Grand Theft Auto V was released on PC yesterday, and if you had any doubt about the popularity of the game, these recent numbers from Steam will make it clear.
According to the digital distribution platform's Steam & Game Stats page, over 298,000 people are currently playing GTA V, with today's peak number of players exceeding 300,000. This makes GTA V the third most played game on Steam at the moment, and the most popular game on the platform that wasn't developed by Valve.
According to GameIndustry.biz, the record for most concurrent players on Steam for a non-Valve game previously belonged to Skyrim, which peaked at 280,000 concurrent players.
By comparison, the most popular game on Steam, Valve's Dota 2, hit a peak of 777,070 concurrent players today, and an all-time peak 1 million concurrent players. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive came in at second place with 453,431 concurrent players, and Team Fortress 2 came in at fourth place after GTA V with 58,816 concurrent players.
Killing Floor 2 hits Steam Early Access on April 21, but do you have a PC that can run it?
Developer Tripwire Interactive today revealed the minimum and recommended system requirements for the sci-fi horror first-person shooter. While Killing Floor 2 looks great in the trailers and screenshots we've seen until now, the system requirements are pretty modest, as you can see below. Basically, if you've been able to play new releases on your PC in the last year or two, you should be able to run Killing Floor 2 just fine.
Tripwire Interactive also announced that it will release a $40 Digital Deluxe Edition of the game (compared to the $30 base edition) which includes the following:
DJ Scully character, with unique voice pack and set of face/body skins
Additional cosmetic items (each with multiple selectable variants):
"Scullyphones" headphones for DJ Scully, Mr Foster, Hayato Tanaka and Donovan Neal
3D Glasses for Ana Larive and Hayato Tanaka
Bowler Hat for Mr. Foster and Reverend Alberts
Killing Floor 2 Soundtrack
Killing Floor 2 Digital Artbook
Like the first Killing Floor released in 2009, Killing Floor 2 lets a team of up to six players take on waves of monstrous enemies called Zeds. As Tripwire said when it first announced the game for PC earlier this year, the sequel aims to improve on the original with its new, proprietary M.E.A.T. System (Massive Evisceration And Trauma), which introduces greatly improved enemy damage models, and a mix of realistic and "Mad Scientist" weapons.
Ratchet & Clank and Sunset Overdrive developer Insomniac Games has never released a game for PC, but that's going to change--and soon. The developer has announced that its latest game--Slow Down, Bull--will debut on Steam this coming Monday, April 20.
Announced last summer, Slow Down, Bull is a small game featuring hand-drawn art and developed by just a handful of people. In the game, you play as a bull named Esteban out to collect valuable objects. The problem is that his instinct is to destroy the very objects he wants to collect. As a result, players will need to balance the desire to collect with the bull's increasing agitation.
Slow Down, Bull will be available this coming Monday on Steam for $6. Half of the game's net proceeds will go to the Starlight Children's Foundation, a group that aims to improve the lives of sick children by providing them with entertainment, education, and family activities.
Insomniac built Slow Down, Bull out in the open, broadcasting much of the development process live on Twitch. You can watch replays of those broadcasts on Twitch right here. For more on Slow Down, Bull, check out Insomniac's detailed blog post and some images in the gallery below.
The Ascendance DLC is included with the $50 Advanced Warfare DLC pass or can be purchased separately for $15. Below is a breakdown of what Ascendance includes.
Four new multiplayer maps: Perplex, Site 244, Climate, and Chop Shop.
Exo Zombies Chapter Two: Via Activision: "Located on the outskirts of an Atlas facility, the new Exo Zombies episode introduces a slew of never-before-seen undead masses, a robust arsenal of new traps and armaments and everyone's favorite fast food joint, Burgertown."
New weapons: The OHM directed energy light machine gun/shotgun hybrid and the OHM Werewolf custom variant. These weapons are available now for DLC pass owners.
New playlist called Exo Grapple: Via Activision: "Exo Grapple gives players a faster way to reach strategic vantage points or a brutal secondary weapon to take down the competition, exclusively on Ascendance maps."
Ascendance follows the Havoc expansion, which launched in January. Two additional expansions for Advanced Warfare will be released later this year: Supremacy and Reckoning.
