Author: Trafficblast

Fortnite and Unreal Engine company Epic Games is buying another company, this time snapping up the photogrammetry developer Capturing Reality. Epic has spent an unspecified sum to acquire the company to bring its software–RealityCapture–into the Unreal Engine.

Photogrammetry is the process of scanning real-world people, places, and things and using software to convert those images into scans for use in video games or other media. You can check out the video below to get a closer look at how it works.

In a statement, Epic said the Capturing Reality team will “continue to grow and work closely” with Epic’s own Unreal Engine team. The goal is to make the Capturing Reality technology more accessible and affordable. This starts right away, as Capturing Reality has already cut prices of its software for new and existing customers.

“RealityCapture is the clear market leader in photogrammetry and has been integral to the creation of Quixel Megascans since its inception,” Epic’s Teddy Bergsman said in a statement. “We are beyond excited to welcome Capturing Reality to our team, and to accelerate our shared vision to enable anyone to scan the world.”

As part of the buyout, Epic said the photogrammetry software will be further baked into the Unreal Engine to help developers create 3D models faster than before. The Capturing Reality team will also continue to work across not only gaming, but also the visual effects, film, architecture, engineering, and construction businesses.

This acquisition follows Epic’s buyout of Rad Tools, the developers of popular middleware for games. On the game development side, Epic also recently bought Fall Guys developer Mediatonic, which came after Epic acquired Rocket League developer Psyonix.

Microsoft’s excellent 2018 racing game Forza Horizon 4 is now available on Steam. The game was initially only available on Xbox and the Windows Store, but you can now buy it on Steam.

The Steam edition of Forza Horizon 4 features cross-play support, allowing users to race with and against those on Xbox, Windows 10 PC, and via the cloud through Android. It also includes Steam Cloud saves, though cross-saves between Steam and other platforms are not supported “due to technical limitations,” according to Microsoft.

Steam is selling multiple editions of Forza Horizon 4, including the standard edition, the Digital Deluxe edition, and the Ultimate editions, which come with various DLC packs and other extras. Also of note is that you still need an Xbox Live account to play Forza Horizon 4 on Steam.

Forza Horizon 4’s Steam edition was developed by Sumo Nottingham. You can see the system requirements below.

GameSpot’s Forza Horizon 4 review scored the game a 9/10. T”he charm of the Horizon series is as palpable as ever, a winning, all-inclusive recipe that celebrates the joy of driving above all else,” reviewer Edmond Tran said.

Forza Horizon 4 developer Playground Games is now working on the next Fable RPG for Xbox Series X and PC.

Forza Horizon 4 System Requirements

Minimum

• OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher
• Processor: Intel i3-4170 @ 3.7Ghz OR Intel i5 750 @ 2.67Ghz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVidia 650TI OR AMD R7 250x
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 80 GB available space

Recommended

• OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher
• Processor: Intel i7-3820 @ 3.6Ghz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVidia GTX 970 OR NVidia GTX 1060 3GB OR AMD R9 290x OR AMD RX 470
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 100 GB available space

Some future Bethesda games will be exclusive to PC and Xbox consoles, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has revealed.

In an article on Xbox Wire welcoming Bethesda to Team Xbox, Spencer wrote the following: “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

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The news arrives as Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media has been finalized, which brings franchises like Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls under Xbox’s wing.

Many fans have been interested in whether new games from Bethesda could be exclusive to the platform going forward as a result of the deal. Spencer’s comments suggest that “some” will. Previously, Spencer said that future Bethesda titles would come to “other consoles on a case by case basis.”

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One of the biggest games hanging in the balance is The Elder Scrolls 6. Bethesda boss Todd Howard has said that it’s “hard to imagine” it as an Xbox-exclusive game. After the acquisition was announced, Bethesda and Lucasfilm revealed a new Indiana Jones project, which could also potentially be exclusive to Xbox.

In other Xbox news, Director of Program Management Jason Ronald recently said that there are unannounced Xbox games scheduled for release in 2021.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Ubisoft has released the long-awaited online mode for Watch Dogs: Legion in its 3.20 update. The title update is now available across all consoles, though as previously announced players on PC and Amazon Luna will have to wait at least a bit longer.

The Legion Online Mode lets you construct a team of DedSec operatives, using the full suite of abilities granted by the game’s core “play as anyone” mechanic. That means there are multiple ways to deal with missions depending on the makeup of your team, like a construction worker that grants you special avenues of attack. You can also take part in co-op world events and earn exclusive rewards for playing through with your squad.

Aside from the big online update, the 3.2 patch also includes some general bug fixes. One of those is a missing mask bug that has been a community complaint recently, and all of your missing masks will automatically pop back into your wardrobe after you’ve downloaded the patch.

