While CD Projekt RED has had quite a bit of fun working on The Witcher series, the development team is more than a little excited to get started on the brand new project that is Cyberpunk 2077. Jose Teixeira, a visual effects artist for CD Projekt RED, recently spoke to iDigitaltimes about what the studio was doing to start work on this new, futuristic game.

One of the things the studio did during the very long development process of The Witcher 3 was to take notes on what worked and what needed to be improved. “The most important thing that’s happening at the moment is that the programmers are taking the feedback we gave them from working on The Witcher. As cliche as it sounds it was a big learning experience,” Teixeira said. “The programmers are updating our software quite drastically.”

Teixeira says a brand new visual effects editor is one of the toys he’s been given. He added he’s excited about Cyberpunk 2077, which the company has already said will be “great“. Cyberpunk 2077 is expected to be released sometime in the next four years, but there isn’t anything close to a release date yet.

One of the most criticized things about the Xbox One this generation, from a hardware perspective at any rate, has been the ESRAM- it has often been cited as a bottleneck for games development, and it is a decision that we have seen Microsoft attempt to first justify, and then circumvent.

Ubisoft, one of the biggest supporters of the Xbox One platform, too have been working up ways to not be limited by the ESRAM- and during a GDC panel (summarized by WCCFTech), they shared one such technique that they have used to some success. The technique in question was used for Rainbow Six: Siege, and the technique used by Ubisoft was the checkerboard rendering technique. This technique breaks the image down into smaller squares, which can lead to less aliasing, and better IQ in general, with less noise. It can also mean that there is enough processing grunt left to render the game at a steady 60FPS (something that Ubisoft was consciously trying to do with Siege), at relatively high resolutions than would be possible otherwise, to boot. Finally, it helps Ubisoft get around the ESRAM issue too, as this technique allows them to ‘store more in the ESRAM’ than would be otherwise possible.

It sounds like a technique with a lot going for it, and very little against it- it will be interesting to see if we see more Xbox One bound games adopt it going forward.

Ubisoft Singapore, known for its work on Assassin’s Creed 3 and Ghost Recon: Phantoms, has revealed its involvement in one of the biggest projects at Ubisoft across consoles and PC.

At GDC, Ubisoft Singapore and Southeast Asia managing director Olivier de Rotalier discussed the opening of a new studio in the Philippines and shared information on his studio’s current state.

“We’ve been very happy to be involved in many titles. We’ve built two main expertise in Singapore: one in AAA games, the other in PC online with Ghost Recon: Phantoms. We’ve built 10 AAA games in seven years. And now our studio is leading one of the biggest Ubisoft projects on console and PC.”

There are plenty of assumptions to made. Ubisoft Singapore could be involved with the next Assassin’s Creed, slated to arrive in 2017 and based in Egypt, or it could be working on Watch Dogs 2 which is rumoured to be released this year. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know in the comments.

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VR, as it stands, seems to be an extremely high end proposition. You either have to spend hundreds of dollars on a high end PC (and then another $600-$800 on getting either an Oculus Rift or an HTC Vive), or you spend $400 for a PS4 console (and then another $400 for the PlayStation VR), or you stick with the low end mobile solutions.

But Valve are hoping to change that- while their HTC Vive SteamVR solution is currently extremely demanding and high end, they are hoping to eventually have VR running on GPUs from 2012- in his advanced rendering talk at GDC, Valve’s Alex Vlachos discussed Valve’s plans to release a rendering plugin in the coming weeks for Unity. This would cause VR to be rendered more efficiently, and for GPUs from 2012 to theoretically be able to handle it.

“As long as the GPU can hit 45 HZ we want for people to be able to run VR,” Vlachos said to UploadVR after the talk. “We’ve said the recommended spec is a 970, same as Oculus, but we do want lesser GPUs to work. We’re trying to reduce the cost [of VR].”

Vlachos also discussed other ways that VR could be theoretically handled by a lower end configuration, including prioritizing images that appear directly in the center of vision, rather than at the periphery. He also mentioned that VR is in general not as dense an experience graphically as high end games are, meaning that more efficient rendering techniques should be able to make VR run on less powerful setups.

“I can run Aperture [a graphically rich Valve-built VR experience] on a 680 without dropping frames at a lower quality, and, for me, that’s enough of a proof of concept,” Vlachos said. “Most art we’re seeing in VR isn’t as dense as that. So we should be pretty good to go…everything should be able to support that low-end hardware. But we need the right safety nets in place.”

It sounds like Valve would really like to bring down the entry costs to VR- which, as they stand right now, are still prohibitively high for most people. Since they also seem to be offering the best and most complete VR solution, if they could make it more accessible to the mass market, it would be beneficial to the medium at large.

