Genshin Impact Releases But You May Have Trouble Downloading it

You might remember the original announcement of Genshin Impact and how it received a lot of criticism and even hate since it took a lot of influence from Zelda Breath of the Wild. Many gamers were calling it a copy cat of BoTW. But ever since the official launch, the script has flipped and we’re hearing a lot of praise for the game. Many are saying while it does draw some elements from BoTW it is a completely different game with its own strengths. Think of an MMO with an open world like BoTW and heavy on the anime style art and animations.

Currently the download servers may be seeing high load as we see many people complain of painfully slow downloads or even issues downloading it at all. I am currently sitting at 1 MB/s which equates to about a 4+ hour download time. Some people are reporting speed boosts by pausing and starting the download again, but everyone’s mileage may vary.

I also had trouble accessing the website itself, if I went to the home page directly it would get stuck loading some assets and then lag out eventually. I was able to circumvent this by going to a miscellaneous page and then going to the home page from there. So if you are trying to download the client try accessing from this page first (its the news page), then heading to the homepage to create an account and download.

We’ll be back with more thoughts after this finishes!

genshin
3 more hours…

Microsoft Buys Bethesda in Surprise Next-Gen Power Move

The next-gen console wars are already underway and we don’t even have machines in our hands yet. Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda was definitely a “shots fired” move for the gaming press but does it really matter in the large scheme of things? Well, it depends on how much you love Bethesda’s stable of games – among which include The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and DOOM – as well as whether or not these will be Microsoft PC/Xbox exclusives moving forward.

In a post on their website title “Why Microsoft is a perfect fit,” Bethesda explains that the new ownership, “…allows us to make even better games going forward. Microsoft is an incredible partner and offers access to resources that will make us a better publisher and developer. We believe that means better games for you to play. Simply put – we believe that change is an important part of getting better. We believe in pushing ourselves to be better. To innovate. To grow.”

Of course, $7.5 billion in cash probably didn’t hurt things either. Nonetheless, Bethesda and Microsoft are casting this move as a natural evolution for both parties.

“[We] have a long history of working with Microsoft. Our companies share many of the same basic principles. We believe in a culture that values passion, quality, collaboration, and innovation. When I think back to the first time we decided to shift from being a PC-only developer and make Morrowind for the original Xbox, it was a move that countless people said would never work…nobody on consoles wanted a game that big and complex. But Microsoft believed in us and so did you. And now RPGs of all shapes and sizes are hugely successful on consoles.”

As many people are pointing out, this purchase doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft will limit Bethesda’s games to just its platforms. As with Minecraft, Microsoft could go with a broader route given the huge popularity of titles like The Elder Scrolls.

Looking forward, optimists also highlight that Microsoft’s deep pocketbooks could result in better games moving forward. We’re not going to name any specifics here but we’re sure any true Bethesda fan can name more than a couple of things they’d like to see change in the future.

The press release from Pete Hines did tease Starfield, the company’s big new mysterious IP, but it didn’t really divulge any information on one of the more anticipated titles rumored to be in development. Since we don’t really know much about that game in general, speculation as to whether or not it will be an Xbox exclusive is premature at this point.

Interestingly, Microsoft’s presser also mentioned Starfield:

“With unique investments in content, community, and the cloud, Microsoft’s gaming strategy differs from others by empowering people to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. Games are the primary growth engine in gaming, and games are fueling new cloud-gaming services like Xbox Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 15 million subscribers. With the addition of Bethesda, Microsoft will grow from 15 to 23 creative studio teams and will be adding Bethesda’s iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass. This includes Microsoft’s intent to bring Bethesda’s future games into Xbox Game Pass the same day they launch on Xbox or PC, like Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.”

What do you think of Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda? Do you play Bethesda’s games? Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments section below if you like.

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No Man’s Sky New Expansion Dropping this Week

Origins is coming this week.

Patch notes will be released soon with it as well. The No Man’s Sky team has transformed the game greatly since its initial release in 2016 when it received a ton of negative criticism. The team remained persistent and has been releasing steady content over the years. The next is coming this week as Origins. See their statement below!

