September 2020

Nvidia announces its next generation of GeForce graphics cards and two of them are surprisingly affordable

3 years 6 months ago

In a special conference this morning, Nvidia announced its newest line of graphics cards as well as GeForce-enabled applications. Previously there were lots of swirling rumors about prices and card strength, with the target looking at 24GB of video memory on the card with a price tag of $1500. As the stream started today, myself and Dan in the Destructoid chat girded our loins for the inevitable pain of a future upgrade. What awaited us was a pleasant surprise.

As expected, the 3000 series was announced with three cards coming, all using the new Ampere architecture which will see a marked improvement over the 2000 series. The flagship GeForce RTX 3080 was announced to have 10GB of GDDR6X memory with a 19Gbps run speed, promising 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. With an MSRP of $699, it's a whole lot less of a shot to the wallet than initially expected. The "lower-end" card for the 3000 series was also announced as the GeForce RTX 3070. Boasting 8GB of GDDR6 memory, the card will launch with an MSRP of $499.

Nvidia announces its next generation of GeForce graphics cards and two of them are surprisingly affordable screenshot

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Author
Anthony Marzano

Away: The Survival Series looks a little rough but I love its concept

3 years 6 months ago

The sugar glider adventure Away: The Survival Series is aiming for an early 2021 release on PC and PlayStation 4, and if you're open to exploration games that are rough around the edges but set you loose in a compelling landscape, you'll want to watch this 10-minute developer walkthrough video.

Yeah, the sugar glider's movement looks iffy at times and the possess-other-creatures mechanic is a curious choice, but I can easily picture myself scouring this hidden animal kingdom for secrets.

The walkthrough covers a few facets of Away including instinct vision (to see food and threats), sneaking through grass, chasing a fast-moving meal, a nature documentary narrator, and environmental storytelling. The game is set in the "distant future," and in this footage, the player temporarily possesses an insect so they can crawl into a crack and investigate a decaying computer.

Not all games need to be an eight out of ten, you know? I just hope Away isn't too tedious.

Away: The Survival Series looks a little rough but I love its concept screenshot

Author
Jordan Devore

This Stardew Valley mod marriage proposal is so wholesome

3 years 6 months ago

Stardew Valley is packed enough on its own: so much so that I haven't really sought out the comfort of mods. But the modding scene has been incredibly robust ever since the game hit the market, to the point where just about anyone can whip up their own custom scenario. Enter this marriage proposal.

Posted on Reddit this past week by Chubbyloveshinobi, the scene is short and sweet, and apparently happened a couple of months ago. They say that the now-fiance actually proposed in real life, too, after the in-game event. What would have happened if they hit "no" in the game?

Chubbyloveshinobi says they are getting married next week. Good luck! This is the sort of thing we all need to be seeing more of right now.

I don't know if this will present right [Reddit]

This Stardew Valley mod marriage proposal is so wholesome screenshot

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Author
Chris Carter

Poker Club Announced for Next-Gen Consoles and More

3 years 6 months ago
Poker Club has been announced for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, with cross-platform and cross-generation online play. Announced by Ripstone Games and coming this year, Poker Club aims to be a social experience, including 200-player tournaments, and online Career Mode that take splayers from back-room games to high-stakes tables, and many, many options for other modes. The game will also feature private online games, and a full Poker 101 tutorial to help bed in new players. You can also create or join clubs in game, allowing players to work together to meet shared goals that unlock unique gear rewards for your customisable character. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/09/01/poker-club-reveal-trailer"] Current-gen owners of the game will be able to get a free upgrade to the next-gen versions. On PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X, the game will play at 4K / 60 FPS, and include ray tracing. On PS5, the game will even make use of the DualSense controller's haptic feedback technology. Speaking to IGN, game director Phil Gaskell explained that next-gen SSDs have been a game-changer: "We've been working on the proprietary tech in the systems to reduce load times in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of Poker Club. Loading is now practically non-existent, it makes the whole experience feel seamless, you won’t ever want to go back!" As for the addition of ray tracing, that too seems to have been a pleasant addition to the mix. "Ray tracing is a huge deal for us," explains Gaskell, "we knew we wanted to use it on PC, but weren’t sure how it would work on console. We were so impressed with how capable they are in that department. With ray traced lighting/shadows/reflections, Poker Club is brought to life.
Author
Joe Skrebels

