Items tagged with FPS
The hype surrounding the upcoming Call of Duty: WWII is intriguing and very justified. Not much longer than a decade ago, it seemed the world was sick and tired of World War II-themed games, but thankfully, zombie games have since come to our rescue, cleansing our palettes. Today, WWII actually looks like it could give us a fresh experience, and create an interesting online battlefield. Unfortunately, "interesting" is proving true already, but not in a good way. Over the weekend, the beta for WWII went live, and almost immediately, complaints stemming from testers began to hit the web. In almost record time, those who find joy in ruining other persons' online experiences equipped themselves with...
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Researchers from the Université de Montréal have published a study that found certain types of video games resulted in the loss of grey matter in the brain, while other types of video games resulted in an increase. Specifically, the study claims that gamers who frequently play first person shooter type video games like Call of Duty, Killzone, and Borderlands 2 lose grey matter mass in their brain. Researchers say that in FPS gamers, the grey matter mass loss occurs in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that the scientists say is critical to healthy cognition. On the other hand, the study also claims that people who play video games that require significant spatial learning, such as the Super...
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No Man’s Sky, the interstellar survival/exploration title from Hello Games, hit the PC and console platforms this month, roughly two years after its now infamous reveal at the 2013 VGX Awards. There it received exuberant praise and took home several awards—including a “Special Commendation for Innovation.” During that showing, what impressed industry insiders most were its seamless transitions from outer-space travel to atmospheric burn-in, to boots on the ground. No Man's Sky features a massively open environment that remains one of the cooler aspects of the game--it never seems to get old once you've had a chance to experience it. And experience it, we have. Damn you, Google Maps! While NMS...
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If you weren't hit with enough nostalgia earlier this month when an Unreal Engine master recreated the opening sequence of Unreal in UE4, here's your second chance. If you played first-person shooters in the mid-90s, there's little doubt that you loaded up id Software's Quake. It's a game that developed an instant following; and despite it beginning out with software-driven graphics, an OpenGL port was later released to the delight of anyone with a 3D accelerator. Quake wasn't just technologically impressive, though; it had a lot of other things going for it. The level design was largely fantastic, as was the atmosphere. Quake was the type of game that could genuinely scare the wits out...
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It's always unfortunate to see a really hyped game experience major issues upon its release. It sucks not just for those who purchased the game, but for the developers who put thousands of development hours into it. Unfortunately, this is the reality that Evolve developer Turtle Rock Studios experienced first-hand last year. While Evolve was well-received overall, it had a couple of niggles that prevented long-term support. Some didn't care much for the map design, and many didn't like the company's DLC plans. With all issues combined, Evolve didn't experience the kind of success that the industry at large expected. But, that's the reason second chances exist, right? It was rumored a couple of...
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Before its release in April 1998, it was clear that Unreal would make a big impact on the PC gaming market. At that time, the Nintendo 64 was the most graphically impressive console, only to be outdone by the Sega Dreamcast a year later. Around this period of time, PC graphics were improving at such a rapid rate, that it seemed like each new GPU generation actually did give you an enormous increase in fidelity. Let's throw some nostalgic at you. A mere month before Unreal hit the store shelves (remember when PC games were found at retail?), 3dfx Interactive released its much-anticipated Voodoo2. At around the same time, NVIDIA released its Riva128ZX and Riva TNT. At this point, AMD (then ATI)...
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Overwatch, the team-based multiplayer shooter from Blizzard Entertainment has proven to be an unstoppable force in the industry having now reached the hands of more than 7 million gamers within a week of launch. Many predicted as much once the early beta saw nearly 10 million users. Admittedly, we too have been immovably glued to the game since installing the PC version early last week. It features a wide variety of characters, and play styles, with frenetic-pace gameplay that is easy and intuitive for casual players. Yet Overwatch dishes out plenty of depth and strategy for crafty players who strive at filling specific roles in a team-based setting.That’s us for sure. So after about 100 intense...
