Bethesda is once again struggling to get its game running well on consoles. And while it has a fix, the company probably cannot wait for that allegedly upgraded PlayStation 4 Neo.
Far Harbor, the first big expansion for Fallout 4, does not run well on PS4, and the publisher has pushed out an update in North America to patch it up. Gamers playing the open-world adventure’s add-on pack on Sony’s console are reporting a rough framerate that produces a choppy, unsightly image. Bethesda has done the work to improve that, but you’re going to need to follow some instructions to ensure you get the update. Fallout 4 is one of the biggest games in the world, and is continually one of the most played releases in the $99.6 billion gaming industry, according to data from the Steam digital-distribution portal.
The well-regarded tech investigators at DigitalFoundry found that the foggy areas of the Far Harbor often caused dips down to 15 frames per second. You can see how ugly that looks in the clip below:
But Bethesda has unleashed the update in North America, and you can get it by overcoming the following obstacle course:
Boot up your PlayStation 4 and ensure that Fallout 4 is closed. You can do this by hovering over the game, hitting the Options button on your controller, and selecting “Close application” if it’s available.
Go back to the Fallout 4 icon on your PS4 dashboard, hit the Options button again, and this time select the “Related items” menu.
Select “My Add-ons.”
Find the Far Harbor DLC and click on the arrow right next to it to download the newest version.
The content should download and install, and you should have the updated version the next time you boot up the game.
If you’re outside of North America and are wondering when you’ll get the patch, well Bethesda is only saying that it’ll have “more information” soon for European Union players. Everyone else will just have to keep dealing with low-framerate fog.
Pistons are coming to Minecraft. No, not the Detroit Pistons — although that would be pretty great.
Minecraft developer Mojang announced today that it will release piston blocks for free for the Pocket and Windows 10 versions of the building-focused game. Pistons can push away other blocks, which can create complex machines like automatically opening doors. Pistons will be in the upcoming The Friendly Update. It doesn’t have a release date, but Mojang says it is coming soon. Free updates like this keep players engaged and entertained. It’s one of the reasons Minecraft has sold over 100 million copies on all of its many platforms, which also include PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Wii U.
Pistons released for the original PC version of Minecraft in 2012. The console versions have pistons, too. The Pocket and Windows 10 Editions of Minecraft have fewer features than the PC release. Mojang has made an effort to bring more complex tools from the original to the these versions.
“Pistons have been a top feature requested by the Minecraft community, and we are excited to deliver the feature to players soon, which will allow them to create even cooler buildings and contraptions in their Minecraft worlds,” Mojang noted in a press release sent to GamesBeat.
You can watch pistons in action in the trailer below.
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While some (okay, most) are familiar with Paul Reubens because of his portrayal of the iconic Pee-wee Herman in Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the actor has also lent his voice to several animated characters. One of his recent ventures is Ivor, from Telltale Games‘ new episodic game series Minecraft: Story Mode. For those who are unfamiliar with it, the star-studded title takes the same graphic adventure formula made famous by the developer’s previous games (The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Tales From the Borderlands), and brings it to the iconic world of Mojang‘s Minecraft. In the exclusive video above, Reubens discusses his role in the game, how he got the part, and more. Check it out!
According to Reubens, he was approached about voicing a character for the game while at a party in L.A. during the week of E3. With his acting background, and the vibe Telltale was going for (it evokes a bit of The Goonies and, aptly, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure), Reubens was the perfect fit. “To do those voices and watch the finished show and see your voice come out of an animated character’s mouth is a trip. It’s really cool,” he noted.
But, the curious thing about voice acting is that actors don’t have facial expressions and body movement to rely on. Reubens pointed out, “When you’re doing a voice, all of those other factors are up to the animators, so you try to do as much with your voice as you can.” To Reubens, giving the developer as many takes to play with as possible is really important.
Like Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Minecraft was created to encourage young people to think creatively and celebrate originality, which is a great message if you ask us. Seeing the world brought into Telltale’s stable has been nothing short of thrilling. With the first of three brand new DLC episodes, “A Portal to Mystery,” set to release on June 7, we’re excited to see what’s next.
Have you played Minecraft: Story Mode? If so, what do you think of Reubens’ character? Let us know in the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or start one with me on Twitter: @Samantha_Sofka.
And in case you haven’t yet checked out Pee-wee’s Big Holiday on Netflix, here’s the cast chatting about the film, as well as their favorite vacation movies.
After a certain number of sales it’s only appropriate that an infographic be made, and said infographic shared for players, parents, and games journalists. So feast your eyes upon the two images displayed in this post!We’d like to offer our heartfelt thanks to every one of you who’s bought Minecraft over the past few years, no matter which platform you play on. We’re constantly in awe of our community and the amazing things you achieve together. You really are the best. <3
Feel free to share this thing with friends, family, and the internet. We’ve prepared a high resolution version for that very reason. Download it at the following link.
Microsoft acquired Minecraft maker Mojang nearly two years ago, and at the time it had sold more than 50 million copies across PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and other platforms. Microsoft is revealing today that Minecraft has now reached the 100 million sale milestone, having sold 53,000 copies per day during the course of 2016. It’s a phenomenal achievement for a game that started off as a bedroom project, distributed initially as a Java applet on a web forum.
Minecraft quickly captured the imagination of thousands of gamers who loved the indie game’s concept of allowing players to shape an environment by crafting and building constructions out of blocks. It has spawned a giant community that creates replica objects and YouTube tips on how to play Minecraft that are regularly shared with millions of viewers.
Alongside the 100 million milestone, Microsoft is also sharing a break down of exactly how Minecraft players engage with the game across the world. There are Minecraft players in every country and every territory on the planet, and Microsoft says four copies have even been sold to people in Antarctica. There are now an average of more than 40 million unique Minecraft players each month across all the various platforms the game is available on. The split of PC / console / pocket edition usage across Europe is roughly even, while in North America the pocket edition and console versions are the most popular.
Microsoft’s acquisitions haven’t always worked out (Nokia’s phone business), but it’s clear Minecraft is a big success. Microsoft’s video games revenue has been climbing steadily since the Minecraft acquisition, and it increased by $367 million in the 2015 financial year “mainly due to sales of Minecraft.” Microsoft is now turning the game into an education business, launching a special Education Edition that’s customized for schools. Microsoft researchers are even allowing computer scientists to use the game to train up AI programs, and the software maker is also developing a holographic version of Minecraft for its HoloLens headset.
Minecraft To Let Players Fight One Another To The Death
The new battle mode will change the nature of the game
Starting in June, Minecraft will get a lot more violent. — REUTERS
Minecraft, the world-building game which has captured the hearts and minds of young people (and plenty of older people) everywhere, is finally getting into the fighting business. According to Minecraft’s owner, Microsoft, whichbought the franchisefor $2.5 billion in 2014,has announcedthat it is releasing a new mini-game for consoles called Battle.
Jaime Limon, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Minecraft, describes it as a “competitive multiplayer fight for survival, where speed, strategy—and sometimes just pure luck—will make you the winner.” Players rely on resources placed around the maps to fight each other. Once they’ve fallen victim to another player, they’re free to hang around—literally, because they’ll be flying around as a bat—and watch the death match until it’s over.
The mini game, which is coming in June, marksa turning pointfor Minecraft, which became such a sensation precisely because, unlike so many other hit games, itwasn’tabout violence or killing opponents. Instead, players thrived on the open-ended creativity encouraged by Minecraft’s world. Now that there’s an officially sanctioned forum for battle, it’s bound to change the nature of the game.
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