Following the recent revelation that digital games distributor Desura was late on payments to game developers, the store's parent company has now reportedly filed for bankruptcy.
Bad Juju, which acquired Desura from Second Life creator Linden Lab in November, is said to be in the midst of bankruptcy. This was confirmed to Gamasutra by Bad Juju's head of developer relations, Lisa Morrison.
"I asked Tony [Novak, CEO of Bad Juju] for confirmation and all he could tell me was, 'The lawyers have said I can't say anything or answer any questions yet, but yes it's true,'" Morrison said.
At this point, it's unclear what impact this will have on Desura, if any. Bad Juju could potentially resolve its bankruptcy situation and move forward or sell the site, which has been in existence since 2010.
In any event, certain developers aren't wasting time in ensuring fans can continue to play their games. Norwind Interactive, developer of Astraea, published a message on its section of the Desura site letting owners of the game know they can get in touch with the company to receive a free copy through its website. Project Zomboid developer The Indie Stone is encouraging Desura players to redeem their Steam keys as soon as possible.
Both companies note they have no inside knowledge as to what's happening with Desura; Norwind specifically states it hasn't heard anything directly from the site.
Desura is a relatively small games distributor that primarily focuses on indie games. Whether or not the the name seems familiar, it's possible you own games through it, as Desura was used to distribute some titles in early Humble Indie Bundles.
We've reached out to Bad Juju to find out more and will continue to follow this story.
Valve's Dota 2 tournament this year will offer up the biggest prize pool in the history of competitive gaming. The tournament, called The International, has a current prize pool of $11.6 million.
The International exceeds some high-profile, traditional sports when it comes to prize pools. Professional golf's most prestigious tournament, The Masters, this year had a $10 million prize pool.
One big difference between The International and The Masters is that Dota 2 matches are played as a team, meaning prize money is divided, while golf is a solo game (with some money going to the caddie).
Funds for The International's prize pool come from sales of the virtual Compendium, which contains in-game items that unlock as the pool increases in amount. Should the tally reach $12 million, a new "music pack" will be released. You can see the other stretch goals at Valve's website.
Each Compendium costs $10, and 25 percent of the proceeds go to the prize pool. This means that total revenue derived from Compendium sales is actually somewhere in the area of $45 million.
The International 2015 takes place in Seattle August 3-8.
The PlayStation TV is available for $40 at Best Buy. Amazon also has it at that price, but it's currently out of stock. You can, however, order it for $40 and it'll be delivered when more are in stock.
Microsoft's latest Deals With Gold promotion is on, discounting a handful of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, such as Costume Quest 2 for $6 and Metro 2033/Last Light Redux for $12.50 each. You can check out all the deals here.
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
In May of 2015, it was The Witcher this and The Witcher that. All Witcher, all the time, it seemed, and for good reason: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a phenomenal role-playing game and a worthy recipient of the public's attention.
Take a step back, however, and the juggernaut that is The Witcher 3 becomes part of a larger tapestry into which other excellent and influential games were woven. Geralt casts a large shadow, of course, but his shadow doesn't spill into outer space, where Kerbal Space Program reveals its well-earned prestige. Kerbal gained a huge following during its years of early access availability, so its official release seemed almost like an afterthought, the game coming as it did with a dedicated fanbase and years of updates to power its popularity. It's a game that defies categorization: a space travel simulation that lets you play the role of engineer, commander, pilot, and spacewalker. It is a niche game, a difficult game, and a must-play game, unique and strange and wonderful.
Kerbal Space Program confines you to a single solar system, though is no less wondrous for it. Galactic Civilizations III delivers a galaxy to your doorstep, inviting you to crisscross the harsh vacuum of space one turn at a time. Like so many games of its ilk, GalCiv III is about exploration, exploitation, expansion, and extermination. What makes it special is that it does all of that 4Xing while providing lots of customization and a heavy dose of dry humor; It might be a highly technical game, but GalCiv III is not lacking personality and alien flavor. Meanwhile, back on terra firma, Project CARS is all but overwhelmed by its own devotion to the technical elements of driving fast cars in beautiful places. By eschewing the progression systems that bog down other simulations, it allows you to own the road in the supercar of your choosing from the moment you boot it up. Just don't expect to be an immediate master of the racing line.
