UHQBot

Immediately after Nintendo wrapped up its 40-minute Direct presentation with a look at the upcoming side-scroller Super Mario Bros. Wonder, fans across the internet have been posting about how much they love the mustachioed plumber’s new form that turns him into a giant elephant man. Read more... View the full article

Microsoft will raise the price of its more powerful Xbox Series X console in certain countries around the world and increase the cost of a monthly Game Pass Ultimate subscription by $2, it confirmed in a statement to The Verge. The hikes come after Sony made a similar move with the PlayStation 5 in 2022. Read more... View the full article

Nintendo just wrapped up its latest Direct presentation, and if you’re a fan of Mario and/or Pokemon, you were eating pretty well by the time the show was over. If you were anyone else? You probably were disappointed. As for the rest of the showcase, Pikmin 4 had one of the longer segments. Yeah, it sure looked like… Read more... View the full article

Destiny 2’s 10-year story arc is grinding toward its ultimate conclusion, and some questions players have had for years are finally getting answered. One of the loot shooter’s biggest mysteries, like where did The Traveler come from and who are the black alien Pyramids chasing it, was finally revealed in a new… Read more... View the full article

Star Ocean: The Second Story was originally released on PlayStation back in 1999. Now it’s back by way of a 2.5D remaster in the style of Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. It’s a revival that the best game in an uneven and often overlooked sci-fi RPG series deserves. Read more... View the full article

Just days after five people went missing on a tourist submarine believed to be (at least at one point during its construction) piloted by a wireless Logitech controller, Logitech appears to be running a controller sale on Amazon. Read more... View the full article

Hey, listen: You weren’t playing Zelda during that whole presentation were you? It’s okay. I don’t blame you. Well, whether you were elsewhere during Nintendo’s Direct presentation today or exploring the vast world of Hyrule, we’ve got the roundup of everything Nintendo showed off, including Pikmin 4 and much more. Read more... View the full article

During today’s Nintendo Direct, we got a new look at wave five of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe booster pack DLC. Read more... View the full article

Link has had a Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Amiibo figure since the game launched back in May, but Nintendo announced during its June Nintendo Direct that both Princess Zelda and sexy rehydrated Ganondorf are also getting their own figures this holiday. Read more... View the full article

Nintendo revealed the next major Super Mario game and it’s called Super Mario Bros. Wonder and it’s a 2D side-scroller with some completely new mechanics, like Mario turning into an elephant. It’s coming to Switch on October 20. Read more... View the full article

Detective Pikachu has more mysteries to solve. The Pokémon spin-off sequel still exists and is just a few months away with a Switch release date of October 6, 2023. Read more... View the full article

Nintendo announced an untitled game centering Super Mario’s Princess Peach at its Direct showcase on June 21. It’s been nearly two decades since we last saw the smiley pink princess as a true protagonist; the last time she got her own game was 2005 platformer Super Princess Peach. Read more... View the full article

In the lead-up to today’s Nintendo Direct, rumors have swirled that, among whatever else might be announced, we’d be seeing a remake of a beloved Super Nintendo classic. Just which game it might be, however, remained unclear, so fans on Twitter took the opportunity to drum up hype around their own favorites… Read more... View the full article

During today’s Nintendo Direct, we got a new look at the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s two-part DLC The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. Read more... View the full article

A bold and risky pivot toward action for Square Enix’s beloved RPG franchise, Final Fantasy XVI is a stunning achievement that revitalizes the series for a new age—and it just may be the best the series has been in more than 20 years. Read more... View the full article

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is chock full with various items, resources that will help you on your journey.. Diamonds are one of the more rare resources scattered throughout Hyrule, and they’re very much worth your time as they’re both valuable and useful. Sure, you can sell them for 500 rupees each, but… Read more... View the full article

