“Soon” sounds awfully optimistic.Square Enix Yanks Bug-Ridden Final Fantasy XIV on Mac

Waves of vitriolic gamers forced Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix’s hand, prompting the company to suspend sales of the Mac version of its online roleplaying opus heading into the holiday weekend, citing—as with Arkham Knight—serious performance issues. The game’s producer/director Naoki Yoshida outlined the issue in a 2,000-word mea culpa on Square Enix’s forums. In summary: the Mac version was released too soon, the system requirements were set too low, and boy is Square Enix ever sorry. The word “apologize” occurs seven times on the page. The Mac version of Final Fantasy XIV uses middleware developed by TransGaming to get Windows’ DirectX visual systems working in the Mac’s OpenGL environment. That, in portability parlance, is what’s known as a wrapper, and since wrappers have to translate crazy-complex rendering logic in realtime, they always induce a performance penalty. Studios use wrappers to port games much faster, lowering their development costs. But what’s interesting in Yoshida’s disclosure is his claim that a native OpenGL version would still have been significantly inferior to the DirectX version. “Taking into account FFXIV’s high-end graphics, and the need to simultaneously render multiple objects, we determined that it would be near impossible to provide the same frame rate in native OpenGL that could be achieved with DirectX,” he writes, going on to explain why, and that both cost and the low rate of native performance returns led to the company’s decision to use a wrapper. Long story short, if you want to play Final Fantasy XIV at maximal speeds on a Mac, use Boot Camp. If you want a refund, Square Enix has you covered here. And if you bought the game and plan to ride things out, Yoshida says the company plans to update the game’s system requirements imminently, continue to improve the game’s performance, and once those two points align, re-release the game for sale. Indeed, Yoshida writes that “With the adoption of DirectX11 for Mac, and the replacement of OpenGL with a new graphics API in Apple’s next OS, the fundamental gap in current performance issues may soon be eliminated.”

Elder Scrolls Online PS4, Xbox One, PC: Tamriel Unlimited changes revealed

The new pack from ZeniMax Online Studios will launch first on PC on August 31, then Xbox One on September 15, followed finally by PlayStation 4 on September 16. The heart of the Cyrodiilic Empire has fallen to Daedric Prince Molag Bal and it is up to the three alliances to retake the Imperial City while still fighting amongst themselves. The Imperial City is the first DLC game pack for Elder Scrolls Online and has been promised to add hours of additional gameplay. New areas, quests, enemies, and exclusive items are set to be added, while pricing depends on the status of a players ESO Plus membership. The full Imperial City DLC game pack is included with an active ESO Plus membership, although if you are not an ESO Plus member, or your membership lapses, the Imperial City DLC game pack will cost 2,500 crowns in the ESOTU Store. The Imperial City will come in two parts-the DLC game pack, and the base-game patch, while everyone who owns The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited will receive the base-game patch at no cost.

Real Madrid vs Real Madrid on FIFA 15

We play the "same shirts mega challenge" because there are no real games to preview Those who have played FIFA 15 since its release will have noticed a recurring theme online; an annoying, impossible-to-escape reality in which every single person you play against chooses Real Madrid. Real Madrid are just too good in the game. All the pace, all the power, all the Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema. The UK FIFA champion told our very own Tom Edwards that his number one tip for winning at FIFA was simply, "go as Real Madrid".www.gmfifa.com And so, to celebrate the absence of any real football taking place this week, we have simulated the pinnacle of all FIFA 15 games: Real Madrid vs Real Madrid. To make this less boring and add a touch of spice, we have played the game wearing the exact same iconic white strip, making the deduction of who you are passing to very difficult. What ensued was a game of FIFA full of twists, turns and ridiculous penalty decisions. Enjoy.www.gmusd.com

ArenaNet added that specific refund timings as well as the extra character slot timings will be revealed soon.

"For all players who purchased the Guild Wars 2 core game from our website and registered it between January 23, 2015 and June 16, 2015 in anticipation of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, we will automatically refund what you paid for the core game should you decide to pre-purchase Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns from our website or in-game store any time through July 31, 2015. If you take advantage of this refund and pre-purchase Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, all of your current account progress will be kept intact. "If you purchased the core Guild Wars 2 game from our website and registered it between January 23, 2015 and June 16, 2015, and you no longer want to play Guild Wars 2, we will refund your core game purchase price and close your account provided you make the request by July 31, 2015. Please contact our Customer Support team to make this request. "If you purchased the core game from a third party, we are unable to provide a refund. However, if you registered the core game between January 23, 2015 and June 16, 2015 and upgrade it by pre-purchasing any Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns edition before Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns' launch, we will add one additional character slot to your Guild Wars 2 account."www.mmozt.com ArenaNet added that specific refund timings as well as the extra character slot timings will be revealed soon.