The Microsoft Hololens augmented reality headset had an impressive showing at E3, but it was limited to demos behind closed doors. The public wasn't able to see what looking through the headset is like.
Now, a video showcasing the headset's uses at Case Western Reserve University reveals the actual field of view for the headset. The augmented reality "window" appears to take up about half of the screen, occupying a rectangle in the middle of the glasses' field of view.
Even though it seems to be slightly limited by a small viewing window, it's still an impressive piece of technology. The video shows some promising real-world applications of the headset, including making it easier to teach students anatomy. One professor remarked that it will be useful because it lets students fail in areas of study (such as anatomy) which generally have high consequences for mistakes.
Past videos demonstrating Hololens showed much more of the AR scenes, due to special cameras designed by Microsoft. This video shows the headset's actual field of view for the first time.
Another Fox property is getting its own mobile game.
A teaser website spotted by TouchArcade reveals that Fox is developing a Futurama mobile game. The page says the game is "coming soon," but that's all we know about it right now.
Futurama main character Bender is featured prominently on the website, suggesting he will play a major role in the game. No developer is listed on the page.
Other mobile games based on FOX franchises include The Simpsons: Tapped Out from Electronic Arts and TinyCo's Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff. Both are free-to-play games. It's unclear if the Futurama game will also use that business model, but it seems likely.
A new Warcraft trailer is out, and it gives you a 360-degree view of Azeroth's Stormwind region.
Built for Google's cheap VR headset for mobile phones, Cardboard, the trailer lets you look up, down, and around from the back of a gryphon, a creature used for transport in Warcraft games. Even if you don't own Cardboard, though, you can still watch the trailer. It utilizes a phone's accelerometer to let you change the view by moving the phone through space.
It's a short trailer, around a minute long, and comes in at around 400 MB. But it's really cool to be able to soar above Stormwind City and look down at people going about their lives, or gaze out at the mountains in the distance.
The trailer is available through studio Legendary Pictures' mobile app on iOS and Android devices. The studio also put out VR trailers for its upcoming movie Crimson Peak, and for 2013's Pacific Rim.
Warcraft will hit theaters on June 16, 2016, and it features Clancy Brown as Blackhand and Dominic Cooper as King Llane. You can read more about the movie's cast here. Today, the film's director said that the movie is nearly finished, and that he might possibly make a trilogy of Warcraft movies.
While we've come to expect digital and physical versions of games to cost the same at launch, it remains somewhat bizarre to see physical versions discounted heavily after launch while digital ones maintain their pricing. This point was raised during a Ubisoft investors call today, prompting CEO Yves Guillemot to shed some light on why this is.
During a post-earnings conference call Q&A session, Ubisoft was asked this digital/physical pricing disparity. For instance, Far Cry 4 still sells for the same $60 on the PlayStation Store that it did last November, whereas you can pick up a PS4 copy on Amazon for $24 on any given day.
"Digital is more reactive than what we put in stores, but at the same time, it doesn't react as fast on consoles than it does on PC," Guillemot said. "What we can say is that when games are older than one year, digital is a lot more dynamic on console because there are less units in stores. It's a new business, a new trend, and we think all this will get more in line with time, but for sure, at the moment you see all sorts of prices depending on who is doing a promotion for that specific week.
"If you look at the PC [post-release discount] trend, I think you will see that on consoles, but you will have to wait a little bit of time for that to happen with the same speed," he continued, suggesting Ubisoft could become more aggressive in discounting digital console games in the future.
Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez added, "On digital we will not sell [a game] for a lower price compared to physical. After a few weeks or few months things can change, and as Yves has been saying, sometime you might have a promotion on Amazon [that is] not on GameStop, but we can also react on the digital side.
"We are actually more aggressive on the PC side where digital is very, very strong. We tend to be more conservative on the digital side for more console and more flexible on PC."