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Dungeons & Dragons Becoming a Magic: The Gathering Set Next Year

3 years 6 months ago
Magic: The Gathering will get a new set based on Dungeons & Dragons during Q3 2021, titled Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Announced during Magic's Zendikar Adventuring Party livestream, the set will be fully standard-legal and black-bordered, meaning the set can interact with other mainline Magic sets. Check out the logo below: Screenshot (207)No other details have been offered, other than to say neither Magic or D&D players will want to miss what's coming, and that D&D is coming to Magic's multiverse (although it's not clear how extensive that crossover will be). It was far from the only new set announced today.
Author
Joe Skrebels

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New Nintendo Switch Controller Designs Available At Amazon

3 years 6 months ago

PowerA is one of the most well-known and popular brands creating third-party Switch accessories today, and its line of "enhanced" Switch controllers is one of our favorites for gamers on a budget. The PowerA Switch controller line is particularly notable for offering a wide range of colorful, eye-catching designs while mimicking the look and feel of the first-party Pro Controller. A new batch of designs are up for pre-order now at Amazon and will release at the end of this month.

The best new design of the bunch, in my opinion, is a pastel blue and green controller that features the faces of some of Animal Crossing's most iconic villagers, like K.K. Slider, Tom Nook, and Isabelle. The tropical color scheme matches all the other merch that's been released around Animal Crossing: New Horizons, making it a great addition to any Animal Crossing fan's collection.

Author
Jenae Sitzes

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Acclaimed Dev Vlambeer Is Surprise Shutting Down On Its 10-Year Anniversary

3 years 6 months ago

After 10 years, Dutch independent studio Vlambeer has closed its doors. Despite the surprise shuttering, the studio's last game, Ultrabugs, is still on the way.

"Today marks Vlambeer's 10th anniversary, which is way longer than we could've ever imagined," the studio tweeted. "We had a beautiful run, made incredible games, and worked with amazing people, but it's time for new things. So we're announcing the end of Vlambeer."

Vlambeer didn't specify what "new things" are coming for co-founders Jan Willem Nijma and Rami Ismail. Vlambeer promised that Ultrabugs is "still coming out" and said it's investigating other options for "further support for some of our earlier games," but nothing has been solidified yet.

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Author
Jeremy Winslow

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Avengers' First DLC Character Is A Hawkeye, But Not Clint Barton

3 years 6 months ago

Marvel's Avengers will introduce lots of characters from the deep bench of Marvel canon. Developer Crystal Dynamics previously announced that Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, is coming, leading us to believe he'll be the first DLC character. But it turns out another Hawkeye will beat him to the punch.

As announced on the most recent Avengers: War Table stream, Kate Bishop will be the first post-launch character to join the Avengers roster. Marvel fans will recognize Bishop as another character who has taken the Hawkeye hero identity aside from Clint Barton, so of course she has his level of marksmanship expertise.

Bishop will be added as a Substation Zero event, one of the pieces of expanded content available through the Avengers Initiative menu. Her story event, called Taking Aim, will hit in late October, and the announcement says it's the first half of a story arc that will conclude in November with the appearance of Clint.

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Author
Steve Watts

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New Pokemon Sword And Shield Max Raid Event Now Live

3 years 6 months ago

A new Max Raid event has begun in Pokemon Sword and Shield. For a limited time, certain Grass- and Electric-type Pokemon will appear more frequently in Max Raid dens across both the Wild Area and the Isle of Armor, and you'll have another chance to catch a couple of rare Gigantamax forms.