Alas and alack, Geralt's silver sword has vanquished these monsters in the race for Game of the Month of May, 2015. You can nitpick its specific elements, but it's hard to deny that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a great accomplishment. Geralt, the witcher of the game's title, is a stoic presence in an unwelcome world. As he navigates one of gaming's exquisitely crafted lands, he witnesses couples finding love amid horror and politicians enduring the turbulence of unhappy citizens. Choice and consequence take on new meaning as you alter the course of people's lives, all while galloping across mysterious bogs and battling ferocious, awe-inspiring monsters.
No game has it all, but The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has an air of totality, giving you everything you might want in an open-air RPG, feeling simultaneously enormous and intimate, thus creating personal connections in kingdoms that stretch on for many miles. Congratulations, The Witcher 3, for inspiring in us a great urge to explore--and for earning GameSpot's award for May 2015's Game of the Month.
It would come as no surprise for Microsoft to introduce an Xbox One with a larger internal hard drive. While the system supports external USB hard drives, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has acknowledged the "need for bigger HDs."
Outside of that, the Xbox One has always been equipped with a 500 GB hard drive. With mandatory game installations routinely requiring 40-50 GB each and the full 500 GB capacity not being usable (you have closer to 350 GB free out of the box), additional hard drive space can quickly become necessary.
When contacted for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson would only say, "We're gearing up for an exciting E3 where we'll showcase more games and experiences. We have nothing further to share at this time."
Ill-Gotten Gains Update: Part One, the first chapter in a two-part update for Grand Theft Auto V's multiplayer mode, will arrive next Wednesday, June 10, Rockstar Games announced on Friday.
The Grand Theft Auto Online update adds a host of luxury-themed items to the game, including solid gold airplanes and helicopters, along with new cars, weapons, and more.
Check out a gallery of screenshots from Ill-Gotten Gains at the bottom of this post.
The update will be available for all versions of GTA V.
Rockstar also has announced that it will hold a special Social Club weekend event focused around the Ill-Gotten Gains update, starting next Friday, June 12. Participants will have the chance to earn bonus RP, GTA$, and other items that are suited for the "consummate capitalist."
The second Ill-Gotten Gains chapter will come later, though Rockstar has not announced a release date for this update or provided any details regarding what it will contain.
When XCOM 2 launches later this year, it will--unlike its predecessor--be available exclusively on PC. Developer Firaxis hasn't shot down the possibility of it coming to Xbox One or PS4 in the future, and it's now explained the rationale behind forgoing a simultaneous launch on consoles.
"When we looked at what we wanted to do with the sequel, we had all these very, very ambitious goals," creative director Jake Solomon told IGN. This includes things like improved destruction and procedurally generated levels, which would require the relatively small team at Firaxis "to use all of our studio expertise … and our expertise here is PC. That's our home, and that's where we're really comfortable."
"When we have our meetings, when we talk about stuff, we only talk about PC," Solomon explained. "We talk about 'What is the experience like on PC? What does the mouse feel like in this experience?'"
Focusing exclusively on PC right out of the gate means XCOM 2 will be better tailored to a keyboard-and-mouse control scheme and interface. (Controller support is planned for post-launch.) And knowing that players are likely to be sitting closer to their screen than they would be on consoles, Firaxis is free to provide more information. This is said to include things like the reasoning for your hit-chance going up or down.
If you're still clinging to the hope that you'll be able to play XCOM 2 on Xbox One or PS4, it sounds like it's possible, but you'll be waiting longer than PC gamers. "We're certainly not opposed to that," Solomon said, "but I can assure that's something we're not even discussing yet."
Nintendo announced today that Mother 3 hero Lucas will be added to the Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS roster starting next week as a paid DLC character.
He'll be available to buy on June 14, starting at 8 AM PDT / 11 AM PDT. Paying $4 unlocks Lucas on Wii U or 3DS, while $5 gets you a bundle for both platforms.
This is the same pricing model as Super Smash Bros.' first DLC character, Mewtwo.
Lucas appeared in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl and is accompanied in the new game by another Earthbound character, Ness.
In addition, the Japanese Nintendo Smash Bros. Twitter account mentions that a Lucas-themed Miiverse stage will arrive for the game starting next week. It's unclear if this stage is also coming to North America, but we've followed up with Nintendo to find out.
[UPDATE] CD Projekt Red has now published the full PC and PlayStation 4 patch notes for today's Witcher 3 update. The developer has also confirmed that the Xbox One version is coming sometime next week.
