If you’re a PC gamer you might have noticed a new setting popping up in your games as of late, DLSS. And because you clicked on this video then you probably saw that setting and went, “I don’t know what that is. Should I turn it on? What does it do?” Well that’s what we’re gonna answer for you.
The above video explains how DLSS works for your PC, and how games like Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Watch Dogs: Legion utilize it.
A year and a half after it debuted as an online companion to Red Dead Dead Redemption 2, Red Dead Online has managed to create a unique identity for itself in the competitive online gaming space as a gritty and realistic cowboy simulator that offers a more meditative experience.
While you can play Red Dead Online as an outlaw roaming the Wild West in pursuit of a high noon shootout, many of the game’s players prefer to eke out a living as naturalists and moonshiners, enjoying a more pacifistic approach to the old frontier that Rockstar created.
“With Red Dead Online, we’re trying to deliver every aspect of what it might be like to live in frontier America in the late 1800s, so it offers a huge variety of options for players to create the experience they want within that world,” Tarek Hamad, director of design production at Rockstar North, said to GamesRadar. “By designing it in this way, there’s room for players of all kinds.”
“At the same time, we do see a large portion of the community enjoy some of the more solitary and calm pursuits on offer. We’ve made sure to provide just as much freedom for players who want to live a peaceful life as a hunter, or tending to their camp, or a burgeoning business owner – or even become a deadly bounty hunter that can protect the peaceful players of the world from the scoundrels. How all these different players interact really paints a picture of what it would be like to live and breathe in that era.”
On December 1, Red Dead Online will be available as a standalone game on PC and consoles. Red Dead Online will have an introductory price of $5 until February 2021, after which it will be sold for $20.
GTA Online is also preparing to separate itself from Grand Theft Auto V, although you’ll have to wait until 2021 to roam the streets of Los Santos in that standalone game.
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Night City is packed with characters to meet, and building these relationships plays a huge role in Cyberpunk 2077. Phil Hornshaw recently played 16 hours of Cyberpunk and walks us through how forging relationships works.
He talks about building a relationship with a braindance editor called Judy, and how she and other characters will text V just to check in, or to offer side quests (we’re not sure if they’ll ask you to go bowling though). Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand is almost always present in the game, so Phil discusses how your character, V, approaches that relationship. Given the game’s mature themes, Phil also lets us know what we can expect from the romance scenes.
Cyberpunk 2077 launches on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Google Stadia on December 10.
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem launched earlier this year in a rough state, with numerous technical issues and some unbalanced gameplay souring a visually striking actionRPG. It’s been a while since developer Wolcen Studio provided an update on the game, but it turns out the studio has been working on the first part of a major gameplay and content update over the past few months.
Chronicle I: Bloodtrail is the first of these updates that will be entirely free for all Wolcen players, adding in new gameplay changes, economy updates, and content to the game. The update is said to be coming soon in the announcement on Steam, with specific details about the patch coming closer to release.
One change that Wolcen Studio did detail is the split this update will create moving forward. Any characters you currently have in Wolcen will be marked as “legacy”, while new ones will be tied to the new content. Since the entire economy is being reworked, Wolcen Studio will not allow players to trade between legacy and new characters, but will still support legacy play through a separate Legacy game mode that delivers the same experience pre-patch.
Since launch, Wolcen Studio has addressed critical bugs and performance issues across 17 patches, but says it has been quietly observing player feedback while crafting this new content.
“These last months, we’ve been preparing for Chronicle I: Bloodtrail, and although we chose to remain silent, we’ve been listening to your feedback and used them to enhance the game experience and improve the foundations of Wolcen,” the post reads.
Bloodtrail has a lot to remedy, however, as was made clear in GameSpot’s 4/10 Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem review at launch. “It has all the elements in place to become another engrossing time sink, but it doesn’t execute well enough on any of them to make it worthwhile,” reads the review.
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February 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of Pokemon, and The Pokemon Company has teased an upcoming celebration to mark the event. During 2020’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the company revealed the anniversary celebration logo, hinting at news to come in 2021.
During the parade, a group of Pikachu danced to the original Pokemon theme song before Pokemon Trainers unfurled the 25th anniversary banner. The logo, which you can see below, features a silhouette of Pikachu’s head with its red cheeks replaced with the numbers 2 and 5. No other information was shared, but considering the anniversary is in February, it’s fair to expect news relatively early in 2021.
While this year marks the 20th year in a row that a giant Pikachu balloon has appeared in the parade, it has been 25 years since the release of Pokemon Red and Green in Japan in February 1996. The Western release of Pokemon Red and Blue followed nearly three years later, in September 1998; The Pokemon Company celebrates anniversaries based on the original Japanese release. The 20th anniversary celebration in 2016 included the announcement of Pokemon Sun and Moon, the release of Pokemon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow on Nintendo 3DS, and a number of worldwide events.
