EA’s yearly football franchise may have changed its name from FIFA to EA Sports FC this year, though as expected, it has had little impact on the game’s sales. As per data for weekly physical sales in the UK released by the Gfk (shared by GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring on Twitter), EA Sports FC 24 is the UK’s second-biggest physical launch of the year, behind only The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and ahead of Hogwarts Legacy.
Steam turns 20 today: "We've had to try a lot of different things over the years"
12.09.2023 - 11:20 / rockpapershotgun.com
The first time I heard of Steam it was, as you might expect, in conjunction with the release of a little FPS called Half-Life 2 back in 2004. You needed Steam to access it, whether you bought the digital version or a retail copy. Given relative unfamiliarity with digital distribution, the nascent status of broadband internet in the UK and US, and the much greater importance of physical game sales at the time, this caused quite a stir. I remember being alarmed by an op-ed over on GameRevolution.com that held forth at length about the risk of conflicts between Steam and other software, if players were outright required to leave it running. How quaint those anxieties seem today - the day of Steam's 20th anniversary. And yet, there's nothing quaint about Steam's ability to shape the field in which it operates.
Between 80,000 and 300,000 players participated in the Steam beta test before its official release on 12th September 2003. In January 2023, the service scored a concurrent activity record of 33 million users. That's greater than the population of Venezuela. For many players, Steam is simply the air we breathe. Open rivals like the Epic Games Store have so far failed to make much of a dent, while alternatives like the wonderful Itch.io have carved out a niche that is essentially predicated on not competing directly. Steam's rise has also been the transformation of Valve from a video game development studio into a sprawling retail empire. The company relied upon releases such as Counter-Strike and to a lesser extent, Half-Life 2 and the Orange Box, to drive early sign-ups, but the idea that Steam still needs Valve the developer the way Valve need Steam is a fading memory.
It's equally bizarre to think that Steam was once thought of principally as a more convenient way of handling downloadable patches for games such as Counter-Strike (the latest iteration of which, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is still Steam's most-played game on a daily basis). The original Steam client didn't even have a storefront. And it's probably safe to say that Steam will always exist in a state of hectic evolution.
One of the platform's lingering existential questions is just how big a cut Valve should take from a game's revenues. Another is how to ensure that games without giant marketing budgets aren’t buried. Valve introduced a crowd-sourced submission service in 2012, Steam Greenlight, to speed up the release of new games, rather than Valve doing the "hand-picking" themselves. Greenlight proved unfit for purpose in Valve's eyes, and was later replaced by Steam Direct, which itself led to the introduction of various algorithmic personalisation systems. In recent times, Valve have cultivated a volunteer army of Steam
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wccftech.com
30.09.2023 / 12:43
SMIC, Which Made The Kirin 9000S, Is Just Four Years Behind The Most Advanced Node, U.S. Sanctions Were Aimed To Limit Capabilities By 10 Years
The U.S. sanctions did not impede the progress of Chinese semiconductor manufacturer SMIC in mass producing the Kirin 9000S, which is now found in Huawei’s flagship, the Mate 60 Pro, though it is no secret that its 7nm process is several generations behind the most advanced node. However, a report states that with the latest SoC launch, China is at most four years behind, and the export controls executed by the United States intended to keep the region up to 10 years behind in the chip race.
gamesradar.com
29.09.2023 / 16:39
New trucking game adds the one thing American Truck Simulator was missing: human drama
Finally, Truck Driver: The American Dream is here to bring us the one thing that American Truck Simulator was missing: a robust story campaign filled with human drama.
pcmag.com
28.09.2023 / 23:14
Lululemon Throws in the Towel on Mirror Fitness Device, Partners With Peloton
More than three years after acquiring fitness startup Mirror to go after Peloton’s explosive pandemic-era growth, Lululemon will discontinue the Mirror interactive fitness device and join forces with Peloton on fitness content and apparel.
tech.hindustantimes.com
27.09.2023 / 19:33
5 things about AI you may have missed today: AI-generated child abuse images to Meta's AI chip chief's departure, more
In some of the day's biggest artificial intelligence news, it has been reported that UK and US have united against AI-generated child abuse images; AI Algorithm have achieved 90% accuracy in detecting signs of life; a paralysed man has regained movement through AI brain implants; Cloudflare has unveiled AI tools for seamless model deployment and cost management- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.
tech.hindustantimes.com
25.09.2023 / 02:53
How to Find the Cheapest iPhone Deal in the UK
Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone went on sale Friday, drawing strong initial interest from buyers with sold-out pre-orders for some models and queuing outside stores.
wccftech.com
20.09.2023 / 11:27
PS5 Sales in Europe Increased Nearly 200% Last Month Compared to the Year Before
PS5 sales in Europe last month have increased almost 200% compared to August 2022.
pushsquare.com
19.09.2023 / 00:43
Football Manager 2024 Will Be PS5's Best Spreadsheet Simulator of the Year | Push Square
It’s a new year with a fresh football season underway, so that means Football Manager 2024 is imminent. While the series notoriously skipped PlayStation platforms for several years, last year saw the Sports Interactive spreadsheet simulator release on the PS5 – and the latest instalment will continue that trend from 6th November. In fact, the developer’s even incorporating DualSense features for this year’s game.
gamesradar.com
18.09.2023 / 22:51
Larian gets the Baldur's Gate 3 cast to role-play their own characters in the ultimate D&D session
The entire core cast of Baldur's Gate 3 will come together to role-play their own characters in what I can only describe as the ultimate D&D session.
polygon.com
18.09.2023 / 21:05
Watch the Baldur’s Gate 3 cast play tabletop D&D in character on Twitch
Even if you’ve only just started your fourth Baldur’s Gate 3 play-through, you still might be craving more of the game’s captivating characters. The actors behind those voices have been pretty active on social media, reciting memes in character and what not. Now they’re taking the immersion to a whole new level and joining actual play D&D series High Rollers for a special livestream event.
wccftech.com
18.09.2023 / 10:33
TSMC Might Witness Significant Drop in Revenue For Upcoming Years Amid Manufacturing Concerns
TSMC's predicted revenue for upcoming years is suspected to decline amid concerns about wafer output and the company's plans to "delay" its manufacturing processes.
gamesindustry.biz
18.09.2023 / 10:13
Starfield is the fifth biggest game launch in Europe this year (so far)
Starfield was comfortably No.1 across Europe during its launch week, GSD data shows.