The Max Raid event runs throughout the entire month, until September 30. During that time, Ferrothorn, Eldegoss, Heliolisk, Boltund, and their pre-evolved forms will be more common in Max Raid dens. Pokemon Sword players will also be able to encounter Gigantamax versions of Appletun and Low Key Form Toxtricity, while Shield players will be more likely to find Gigantamax Flapple and Amped Form Toxtricity.

In order for the new event Pokemon to begin appearing in your game, you'll first need to refresh your Raid dens. You can do so either by connecting the Y-Comm online or going into Mystery Gift from the menu screen and selecting Get the Wild Area News.

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Author
Kevin Knezevic

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New PS Now Games For September Include Resident Evil, Final Fantasy

3 years 6 months ago

Sony has announced the newest games coming to PS Now for September, and they're led by two heavy hitters. We have four new games for the service--an increase over August's three--and each of them is a relatively big name.

First, there's Resident Evil 7, the first-person horror game that puts you in a terrifying house deep in the bayou. Widely considered one of the best games in the Resident Evil series, fans have been clamoring for a follow-up to 7 for years now, which is coming soon in the form of Resident Evil Village. It also includes PS VR support if you play it on PS4. It won't be on the service for very long, so check it out if you're looking for some horror thrills. Next, you have Final Fantasy XV, the "road trip with the boys" RPG that won many plaudits and fans. Plus, nothing quite beats racing around listening to Uematsu songs.

Author
Steven T. Wright

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Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Ray Tracing Trailer Shown At Nvidia Event

3 years 6 months ago

Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia, in partnership with publisher Activision, has unveiled a brand-new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War trailer showing off the game with ray tracing turned on.

It's a short trailer, lasting all of about a minute or so (you can see it around the 59-minute mark below), but what's shown is stunning. We see several characters seemingly preparing for the mission President Reagan has tasked them with, so there are people punching bags and loading up weapons. With Nvidia's ray tracing technology turned on, Black Ops Cold War looks incredible, with deep shadows and reflections, impressive particle effects, realistic lighting that bounces off surfaces, and more. The brief ray tracing demonstration creates an immersive atmosphere.

Author
Jeremy Winslow

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Check Out Cyberpunk 2077 With All Of Its Ray Tracing Features Turned On

3 years 6 months ago

At Nvidia's Geforce Special Event, CD Projekt Red reveal a new brief trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, showcasing some of the role-playing game's ray tracing features that will be supported by Nvidia's RTX cards, including its new RTX 3000 range.

The trailer shows a suite of ray-traced effects, including reflections, diffused lighting, ambient occlusions, and more. The trailer also confirms that Cyberpunk 2077 will support Nvidia's DLSS, letting you take advantage of ray tracing with less of a performance hit.

Nvidia announced three new graphics cards at its event, all of which will be capable of running Cyberpunk 2077 with its RTX features turned on. It includes the $500 RTX 3070, the $800 RTX 3080, and the monstrously RTX 3090, which will start at $1500.

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Author
Alessandro Barbosa

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Nvidia Reveals RTX 3090, 3080, 3070 Video Cards: Price, Release Date, And Specs Detailed

3 years 6 months ago

Nvidia has finally detailed its new line of video cards, which is under the new Ampere architecture. Specifically, the RTX 3080, 3070, and 3090 cards were revealed. These are the second generation of RTX cards that will run features like real-time ray tracing with much higher performance than current RTX cards.

The RTX 3080 is set to launch on September 17 for $700 USD, and the RTX 3070 was also revealed with a release window in October and a price of $500. The massive high-end card, the RTX 3090, is said to be capable of 8K resolution at 60 FPS performance--the RTX 3090 will launch on September 24 and pricing starts at a whopping $1500.

As far as technical specs go, you can check out our table below for the important details on the Founders Editions of the new Ampere cards.