Echoing comments from Heavy Rain developer David Cage in 2012, Ori and the Blind Forest developer Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler says war video games oftentimes miss the point, focusing on action above all else, instead of telling deeper, more human stories. But he'd like to change that with a new game.
In an excellent, wide-ranging interview with GamesIndustry International, Mahler reveals that one idea he's currently prototyping is a project along the lines of "Schindler's List for games." He says the game would take the form of an "interactive documentary" about Slovakian Jew Rudolf Vrba, who fled the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in 1944.
Mahler is calling this game "Project Memoir." And though he's not yet talking specifics about its gameplay, Mahler stresses that it won't be another World War II shooter where all you do is blast zombies.
"It's kind of embarrassing if you look at the video games industry and how they've handled World War II as a topic," he said. "If you really want to see how far behind games are in terms of storytelling, you just have to look at that. There are so many World War II games coming out, and every single one misses the boat on the really interesting things you can tell here, super-fascinating things in terms of human psychology, the history of mankind, and so on. And every single game was just about, well, shoot some Nazis. It's just stupid."
Mahler goes on to say that he's thinking about self-funding Project Memoir instead of pitching it to a established publisher. The game would be a hard sell if he were to take that route, Mahler said.
"I would have a very hard time going to a corporation like Microsoft, Activision, or EA and saying, 'Hey do you want to finance my game that is extremely controversial and is a story-based game, an interactive documentary thing that hasn't been done before and there's no way of knowing if this will be successful or not. Do you want to finance it?' That's something I'd like to see. There's no way right now in this industry to make something like a Schindler's List for games," he explained.
Mahler said he's already invested "quite a lot of money" into Project Memoir, but he's still not sure if he'll ever release it; he hopes he can someday. "I also already see that if we did this full-time and really put our voice behind this, it could be an incredible thing for the entire industry," he said.
The full GamesIndustry International interview with Mahler is a great read, touching on other subjects like the response to Ori and the Blind Forest, Moon Studios' unique distributed development makeup, why he thinks AAA publishers should invest in indie games, and lots more. Head here to read the full story.
Like a star-powered Bowser hurtling downhill, Mario Kart 8's new 200cc speed is both a thrilling spectacle and dangerous joyride.
GameSpot got a chance to play the new supercharged class ahead of its release date on April 23. This add-on is free for all, while the eight new courses and trio of new characters can be bought via the eShop. (Word of warning, to unlock 200cc you'll need to complete all 150cc cups with a gold trophy.)
Below you'll find direct video feed of three original Mario Kart 8 tracks--Toad's Turnpike, Sunshine Airport, and Mount Wario--comparing how each look in 150cc and 200cc.
Mario Kart 8 DLC Pack Two comes with the Bell Cup and the Crossing Cup, both of which have four new tracks each. Half of these are entirely new designs, while the other half are redesigns of tracks from previous MK games.
Crossing Cup
Baby Park (GameCube)
Cheese Land (GBA)
Wild Woods (New)
Animal Crossing (New)
Bell Cup
Koopa City (3DS)
Ribbon Road (GBA)
Super Bell Subway (New)
Big Blue (New)
Take a look at the two videos below for a preview of each course.
Additionally, DLC Pack Two offers three new characters (and their custom vehicles) to play with, including the slightly creepy Animal Crossing Villager, the perma-smiling Isabelle, and the undeniably cool Dry Bowser (whose shell GLOWS when he boosts and who breathes fire during stunts. Yah.)
Still itching for more Mario Kart 8? Take a look below at some new select screenshots.
The PS4 video (above) was captured in 30fps, which also appears to be true for the Xbox One movie below. The PC version of the game, meanwhile, supports resolutions up to 12K, while frame rate will depend on your hardware setup.
Needless to say, both videos look lovely. That's not much of a surprise, given how extraordinary the game has appeared in previous videos and screenshots.
"Some of our other PC free-to-play games are not as popular as they once were," said. "So we find ourselves announcing the tough decision today that we are stopping development and winding down support for four PC free-to-play titles."