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We learned earlier this week that John Romero's long-rumored first-person shooter is BLACKROOM, and without delay, money started pouring en masse into his new company's Kickstarter campaign. That should cause nothing other than rejoicing, right? Well, not so much in this case, and while any pulling of a Kickstarter campaign can give off a vibe that the project probably wouldn't have been successful anyway, that doesn't at all seem to be the case here. So what's the deal? In talking to Develop, Romero noted that there was an obvious disconnect between the amount of hype surrounding his holographic shooter and those who were actually backing it. He says, "There’s not tens of thousands of backers...
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Back in the fall of 2014, we reported that the legendary John Romero was working on a new first-person shooter. While FPS titles are a dime a dozen, it's hard to ignore someone like Romero, especially when the promise is that the main focus of the game will be its design, not graphics or other superfluous features. Today, we learn that that FPS is called BLACKROOM, and it's now ready for backing on Kickstarter. When Romero first teased this FPS, he raised some important questions: "There are unbelievable amounts of new stuff to do in that [FPS] genre. The idea of a shooter is running around with weapons, in first-person, blowing things away. But what are you really doing? What is the world like?...
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There are few games out there today that enjoy as faithful a fanbase as Counter-Strike. With each new iteration that comes along, it's almost implied that most people will move on over. Today, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive regularly ranks #2 on Steam, with an incredible 590,000 players currently in-game as of the time of this posting. While CS: GO is clearly the dominant version in terms of userbase, it doesn't mean that the older titles have been abandoned. Not even close, actually. Counter-Strike: Source currently has 10,000 players in-game, while the original Counter-Strike has 22,500. You're reading that right: the original Counter-Strike has a much larger fanbase than Counter-Strike:...
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Many first-person shooters deliver constant action and give the player little time to stop and smell the roses. If this formula is tiring to you, then Superhot could be for you. You see, this game encourages stopping - it's the only way to get the enemies to hold their fire, after all. If that sounds weird, it's because it kind of is. Superhot is a unique first-person shooter where letting go of the controls offers the same effect as pausing most games - all of the action is halted until you decide to move your character again. You might be able to understand what would make this intriguing - if a bullet is coming at you, you can simply stop what you're doing and analyze the next move. That's...
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While Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare might not be the best-selling CoD ever, the general consensus seems to be that it offers the freshest multiplayer experience we've seen from the series in quite some time. That's something I'd agree with - it's packed to the gills with features, and who doesn't love that super jump? Admittedly, some might find AW's multiplayer to be a bit too extensive sometimes, which is why the just-released 'One Shot' mode might come as a refreshing addition. At least for those who love hiding behind a sniper rifle. With One Shot, everyone is equipped with the same MORS bolt-action railgun sniper and can choose between five preset classes - classes which were meticulously...
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It goes without saying, but games have changed a lot over the years. I'm not talking graphics, but mechanics. Take free-to-play, for example. Its impact on gaming today is enormous, but ten years ago? It was virtually unknown. And then there are our first-person shooters. Remember the old days when regenerating health wasn't a thing? Leveling? Classes? Heck - a cover system? I do, and I think back to those days fondly. Apparently, I'm not alone, as the upcoming PC exclusive FPS Toxikk proves. Developed by Germany-based Reakktor, Toxikk promises a 1999-esque arena combat experience that gets rid of all of the "enhancements" we've seen added to such games since then. Based on what's seen in the...
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One of the problems with writing about a technology like Nvidia's G-Sync is that it's nearly impossible to actually show the technology in action. Websites like YouTube or DailyMotion either don't accept 60 FPS video at all, or automatically convert it to 30 FPS when it's encoded. While that makes perfect sense from a business perspective, it's frustrating for demonstrating a technology that fundamentally requires faster frame rates. Nvidia has put together a video that shows V-Sync and G-Sync side-by-side, as well as a comparison between V-Sync off and on. At 198MB, it's not a small download, but we're hosting it here locally to give you a chance to see the technology for yourself. The real-world...
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Bungie's Destiny is a new FPS/RPG hybrid set in the distant future, in the aftermath of an apocalyptic series of events that reshaped human civilization and destroyed an empire that spanned the solar system. The company has kept much of its development under wraps, sketching out tidbits of information on the various character classes and enemies, but generally keeping everything close to the chest. Now, the company has released new gameplay footage -- and declared that PS4 and PS3 owners will be the first to beta test the title. Bungie has previously said that Destiny will be a living world, meaning that events will be able to occur across the game that aren't necessarily precipitated by the...
