For all its qualities, it's not uncommon for people's launch-era PS4s to sound like a jet engine every time they turn it on now, partly because it's difficult to clean out any accumulated dust that has built up inside the console. This is true of any vented system, but the PS5 is introducing a very helpful new feature into its design--a "dust catcher" that makes it easy to regularly clean your system out.In Sony's teardown video of the PS5, two holes on the console are shown off. These are the dust catchers, where any dust collected by the system's fan is filtered to. This means that getting rid of the dust in your system--and avoiding a horribly loud fan--is simply a matter of vacuuming them out of these holes.Removing dust from a system can often be a finnicky job, so this is good news. One of the PS5's dust catcher holes.The outer facade of the system will need to be removed to access the holes, but as the teardown shows, this is not a complicated procedure. This hopefully means that a launch-model PS5 will have a longer life than has been the case with some previous systems.The video also highlights the disc drive in the PS5 (if you don't opt for the digital-only version), which features double insulation to keep down vibration and noise. Hopefully, the PS5 will be a quieter console than the PS4.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Actress Allison Williams is back with Blumhouse to star in and executive produce its upcoming tech horror movie M3GAN, the company announced today.According to Deadline, the movie has Williams playing Gemma, a roboticist at a toy company."She uses artificial intelligence to develop M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype – a decision that has unimaginable consequences," according to the report.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Mafia: Definitive Edition, the recent PS4/Xbox One/PC remake of Mafia, has received its first major post-launch update, and it includes a new visual mode. Update 1.03 adds Noir Mode, which turns Mafia into a black and white game, complete with film grain. In the words of the press release, this mode aims to "accentuate the game's Prohibition Era aesthetic."Of course, Mafia is not a particularly "noir" story--and on an aesthetic level, it's borrowing far more from Scorsese's Goodfellas than Scorsese's black-and-white Raging Bull. But if you want to experience Mafia as though it were a period piece from the '30s or '40s, or just pretend that the original game's 2002 release was a much longer time ago, this is a good way to do that.Mafia: Definitive Edition with Noir Mode turned onNew HUD options are now available, too. You can now switch the main objective markers on the game world, and the enemy markers on your mini-map, on or off. You can also turn off navigation instructions, and even enable a minimal HUD option to ditch the map, speedometer, and objective text.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Pikmin 3 Deluxe is coming to Nintendo Switch on October 30, and in preparation for the series' return, Nintendo has released some Pikmin short films on YouTube. These films, which were originally released as a bundle of three on the 3DS and Wii U Eshops for $5, are now free.The movies have been uploaded to Nintendo Japan's YouTube page, and we've embedded all three short films below. These movies initially debuted at the Tokyo International Film Festival.Occupational HazardsTreasure in a BottleThe Night JuicerThese videos were originally available in stereoscopic 3D on 3DS, but these are the HD versions that were released on the Wii U.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Xbox Game Pass games can now be streamed through mobile devices thanks to xCloud, making it much easier than ever before to play The Master Chief Collection on the toilet. But this is just the start of Microsoft's plans for streaming, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer has indicated in a tweet that streaming will make its way to Game Pass on Xbox and PC, too.Replying to a tweet asking directly whether Game Pass on console and PC would allow for streaming at some point--allowing users to demo a game before committing to a download--Spencer responded saying that they have a plan in the works for this. "It's in the long list of cool things the xCloud team is working on, just a bit further down the list," he said.Hey @aarongreenberg @XboxP3 any chance this could happen at some point? https://t.co/VYgscHzXRH — The Man About Tech #VypNation (@Vyyyper) October 6, 2020Yes, we want to do this. It's in the long list of cool things the xCloud team is working on, just a bit further down the list. But we want console and PC players to be able to browse as easily as mobile players, it's a good gamepass feature. — Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) October 7, 2020This means that the feature could be a while off yet, but it's at least being planned, and we could eventually see Game Pass streaming on these systems. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has two beta weekends coming up, starting with a PS4-exclusive beta on October 8. These betas follow on from September's PS4 alpha event, and players who jump into both will find that one is very different from the other.This beta, which will include VIP Escort, Combined Arms: Assault, and Fireteam: Dirty Bomb playlists--as well as the new Cartel map--will feature some more granular differences, too. Treyarch, the developer behind Cold War's multiplayer, has extensively detailed the differences between the alpha and beta for Cold War, noting every change made based on player feedback.There have been multiple changes to the way characters move, for instance, with more animations and various tweaks to speed, penalities, and field of view during different types of movement. Here's the complete list of movement changes.