Editor’s note: This post is part of our weekly In the NVIDIA Studio series, which celebrates featured artists, offers creative tips and tricks, and demonstrates how NVIDIA Studio technology improves creative workflows. We’re also deep diving on new GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU features, technologies and resources, and how they dramatically accelerate content creation. Amir Anbarestani, an accomplished 3D artist who goes by the moniker Kingsletter, had a “shell of a good time” creating his Space Turtle scene this week In the NVIDIA Studio. Kingsletter has always harbored a fascination with 3D art, he said. As a child, he often enjoyed exploring and crafting within immersive environments. Whether it was playing with plasticine — putty-like modeling material — or creating pencil drawings, his innate inclination for self-expression always found resonance within the expansive domain of 3D. Space Turtle with MSI creator Z17HX courtesy of @AustraliaMSI & @NVIDIAStudio Unleash your creativity with NVIDIA Studio drivers! Get yours at: https://t.co/idJlWgb8UX pic.twitter.com/Ff6Y6RfQp4 — King's Letter (@TheKingsletter) April 28, 2023 Below, he shares his inspiration and creative process using ZBrush, Adobe Substance 3D Painter and Blender. An NVIDIA DLSS 3 plug-in is now available in Unreal Engine 5, offering select benefits including AI upscaling for high frame rates, super resolution and more for GeForce RTX 40 Series owners. And 3D creative app Marvelous Designer launches Into the Omniverse its NVIDIA Omniverse Connector this month. Learn how talented artists are using the Connector, along with the Universal Scene Description (“OpenUSD”) framework, to elevate their creative workflows. NVIDIA DLSS 3 Plug-In Is Unreal — Engine 5 NVIDIA Studio released a DLSS 3 plug-in compatible with Unreal Engine 5. The Play in Editor tool is useful for game developers to quickly review gameplay in a level while editing — and DLSS 3 AI upscaling will unlock significantly higher frame rates on GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs for even smoother previewing. NVIDIA DLSS 3 plug-in unlocks incredible visual details with DLSS 3 in Unreal Engine 5. Plus, select Unreal Engine viewports offer DLSS 2 Super Resolution and upscaling benefits in typical content-creation workflows like modeling, lighting, animation and more. Download DLSS 3 for Unreal Engine 5.2, available now. Learn more about NVIDIA technologies supported by Unreal Engine 5. Turtle Recall The process began with sketching and initial sculpting in the ZBrush tool, where the concept of a floating turtle in space took shape and evolved into a dynamic shot of the creature soaring toward the camera. “It’s remarkable how something as simple as shaping an idea’s basic form can be so immensely gratifying,” said Kingsletter on the blockout phase. “There’s a unique joy in starting with a blank canvas and gradually bringing the essence of a concept to life.” Sketching and initial sculpting in ZBrush. After finalizing the model in ZBrush, Kingsletter used ZRemesher to retopologize it, or generate a low-poly version suitable for the intended scene. This is useful for removing artifacts and other mesh issues before animation and rigging. “NVIDIA graphics cards are industry leading in the creative community. I don’t think I know anyone that uses other GPUs.” — Kingsletter The RIZOMUV UV mapping 3D software was then deployed for unwrapping the model, the process of opening a mesh to make a 2D texture that covers a 3D object. This is effective for adding textures to objects with precision, a common need for professional artists. Next, Kingsletter applied surface details, from subtle dusting to extreme wear and tear, with materials mimicking real-world behaviors such as sheen, subsurface scattering and more in Adobe Substance 3D Painter. RTX-accelerated light and ambient occlusion enabled fully baked models in mere seconds. Textures added and baked rapidly in Adobe Substance 3D Painter. Kingsletter then moved to Blender to animate the scene, setting up simple rigs and curves to bring the turtle’s flapping limbs and flight to life. Harnessing the potential of his MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio A13V NVIDIA Studio laptop from MSI with GeForce RTX 4070 graphics turtle-ly exceeded the artist’s lofty expectations. The MSI Creator Z17 HX Studio laptop with GeForce RTX 4070 graphics. “As a digital creative professional, I always strive to work with the best creative tools available,” Kingsletter said. “Choosing the MSI Creator laptop allowed me to exceed my creative professional needs and indulge in my passionate gaming hobby.” He enriched the cosmic environment using Blender’s particle system, which scattered random debris, asteroids and a small, rotating planet throughout the outer-space scene. AI-powered RTX-accelerated OptiX ray tracing in the viewport unlocked buttery-smooth interactive animations in the viewport. Create magnificent worlds in Blender accelerated by GeForce RTX graphics. “Simulating smoke proved to be the most challenging aspect,” said Kingsletter about his first foray into this form of animation. “Through numerous trials and errors, I persevered until I achieved a truly satisfactory result.” Realistic smoke elevated the 3D animation. His RTX 4070 GPU facilitated smoother, more efficient rendering of the final visuals with RTX-accelerated OptiX ray tracing in Blender Cycles, ensuring the fastest final frame render. When asked what he’d advise his younger artist self, Kingsletter said, “I’d enhance my observation skills. By immersing myself in the intricacies of form and paying careful attention to the world around me, I would have laid a stronger foundation for my creative journey.” Wise words for all creators. Digital 3D artist Kingsletter. Check out Kingsletter’s beautiful 3D creations on Instagram. Follow NVIDIA Studio on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Access tutorials on the Studio YouTube channel and get updates directly in your inbox by subscribing to the Studio newsletter. View the full article