Among other things, it appears this patch may put an end to the infinite money exploit that involved killing cows, as one line from the changelog explains: "Deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative."
Witcher 3 June 5 Patch Notes:
Fixes a possible exploit by preventing certain drowners from respawning infinitely.
Improves the distribution of experience points gained by completing quests with recommended levels lower than the player character level.
Merchants now offer more weapon types.
Rebalances the prices of maps that can be purchased from merchants.
Clarifies a number of crafting diagrams.
Fixes an exploit whereby players could buy sea shells and sell the pearls inside them at a higher price.
Increases the variety of loot dropped throughout the game.
Increases the variety of items available in shops.
Shops now only offer weapons with levels matching or exceeding the player character level.
Slightly reduces the amount of coin dropped from chests and monsters.
Deploys the Bovine Defense Force Initiative.
Fixes an issue where runestones could not be upgraded to greater runestones.
Reduces the spawn time of selected groups of NPCs.
Geralt no longer interacts with candles placed near chests and other openable objects.
Improves the smoothness of camera movement.
Fixes a number of issues related to horseback riding.
Fixes an issue where the player could not deflect arrows/bolts at longer distances.
Introduces a number of fixes in in-game communities.
Introduces a number of fixes related to combat.
Vitality begins to drop if Toxicity exceeds 80%, as originally intended.
Fixes an issue where Geralt was sometimes unable to mount Roach.
Improves Geralt's movement, especially when he swims.
Fixes an issue whereby Geralt could be attached to a sinking boat while aiming his crossbow.
Fixes a number of issues related to Vitality regeneration.
Fixes an issue whereby certain actions could be randomly blocked during gameplay.
Fixes a rare issue whereby Geralt could not mount Roach after fast travelling between points.
Fixes a number of minor tooltip and wording bugs.
Adds a series of color-blind friendly features. Improves visibility of tracks, marks, footprints, and scent clues. Color-blind friendly features can be enabled in the Options\Gamplay submenu.
Introduces a number of additional fixes to alt + tabbing.
Fixes an issue where The Witcher 3 process did not close properly if the user did not have XAUDIO installed.
Introduces a number of general stability and performance improvements.
Fixes an issue where in certain situations the game could crash while a save was being loaded.
Adds some missing translations in localized versions.
Ciri can no longer unlock fast travel points.
Improves the behavior of sails when viewed from longer distances.
Improves performance in selected scenes and cutscenes.
Fixes an issue where clouds and fog could flicker on some hardware configurations.
Fixes an issue where Geralt could pass through walls in the fish market in Novigrad.
Removes repeated sound cues on entry into GUI panels a second time.
Adds a collision near Kaer Gelen that could cause the player to be blocked inside the building.
Improves the scale of selected elements of the GUI and HUD.
Introduces a number of bug fixes and user experience improvements in the GUI panels.
Introduces a number of small changes in the UI for gwent.
Improves the alignment of the HUD for the 21:9, 4:3 and 5:4 screen ratios.
Disables "Input device changed" messages and adds options to disable on-screen combat feedback and floating tags above NPCs.
Adds an information prompt and Journal entries related to new DLC packages.
Fixes an issue where some formulae were not displayed in the Alchemy panel when the player possessed level 1 of said formulae.
Introduces a number of fixes in key bindings.
Introduces new filters for the Alchemy and Crafting panels.
Fixes a number of minor issues where music tracks were not triggered in their designated locations.
Fixes an issue where some players could not interact with an object during the Pyres of Novigrad quest.
Fixes an issue where some players could not make Geralt run after the Wandering in the Dark quest.
Fixes an issue where players could not talk to Octo after the Lord of Undvik quest.
Reduces the number of Wild Hunt minions spawned during the Ciri's Story: Fleeing the Bog quest.
Fixes an issue where Keira could sometimes fall beneath the terrain during the Wandering in the Dark quest.
Fixes an issue where certain actions were blocked during the Blindingly Obvious quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could not activate a portal during the Wandering in the Dark quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could get trapped in the ruins of Tuirseach Castle.
Geralt can now always play gwent with Madame Serenity.
Fixes an issue where Vernon Roche would not appear at the Hanged Man's Tree during the Eye for an Eye quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could not talk or otherwise interact with certain NPCs.
Fixes an issue where the sirens in the Lord of Undvik quest could be invincible.
Fixes an issue where the player could not perform certain actions after the Carnal Sins quest.