Guillemot also pointed to one other factor that needs to be taken into account, which is how many copies of a particular game are left on store shelves: "Also, one thing to consider is related to stocks; if we have stock in stores, we tend to make sure we decrease the quantity of units in stores before going digital with lower prices."
Ubisoft has revealed that its Xbox One games are still not outselling those released on Microsoft's last-gen platform, the Xbox 360.
The Paris-based publishing giant told its investors on Thursday that, during the three-month period between April and June, the Xbox One editions of its games represented about 11 percent of total software revenue. By comparison, the Xbox 360 also represented about 11 percent of Ubisoft's game sales, as did the PlayStation 3. These figures come despite Ubisoft's biggest game in the past six months, Assassin's Creed Unity, not shipping on last-gen systems.
In a further indication of Microsoft's steep challenge on the market, the PlayStation 4 versions of Ubisoft's games accumulated more revenue than the Xbox One and Xbox 360 combined, at 27 percent.
Microsoft still has many years ahead to generate stronger momentum for the Xbox One, but presently, Ubisoft's numbers will make a convincing argument to third-party publishers that PlayStation 4 has become the lead console.
In the past 18 months, a growing number of publishers have announced exclusivity deals with Sony, on franchises such as Street Fighter 5, Destiny, and Call of Duty.
Ubisoft has also revealed to investors that the Wii and the Wii U represented a total of three percent of software sales combined; a figure that is up two percent year-on-year.
PC game sales represent 23 percent, meanwhile, which is significantly higher than last year.
Overall, Ubisoft's executive team announced a sharp plunge in revenue for the quarter, down 73 percent to $103 million. This figure was, nevertheless, higher than Ubisoft had projected.
Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot has said he believes the company's strong roots in creating immersive open-worlds will help its establish a foothold in the VR game space.
Speaking in an investor meeting, Guillemot was asked whether Ubisoft, which uses the open-world framework for most of its most popular properties, intends to pursue a new design model to define a different kind of gaming experience specific to VR.
"We feel the people that create worlds will be the winners of the VR Industry for sure," he replied. "What's interesting is that in those worlds you'll have many ways to interact. The fact that we create worlds is a big plus. When they are [being created] you can have an experiences that adapt to different customers."
He continued: "As an example, if you go into the world of Assassin's Creed you'll be able to walk around and visit places or have something like an item hunt."
According to Guillemot, he believes VR could have the same draw that Nintendo's Wii and Apple's iPhone had thanks to its accessibility.
"VR has a lot more accessibility--a lot more than with a controller--because you can interact with the world just by moving your head or pushing a button. This means a lot more people can come to this industry, like it happened with the Wii and Apple's touchscreen.
"Bringing them to worlds in which they can choose what to do is a great opportunity," he added. "There's good potential, and the people that create worlds have an advantage in that."
The exec did, however, indicate that Ubisoft would still consider unique experiences designed specifically around VR.
"With all that being said, it doesn't mean there won't be specific experiences that will be created to [offer something that] doesn't exist in video games at the moment."
In early 2015, Guillemot confirmed Ubisoft has multiple VR games in development: "What we are doing is working on the different brands we have to see how we can take advantage of those new possibilities but in making sure also that we don't suffer from what comes with it, which is the difficulty to play a long time with those games."
Ubisoft's vice president of creative, Lionel Raynaud, also previously said VR devices would need to sell something close to 1 million units to be "a leading indicator for growth and impact that could lead to success and adoption from the development community."
According to Raynaud, however, this number was "not a literal number that Ubisoft takes into consideration when looking at delivering game experiences and content for new platforms."
"Ubisoft is always excited about new hardware and platforms and creating innovative experiences," he said.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst is getting a special edition, and it comes with a small statue of the main character, Faith.
A post on the Mirror's Edge website reveals that the Collector's Edition comes with several real-world items. The most notable inclusion is the statue, which depicts Faith as an adult and a child. We know that the game explores Faith's origin story, so the statue's depiction of the character as a child makes sense.