Editor’s note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a monthly series focused on how artists, developers and enterprises can transform their workflows using the latest advances in Universal Scene Description and NVIDIA Omniverse. Whether animating fish fins or fashioning chic outfits for digital characters, creators can tap Marvelous Designer software to compose and tailor assets, clothes and other materials for their 3D workflows. Marvelous Designer recently launched an Omniverse Connector, a tool that enhances collaborative workflows that take place between its software and NVIDIA Omniverse, a development platform for connecting and building 3D tools and applications. The Connector enables users to significantly speed and ease their design processes, thanks to its support for the Universal Scene Description framework, known as OpenUSD, which serves as a common language between 3D tools. In a typical computer graphics pipeline, an artist needs to go back and forth between software in finalizing their work. The new Omniverse Connector enables creators to save time with Marvelous Designer’s improved import and export capabilities through OpenUSD. In a recent livestream, 3D designer Brandon Yu shared how he’s using the new Connector and OpenUSD to improve his collaborative workflow, enhance productivity, expand creative possibilities and streamline his design process. Mike Shawbrook, who has more than 150,000 subscribers on his MH Tutorials YouTube channel, walks through using the new Connector in the tutorial below. Shawbrook demonstrates how he set up a live session between Marvelous Designer and Omniverse to create a simple cloth blanket. For more, check out this tutorial on using the new Connector and see how OpenUSD can improve 3D workflows: Improved USD Compatibility With the Marvelous Designer Omniverse Connector, users can harness the real-time rendering capabilities of Omniverse to visualize their garments in an interactive environment. This integration empowers creators to make informed design decisions, preview garments’ reactions to different lighting conditions and simulate realistic fabric behavior in real time. The Connector’s expanded support for OpenUSD enables seamless interchange of 3D data between creative applications. In the graphic above, an artist uses the new connector to adjust 3D-animated fish fins, a key digital material in an underwater scene. Get Plugged Into the Omniverse To learn more about how OpenUSD can improve 3D workflows, check out a new video series on the file framework. The first installment covers four OpenUSD “superpowers.” Anyone can build their own Omniverse extension or Connector to enhance their 3D workflows and tools. Share your Marvelous Designer and Omniverse creations to the Omniverse gallery for a chance to be featured on NVIDIA social media channels. Get started with NVIDIA Omniverse by downloading the standard license free, or learn how Omniverse Enterprise can connect your team. Developers can get started with Omniverse resources and learn about OpenUSD. Explore the growing ecosystem of 3D tools connected to Omniverse. Stay up to date on the platform by subscribing to the newsletter, and follow NVIDIA Omniverse on Instagram, Medium and Twitter. For more, join the Omniverse community and check out the Omniverse forums, Discord server, Twitch and YouTube channels. Featured image courtesy of Marvelous Designer. View the full article

In the wake of sitewide protests, ostensibly over some API changes but really about an increasingly corporate squeeze of a historically community-run site, some Reddit moderators have decided to hit CEO Steve Huffman in the only place it seems to hurt: the site’s wallet. Read more... View the full article

Last week on The Price is Right, two of TV’s favourite things happened: somebody won a big prize in a game show, and a dude got hurt. Handily, both of them took place within the same 30 seconds. Read more... View the full article

The PC is home to just about every type of video game under the sun, but few are as quintessentially PC as strategy games. Read more... View the full article

Fortnite, Epic’s free-to-play online battle royale, is one of the biggest games in the world and contains some of the most famous characters in pop culture, including Spider-Man, Batman, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Goku, and Darth Vader. But now, it’s time to say hello to the two greatest fictional characters to hop into Fortnite… Read more... View the full article

Turner “Tfue” Tenney, a former Fortnite pro and ex-Faze Clan member who courted controversy after controversy during his time creating content online, announced his decision to retire from livestreaming at the age of 25. Read more... View the full article

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into during my Blue Protocol hands-on, but it certainly didn’t play out like I expected. I found myself riding a fantastically large, colorful horse up a narrow cliff path swarming with what looks like giant dragonfly hornets, then I careened too close to the edge and accidentally… Read more... View the full article

If you’ve been on the internet between December of 2020 to right now, you’ve probably heard something about the supposed Cyberpunk 2077 renaissance. That redemption arc seems to be finally coming to fruition with the upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion, which promises a complete overhaul of the RPG’s systems, to the… Read more... View the full article