The affected games, which will officially go offline in about 90 days, are:
Battlefield Heroes
Battlefield Play4Free
FIFA World
and Need for Speed World
A blog post on the Battlefield Heroes website reveals that the game will official close on July 14. Players who have a balance of in-game currency on their account are encouraged to spend it. Those who don't do so before the official shutdown will be out of luck, as no refunds will be available.
Effectively immediately, sign-ups for Battlefield Heroes have ended and existing players can no longer purchase in-game currency.
Logistics details for the closure of Battlefield Play4Free, FIFA World, and Need for Speed World are not available.
Soderlund went on to say that in the time since these games were released--in some cases that was more than five years ago--the way people play games "has changed dramatically." He said these titles were once "pioneering experiences" and thanked fans for their support of them.
"While we say farewell to these free-to-play titles in the next few months, we are always exploring new concepts and ways to bring great games to more players around the world," Soderlund said.
On the subject of Star Wars: The Old Republic, Soderlund said the game "continues to have a very enthusiastic and growing player community." He added that EA will add more "story-driven" content to the game later this year.
Spring Fever is an eight-week event (this is week seven, so it's ending soon) that is meant to spotlight "unique" games, with with Sony releasing a new PlayStation game every week through April 21.
Last week's new release was Bastion, while this week's is Titan Souls ($15). From developer Acid Nerve and Devolver Digital, Titan Souls is a 2D fantasy game played from a top-down perspective. The game is also a Cross-Buy title, meaning buying it for PS4 gets you the PS Vita version at no extra cost.
In addition, Sony has marked down numerous Grand Theft Auto games this week, including the most recent release, Grand Theft Auto V. A variety of Planet of the Apesmovies are also on sale this week. All deals are good through April 20, and PlayStation Plus members can save 10 percent.
The full list of Spring Fever deals for this week are listed below. Don't see anything you like? Check back next week to see what's on sale for the final week of Spring Fever.
Not long after opening up trades for the PlayStation 2, retailer GameStop is moving forward with its previously announced plan to buy and sell even more retro gaming consoles and games. The company is planning to launch a new pilot program for classic consoles, games, and accessories starting April 25.
The two test markets are New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, which together total around 250 stores. A spokesperson for GameStop told IGN that it could expand the program nationwide "later this year" if there is enough interest in the pilot markets.
GameStop shoppers in the test regions can trade in and buy consoles dating all the way back to 1985's Nintendo Entertainment System. Customers can also trade in the Super NES, SEGA Genesis, original PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and SEGA Dreamcast.
All legacy consoles and games traded in to GameStop will be sent to the retailer's Refurbishment Operations Center, known as The ROC, in Texas. There, like newer systems and games, they will be inspected and tested, and repaired if necessary.
Though GameStop will begin accepting retro consoles, games, and accessories for trade on April 25, the company says it will take about two months before inventory starts showing up in stores. You won't need to travel to NYC or Alabama to buy the legacy platforms, however, as they will also be sold through GameStop's online store.
There is no word yet on what GameStop will pay for retro consoles and games, or how much they will cost when they're made available later this year for purchase. However, IGN reports that these aged consoles will also come with the standard GameStop warranty.
YouTube channel Smosh Games has posted its latest "Honest Trailer," this one for From Software's new PlayStation 4 exclusive, Bloodborne.
Among other things, the video calls out Bloodborne's long load times (an issue being addressed with a patch this month) and pokes fun at its similarities to From Software's other major RPG series, Dark Souls.
"Suffer through another action RPG that's just as brutal as Dark Souls, because it basically is Dark Souls," the narrator says. "But it isn't called Dark Souls to trick people who hate Dark Souls into trying out Dark Souls."
The video also calls out Bloodborne's obsession with the world blood, why the protagonist is something of a darker version of Link from The Legend of Zelda, and more. Check out the video and let us know what you think the comments below.
The studio is describing the game--Watch Quest!: Heroes of Time--as the "first adventure game made exclusively for Apple Watch." WayForward says Watch Quest! Is a "new kind of game experience." That's for sure.
Watch Quest! isn't exactly exclusive to Apple Watch, however, as it will play across both iPhone and the new wearable device.