In other Pokemon news, you can currently claim eight free Pikachu right now in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Through the end of November, you’ll be able to get eight special Pikachu wearing an assortment of Ash’s hats from the Pokemon anime. Additionally, Pokemon Go support has been added to Pokemon Home; read our full rundown of how it works, including the (somewhat frustrating) restrictions on transferring Pokemon, for all the details.
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Microsoft has focused a lot of energy over the last few years into making Xbox more accessible, with the Xbox Adaptive Controller being a positive step towards addressing the unique needs of players. A product of the Xbox accessibility movement and a team of engineers in the Xbox gaming division, the controller went through numerous iterations when it was in development. Direct feedback from gaming and disabled communities helping to shape the final product into its current form.
“The Xbox Adaptive Controller looks absolutely nothing like the first prototype created,” Brannon Zahand, Microsoft’s senior gaming accessibility program manager, explained to Game Informer. “It changed many, many times over the course of development. The reason was that we built the device with the Gaming & Disability Community, not for them. As such, feedback constantly was rolling in that forced us to continually re-examine the design of the product during development.”
Microsoft focused primarily on people with limited mobility for the controller, prioritizing continuity and compatibility so that users could adapt quickly to the new physical language of this device. The Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S also feature accessibility functionality in their software, such as speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and a narrator, making the gaming experience more helpful for a wide variety of gamers.
AbleGamers hosted its 2020 Video Games Accessibility Awards earlier this month, honoring the games and studios that also made an effort to make their games available to all types of players. Many of this year’s biggest games, such as The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, and Apex Legends picked up awards from the organization across numerous categories.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Black Friday has begun, and plenty of retailers are offering great deals on games. Square Enix is the latest storefront to get in on the Black Friday fun. Square Enix’s Red & Black Friday sale is live now featuring discounts up to 80% off on big-name franchises such as Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex.
The excellent MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn and all of its major expansions can be purchased for $30 on PC and PS4, the creative Dragon Quest Builders 2 on PS4 will cost you $8, and if you’re feeling nostalgic you can grab Collection of Mana on Nintendo Switch for $20. Other notable discounts include Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for $8, Final Fantasy XV for $8, and Kingdom Hearts III for $10.
Marvel’s Avengers has also received a deep discount, with the standard version now down to $30 on PC, PS4, or Xbox One. The sale on physical games runs until November 30, while the digital game games will be discounted until December 1. Check out more of our picks from the sale below.
We’re covering the latest Black Friday news and sales all weekend, including the best Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox deals. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X now available we’ve rounded up the best deals on gaming monitors and 4K TVs in case you’re looking for a visual upgrade to complement your new gaming device.
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2020 has been a hard year, and with many families in the US not doing their usual Thanksgiving catch-ups so as to stay safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of us have not been able to get our hands on a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X ahead of the holiday season. But we can find comfort in the little joys in life–like clever browser game Artemis’ Minesweeper, which gives an old classic a new twist.
Artemis’ Minesweeper, which takes a classic game most of us are familiar with (Minesweeper) and adds a bullet-dodging twist, is a great way to not only pass the time. It’s also a game that resonates harder in a year like this, where every little thing was made just a little bit harder, and where keeping our distance has been important.
The big difference, of course, is that Artemis’ Minesweeper is a lot of fun. The game, by Namauchi Tamanegi, has variable difficulty depending on how stressful you want it to be, and if you’ve spent a lot of time with the old Microsoft freeware version of Minesweeper you’ll appreciate the extra challenge–and the heart system, which eliminates the one-hit kills.
You can play or download the game through itch.
If you’re after something else to play on PC for cheap over the weekend, check out our guide for the best Black Friday PC deals.
It has been known for some time that The Office would be leaving Netflix to join Peacock in 2021, but now Netflix has put an official end-date on the show’s run on its platform.
The misadventures of Michael, Jim, Dwight, Pam, and more will come to an end on Netflix on December 31. After that, the much-loved workplace comedy will shift to NBC’s own streaming platform, Peacock, though an exact start-date for Peacock seemingly has not been announced yet. All of this only applies to the United States.
The Office has been a mainstay of Netflix for many years. According to actor Brian Baumgartner, who plays the bumbling accountant Kevin Malone, it is Netflix’s most popular show “by far” in the US.
According to NBC, The Office is the most popular show in all of streaming on-demand video. The show tallied an astounding 52 billion minutes of viewing time in 2018, according to NBC.
