Tag:

dev

Watch Blizzard, hopefully, distract you from Diablo 4 Season 8 by showing off what’s coming with Season 9 in dev livestream

by admin May 22, 2025

Blizzard is hoting the latest edition of its Campfire Chat developer livestream tonight. This one is going to be all about Diablo 4’s upcoming Season 9. Or, more specifically, it’s going to cover the patch 2.3.0 PTR (Public Test Realm), which will be opening its doors soon.

Among many other things, this is the show where the developer will outline why a PTR is needed at all, what to expect from the next major update/Season, as well as how to get involved.

Manage cookie settings

If you feel like it’s a little too soon for a new PTR already in Diablo 4, you’re not wrong. We’re only a couple of weeks into Season 8, which is clearly going to be a shorter season compared to previous ones.

Season 8 had its own PTR for patch 2.2.0 back in March, and Season 9’s PTR is likely going to start before the end of this month, or early in June. The start date for the 2.3.0 PTR is just one of the things Blizzard developers will cover in tonight’s livestream.

Another topic of discussion is going to be Dungeon Escalation, the new activity coming to Diablo 4 with Season 9. Each season has a rotating activity, and this one is going to be next season’s version of that.

As always, this is going to be a dense show that ends with a Q&A segment. It all kicks off at 11am PT, 2pm ET, 7pm UK. You’ll be able to watch it on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok. We have the Twitch player embedded below, too, for your convenience.

Source link

May 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

PlayStation Studio Hiring For Dev With ‘Expertise’ In AI Art

by admin May 21, 2025

Dark Outlaw Games is a new PlayStation studio born out of the ashes of Deviation Games and led by developer Jason Blundell, best known for Call of Duty: Black Ops’ hit Zombies mode. The team is looking for a concept artist for its first project, but not just any concept artist. A new job listing on Sony’s website lists “advanced expertise” with generative AI tools as one of the basic qualifications.

Nintendo Switch 2 Price Is Set at $450 for Now, But Could Go Higher

First spotted by The Game Post, the listing reads, “We are seeking a Senior Concept Artist to join our LA studio, reporting directly to our Art Director. The ideal candidate is proactive, with strong skills in digital illustration, 3D modeling, character design, graphic design, experience with generative AI tools, and passionate about making games. Help us create our next AAA title—one that will truly stand apart from the rest!”

In the qualifications section, the listing points to a requirement for “advanced expertise in using generative AI tools such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, ChatGPT, or similar platforms.” In the duties section, the listing says one of the concept artist’s jobs will be to “Refine and polish 2D artwork created by both human artists and generative AI tools.”

Read More: Baldur’s Gate 3 And Nier Automata Directors React To AI Hype

The new job listing at the Sony-owned studio comes after a recent GDC 2025 survey found that companies are moving ahead with AI tools whether their employees agree with using them or not. Concerns about the technology range from the ethics of using tools trained on stealing other people’s work to worries about continued layoffs as companies seize on the hype around generative AI to cut workforces. Anecdotally at least, artists and writers appear to have been particularly hard hit in the most recent waves of mass game industry layoffs.

“I suspect there will be a dual demand in gaming: one for AI-driven innovative experiences and another for handcrafted, thoughtful content,” PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst told the BBC in December. “Striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial.” It was revealed earlier this year that Sony had at least experimented with turning its Horizon Zero Dawn hero Aloy into an AI-powered chatbot.

Meanwhile, finished games that incorporate AI-generated assets have been forced to disclose the practice on storefronts like Steam. Call of Duty is one of the franchises frequently dunked on by fans for making use of what appear to be AI-generated cosmetics, player cards, and marketing materials.

Source link

May 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Avowed director Carrie Patel has left Obsidian, and joined Oxenfree dev Night School as a game director

by admin May 20, 2025

Whether or not we’ll be getting any more Avowed somewhere along the line is still very much up in the air. But if we do, it seems it won’t be under the leadership of Carrie Patel. In a quick post Patel shared on LinkedIn, the game developer shared that she’s “starting a new position as game director” at the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio. Patel mentioned literally zero details outside of what her new role is, so it’s not even clear why she left Obsidian.

This’ll likely have been in the works for a little while, as Night School were specifically looking for a game director in March. As a reminder, Avowed only came out this February. It also paints a slightly confusing picture for Night School themself. Earlier this year it was reported that an unspecified number of workers were being laid off.

Things have been a bit quiet at the developer since they released Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals back in 2023, having not made anything original since then either. They did make a Black Mirror tie-in game called Thronglets, a game featured in the most recent season of the anthology show (in case you forgot, Netflix bought the studio way back in 2021).

Here’s hoping Patel and co. get to make something original again. Netflix’s approach to gaming has been a bit all over the place, ranging from mobile titles, to AAA, but none of it has worked in the way the streamer has found success with film and TV. Their main AAA studio, Team Blue, which included Overwatch, Halo, and God of War talent, was shut down last year, so more than anything I hope the same fate doesn’t await Night School anywhere down the line.

Source link

May 20, 2025 0 comments