"Gameplay revolves around choosing a hero and equipping them on the iPhone, and then guiding the Hero via the Apple Watch as he or she travels lands, battles monsters, solves puzzles, and searches for treasures," WayForward explains. "Players are invited to play passively by selecting longer, easier quests and outfitting the hero up front--or by taking on more difficult quests which require foraging for items as you go."
Watch Quest will be available as a free download with one training quest, while players will also be able to buy extra characters and missions with real-world money. The game is set to launch on April 24, the same day that the Apple Watch arrives worldwide.
Just hours after Bungie released the latest patch for Destiny--1.1.2--players have mined the update and found what might be new details about the game's upcoming expansion, House of Wolves.
The details are rounded up in this Reddit post. According to the post, House of Wolves will add two new social spaces--Queen's Bay and Halls of Amentet--along with one new Strike called The Shadow Thief. House of Wolves will also reportedly add three new story missions, three quests, and up to five new PvP maps.
Bungie said earlier this week that House of Wolves will not include a new Raid. However, Destiny will introduce The Prison of Elders, a new co-op endgame activity, through House of Wolves. The Prison of Elders is described as a new activity "focused on variety, replayability, and skill."
Also discovered in the Destiny 1.1.2 patch notes were 46 ship schematics and references to Treasure Maps, among other things. Check out the Reddit post for lots more on what might be coming to Destiny by way of the House of Wolves expansion.
One thing to note here is that, of course, this information is not coming directly from Bungie and could change. Responding to an earlier House of Wolves leak in February, Bungie's community manager David "Deej" Dague urged caution to fans when looking at leaks of this nature, saying, "anything you know about [House of Wolves] can change."
Vertiginous Golf, a mini-golf game the likes of which you've probably never seen before, is set to launch on May 6 for PC through Steam, its developers and publisher announced today. A non-final version of the game is currently available on Steam Early Access.
Vertiginous Golf is described as a "dystopian steam punk mini-golf adventure game set in the skies above an alternate world where life on the ground is enveloped in permanent smog, constant darkness, and never-ending rain."
A new trailer for the game has also been published. Watch the video above to see the unique game in action, and get a glimpse of its course editor functionality, multiplayer modes, and more.
I've played quite a few mini-golf and traditional golf games before, and I can't remember any of them having any kind of deep story. But Vertiginous Golf has a narrative, and an interesting-sounding one at that.
"After suffering on the ground under a haze of smog and pollution, the people of Scudburough have been split in half by a lottery, with the winners heading up into the clouds to live in a floating city called New Lun-Donne," reads a line from the game's story synopsis. "For those left below, they can get a temporary escape from the gloom through the Vertiginousphere, a device that allows them to rise virtually into the cloudy paradise to play Vertiginous Golf. But something is amiss in this nation of two cities. Another voice is trying to break through the propaganda messages of peace and prosperity… the voice of an insurrection."
Vertiginous Golf has been in development for two years by creators Christian Holland and Paul Barnes. They say their goal was to create a game that "defies expectations and has a scope that belies the relatively tiny development team."
In addition to a story mode that takes place across 26 holes, Vertiginous Golf offers up 54 "classic" holes that include simple ones as well as "mind-bending courses that will test even the most skilled golfers." The game also comes with local and online multiplayer, as well as race and arena modes.
When it arrives next month, Vertiginous Golf will be available on Steam, The Humble Store, GOG, and the game's official website for $20. You can read more about the game here.
Disclosure: Former GameSpot editor James Kozanecki works for Surprise Attack Games, the publisher of Vertiginous Golf.
4A Games and Deep Silver have announced that they have sold more than 1.5 million Metro Redux games worldwide, which includes Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux. Both are remastered versions of the last-generation games for current-generation systems and PC.
In addition, Deep Silver says that the Metro Redux bundle for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has now outsold Metro: Last Light for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in "multiple territories." This is an "unprecedented feat" for a remastered game (and there have been quite a few), Deep Silver says.
"When measured against sales of the previous generation release, Metro Redux is the best performing remaster of this generation," Deep Silver claims.
Deep Silver has also announced that it's released Mac versions of Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux on Steam. These new versions were developed by 4A Games and use OpenGL 4 to offer up "one of the most technically advanced games to appear natively on the Mac platform."