Statement from the NMS Team:

“Four years ago we announced FOUNDATION, our first major update for No Man’s Sky, we promised “It won’t be our largest update, but it is the start of something”. Those words were true at the time, and they ring true for Origins. We called it Origins because it is the beginning of something new, as No Man’s Sky continues to grow and evolve.

Beyond came out last year, bringing VR and hugely expanded Online play, and since then we have focused on releasing more regular updates. SYNTHESIS, BYTEBEAT, LIVING SHIP, EXO MECH, CROSSPLAY, and DESOLATION have been some of our most popular, surprising and transformative updates – leading No Man’s Sky to have its biggest year to date.

We know there is a huge appetite in the community for No Man’s Sky content, and the team has worked our socks off this year to deliver in difficult circumstances. We have been quiet, but we are always listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.

This update will be another small step in a longer journey. We hope you can join us.”

Microsoft to Purchase Bethesda Company

What does this mean for Bethesda Games?

Microsoft has officially announced that they will move forward with the purchase of game company Bethesda. Most of you are probably familiar with Bethesda or their huge blockbuster game franchises such as Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, and more. Microsoft has agreed to purchase the company for $7.5 Billion.

More specifically the purchase for is ZeniMax Media – the parent company of Bethesda and Id software. The deal is stated to close in 2021. Microsoft has stated that Bethesda will still operate in its own division and retain current company structure.

So what does this mean?

Aside from giving Microsoft even more game studios under its belt and some control of these franchises, many may be worried about games becoming exclusive to only Xbox/PC. I personally don’t think the biggest franchises will become exclusive to Xbox and PC. The bottom line is if they did become exclusive they would be missing a lot of sales from people who only have a different platform. Exclusivity may drive demand for Xbox up, but at the same time Microsoft is pushing for cloud gaming with their newly released XCloud. This would remove some need for consoles, thereby making sales of copies of the games a bigger source of revenue.

Official Microsoft Release

What We Know About Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 30 Series

As much of the console world waits with bated breath for Sony and Microsoft’s new systems to drop this fall, Nvidia was kind enough to show us all what the future of PC gaming – and consoles – is going to look like in the future.

The GeForce RTX 30 Series promises to bring more of everything to users and, as Nvidia’s history has proven, it isn’t all marketing hype.

From Nvidia’s own marketing hype: “GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs also feature several world firsts: they’re the first gaming-class graphics cards with up to 24GB of new, blazing-fast GDDR6X VRAM; they’re the first GPUs with HDMI 2.1, for 4K high refresh rate and 8K gaming; they’re the first discrete GPUs with support for the AV1 codec, enabling you to watch high-resolution streams using significantly less bandwidth; and our Founders Edition cards are the first with innovative dual axial flow through cooling solutions.

And of course, GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs come packed with new technologies for esports competitors, livestreamers, creators, and gamers alike – NVIDIA Reflex reduces system latency, providing split-second PC gaming responsiveness; NVIDIA Broadcast turns any room into a home broadcast studio with AI-enhanced video and voice comms; updates to NVIDIA DLSS make 8K HDR gaming a reality on the GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card; and new NVIDIA Studio enhancements make creative applications run faster than ever before.”

NVIDIA also showed off their so-called Reflex tech that will help  “improve esports reaction time,” among other things. As anyone who follows eSports knows, that’s no small thing and lag can often mean the difference in many matches. The company also showed off a host of new streaming features to make it easier for gamers using NVIDIA tech to put their gameplay online. The company also demonstrated the NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima with Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord working the crowd.

NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima “gives you the power to remix, recreate, and redefine animated video game storytelling” the company claims. NVIDIA also displayed their next-gen ray tracing, DLSS, and discussed the RTX Ampere GPU. Of course, the marquee event of all of this talk was the demonstration of the next-gen games using this tech including Cyberpunk 2077.

All of this was capped off with a thorough introduction to the GeForce RTX 3080:

“Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, our second-generation of RTX, GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards deliver staggering rasterized, ray-traced, and AI-enhanced horsepower, giving you the performance to make your games more beautiful and realistic with maxed out settings.

GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs power the next wave of amazing game titles, including Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite with RTX, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Minecraft with RTX for Windows 10. And they give competitive gamers the lightning response times needed to win in games like Valorant and Fortnite.”

What do you think about the GeForce RTX 30 Series? Did you watch the presentation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Xbox Game Pass Adds EA Play for no extra charge

EA Play coming this holiday to Xbox Game Pass.

You heard that right, Microsoft is partnering up with EA to add the entire EA Play collection to the Xbox game pass for no extra cost. You might remember EA’s service as EA Access or Origin Access, but it has been re-branded to EA Play.

You will soon be able to play the entire EA Play library with your $4.99 game pass subscription. That includes more than 60 of EA’s greatest games like Battlefield, FIFA, Mass Effect, and Need for Speed titles just to name a few. Also, yes it will be for both Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

In my opinion it would be silly to not have a $4.99 game pass subscription once this comes out. Also don’t forget new members can get game pass for only $1 for the first month.

Full details from Microsoft here.

Winners of the 2nd Gamer Bias Valorant Tournament – MFC!

Congrats to MFC for winning our 2nd Valorant Tournament.

Shout out to team Supreme Royale Gaming for placing 2nd and giving us an exciting finals match!

Thank you to all of the participants for joining us and competing.

  • MFC
  • Supreme Royale Gaming
  • Off-Meta
  • Oligarchy Gaming
  • Unknown

Stay tuned for more tournaments with new games as well!

You can catch all the matches on our Twitch Channels:

https://www.twitch.tv/gamerbiasofficial/videos

More match VODs here

DCFandome’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Surprises Audiences

DCFandome was an event to remember this year even with all of the restrictions COVID-19 has placed on live events.

Of course, front and center for gamers were the new titles based upon DC Comics iconic properties and, in addition to a new Batman game, it looks like the media darlings that are better known as the Suicide Squad will also get a game. And it is coming from the same teams as those that have brought us the legendary Arkham titles. While most of us were surprised by this news, fans that have followed the Suicide Squad game and its development have waited since 2011 for something like this to finally become reality.

Back then there were rumors of an open-world, “violent” game based upon the Suicide Squad property and it looks like Kill the Justice League is set to be just that game.

Interestingly, this title will also be a continuation, lore-wise, of that established in the Arkham games. The trailer for the game introduced Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and Kingshark but it is expected that more characters will be introduced over time or after release as DLC.

One character that is unmentioned but that will be omnipresent is the city of Metropolis itself. Rocksteady’s own Sefton Hill called it the “fifth character” in the game.

“One thing we’re really excited about is bringing Metropolis to life. It’s really the fifth character in this game,” Venture Beat quotes Hill.

As for what the game is all about, Hill also outlined how it is about “supervillain empowerment” and providing gamers with a unique gameplay experience.

“Suicide Squad really spoke to us how fascinating these flawed characters are,” he explained.

In terms of the general outline of the story, it looks like DC villain Braniac is back to terrorize yet another set of people (not heroes in this case). As with the other game Rocksteady showed off, Gotham Knights, multiplayer cooperative gameplay will be a huge feature of Kill the Justice League but not a necessary one. In fact, during solo play, you will be given the option to switch between the four characters in real-time. This means that gamers will be tasked with mastering who is best for what situation and how to coordinate the Suicide Squad’s actions in the most optimal way. In other words, it sounds like an Arkham game with RPG elements…not too unlike the Gotham Knights game that was also revealed at DCFandome.

One marked difference between Gotham Knights and this game, however, is that Suicide Squad will be a next-gen only game. That’s probably indicated by its release date more than anything else: Sometime in 2022. By then, the current generation systems will be coasting on fumes and the next era will be well underway. How this will manifest itself in unique gameplay options remains to be seen but, given Rocksteady’s work with the Arkham games, this game could be more than hype.

What do you think? Does Kill the Justice League sound like something you’d like to buy? Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments section below.

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