FPS Archives

BetaBeacon

August 10, 2025

8 forgotten Android classics I still play today

Dead Trigger is a single-player, story-driven first-person zombie shooter game that offers a fairly pure experience without pushing micro-transactions for upgrades. The game was optimized for Tegra chipsets and had stunning graphics for its time. It remains playable despite looking a bit dated and offers bite-sized missions for players.

AppWizard

August 10, 2025

Battlefield 6 reaches record half a million+ concurrent players on Steam, an all-time high for the franchise — 520K+ open beta surpasses every Call of Duty ever in player count

EA has launched an open beta for Battlefield 6, attracting over 500,000 concurrent players, with a peak of 521,079. The game currently ranks 18th in all-time player counts for Steam games and is the only first-person shooter in the top ranks. Call of Duty is in 20th place, with its peak player count from nearly three years ago. Twitch viewership for Battlefield 6 has exceeded 870,000, surpassing the franchise's previous record of around 350,000. The official launch of Battlefield 6 is scheduled for October 6, 2025, and the open beta will conclude tomorrow.

AppWizard

August 9, 2025

Blizzard’s ex-CEO says Battlefield 6 will “boot stomp” Call of Duty this year because the franchise has “gone downhill” — calls it a victory for players as COD “won’t be lazy” anymore

Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard Entertainment, expressed on social media that he believes "Battlefield will boot stomp CoD this year," suggesting that the competition will push Call of Duty to improve. Battlefield 6 is taking a back-to-basics approach and has shown strong interest with over 250,000 players in its open beta. Critics have noted Ybarra's bias against Call of Duty, which is now owned by Microsoft, and pointed out that despite criticisms, Call of Duty has outsold Battlefield 1. Ybarra described Call of Duty as "a mess," citing issues like cheating and large installation sizes. Battlefield 6 is set to release on October 6 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with modest hardware requirements and a default 60 FPS mode on Series S consoles.

AppWizard

August 8, 2025

30 years later, Doom-era FPS cult classics Heretic and Hexen get “definitive re-release” on PC and consoles complete with 2 new episodes from id and retro powerhouse Nightdive

Bethesda, id Software, and Nightdive have released a definitive re-release of Heretic + Hexen for .99, available on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 1 and 2. This enhanced restoration aims to make the games accessible to both new audiences and long-time fans across more platforms and languages.

AppWizard

August 8, 2025

Two revolutionary 90s shooters shadow dropped on Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, and PC — Complete with enhanced performances, online multiplayer crossplay, and more

Bethesda Softworks has released Heretic+Hexen, a compilation of remastered editions of Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders and Hexen: Beyond Heretic, during QuakeCon 2025. The compilation is available on Xbox platforms, Xbox Game Pass, and PC via Windows and Steam. It includes the original titles, Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, and two new episodes: Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur, totaling 117 campaign maps and 120 deathmatch maps. The remastered versions feature online cross-platform deathmatch and co-op for up to 16 players, local split-screen for up to 8 players, an enhanced soundtrack, community mod support, improved performance with multithreaded rendering, accessibility options, modern controller support, and translations into 12 languages. Heretic+Hexen is available for purchase on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC, and is included in Xbox Game Pass. A limited-time offer at CDKeys provides one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for .04.

BetaBeacon

August 7, 2025

The AYANEO Pocket S2 is the most powerful Android handheld I’ve ever tested, but is it the best?

The AYANEO Pocket S2 has a sleek and slender design with stacked triggers, high-end TMR electromagnetic sticks, and a headphone jack. It features a Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chipset that outperforms other popular handhelds in terms of CPU and GPU performance. The device also excels in sustained performance and temperature control. It is highly recommended for gaming, including emulation of retro and modern games. The Pro model comes with a larger battery and a swappable D-pad. However, the premium price tag may make it difficult to recommend, especially with the release of other compelling alternatives by AYANEO.

AppWizard

August 4, 2025

Battlefield 6 has fragmented install feature that allows you to slim a full 80GB installation down to 55GB on PC — feature enables installing campaign and multiplayer separately

Battlefield 6 will feature fragmented downloads, allowing players to install only the components they choose, with a base installation size of 55 GB and a total install size of approximately 80 GB if campaign and multiplayer modes are added. The game will utilize DirectX 12 shaders for enhanced graphics and include a "cosmetic stream" feature for pre-loading cosmetic items, potentially improving performance to over 300 FPS. The release date is set for October 6, 2025, with an open beta scheduled for later this week.

AppWizard

August 4, 2025

FPS legend John Romero says Wolfenstein 3D was the first game id Software took its time with⁠—a luxurious 4-month development instead of just 2

John Romero discussed the early 1990s transformation of PC gaming during a Nightdive Studios podcast, highlighting id Software's rapid development cycles and innovative technology. He noted that John Carmack's programming breakthroughs in September 1990 were pivotal, and that id Software's initial pitch to Nintendo for a Super Mario 3 port was rejected, leading to the creation of Commander Keen. In 1991, id released three Commander Keen sequels and Catacomb 3D. Romero emphasized a shift in development practices with Wolfenstein 3D, allowing for a four-month development period focused on quality. He contrasted the simpler processes of that time with today's complex game development landscape. Additionally, he mentioned the rise of the hunting game genre and the potential of indie developers, while noting that Romero Games is seeking a new publisher after Microsoft withdrew funding for a triple-A shooter project.

AppWizard

August 3, 2025

Cyberpunk 2077 Mac benchmarks show most Apple Silicon can run the game at over 30 FPS on medium settings — results vary from a smooth 130+ FPS to a cinematic 24 FPS

Cyberpunk 2077 has launched on macOS after over four years since its initial release on PCs and consoles, coinciding with patch 2.3. ComputerBase has initiated a community benchmarking effort to evaluate the game's performance on various Mac and MacBook models, following previous benchmarks in 2022. Participants are to test three presets (Medium, Ultra, Ray Tracing Medium) at resolutions of 1920 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600, with specific settings outlined for the benchmarks. The game is compatible with Apple M chips but is unsupported on iPadOS devices, even those with 16GB of memory. There is hope that CD Projekt Red and Apple may reconsider this limitation in the future.

AppWizard

August 1, 2025

Battlefield 6: All the key details on EA’s ‘most ambitious’ Battlefield yet

Battlefield 6 is set to launch on October 10, 2025. The first open beta begins on August 7, with three testing periods: August 7-8 (Battlefield Labs members only), August 9-10 (open to everyone), and August 14-17 (open to everyone). Key features of Battlefield 6 include nine maps at launch, standard 64-player lobbies, a reintroduced single-player campaign, removal of Specialists in favor of traditional classes, a new playlist with class restrictions, the return of Battlefield Portal's custom game modes, and hints at a battle royale mode. The minimum system requirements are a 64-bit processor and operating system, Windows 10, Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 16 GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB, DirectX Version 12, broadband internet connection, and 55 GB available storage. The recommended specifications include Windows 11, Intel Core i7-10700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 16 GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6700-XT, DirectX Version 12, broadband internet connection, and 80 GB available storage.