You can buy the games today on Steam, which are available until April 17 at 50 percent off. If you already bought a copy of any Steam version of Metro Redux, you'll also receive a copy of the new Mac edition at no extra charge.
"We are thrilled with the performance of Metro Redux," Deep Silver executive Menno Van der Bil said. "4A Games have created one of the benchmarks by which other re-masters will be judged, and we have seen their efforts rewarded with fantastic critical and commercial success. Metro Redux has introduced many new fans to the series, and we look forward to reaching a whole new audience on Mac."
The Metro series is based on the Metro 2033 novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
Xbox executive Phil Spencer, the top gaming boss inside of Microsoft, has spoken out to congratulate Sony on selling 1 million copies of the new PlayStation 4 role-playing game Bloodborne. Though the game was developed by a veteran team in From Software (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls), Bloodborne is a new IP. That makes the game's strong initial sales all the more impressive, Spencer said.
I know some will question me but wanted to say it's cool to see Bloodborne sell 1M+. New IP is hard, congrats @PlayStation@fromsoftware_pr
"We are amazed and very grateful for the way in which the community has embraced Bloodborne," he said at the time. "As you may have seen, we've just announced that Bloodborne has now sold through over one million copies worldwide. Thank you to everyone who has supported the project!"
With just one day to go before the Star Wars Celebration kicks off, Verizon and Disney have announced that they will live-stream certain parts of the event for all to see.
This includes panels with Star Wars director J.J Abrams and actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
The Star Wars Celebration website has also been updated with an official description for the Battlefront panel, which is expected to last one hour.
"Join the talented team from DICE as they give fans their first look at Star Wars Battlefront and debut the official reveal trailer for this highly anticipated game. Learn how unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm archives and the award-winning Frostbite technology is helping to create an immersive experience that is truly 'most impressive.' DICE will also show fans how Star Wars Battlefront will give them the chance to live out their epic Star Wars battle fantasies."
The Star Wars Celebration begins tomorrow, April 16, in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center. Live-streaming programming begins at 10 AM PDT on April 16 through StarWars.com. The show wraps up on Sunday, April 19.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is set to release next month on May 19, but will it be worth picking up the game early? We already know Wild Hunt could be over 200 hours long, and that it will include "dynamic beard growth," but the real deciding factor generally comes down to what you get out of the box and what you get if you pre-order.
Regardless of when you order the game, the standard edition includes quite a bit of content:
CD with the official soundtrack
Developer-created "The Witcher Universe: Compendium"
And everyone who purchases the game, pre-order or not, will have access to free DLC. The team plans on releasing 16 DLC packs total, with a new bundle available each week after launch. The first is the Temerian Armor Set, which includes horse armor, and a Beard and Hairstyle Set for Geralt.
Pre-Order Bonuses
Preorder from GameStop for an "exclusive Witcher keychain." The tchotchke will either ship with your game if you order online or be available in store when the game is purchased.
Amazon pre-orders will net you "the Amazon exclusive Witcher comic created by Paul Tobin, with art by Max Bertolini and covers by Joe Querio." According to the Amazon listing, "This 48-page hardcover comic describes the events preceding the Killing Monsters trailer."
An additional 5% off if you own either The Witcher Enhanced Edition or The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
Digital game soundtrack
Digital wallpapers
Digital world map
Digital artbook
Digital "artworks"
GOG.com is running a similar digital promotion, but with a few specific additions:
Everything included in the above Steam version including the 10% discount and additional 5% for previous franchise ownership
Total of 20% off if you own both The Witcher 1 and 2 and GOG
Digital download of Neverwinter Nights (available now)
Digital comics House of Glass and Reasons of State
Witcher PDF templates for papercraft toy figurines
Extended soundtrack with four exclusive tracks
Avatar pics
A video about the game's creation and all trailers in 1080p
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launches on May 19 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. And for even more information about the game prior to its release, you can read GameSpot's previous Witcher coverage here.
Bill Paxton, an Emmy-nominated actor who's had prominent roles in films such as Apollo 13, Aliens, and Titanic, is in talk to join the cast of the upcoming BBC drama about GTA developer Rockstar Games.