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Gaming mice have features you won’t find on ordinary mice. When you’re surfing the Web or working with documents, you don’t need to switch DPI settings, and six buttons is superfluous. But for a gamer, those options can be crucial (particularly if you fancy yourself a sniper), and they come at a premium: gaming mice often break $60 and some even top $100. But the new Genius GX Maurus X has a price tag of $49.90, even with a bunch of gamer-friendly features. The Maurus X is black and red, with red lighting in the logo and mouse wheel, but enough about the bling. The features that matter are the DPI button, which cycles from 800 to 4000 DPI (a handy feature in FPS games) and support...
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As a kid of the 80s, I dreamed of playing video games professionally - long before it was commonplace. Movies like The Wizard might have helped with that, along with the legendary Nintendo World Championship. Little did I realize at the time, pro-gaming was most certainly going to become a very big thing in the future, with no current sign of its rapid growth slowing down anytime soon. To help put things into perspective, Business Insider posted a list of the world's 15 most successful pro-gamers, in terms of their overall winnings. Looking over this list, it's easy to draw up a couple of simple conclusions: most pro-gamers hail from Asian countries, and most call an RTS or MOBA game their home....
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It's hard to tell if this is a semi-elaborate publicity stunt, or if it's a warning to those who decide to catch a few Zs at work. Gearbox's Steve Gibson was allegedly found sleeping on a couch by a co-worker who quickly snapped-up a photo and posted it to Twitter. As far as Gibbie is concerned, we hope that Gearbox assumes his nap was due to the long hours he was putting in. One thing the picture-snapper didn't notice (again, allegedly - I have a hard time believing this) is that in the background, a perfectly-placed poster board for Borderlands 2's forthcoming (and fourth) DLC sits behind a cage. Its name? "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep". It's since been confirmed by Gearbox,...
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Let's face it: if there's one aspect of gaming that's a bit lacking, it's zombies. To help remedy this obvious void, Call of Duty: Black Ops II developer Treyarch is packing-in a zombie-filled story mode in its upcoming DLC, dubbed "Uprising". If you're already familiar with the base game (which we reviewed at launch), then you're no doubt aware that there already exists a mode for the zombie-killer in all of us. But there was no real story to speak of there, which some considered to be its primary flaw. Uprising includes four multiplayer maps including a reinvisioning of "Firing Range" (now called Studio), with its zombie portion called Mob of the Dead - where "mob" refers to the mobster playable...
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When THQ went bankrupt a couple of months ago, the first series that popped into my head was Saints Row. Anyone who's played it likely agrees that it's a classic - it takes the traditional FPS formula, puts it in a blender, adds a dash of humor, and becomes a ridiculously fun series. Fortunately, Deep Silver acquired Volition, the series' developer, and it sure didn't take too long before we discovered its fate: Saints Row IV is en route. With a target launch date of August, it's apparent that IV has been in development for some time - and by the looks of things, if you were a fan of the third game, the fourth iteration is going to be right up your alley. Need we say more? While Saints Row 3...
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In 2010, a game came along that should have put to rest the popular meme, "Can it run Crysis?" Despite being graphically superior - it was the first major title to include DirectX 11's tessellation feature - Metro 2033 didn't get the respect it deserved on the graphics front. On the gameplay front, things were different. It was immersive, the world was convincing and never knowing what was right around the corner helped make the game stand out to FPS fans all over. Metro: Last Light looks to replicate all of the successes of the original, both with regards to graphics and gameplay, when it hits the shelves on May 14th. On the official site, it's being described as a game that offers "thrilling...
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If you were playing FPS games ten years ago, chances are you'll remember System Shock 2. It's still considered one of the best horror/survival FPS games ever written, with an excellent blend of pacing, story structure, and plot twists. You awake from cryonic stasis aboard the dying starship Von Braun. You're tasked with bringing the ship's systems back online -- which means surviving the mutated crew members still roaming the halls and shutting down the insane AI that runs the ship, Xerxes. Like Deus Ex, this is a game that's absolutely worth playing if you never picked it up, but for most of the last decade, it's been impossible to legally purchase. Good Old Games has finally secured the rights...
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