A handful of players on the Watch Dogs subreddit have reported they’re still running into trouble with their masks, while others say they’ve needed to restart the game in order to get the online mode started.

Ubisoft found a PC crashing bug for players with certain GPUs, and decided to delay the update on that platform. A new launch date hasn’t been announced. Luna, the streaming service from Amazon, is delayed for the same reason.

Watch Dogs Legion 3.2 Update

Global

• Fixed an issue that caused several masks to go missing from players’ wardrobes after TU3.0.
  Update March 9: We’re seeing reports that this fix hasn’t resolved the issue for all players and are looking into this.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when performing an operative swap in specific areas of the open world.
• Fixed an issue that would cause placeholder text to be displayed for inactive operatives when inspecting them while in a restricted area.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when ray tracing was enabled.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to freeze when selecting a tab in the in-game store.

Ubisoft Connect

• Fixed an issue that would prevent a notification to appear when completing time limited challenges.

PlayStation 5

• Fixed an issue that could cause buildings in the open world to become temporarily invisible. No more hide and seek!

Stadia

• Fixed an issue that could cause security cameras and lasers to trigger an alarm on operatives with uniformed access.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when using the Deep Profiler while having menu narration enabled.

Xbox Series X/S

• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash when accessing the different categories in the in-game store.
• Fixed several issues that could cause graphical corruptions to occur.

Almost 10 years after the first game was released, Jetpack Joyride is finally getting a sequel that once again stars Barry Steakfries in his quest to stop the latest evil scheme of Dr Brains.

Much like the original game, Jetpack Joyride 2 is an endless runner where players touch the screen to make Barry jump over obstacles and enemies, or maneuver directly over and through more devious traps by using Barry’s jetpack.

One big change is that Barry now has a gun in addition to all of his other power-ups, which can be used in segments to take out hovering robot enemies. Don’t worry though, Little Stomper is still around and there’s even a robot dog sidekick.

Developer Halfbrick has begun rolling the game out in select territories and plans to complete the launch over the next couple of months. Much like the original game, Jetpack Joyride 2 will be free to play, but based on our short time with it appears to be packing even more paywalls, a deeper grind, and more unskippable adverts. If you’re interested in trying it out on iOS and Android, you can do so if you’re a resident of Canada, New Zealand, or Australia.

While Jetpack Joyride was one of Halfbrick’s earlier success stories back when mobile games were really starting to take off, it was Fruit Ninja that made the studio a household name. The Australian studio hasn’t released much in the mobile gaming space over the last five years as it was working on other projects, with its most recent titles being the 2016 games Fruit Ninja VR, Star Skater, and Dan the Man.

If you’d prefer to play around with some pocket monsters on your mobile device and you live in Canada, you can also check out the beta for Pokemon Unite, a MOBA-inspired spin-off that will be out later this year.

Epic Games has announced some crucial details about Fortnite’s Chapter 2 Season 6 update involving one of its new events, the Zero Crisis Finale. In a blog post, Epic confirmed how things will go when the big update arrives on March 16. Here’s what we know.

Zero Crisis Finale

When the update launches on March 16, Season 5 will officially come to an end. This will involve playing through the conclusion of Agent Jones’ mission as part of the Zero Crisis Finale event. “The aftermath of this event is sure to shape Reality as we know it,” Epic said.

This Zero Crisis Finale event is a “solo experience,” Epic said, and you can play through it whenever you log into Fortnite for the first time when the update comes out. This is a big change from the past, as previous events of this nature were structured more like live events where if you couldn’t attend it, or if servers were full, you potentially missed out. Fans complained about this, and it appears Epic listened and is delivering a change.

The Zero Crisis Finale event will go live at a specific time for its initial premiere, and Epic will announce more details soon about how you can watch it. For now, Epic teased that the event will kick off with “our most ambitious story cinematic yet.”

Weapon Discounts

With Chapter 2 Season 5 ending, Epic is dropping the price of exotic weapons across the island, while vendors have a greater supply as well. “Grab all you can carry and let chaos reign before your cache of Bars is reset at the end of this season to make room for exciting improvements in Chapter 2 Season 6,” Epic said.

Battle Pass

Fortnite’s Chapter 2, Season 6 update will usher in a new battle pass, so this is a good time to finish off as much as you can of the current one. Now is your last chance to finish off the Star Wars-themed quests, culminating in the baby Yoda The Child back bling at level 100

Epic also advised players that they can still unlock the Breathless Blades pickaxe by completing the quests offered by Fishstick or Lovely, but you need to do this before the current season ends.

Keep checking back with GameSpot soon for lots more on Fortnite’s Chapter 2, Season 6 update in the days and weeks ahead as we learn more about what’s coming.