Rockstar is not actively involved in the production, and former writers for earlier GTA games have expressed some trepidations that the project may be overblown compared to the true experience of development.
But in other film-making GTA news, the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V released today, which includes a host of in-game video editing tools. That makes it possible for you to create your own personal documentary of GTA from within GTA.
In the wake of a recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, Microsoft last week published a blog post that outlined the various steps the company has taken and will take to improve the Xbox One's overall energy consumption. Now, NRDC senior scientist Noah Horowitz has published a response to that blog post, saying it was a positive first step, but also calling on the technology giant to do more.
The key change Microsoft is making for the Xbox One is giving new console owners the ability to choose the "Energy-saving" mode right out of the box instead of the default "Instant-on" power setting. This will be rolled out through a future platform update in the next few months. Horowitz said this is "great news," though he took issue with the wording that will be used in the new prompt.
As you can see in the image above, Microsoft's language is quite impartial. The Instant-on message is very positive in nature, using phrases like "faster startup time" and "get updates automatically." By comparison, the Energy-saving message says players who choose this option can expect "slower startup time" and are warned that they will "get interrupted for updates."
Horowitz also points out that Microsoft's message does not include the respective power consumption levels for each option, which the group estimates is 12.5 watts for Instant-on and less than 1 watt for Energy-saving. If people had these numbers in front of them when choosing a power state, "a lot more people" might choose the Energy-saving option, Horowitz said.
"And that would mean a lot less climate change pollution being emitted from generating the extra electricity wasted to power these devices when they're NOT being used," he explained.
In the near-term, the NRDC wants Microsoft to change the language of the prompt to offer something more neutral, though no suggestions were provided. The group is further calling on Microsoft to make the Energy-saving option the default power state. On a longer-term basis, the NRDC wants Micosoft to reduce the Xbox One's standby power use to 1 watt with Instant-on. Horowitz said the NRDC recognizes that this will require software and hardware changes and could take a while to be implemented.
For its part, Microsoft says the Xbox One's Instant-on mode is something fans have been calling for since the Xbox 360 era. The company even said that, since the console was released in November 2013, it has been able to reduce the total power used while in Instant-on by a third.
"When factoring the monthly system updates, new features in apps, and games and automatic mobile purchase downloads, the Instant-on setting easily saves users countless hours of needlessly waiting," the company said last week.
In response to this, Horowitz said that in fact, Xbox One updates "are not that frequent." He added that players are freely able to download updates at a later time.
"With today's technology, there is no reason for a device to be drawing 12.5 watts 24/7 just so it can be ready to receive and install an update," Horowitz said. "If your cell phone or tablet operated this way, the battery would run out of power almost immediately. These devices receive notifications that updates are available for downloading, often in the background while the device is in use."
"Microsoft's competitor Nintendo provides an elegant and effective solution whereby its Wii U game console automatically wakes for a few seconds hourly to check for updates," he added. "If an update exists, it downloads and installs it and then goes back to sleep at less than 1 watt. This results in a trivial amount of energy spent for background updates compared to Microsoft's current energy-guzzling approach."
Further still, Horowitz called out Microsoft for failing to mention that one of the biggest reasons why the Xbox One uses "so much power" in the Instant-on state is because of its Kinect voice recognition feature. This lets people with a Kinect camera simply say "Xbox On!" to wake the console up.
We've reached out to Microsoft to see if they have anything new to add regarding the NRDC's comments today. We'll update this post with anything we hear back.
People who already own an Xbox One can choose the Energy-saving Xbox One option through the Settings menu.
Horowitz ended his blog post by saying he is optimistic that Microsoft's engineering team will come up with solutions to improve the Xbox One's overall energy consumption.
"We are thrilled that Microsoft's talented engineers are now hard at work trying to develop user-friendly, energy-saving solutions to these issues and are optimistic the results will be consistent with the company's historic leadership position on environmental sustainability," he said. "We'll report back on the results."
The next patch for World of Warcraft is an exciting one, as it introduces a new zone, raid, and a shipyard feature that lets you build your own ships.