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Author
Michael Higham

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The Division Is Free To Own Right Now On PC

3 years 6 months ago

Ubisoft's latest giveaway may not be the most exciting freebie we've seen lately, but it's still a solid game that's worth checking out if you haven't played it. From now until September 8, you can pick up The Division for PC free of charge at Uplay. The giveaway coincides with The Division's inclusion in September's Xbox Games with Gold lineup.

Set in post-apocalyptic New York City after a biological attack, The Division places you in the role of a special government agent tasked with restoring order. It earned an 8/10 in GameSpot's The Division review, with critic Scott Butterworth praising the richly realized open world, loot system, and mission structure.

While The Division is definitely still a fun game today, the multiplayer-focused components aren't nearly as lively now. The Division 2 launched last year and was followed up by the big Warlords of New York expansion earlier this year. Most Division fans are spending their time in the sequel nowadays. That said, you can get a lot of mileage out of the great campaign in the original, even if you are playing solo.

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Author
Steven Petite

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Fortnite Getting Ray Tracing, DLSS Support On PC Soon For Nvidia RTX GPUs

3 years 6 months ago

Fortnite, Epic Games' extremely popular shooter, is getting additional features on PC exclusive to Nvidia GPU users. Coming soon, Fortnite will support ray tracing, ray traced ambient occlusion, and DLSS support.

Announced during Nvidia's Geforce Special Event, Fortnite will soon be updated with the suite of Nvidia RTX features to give the game a visual facelift. Support is coming to both its Save the World and Battle Royale modes and will be supported on any Nvidia GPUs that support RTX feature. Check out the first trailer for Fortnite powered by RTX features below.

Fortnite will implement three of the most used features of the RTX set. Ray traced lighting will help calculate more accurate reflections and light bounces, while ray-traced ambient occlusion will give objects in the large world more accurate depth and shadows. DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, will help you render Fortnite at a lower resolution and upscale it with AI, letting you utilize many ray tracing features without the big performance hit.

Author
Alessandro Barbosa

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Gets A Seasonal Change, Here's What's New

3 years 6 months ago

Though it may feel like we've been in quarantine since the beginning of creation, time is passing for all of us, and that means the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is changing, too. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you'll start to see the first signs of the fall season in your game, which brings a palette shift to your weeds and trees, as well as other new developments.

For one, acorns and pinecones will now fall out of your trees, which you can use in new DIY recipes that will come out later in autumn. Eventually, mushrooms and maple leaves will appear, but that's not quite happening yet. The interior of Nook's Cranny will also change to suit the new season. As usual, the array of bugs and fish available change from month to month, so check out our linked guides to see what you can catch to fill up your museum.

Author
Steven T. Wright

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Biden Campaign Releases Animal Crossing Digital Yard Signs

3 years 6 months ago

Heading into election season, we're bound to see some interesting campaign tactics. According to The Verge, Joe Biden is making his appeal to gaming constituents in Animal Crossing: New Horizons by giving them official Biden yard signs. It is part of the Biden campaign's "broader initiative to organize voters online this fall."

The Biden campaign yard signs are available September 1 and come in four different designs. One features the official Biden-Harris logo, while another has a set of aviators in red, white, and blue. You can get them by scanning the QR codes through Nintendo Switch Online app.

Author
Jenny Zheng

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New Ubisoft Forward Coming Next Week

3 years 6 months ago

Ubisoft has announced the date for the next Ubisoft Forward presentation. It will take place on September 10 at 12 PM PT, with a pre-show starting at 11 AM PT.

A trailer teasing the line-up showed Hyper Scape, Rainbow Six Siege, and Watch Dogs Legion. The announcement also mentions that we'll see the debut of Immortals: Fenyx Rising, the apparent new name for Gods & Monsters after the title was leaked from a ratings board. It also mentions some other surprises in store.

Tuning in for the event can unlock some in-game rewards. Those include For Honor boost tickets, a Refract Baton for Hyper Scape, a R6 Seige charm, and a mask for Watch Dogs Legion. Those rewards are granted for watching 10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes of the presentation, respectively.