Fixes an issue where some players experienced an infinite loading screen during the King's Gambit quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could experience a progression break after choosing a certain dialogue option when talking to Dijkstra in the Count Reuven's Treasure quest.
Fixes an issue where Simun did not spawn properly during the Unpaid Debt quest.
Fixes an issue in the Contract: The Oxenfurt Drunk quest where the katakan was not hostile after being lured.
Fixes an issue in the Contract: Shrieker quest where the shrieker was not hostile in certain situations.
Fixes an issue where the player could not perform certain actions in the Master of the Arena quest.
Fixes an issue where wolves were not visible in the Contract: Mysterious Tracks quest.
Fixes an issue where the player could not fast travel under certain rare circumstances.
Fixes an issue where the player could not interact with Hattori during the Swords and Dumplings quest.
The player can no longer take on the Apiarian Phantom contract multiple times.
Fixes an issue where some players could not progress during the Broken Flowers quest.
Fixes an issue whereby the "Novigrad, Closed City" entry might have remained in the Journal indefinitely.
Fixes an issue in the Return to Crookback Bog quest where monsters were spawned inside a building.
Players can no longer prematurely obtain a key from a halfling, thus blocking the Contract: The Apiarian Phantom quest.
Fixes an issue in the Greedy God quest where the player could kill a monster twice.
Adds fail-safes for players being unable to obtain gwent cards after Dijkstra or Lambert can no longer be found in the game.
Fixes an issue whereby Triss could get stuck on a set of stairs after a scene during the Now or Never quest.
Fixes an issue where Ermion could not leave Lugos' area during the Sunstone quest.
CD Projekt Red has yet to officially announce the availability of the new patch, which is 1.05 on PC and 1.04 on consoles, so we don't have the final patch notes just yet. Those should be available soon.
Preliminary patch notes, which might not resemble the final changelog, are available here. When the final patch notes come in, we'll update this post accordingly.
Following the company's excellent age-guessing app last month, Microsoft on Friday launched a new program called Twins or Not. As its name suggests, the very simple website lets you upload two photos, and then Microsoft's program does an analysis to determine how similar the subjects look.
Twins or Not then assigns a score on a scale of 0-100.
Of course we had to try it out with video game characters. First up, not that it's much of a surprise, but Twins or Not agrees that Activision did a great job with its virtual version of Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. A percent 100 score.
Page also worked on a video game of her own, Beyond: Two Souls, lending her voice and likeness to the game.
And then there's Desmon Miles from Assassin's Creed and Red Faction's Alec Mason.
We also tried some totally random comparisons, such as Nathan Drake and BJ Blazkowicz.
And how could we not?
You can also use the tool find out which video game character could be your twin. This is probably only helpful for Halloween parties or if you're into cosplay, but it's still fun to try.
Here's my ugly mug next to Chris Pine from that Star Trek game. It's the best match I could find.
What two characters do you think look alike? Let us know and we might add them to this post.
Publisher Bandai Namco on Friday announced that the game, released in early May, has reached more than 1 million units sold across the world.
"To now stand here having reached over a million players in such a short time really justifies the work both the team and the community have done over the years and solidifies Project Cars' future as the multi-platform racing experience of choice for fans around the world," Slightly Mad studio head Ian Bell said. "And we'll be talking more about that future very, very soon."
Codemasters has released a new batch of screenshots for F1 2015, the developer's upcoming racing game that was recently delayed. These screenshots, released on Friday to celebrate this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, show off the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
They are all quite impressive, but I'm most blown away by the water-soaked stills.
Check out the image gallery at the bottom of this post to see all the new F1 2015 screens.
Square Enix has released a new tech demo for Luminous Studio 1.5, the engine that it is building Final Fantasy XV on.
The video, which you can watch below, was shown during a new stream yesterday which featured development staff offering an update on the project.
Among some of the tech shown is dynamic visuals, physically-based lighting systems, global illumination, skin penetrating light, realistic car paint, and a whole bunch of other things that sound really mundane when you read them but look very impressive.
Episode Duscae 2.0 is expected to include a variety of technical changes, visual improvements, and other tweaks, all of which is based on the volumes of feedback on the first iteration of the demo. Square Enix plans to improve the overall frame rate, among other things.
For PlayStation 3, the Mass Effect Trilogy took the top spot, which isn't terribly surprising when you consider the game was on sale in May for under $5.