A story from The Hollywood Reporter said NBC is paying $100 million per year for five years to producers Universal Television to have The Office on the NBC streaming service. Universal Television and NBC are owned by the same company.
The Office is just the latest big loss for Netflix when it comes to a popular legacy show. Friends left Netflix earlier in 2020 before heading to HBO Max, while another NBC show, Parks and Recreation, was removed from Netflix for Peacock as well. Again, all of this only applies to the US; international markets have their own streaming deals.
Unlike Netflix, Peacock is a free platform supported by ads. The service is only available in the US.
The Office, which is based on the Ricky Gervais show of the same name, ran for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013. While Netflix is losing The Office, the company is still in business with Steve Carell and creator Greg Daniels with their show Space Force, which has been picked up for a second season. The first season didn’t exactly make waves, but neither did Season 1 of The Office, and Space Force has made a series of behind-the-scenes changes to help it break out in its sophomore season just like The Office did.
You can avoid all of these streaming headaches by purchasing The Office outright on physical media, and thankfully, Black Friday 2020 has a great deal that can help you keep the entire series forever.
VR has had one heck of a year, with some great game releases and even a few new headset launches, and Black Friday 2020 is a good time to jump in. The Oculus Quest 2 released just last month, while the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite launched earlier this year–and let’s not forget about the highly anticipated release of Half-Life: Alyx. Black Friday doesn’t have as many deals as the sale week had last year, but there are still a number of discounts and sales that might make it easier to invest in a new VR headset.
Only a couple of VR headsets will be discounted for Black Friday 2020, but there are a number of sales that discount VR games. A number of retailers have discounted PlayStation VR games, and the latest Steam Sale slashes the prices on many different VR titles. We also expect an Oculus Store sale to go live soon, discounting a number of games for Oculus Quest and Rift S headsets.
If you’re looking for more Black Friday deals, check out the best PS5 and PS4 deals, which include a large number of great games, accessories, and more. There are also some excellent gaming monitor deals and discounts on gaming chairs.
The HTC Vive Cosmos Elite VR headset goes on sale starting November 26 for $800, down from its regular price of $900. It features a combined resolution of 2880×1700, a 90Hz refresh rate, and two external base stations that are used for precise tracking. You’re able to play in a space up to 160 square feet as well, so if you have the room, you can have quite the excellent VR experience.
The basic Vive Cosmos VR headset features inside-out tracking, which means you don’t need to set up any base stations to track your movements–though you still need to connect it to a PC to power it. Like the Elite headset, it features a combined 2880×1700 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It’s a great headset, especially if your space is more limited.
The Oculus Quest 2 isn’t on sale during Black Friday, but it is the best VR headset out there today, thanks to its ability to play completely wirelessly or connect to a PC for more intensive VR games. If you want to get the Oculus Quest 2 before the holidays–either for yourself or someone else–you’ll want to order soon as the 64GB version won’t ship until December. There’s also a great Black Friday sale in the Oculus Store right now–accessible via the Oculus app on your smartphone device–which will help you save some cash on a variety of games.
Marvel’s Iron Man VR released exclusively for PlayStation VR this year and puts you in Tony Stark’s shoes (and iron suit). You fly around, shoot baddies, and complete missions, and if you want to learn more, check out GameSpot’s Iron Man VR review.
Concrete Genie has players coloring a world with magical paint to defeat the Darkness, an evil force that inhabited the once vibrant streets. While the main campaign is played outside of VR, it comes with two VR modes. This includes Free Paint, which lets you create living paintings with the Concrete Genie toolset.
If you’re a fan of shooters, then the PSVR Aim controller and Firewall: Zero Hour are worth picking up. The Aim controller works like a real gun and helps immerse you in specific action games like Firewall and Farpoint. For Black Friday, it’s down to $70 from $80.
Blood & Truth is a VR action shooter that puts you in the seedy crime underworld of London, England. If you’re interested but want to test it out for yourself before buying, there’s a free demo on the PlayStation Store. For Black Friday, you can snag Blood & Truth for only $17.50.
Everybody’s Golf VR is an excellent game of golf, putting your feet on the greens and a club in your hands. If you’re a fan of the sport, you’ll find a lot to enjoy, and during Black Friday, you can snag Everybody’s Golf VR for only $20.
Batman: Arkham VR has you solving crimes and puzzles as the Dark Knight himself. If you’ve ever wanted to throw a batarang or stand in the Bat Cave, Arkham VR will satisfy your inner Batman fan. During Black Friday, it’s going for only $10 at Best Buy.
PlayStation VR Worlds gives users a number of different minigames to test out. Each game has you performing a different activity, such as sitting in a cage while sharks swim around you, racing down a hill on a luge, or shooting at enemy vehicles as you stage a heist getaway.