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Super Mario Bros. 35 marks something of a historic moment for the multitalented plumber. In Mario's extensive past, there have been plenty of multiplayer games, but many of these come in the form of sporting spin-offs or asynchronous multiplayer where you take turns attempting levels. Even the likes of New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 3D World--both of which feature competitive elements--ultimately revolve around a shared goal of completing levels together as the main objective. This is where Super Mario Bros. 35 stands out; Mario's latest in a long line of entries is the first time you compete synchronously against other players on traditional platforming courses. It's a significant achievement both in and of itself and as an online multiplayer experience, even if there can be a few dull moments.In the vein of fellow Nintendo Switch Online release Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35 has you compete against up to 34 others simultaneously to be the last Mario standing, playing levels from the original NES Super Mario Bros. Like Tetris 99, your play area takes up the center of the screen while everyone else's concurrent games form a surrounding border, allowing you to glance at opponents' progress as you jump your way through course 1-1 and beyond. Essentially, the main two factors separating Super Mario Bros. 35 and Super Mario Bros. is the pressure of competition, plus a lot more enemies to navigate.As is the case with most of Mario's platforming adventures, running out of time or dying are your only two methods of failure. However, there are no extra lives to be had here, only one chance per round to become the only Mario remaining. In your quest to be the number one mustachioed Italian man, you disrupt other players by defeating enemies, who will then be sent over to other courses. Additionally, taking another note from Tetris 99's playbook, you can select who to send those Goombas and Koopas to or let a preset choose--such as who has the least time remaining or anyone who's actively targeting you.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

When you get a shiny new video card, there are a lot of fun things you can do with it: boot up an old favorite to see how it shreds the system requirements, or install a new game just to see the glory of max settings. But if you're a software engineer like Twitter user Strife, you can do something truly wild, like installing a famously-demanding game like Crysis 3 entirely onto the card's VRAM.I installed Crysis 3 on my graphics card!I used some VRAMdrive software called GPU Ram Drive, made a 15GB NTFS partition on the GPU, then installed Crysis 3 on itAt 4K very high settings get good fps and the game loads very fast - GPU-Z reports total VRAM use 20434MB pic.twitter.com/lLcQsD5JYM — Strife, la fillette révolutionnaire (@Strife212) October 4, 2020This is possible due to the 24 GB VRAM of the Nvidia RTX 3090, which is the company's latest and greatest flagship card. (By comparison, the RTX 3080 only has 10 GB of VRAM, though a 20 GB version is rumored to be in the works.) According to Strife's tweet, they used unofficial software to create a 15 GB partition on the GPU and installed Crysis 3 on it. Though the game runs well, Crysis 3 appears to be frame-limited without a workaround, capping out at 75 FPS.Strife also noted that the game's load times were about the same as an NVME drive, speculating that the game would have to be re-coded to take advantage of the setup. "Was hoping it would be faster but there is probably some weird bottleneck like this instead of doing it the 'proper' storage API way," Strife wrote on Reddit.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2's new Europa location is a frozen tundra with a dynamic weather system that players will be able to explore when the Beyond Light expansion launches in November, and beneath the ice lie a few fan-favorite weapons from the original Destiny game.Developer Bungie uploaded a new teaser for this week's upcoming full trailer in which Eramis, Kell of Darkness, calls to the scattered houses of the Fallen to join her crusade against the Traveler and the Guardians who protect the entity.In the trailer, a sniper rifle can be seen frozen in the ice alongside the Exo Stranger's signature pulse rifle No Time To Explain, which has been upgraded to an Exotic-level pulse rifle and will be a preorder bonus for Beyond Light. The sniper rifle bears a resemblance to Hereafter, an exotic weapon from the Rise of Iron expansion that was acquired as a rare loot drop in the Wrath of the Machine raid. Like most weapons of that level, it featured useful perks such as its magazine being instantly reloaded if all shots fired were precision kills and the ability to blind nearby enemies.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

With Amazon Prime Day right around the corner, retailers have begun revealing promotions that will compete with the massive annual sale. Target's Deal Days sale will run concurrently alongside Prime Day on October 13 and 14. Walmart's approach is a tad different, as the big-box chain's sale starts earlier and ends later than Prime Day. Walmart's Big Save event kicks off on Sunday, October 11 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET and runs through October 15.You can expect the Big Save sale to hone in on Amazon's territory with discounts on tech, entertainment, gaming, home goods, and much more. Walmart has stated that the Big Save sale will feature Black Friday-type prices, so you can get some holiday shopping done early at the lowest possible prices.Walmart has revealed a small sample of the deals that will go live this Sunday. You'll be be able to get a JVC 55-inch 4K Roku TV for $248 (was $400), the Roku Ultra LT streaming device for $69 (was $79), and Super Mario Party for Nintendo Switch for $40 (was $60).Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