Meanwhile, the top-selling PlayStation Vita game was Freedom Wars, another game that was heavily discounted during the month.
In terms of DLC, Destiny's House of Wolves expansion, which was released May 19, was the top-selling add-on across PS4 and PS3. Again, not such a big surprise, considering Sony has been treating Destiny like a first-party game.
Another standout is The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, which was the top-selling PlayStation Classic title for May. The hard-to-find Mega Man game was previously selling for as much as $300 on eBay, though Capcom did everyone a favor and released it last month on PSN for $6.
Check out the PSN top-selling charts for May below. These lists are for North America. For Europe's top-selling games, head here.
Warhorse Studios on Friday released an E3 teaser trailer for its upcoming no-fantasy medieval role-playing game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The short video, which represents actual in-game footage, shows a swordfight between two combatants in a gorgeous, flower-filled and sun-splashed setting.
Some sequences depict sword combat from a tense-looking first-person perspective, as the view is obstructed by the character's bulky helmet. The video is meant to highlight some of the swordfighting techniques that Warhorse will talk more about at E3 later this month.
Funded through Kickstarter, Kingdom Come is in development for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. A release date for the full version has not been announced, but the game's alpha period remains ongoing. In fact, Warhorse also today released a new video update that covers some of the new features included with the latest version of the game. You can watch that video at the bottom of this post.
This year's NBA 2K16 will feature not one but three different cover athletes: Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, and James Harden.
But how will the distribution of these athletes work?
2K Sports has now confirmed that game covers for the physical editions will be distributed at random. At first, this sounds like you won't be be guaranteed your favorite of the three. But there is a solution.
Every game box will come with a foldable insert featuring all three cover athletes. So if you think Harden deserves the cover over Curry and Davis, you have the power to make it so.
Check out the other two covers in the gallery below.
As Eurogamer sums up, basically, much of what you've seen and heard previously has changed.
"After we had switched from Versus to XV, the first decision we made was to make sure that XV would have a complete, coherent story in one game," Tabata said.
"That was an important decision--one made at the company level, too," he added. "So I started thinking about how we could get a full, coherent story in a single game. And the crux of that was which elements from Versus XIII we could carry over and which would not fit into the new structure as XV."
As part of this effort, Tabata said he "went through everything in detail" to determine what needed to be changed. By this time, Square Enix had already shared "a fair amount of information" about Versus XIII's story, and Tabata wanted to keep as much of this intact as possible.
"But it would have been very difficult to carry over absolutely everything as it was," he explained. "We considered what was possible with the new-gen hardware, as well as what elements absolutely must be included in XV but might fall through if not given top priority. It was not easy to nail down what was essential for the story to be contained in one title. Everyone involved was very sensitive in dealing with this, and we patiently debated numerous times, but we still couldn't come up with a definitive answer."
"We considered what was possible with the new-gen hardware, as well as what elements absolutely must be included in XV but might fall through if not given top priority" -- Tabata
Tabata went on to say that he worked directly with Versus XIII's Kazushige Nojima in his effort to "be as faithful as possible" to the original story.
One of the key changes is that the character Stella, a woman who was originally pegged to be a co-lead alongside Noctis in Versus XIII, has been removed from the game. Taking her place is Luna.
"We wanted to keep her as a heroine in FF XV's story, and pursued ways to tie her into FF XV's design as well, but we found it increasingly difficult to make sense of Stella's character and role within FF XV," Tabata explained.
"So then we thought, do we want to recreate Stella with a different role and image, or do we want to start over with a new heroine?" he went on to say. "And after a lot of consideration, we decided not to include Stella in FF15. Instead, we have a new heroine named Luna, who has a different role within the story."
For lots more on the changes from Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV, including the removal of certain scenes and lots more, read the full story at Eurogamer.
Other stories from this week's Active Time Report follow below:
Instead, you'll get to play 1080p/60fps versions of each game's campaign. A new photo mode and additional trophy support are also included.
Sony competitor Microsoft took a different approach with its Halo: The Master Chief Collection. This package included not only remastered versions of Halo 1-4's campaigns, but it also supported multiplayer for those games. It didn't go so well out of the gate, but online woes have since been largely fixed.
That's something of a different case, however, as Halo is known for its multiplayer while the Uncharted series isn't.
The Nathan Drake Collection is being developed by Bluepoint Games, which most recently created the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall. The game launches October 9.
