game Ready driver is ready for a host of new games with DLSS support

Nvidia has released the latest GeForce game ready driver offering DLSS support for a number games from Cyberpunk 2077 to Minecraft.

DLSS is an NVIDIA RTX technology that uses the power of AI to boost your frame rates in games with graphically intensive workloads. With DLSS, gamers can use higher resolutions and settings while still maintaining solid framerates.

Four other titles – CRSED: Ford, Scavengers, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, and Moonlight Blade – are also supported on the new driver.

Nvidia has said that more titles will get DLSS support in the coming weeks and months.

About the Author

Auryn is a student journalist and an avid gamer. He enjoys strategy games as well as all the new releases from 10 years ago. He also has a few hours on Overwatch.

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