Author
Steve Watts

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Tokyo Games Show 2020 Schedule: Xbox Showcase Kicks Things Off

3 years 6 months ago

The Tokyo Games Show 2020 begins on September 24, and much like other games industry events such as Gamescom, the event will take place entirely online through video channels due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The official schedule for TGS is now live, and while the first day is light on content, it does feature a 50-minute long Xbox Tokyo Games Show Showcase at 5 AM PT.

Microsoft has struggled to establish a foothold in the Japanese market, something which Xbox head Phil Spencer wants to remedy when the Xbox Series X launches globally in the 2020 holiday season.

You can see the full schedule in the image below. Please note, the times listed are in Japanese Standard Time.

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Author
Darryn Bonthuys

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Fall Comes To Animal Crossing: New Horizons

3 years 6 months ago

We praised Animal Crossing: New Horizons for its quirky gameplay, large cast of colorful villagers, and seasonal events. Players in the Northern Hemisphere that boot up the game today will notice that fall has finally arrived!

In addition to new critters and fish to catch and donate to the museum, acorns and pine cones can be collected from trees and used to craft items from fall-themed DIY recipes. Similar to the plethora of updates that came with the summer season, new collectibles, critters, and color palettes will shift over the coming months. 

Previous Animal Crossing: New Horizons' events have introduced gameplay-based updates like swimming as well as holiday-based festivities like Nature Day. What new game mechanic or holiday would you like to see implemented during this fall season?

Author
Jason Guisao

Avengers’ Story Campaign Is Bigger And Better Than I Expected

3 years 6 months ago

When you start Marvel’s Avengers, the in-game menu suggests you complete the single-player campaign before diving into online multiplayer. Now I’m over six hours into the campaign and only just unlocked Black Widow, my fourth of the game’s six playable launch characters. This might take a while, but I’m not irritated.…

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Author
Mike Fahey

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Resident Evil 7, Final Fantasy 15 lead September's PlayStation Now additions

3 years 6 months ago

September is upon us, meaning that - among many other things - it's time for Sony to fling a fresh batch of games onto its PlayStation Now subscription service, with this month's newly announced additions including Resident Evil 7 and Final Fantasy 15.

Those two are both solid offerings, with Resident Evil 7 proving to be a particular treat for fans of horror. It's a notable departure from previous series entries, switching third-person action for gorgeously gruesome - if somewhat uneven - first-person hillbilly hijinks, as players, in the role of Ethan Winters, explore the rundown Baker family mansion in search of his missing girlfriend.

As for Final Fantasy 15, it's a fascinating, if not always successful, attempt to turn the series' familiar apocalypse-thwarting RPG formula into an open-world road trip adventure, as a band of leather-clad chums - Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto - journey across the world of Eos.

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Iron Harvest’s Epic Games Store Release Delayed

3 years 6 months ago

Deep Silver has announced that the release of Iron Harvest, a diesel-punk real-time strategy title releasing today on most major platforms digitally, is being delayed on the Epic Games Store the day it was intended to launch.

In a post to Twitter made on Sept. 1 via the publisher’s official Twitter account, the company made a brief announcement on the subject.

“The year 2020 has been a challenge for all teams working on Iron Harvest,” the tweet reads. “Due to the unique situation, the game is not yet ready to launch on the Epic Games Store. A full refund for pre-orders on EGS will be granted. We apologize for the situation.”

The full tweet can be found down below.

Author
Keenan McCall

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Latest Valorant Patch 1.07 Notes Reveal Sage & Killjoy Nerfs

3 years 6 months ago

Riot Games has today continued Valorant’s post-launch support with a new update aimed at tweaking the balance of gameplay. Patch 1.07 both buffs and nerfs a number of different agents, while also making notable changes to shotgun performance, adding a match remake feature, and introducing some qualify of life improvements and bug fixes.