Paramount has released a new trailer for Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation and it does not disappoint.
Motorcycle chases? Yep. Funny one-liners from Simon Pegg? Of course. And it's capped off by Tom Cruise hanging of the side of an airplane as the classic theme track plays. Pure action bliss.
"This may be our last mission," Jeremy Renner's character says during the spot. "Let's make it count."
The trailer also uses Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," and it all comes together to really have me excited for the movie. Rogue Nation hits theaters July 31.
Ubisoft has released a new trailer for Rainbow Six: Siege showcasing the operatives players will be to pick from.
Shown in the trailer are a selection of special forces teams including Spetsnaz, SAS, GIGN, FBI, and GSG-9. However, the trailer focuses on the American FBI Swat unit.
Each of the units members are highlighted, along with their specialty weapons and gadgets, as well as how they're effective in combat scenarios.
"Players will engage in sieges, a new style of assault where enemies have the means to transform their environments into modern strongholds while Rainbow Six teams lead the assault to breach the enemy position," Ubisoft explained previously.
"Over its lifetime, we believe Rainbow Six: Siege has the potential to become the highest-selling shooter in Ubisoft's history," stated Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot during a recent call with investors.
However, company CFO Alain Martine pointed out that Rainbow Six games traditionally sell about three million units, "versus Far Cry [4] that this year has exceeded seven million."
"We believe that Rainbow Six--because of replayability and multiplayer--might have a potential to [do] better than Far Cry over its lifetime," Martine added.
Following the release of the PS4 and Vita version of the original Hatoful Boyfriend, developer Mediatonic and publisher Devolver Digital are bringing its sequel to more platforms.
Holiday Star was originally released towards the end of 2014 and lets players "travel to fantastically styled worlds, meet interesting new chikadees, and find romance in elegantly designer winter wonderlands."
"Dust the snow off your wings and take flight with both familiar faces and new friends in extraordinary adventures hatched from the whimsical mind of the series creator Hato Moa and Mediatonic."
For those unfamiliar with Hatoful Boyfriend, the game is a visual novel in which the player is accepted as the only human student at the prestigous St. PigeoNation Instutition. The game, and its sequel, is all about your quest for happiness.
If you missed it, you can watch GameSpot's Danny O'Dwyer playing through the first game on Random Encounter.
Bungie has provided an update on its ongoing drive to raise money for those affected by the Nepal earthquake, announcing over $1,000,000 has been collected.
The studio's initiative involves selling physical t-shirts and in-game gear for Destiny, with the profits going to charities aiding the country of Nepal, which was hit by a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25.
Destiny publisher Activision also contributed $50,000.
Posting on Bungie's website, the studio said it was now moving on to "the business of putting those funds to work."
Thomas Tighe, president of CEO of Direct Relief, described the of Bungie's efforts and the contributions made by the studio's fans as "astounding."
"We at Direct Relief are deeply grateful – beyond what can be expressed in words," he said. "Most importantly, the Bungie community's amazing support will translate immediately and directly into help for people in Nepal who experienced a tremendous blow.
"Every penny will be spent to help strengthen essential health services that were needed before the earthquakes and much more so now."
Bungie has teased that it will make some kind of Destiny announcement at E3 later in June.
"We'll see you at E3. That's right," it said in a recent update. "You might have seen mention of Bungie this or Destiny that on E3 schedules. We'll have some things to tease. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
Inside, the Xbox One exclusive platformer from Limbo developer PlayDead has been delayed.
Although the title was originally scheduled for release in early 2015, its developer has now said it needs a little longer to complete the title.
"Last year we announced that Inside would be out out in 'early 2015.' It's not," a PlayDead representative told IGN. "After five years in development, we--more than anyone--are looking forward to the release.
"We are so close, but getting it right has taken a little more time than we anticipated."
Announced in 2014, Inside bears a striking resemblance to Limbo, the studio's breakthrough title. From the little shown of the game, it seems Inside will also also explore themes of desolation and despair.
Inside places you in a world in which the citizens are controlled automatons. The player takes control of a young boy who still has his mind and must journey across the Orwellian nightmare.
Inside may appear at Microsoft's E3 press conference, which takes place on June 15, starting at 9:30 AM PDT.
Microsoft has previously said it will be trying something a little different this year at E3, though it did not detail what that will entail. Thus far, it has revealed it will focus more on first-party games this year, but Spencer has indicated Microsoft will be looking to shake things up in other ways.
