PlayStation has moved cross-play support out of beta, according to Sony Interactive Entertainment's Jim Ryan, theoretically making the feature available to all developers.
The change was included in a Wired story on PlayStation Now, which received a steep price-cut earlier this week. The article was based on an interview with SIE CEO Jim Ryan, and mentioned that the PS4 can now support cross-play "on any titles that studios provide the functionality for."
The article went live on the same day that PUBG Corp. confirmed cross-play between Xbox, PC and PlayStation 4.
While Wired's information came straight from the top of Sony, progress on cross-play has yet to be commented upon through the publisher's official channels.
This is characteristic of Sony's stance on cross-play to date. Initially reluctant to lower the walls around the PS4's captive audience, it relented in June 2018 following pressure related to Epic Games' Fortnite.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-now-left-beta ...

One axiom of our modern society is that "if it has a screen, someone will try to play a game on it". The first video game in history - Tennis for Two - was run on an analogue computer, a Donner Model 30 with a low-frequency sine wave generator hooked up to an oscilloscope, using various waveforms to represent two paddles and a ball. Certain scientific calculator models are to this day used to play simpler video games, and we can already play games on smart appliances like fridges, for example - these are the two extremes as we speak. There is, in turn, an entire category of games (I won't say video games for a reason) that don't rely on visual representations at all. I'm speaking of the text-based games, of course, that emerged at a time when the vast majority of computers were incapable of displaying complex graphics.

From connected typewriters to interactive fiction

Back in the 1960s, the first "teleprinter games" emerged - they ran on mainframe computers, accepting commands and printing out responses through a teleprinter - basically, a connected typewriter that was widely used as an instant form of communication at the time. The famous "Oregon Trail" appeared first on such a system. In the 1970s, as video terminals became cheaper and thus widespread, the text-based games became more complex - they took on famous titles like "Dungeons and Dragons" and J. R. R. Tolkien's works. In a few years, the first game with the ability to save progress appeared - Colossal Cave Adventure, the archetype of text-based games - and soon led to the emergence of the entire genre of MUDs, BBS games, and interactive fiction. Over the decades, in turn, visuals stole the show - even today, we tend to judge a game by its looks, and gaming hardware by its capability to display the ever-improving looks of these games.

A new device and the new possibilities

Those who understand smart home systems know that they are complex voice-based interfaces designed to understand simple commands. While they aren't smart enough just yet to really understand natural speech, they are great at singling out certain keywords from a text command. And this makes them perfect for running text-based - or better said, voice-based - adventure games, taking interactive fiction to the next level.

Imagine a story similar to Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's "Gamebooks", a sort of a "choose-your-own-adventure" narrated by a famous actor (like Benedict Cumberbatch or Samuel L. Jackson). Imagine having the choice to influence the story with a few voice commands. The hardware is given - there are now hundreds of millions of smart speakers used all over the world - so it's up to the developers to use their capabilities to take interactive fiction to the next level. ...

A new report from Sensor Tower has put Mario Kart Tour's day-one downloads at over 20 million, double Apptopia's estimate from earlier today and nearly triple the day-one downloads of Super Mario Run.
Additionally, Sensor Tower reports that player spending has already reached $1 million -- approximately one-fourth of launch-day spending on top Nintendo mobile revenue performer, Fire Emblem Heroes. This does not include revenue from the $4.99 Gold Pass subscription, due to a free two-week trial offered to everyone who subscribes.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-its-first-day ...

Unsurprisingly, FIFA 20 has topped the UK boxed charts in its first week on sale.
It is comfortably the biggest release of the year, although physical launch sales are down slightly compared with FIFA 19 (a drop of 7% year-on-year).
The PS4 version of the game accounted for 61% of the sales, with the Xbox One edition accounting for 38%. The Nintendo Switch 'Legacy' version accounted for 1% of sales.
The PS4 physical version attracted fewer sales this year, with both the Xbox One and Switch versions enjoying a slight increase in sales.
The Xbox One version was boosted by a special hardware bundle available from GAME, Amazon and the Microsoft store. The All-Digital Xbox One S was bundled with FIFA 20, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 3 for £169.99. This meant that Sea of Thieves rose from No.21 to No.7 (up 199%), Minecraft on Xbox rose from No.22 to No.9 (up 197%) and Forza Horizon 3 increased 183% and is at No.10.
This all shows the impact a major release like FIFA can have on console sales and the performance of other titles.
Outside of FIFA 20, the next big release was Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age. The Square Enix game debuts on Switch at No.11 and arrives almost a year after the PS4 version (selling about half of what that version managed in its first week).
Meanwhile, Bandai Namco's Code Vein reached No.13 and Focus Home Interactive's The Surge 2 came in at No.35.
Last week's No.1, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, drops to No.2 with a 62% fall in sales week-on-week. Borderlands 3 tumbles from No.2 to No.3 with a 45% sales dip. Gears 5 holds firm at No.4 with a 70% increase in sales (the game also benefitted from a hardware bundle). Rounding off the Top Five is Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled. The Activision game rose 74% in sales due to some price activity at UK retail.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...nate-uk-charts ...