I'm one of those people. You know, someone who thinks that weapon durability in The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was a good idea--I won't be offended if you close your browser window right now. But the stress of having your best sword break in the middle of an important fight and having to frantically improvise is one of the things that makes BotW (and other games that employ similar mechanics) so great. The cool stuff that can happen when you're on the back foot and forced to get crafty with the limitations placed on you by a well-designed system is an experience that makes video games feel special. Watch Dogs: Legion has elements of this, but only if you choose to engage with them. You should. Because after several hours playing Legion, I found that the game is at its best when it makes you contend with your character's weaknesses.If you've heard just one thing about Watch Dogs: Legion so far, it's probably got something to do with playing as an elderly woman who is amusingly good at shooting people and performing lethal takedowns. In fact, you can play as anyone in the game, recruiting random NPCs off the street to be your protagonists. Everyone you pick up will come with their own set of unique skills that will surely help contribute to the efforts of resistance collective DedSec--punching harder, hacking faster, getting access to unique vehicles and weapons. But, in the case of certain people like the elderly, some of these traits can be detrimental--they can't sprint or take cover, which means it's going to be hard closing the distance to perform those amusing takedowns or escape certain death when you inevitably fail trying.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Ubisoft has revealed its post-launch plans for the upcoming Watch Dogs: Legion ahead of its October 29 release date, and the first wave of content implements its online components as a free update. This will include cooperative modes and missions, as well as a PvP mode that will go live on December 3.Online Multiplayer And Co-Op Missions Coming December 3Players will be able to drop into futuristic London with up to four-player co-op and can roam the sandbox city or take on co-op-specific missions (with at least one other player) and dynamic events that happen in the open world. For those seeking a more challenging experience, the update will include Tactical ops, which seems to be more in-depth mode with missions that require four players and feature objectives that need to be completed in a more intricate fashion.Legion's live producer Lathieeshe Thillainathan mentioned that while the overall online mode will be easy to jump into, Tactical Ops was an opportunity to increase the challenge in some capacity. "There are exciting moments, specific cinematics, new level architecture you'll see in this game mode that you won't see anywhere else in the game. But we've been balancing it very much to keep it challenging, but not at an extreme level," he said regarding the Tactical Ops mode.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Watch Dogs: Legion is set to release on October 29 for PC and current-gen platforms and on console launch days for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. However, today Ubisoft revealed that the first wave of free content, which implements online multiplayer modes, is coming on December 3. I was able to speak with Legion's live producer Lathieeshe Thillainathan about the team's approach to updates and DLC, but we also talked about how cross-progression would work.We had previously known about free next-gen upgrades and cross-gen save transfers being available for the game, but in light of the multiplayer reveal, I asked about how Watch Dogs: Legion's online component fits into all this."The online sandbox cross-progression is universal on any platform you play. Regardless if you play on PlayStation or PC, it'll go wherever you're playing," Thillainathan said. This includes any of the six platforms Watch Dogs: Legion is available on--PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Stadia. He continued, "We're able to save it [online progress] on our side, so it allows us to much easier do cross-progression among all the different platforms all at once."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The most popular battle royale games are always evolving and adding new content to keep their players sated, and that can sometimes result in an uneven playing field. The latest controversy in Call of Duty: Warzone is the game's new SP-R sniper rifle, which appears to be based on the beloved R700 sniper from the landmark, Call of Duty 4.High damage and high mobility have made the rifle quite popular in Warzone, since it's able to break armor with a single chest-shot and kill in a single headshot. However, it's the gun's bullet speed that's really stirred up controversy. In Call of Duty games, sniper rifles generally have quite a bit of trajectory drop, meaning that players need to learn to lead their targets at certain ranges, but players describe the SPR as "basically hitscan" from even long-range.Since the SP-R is a reward in Warzone's current Battle Pass, some have speculated that Activision made the weapon purposefully overpowered to drive purchases. However, it's undoubtedly true that quickscoping has been an integral part of Call of Duty gameplay since the days of Call of Duty 4, so maybe the developer just intends the sniper as a pleasant throwback. Either way, if the cries of the community are anything to go by, it probably needs a nerf.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Activision will close its Blizzard Entertainment office in Versailles, France, according to a report by Bloomberg. It's unclear how many people will be laid off and exactly when the France location will shutter.Bloomberg's sources said Activision Blizzard would inform employees more next week about the fate of the Versailles office and their jobs, and if relocation to another studio is a possibility. Bloomberg states that Activision Blizzard had originally intended to move half of the Versailles office to London, but Brexit and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic created risks that ultimately hindered the relocation process.French labor laws, however, require companies to negotiate proper compensation for employees that wind up caught in mass layoffs.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com