Easily the biggest takeaway is yet another nerf for Sage, reducing her heal to 60 from 100, as well as lessening the size of her slow orb. It’s another move from Riot to change Sage’s role more toward that of a sentinel rather than a pure healer.

The developer has said in the past that it plans on adding a dedicated healing agent to the game moving forward, so perhaps we’re edging closer to that?

Other noteworthy agent updates include Killjoys first nerf, and to the surprise of nobody it’s the Nanoswarm ability that’s been given some much-needed attention. Now there’s a small delay with an audio cue before it starts doing damage, which should hopefully stop her from killing opponents trying to defuse the bomb from halfway across the map. Urgh.

There are also minor tweaks to Breach and Sova, but it’s Viper who picks up yet another buff. Her Toxic Screen now initiates faster, and team mates caught in her Decay won’t take damage anymore, either.

Elsewhere, shotguns’ aimpunch has been given an update so that their long range effect is further nerfed. The Judge is now 100 credits more expensive, too, and the Shorty is slightly less accurate.

Another focus for today’s patch is the on-going efforts to improve hit VFX and registration clarity. For example, headshot VFX (which is now smaller) will stick with the character as they move when before they used to remain where the shot took place. A new spark animation is added so that you can still see exactly where the bullet landed.

Author
Alex Gibson

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Nvidia's RTX 3000 GPUs will come with Watch Dogs Legion and a year of GeForce Now for free

3 years 6 months ago

If the comparatively low prices of the new [cms-block] RTX 3000 graphics cards weren’t already enough to tempt you into upgrading your GPU this year, then Nvidia’s freshly-announced RTX 3000 bundle will no doubt sweeten the deal further. I mean, RTX 2080 Ti-level performance for £469 / $499 on the RTX 3070 is already a tantalising proposition, I must admit, but anyone who buys who of Nvidia’s next-gen GPUs will also get a free copy of the ray tracing and DLSS-enabled Watch Dogs Legion for their trouble, as well as a year’s subscription to their cloud gaming GeForce Now service.

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Author
Katharine Castle

After 10 years, Dutch indie duo Vlambeer call it quits

3 years 6 months ago

After a decade of monitor-shattering screenshake, the Gun Godz at Vlambeer are closing their doors. The creators of Nuclear Throne, Luftrausers, Super Crate Box and many more delightfully crunchy shooters today announced that Vlambeer’s time is up. While Rami Ismail and JW Nijman aren’t quitting games for good, they’ll no longer be releasing them under the banner of a hastily-drawn flaming bear – with the exception of Ultrabugs, of course.

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Author
Natalie Clayton

Fortnite is getting ray tracing and DLSS support for some reason

3 years 6 months ago

A screenshot of Fortnite with ray tracing and DLSS support enabled.

The number of confirmed ray tracing and DLSS games is still pretty small at time of writing, but today’s big [cms-block] reveal added another key addition to the slowly growing line-up: Fortnite. I’m not entirely sure why, given its art style largely consists of big, blocky worlds and colourful cartoon characters, but hey, if you’ve been particularly looking forward to doing battle with Fortnite’s zero-chill sharks with added ray traced reflections, you’ll be able to get your RTX on fix at some point during Fortnite Chapter 2’s fourth season.

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Author
Katharine Castle

Here are all the confirmed ray tracing and DLSS games so far

3 years 6 months ago

A screenshot of Fortnite with ray tracing support enabledShadow Of The Tomb Raider - Best Action Games 2020

Ray tracing is the big buzz word of 2020 in PC gaming, and more ray tracing games have just been announced during today’s big [cms-block] RTX 3000 reveal. To help you keep track of them all, we’ve created this list of all the confirmed ray tracing games you can play on PC right now, as well which this year’s [cms-block] will get ray tracing support in the future. And because ray tracing tends to go hand in hand with Nvidia’s performance-boosting DLSS tech these days, we’ve also listed all the current and upcoming games that support DLSS, too.

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Author
Katharine Castle