Blizzard has officially revealed the patch notes for the 6.2.0 update, which does not yet have a release date. Perhaps the most interesting new feature is the shipyard, which you can build once your character has upgraded a garrison to level 3. With a shipyard added, you can have ships constructed that can then be sent on naval missions, which Blizzard says it will be talking about more as development continues.
Building a shipyard is also a prerequisite for visiting the newest zone, the Tanaan Jungle. There you'll find daily quests that offer resources for use at the shipyard, as well as "open-world questing with rare creatures and hidden treasures scattered throughout the zone." The Tanaan Jungle is also home to the new raid, Hellfire Citadel, which includes 13 bosses.
The patch also introduces a new difficulty level for Warlords of Draenor's dungeons called Mythic. Blizzard says this "is geared towards players that enjoy tackling difficult content in smaller groups and is designed to provide an alternate progression path." Mythic dungeons have a weekly lockout, but offer item level 680 gear drops, and have a chance for an end boss that drops item level 700 loot.
6.2 offers a raft of other changes and additions as well, which you can read about in full on Blizzard's website. Alternatively, you can head to the Public Test Realms and try out some of this for yourself, as the patch is now live ahead of its official release, though only certain content is available for testing.
Sussman explains that hearing conversations about people having to "choose sides" between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is a strange one for him especially, because he worked on first two Guitar Hero games at Harmonix before the studio created Rock Band.
"When the conversation turns to how much better Rock Band is than Guitar Hero, I get really introspective and feel...weird. I loved working on the early Guitar Hero games," Sussman explained.
Activision deciding to bring back Guitar Hero at the same time that Harmonix is reviving Rock Band is proof that the world is ready for more guitar-centric music game experiences, he said.
"I love what we're doing with Rock Band 4 and think we're creating the best game we've ever made, a product that will set the bar for what a music game can and should be," he said. "However, that's not the (whole) point. I love that Activision is planning to release a new Guitar Hero game. It's a validation of our decision to bring Rock Band back now--it's a sign that people are ready for music games (and rock music) to reclaim their spot in our cultural fabric."
"I'd like nothing more than for music gaming to dominate the charts once again," Sussman added. "And I hope that the development team that Activision has working on the new Guitar Hero game is having as much fun as we are. Long live Rock and Roll!"
Sussman also spoke out to clear the air regarding why Rock Band was created in the first place. Claims that Rock Band was developed for the sole purpose of competing with Guitar Hero are "categorically false," he said. Instead, Sussman stressed that expanding the guitar game genre to a full band experience was necessary to push the market forward.
"We viewed Rock Band as an obvious and natural evolution from Guitar Hero," Sussman explained. "Moving from a guitar-only experience to a full band was 'the future.' In fact, it opened up so many great possibilities for musical interactivity--both in terms of people's relationships to the music and also (maybe more importantly) in terms of people's relationships with each other."
Sussman's full blog post is a great read for fans of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises.
Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live are each slated to launch later this fall for home consoles, though specific release dates have not been announced. More details on both games are expected to be announced at E3 in June.
If you live in the New York City or Los Angeles area, however, you can play Guitar Hero Live during special demo events this coming Saturday, April 18.
The iOS version of Blizzard's wildly popular card game, Hearthstone, has been updated to officially support both the iPhone and iPod Touch.
This version has been a long time coming. First announced back in November 2013, the iPhone and Android versions were expected to be out in 2014. They ended up being delayed until 2015, although iPad and Android tablet versions were released in April and December of last year, respectively.
While the additional screen real estate of the iPhone 6 Plus will likely make playing easier, you don't need one to download and play Hearthstone. The minimum requirements are an iPhone 4S or fifth generation iPod Touch. There's no word on when the promised Android phone version will arrive, but we've contacted Blizzard to find out and will report back with anything we learn. [Update: The game is live now on the Google Play Store.]
Today's new update also adds a new indicator to tell you when your connection is losing signal--something that should be especially useful when playing on a phone--and fixes a handful of bugs.
Blizzard says this new version features "an all-new intuitive interface handcrafted for the mobile experience." You can see a few screenshots of what it looks like below, or try it for yourself and earn yourself a free card pack.
This isn't all that's new for Hearthstone fans right now, as Blizzard released the latest expansion pack, Blackrock Mountain, just recently.
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