If you happened to pass by a certain park in Seattle last month, you might have seen myself, a few Minecraft representatives, and a few other journalists awkwardly pacing, crouching, and waving our phones close to the ground or in circles around us. It's a dance that probably looked to outside observers not unlike (but perhaps more ridiculous than) the odd movements of crowds chasing virtual monsters during the overwhelmingly popular launch of Pokémon Go.
But Minecraft Earth, despite at first glance looking a bit like Pokémon Go in that it's a location-based, AR-using adventure, is something entirely different. It contains some similar elements, such as exploring the real world and collecting in-game items that correspond to real spaces ("Tappables," which contain recognizable Minecraft blocks and items). But it's also part-AR adventure game and part-creative space, where players can take the found Tappables and build them into Minecraft creations anywhere: on the table in front of them, in their living room, or even in the middle of a public park.
At a hands-on preview last month, I spoke with game director Torfi Olafsson and briefly with principal program manager Jessica Zahn on the game's inspirations, technological challenges, monetization concerns, and the global spirit the team at Mojang wants to infuse into Minecraft's foray onto mobile devices.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-two-years-ago ...

Nintendo Switch Lite has sold around 13,500 units during its first week on sale in the UK, retailers have told GamesIndustry.biz.
It's a relatively slow start for the new portable-only Switch, although the console is targeting a more casual user and was not expected to deliver huge week one numbers. By comparison, the 2DS -- a similar stripped back Nintendo handheld released in October 2013 -- sold 200,000 units in just under two months (IHS data), but its sales didn't pick up until the October half-term holiday.
Retailers speaking to GamesIndustry.biz said it was far too early to draw any conclusions. One senior buyer told us: "Switch Lite was always going to come into its own come Pokémon. It's ideal as a Christmas present, and we expect sales to ratchet up during November and December. Pre-orders for the special Pokémon Switch Lite have been strong."
Another retail executive added: "Launch week really isn't the point of Switch Lite."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...week-in-the-uk ...

bsnes v110 is released. bsnes is an emulator for the Super Famicom and SNES video game systems. The purpose of the emulator is a bit different from other emulators: it focuses on accuracy, debugging functionality, and clean code.

bsnes v110 Changelog:
improved ExLoROM support (fixes Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 fan translation)
several improvements to the libretro target, including macOS and Android platform support
fixed an issue where the Alt key wasn't activating the menu on the Windows port
removed 2160p HD mode 7 setting, due to Direct3D 9.0 texture size limits of 2048x2048
reverted fresh configuration files to using the safer hardware drivers
disabled the ASIO driver due to lack of support
fixed a crashing issue when idling with the snow effect enabled
added IOKit joypad support for macOS [Sintendo]
added fast PPU render cycle position override for Firepower 2000's title screen
ported higan's accurate PPU renderer back to bsnes to add sprite caching for Wolfenstein 3D

http://byuu.org/

http://www.emucr.com/2019/09/bsnes-v110.html ...

A full English translation patch for the Nintendo DS game Chou Soujuu Mecha MG (Super Control Mecha MG) has been released!
In a world where giant robots known as Marionation Gear, or “Puppets”, are artisanally handcrafted in workshops, a certain boy serves as an apprentice at the Galouye Workshop, dreaming of becoming a “Puppeteer” (mecha pilot) and opening his own workshop with fellow apprentice Kay. But their peaceful daily life is shattered when the autonomous Puppets known as the Automen begin going on berserk rampages around the world. Together with new apprentice Anne-Marie, the hero and Kay are pulled into a conflict that could change the course of Puppet history…
Chou Soujuu Mecha MG is a 2006 mecha action game developed by Sandlot, the studio behind the Earth Defense Force series, and published by Nintendo. It combines the developer’s aptitude for larger-than-life spectacle with one of the most innovative and fun uses of the touch screen in the DS library: in addition to standard movement with the D-Pad, each of the game’s 100+ playable mecha has its own unique “cockpit” controlled with the touch screen. Players can pull levers to swing their robot’s arms and hurl buildings at the enemy, flip a switch to transform into a car, punch in launch codes to fire missiles, and countless other imaginative setups. With well over 100 missions, ranging from battle to racing to destroying burger joints, every mecha has a use.
Footage of the translation in action can be viewed .
In addition to the patch, the game’s translator has scanslated several chapters of its tie-in manga adaptation, which can be viewed on the patch’s release website here.
This patch was the work of Supper (hacking), Phantom (translation and additional art), and cccmar (testing and editing). The authors hope you’ll enjoy this revival of one of the DS’s best-kept secrets.

http://stargood.org/

http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=29306 ...

Nintendo is receiving all manner of compliments for its latest hardware, but special praise must be reserved for its name -- a near perfect paradox. The Switch Lite is, after all, light on pretty much everything that gave the original Switch its name.
No Joy-Cons for out-of-the-box multiplayer, no kickstand to turn the diminutive screen into something around which friends can gather, and, crucially, no option to hook connect the hardware to a television and move the experience from your hands into the front room. The Switch Lite may be priced at $200 rather than $300, but it loses a lot in the name of reducing costs.
This is the underlying argument in Kotaku's review, in which Mike Fahey simultaneously lamented what is missing from the Switch Lite while also proclaiming it "one of the finest handheld gaming devices I've ever used." Fahey is not alone in praising the Switch Lite in those terms, but few critics articulate its shortcomings so clearly."It still supports near-field communication for Amiibo support, and has a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope for motion control, so not all of the Switch's extra features have been stripped away. But most of them have," Fahey wrote. "As has been pointed out time and time again since the hardware was announced in July, there's not much 'Switch' in the Switch Lite. 'Switch Lacking' would be more accurate, if far less marketable.
"If my only desire was to play Switch games in handheld mode, I would choose the Switch Lite over the regular Switch, hands down... But the original does a whole lot of cool stuff the Switch Lite does not do -- stuff I've grown used to, and now feel awkward going without. Removing Joy-Cons to play multiplayer games is a Switch feature I hardly ever use, but when I have, it's led to some pretty magical moments. My gaming is normally a personal thing, but the ability to make it social with the click of my Switch means it doesn't have to be."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ical-consensus ...