For all the hype that Bioware has been delivering for Mass Effect: Andromeda – and the waiting that will have to be done since it’s likely out in early 2017 – it’s easy to forget that the studio is working on a new IP.

Bioware head of design and art Alistair McNally was in fact promoting the same new IP at GDC 2016. Hilariously, no one noticed. On Twitter, he stated, “Also it was fun to walk around GDC2016 in a t-shirt with our new IP on it and no one batted an eyelid.”

Hopefully, some one managed to get a snap of that T-shirt. Of course, the other possibility – a much realer one – is that no one has any clue what it looks like. McNally has won this battle.

What are your thoughts on what the new IP could be? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information on Mass Effect: Andromeda in the coming weeks as well.

Sony is apparently working on increasing the power to the PlayStation 4 and will release a slightly upgraded version of the console in the future.

Several developers told Kotaku at GDC 2016 that this “PlayStation 4.5” would have more processing power, support for 4K and an upgraded GPU in order to better support the upcoming PlayStation VR. While details were still somewhat “vague”, more than one development source spoke to the publication. One even believed that it was more of an “exploratory” concept and that the console wouldn’t be out in 2016.

A Sony representative told Kotaku that it didn’t comment on rumours so that’s pretty much the official line on an upgraded PS4. It wouldn’t be the first time a manufacturer looked into upgrading its console, though this PlayStation 4.5 would be one of the more drastic upgrades we’ve seen yet.

What are your thoughts on such a console, should it come to pass? Let us know in the comments below.

CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 may be following the studio’s critically acclaimed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt but it’s not backing down from the challenge.

Speaking to GameSpot at GDC 2016, CEO Marcin Iwinski said that, “Right now, we have the success of the Witcher 3; people played it and people loved it. So it’s even more responsibility. The fact that Witcher 3 performed so well allows us to be even more ambitious with Cyberpunk 2077. Right now, it’s on our shoulders to deliver here. The next time you hear about Cyberpunk 2077 we will show something and it must be f***ing great.

“People really expect something great and that’s what we have to stand up to and deliver.”

The development team is also incredibly excited to move on to Cyberpunk 2077 since it offers a whole new range of things to handle like guns, mutants, implants, etc. Look out for more information on Cyberpunk 2077 en route to its release for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

We didn’t hear much about Epic Games’ long-in-development tower defense/sandbox game Fortnite at GDC this year. But it still seems to be in development according to CEO Tim Sweeney, even if the focus is on Paragon, the third person action MOBA that recently entered early access.

Speaking to Game Informer, Sweeney said that, “We figure we should start with one major successful launch and do one at a time. Fortnite will be next.”

Though Fortnite is “moving ahead full-speed,” there are still a number of things to work out. “It’s a game with awesome and complex RPG-type systems, and a really interesting meta game around it. It’s a game that takes time to get right. It remains a huge priority for Epic, and expect more news to come out over time.”

All of this sounds great but honestly at this rate, we’ll believe it when we get our hands on it. What are your thoughts on Fortnite and Paragon? Let us know in the comments below.

Cliff Bleszinski’s LawBreakers, a free to play arena multiplayer shooter set in the future, will no longer be free to play. The former Epic Games director revealed at GDC 2016 that it would have a price after all, although it will be relatively less expensive than the traditional $60 price.

Bleszinski stated that, “As the game continued to take shape, we realized free-to-play wasn’t the right fit for what we’re building. LawBreakers is a competitive game at heart and that means balance is a big priority to me, my team, and our community. Using a digital premium model helps ensure an even playing field by giving fans access to every available role without any barriers.”

Currently, developer Boss Key is looking to showcase the game’s unique mechanics and how it stands out from top-tier, triple-A titles. LawBreakers will be out on Steam with closed testing sessions slated before launch and an appearance at PAX East this April.

Thoughts on the shift away from free to play? Let us know in the comments.

Even with 2015 in the bag, CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt continues to reap the awards. It picked up the Game of the Year Award at GDC 2016 and also received the award for Best Technology.

Sam Barlow’s Her Story also had a very strong awards run, nabbing the Innovation Award, Best Narrative and Best Handheld/Mobile Game for the year. Ori and the Blind Forest netted a few awards for Best Visual Art and Best Debut while Rocket League won the award for Best Design. Interestingly, Best Audio went to Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard, known for his work on Fallout 4, received a Lifetime Achievement Award while Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson was bestowed with a Pioneer award for his work in the industry.

What are your thoughts on thoughts on the winners for this year? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.