The wolf was first introduced in a trailer at Tokyo Game Show last year. We see Snake first find DD in the wilderness next to a dead older wolf when he's just a little cub. Snake adopts him, and we later see him as a grown wolf who wears an eyepatch like Snake does. He will be a support character in the game who can be called upon. Also notable is the plastic mask on the horse Snake rides, which implies that it can be equipped with gear.
"We'll see you at E3. That's right," Bungie said. "You might have seen mention of Bungie this or Destiny that on E3 schedules. We'll have some things to tease. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
Much as it has in the past for releases like Bloodborne and Destiny, YouTube channel Smosh Games has published a new entry in its "honest game trailers" series. This time around, it's for Blizzard's newly released MOBA, Heroes of the Storm.
These videos seek to present the brutal truth about games, while poking fun at their more inane aspects. You might believe that to be a challenging task for a game whose own tutorial tells players "not to think so hard" about what's going on, but there's still plenty of material here. That includes the game's inspirations--games like League of Legends and Dota 2, which were themselves inspired by a mod for Blizzard's own Warcraft III--and its microtransactions.
Hitman: Sniper, the new sniper-centric mobile game from Square Enix Montreal, is now available for $5.
First announced last June, a demo of Sniper was released in Canada last fall. At the time, it was expected to be a free-to-play game, but it's instead been released as a traditional paid title that doesn't rely on microtransactions.
The trailer above provides a sense of what to expect from Sniper, which has you taking out various targets from a distant, fixed position. You'll be able to eliminate enemies by shooting them or coming up with more creative solutions, like shooting out glass that causes one enemy to fall on top of another. Aside from finding these alternatives, Sniper offers leaderboards to provide you with a reason to replay levels.
The upcoming Crackdown game for Xbox One is making "great progress," according to head of Xbox Phil Spencer i.e. someone who would definitely know. Asked on Twitter if the game would be part of Microsoft's E3 2015 lineup, Spencer wouldn't say, but did provide a brief status update on it.
"Sorry, not announcing what games are where right now," he said. "But Crackdown is making great progress."
Given that Microsoft will focus more on first-party games at E3 this year, it seems likely that Crackdown will make an appearance during the company's event. But don't expect Spencer to talk more about Microsoft's E3 plans until the show itself. If there are leaks, they won't come from him, he says.
"We aren't great at keeping our E3 news our until E3," he admitted in another tweet. "Last think [sic] team needs is me leaking stuff."
Famed film director Spike Lee has taken the reigns of NBA 2K16's MyCareer mode, which he will both write and direct.
Lee's involvement was announced today by USA Today, although this confirms what was reported to be the case earlier this year, when leaked box art revealed that 2K16 would feature "a Spike Lee joint." Lee's many film credits include the basketball movie He Got Game.
Also officially revealed today are the game's three covers, which do indeed each feature New Orleans' Anthony Davis, Houston's James Harden, and the newly anointed MVP, Golden State's Steph Curry.
The covers each prominently feature the text "Be the Story," playing up the significance of the MyCareer mode's narrative. That story will tell the story of an up-and-coming player, starting before college and running through his NBA career. "We follow a kid through the trials and tribulations of being a top high school player and the decisions he has to make," Lee told USA Today. That's likely the reason for each cover featuring photos of the players' pre-NBA careers.
"We added MyCareer in 2012, and we've always been trying to make it more and more of a real story, like a film with drama," 2K spokesman Ryan Peters said. "We just told Spike, 'You transform the narrative, and we'll change that into digital polygons.' And he did that, bringing a protagonist and antagonist to the story."
As part of Square Enix's Active Time Report today, the Japanese developer announced a release date for Final Fantasy XV's updated demo, Episode Duscae 2.0, and shared some new footage of it.
Watch the video below to see the all-male cast travel through environments ranging from sprawling plains to dungeons, take on a hulking, pig-faced enemy, and relax with their Coleman-sponsored camping gear.
Episode Duscae 2.0 is also expected to include a variety of technical changes and other improvements, based on the volumes of feedback received from the first iteration of the demo. Among other things, Square Enix plans to improve the overall frame rate.
Today's Active Time Report also features a technical-themed video segment, featuring interviews with graphics engineers and other developers. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes and offers some insight into the steps Square Enix took to make visually stunning game with Final Fantasy XV.
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