This edition also comes with a Steelbook game case, concept art cards, a lithograph art print, temporary tattoos in the style of Faith's, and a special box to hold it all.
The Collector's Edition costs $200, and is available for preorder now at GameStop and other retailers at a later date.
Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft has spoken out to praise Microsoft's decision to add a backwards compatibility solution on Xbox One for Xbox 360 titles.
Speaking during a post-earnings financial call today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that the Xbox One getting backwards compatibility is "very good news for the industry."
"It's good news for gamers that Microsoft was able to work on the compatibility aspect," the executive explained. "They expect to come with 100 titles quite quickly, so that's really good news."
"It will help some of the brands, like Splinter Cell for us, to come to Xbox One, which is great."
It's not much of a surprise that Guillemot would be enthusiastic about backwards compatibility in general, as it gives Ubisoft another way to make money from its back-catalog games. To that point, Guillemot said Ubisoft is expecting some short-term revenue from Xbox One backwards compatibility, but more significant revenue will "really come" at the end of the year when the service rolls out to everyone.
Xbox One backwards compatibility is currently only available to Xbox Preview Program members.
CD Projekt Red has provided some new details about the content and size of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's upcoming paid expansions. In a new interview, game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz reiterated that the two add-ons will together introduce around 30 hours of new content to the game. This equates to "almost the size" of 2011's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, the developer explained.
"The expansion packs will be whole new storylines with all the elements you've got in the main story (like cutscenes, new characters, new items, new Gwent cards) and many, many more," he told GameReactor.
The first expansion, Hearts of Stone, will span about 10 hours of gameplay, while the second, called Blood and Wine, will offer around 20 hours of play, he said. But it's possible they could end up being even more substantial.
"It's possible that they will be bigger, because it's always like this (that when we plan some time or hours, it's twice or something like this), but I'm not promising anything right now," Tomaszkiewicz said. "And even now, if you sum up this 10 to 20 hours and you compare it to The Witcher 2, it's almost the size of The Witcher 2. And it will be cool; it will be new stories, it will be very emotional stories and I think that people will be happy."
Hearts of Stone launches this fall, while Blood and Wine will follow in 2016. You can buy them together for $25.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops III Collector's Edition was recently leaked, and it apparently comes with a functional mini-fridge.
You read that right: the upcoming shooter's special edition includes a whole bunch of in-game and real-world items, but its highlight is the working fridge. The fridge has a "Jugger-Nog" theme, advertising for the in-game soda used to gain the extra health perk in Black Ops' Zombies mode. It can hold a dozen 12-oz cans.
In addition to the fridge, the Collector's Edition comes with:
"Perk-a-Cola" drink coasters
Steelbook game case
Physical concept art cards
Bonus Zombies map, "The Giant"
3 in-game "Personalization Packs," with weapon camos, reticles, and calling cards
Official soundtrack
Season Pass to all of the upcoming map packs
The contents of the Collector's Edition were leaked by New Zealand retailer MightyApe, which is currently selling the bundle for $290. This price is sure to change in different territories and after publisher Activision officially reveals it.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III launches on November 6 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC. The Collector's Edition will likely be officially announced today during the Zombies mode reveal at San Diego Comic-Con. Keep an eye on GameSpot for more news about Black Ops III as it becomes available.
Ubisoft on Thursday reported earnings for the quarter ended June 30, announcing that, among other things, Assassin's Creed Unity continued to enjoy better-than-expected sales.
Overall, Ubisoft sales plummeted 73.2 percent to €96.6 million during the quarter, compared to €360.1 million during the same period last year.
One important thing to note, however, is that Watch Dogs saw its record-breaking release during this quarter last year. What's more, Ubisoft notes that its sales performance for the quarter is actually higher than the company's previously announced €80 million target.
Ubisoft back-catalog sales were a bright spot for the company in the quarter, rising 59.3 percent. Sales in this department were led by the aforementioned Unity, along with Far Cry 4, The Crew, and Watch Dogs, all of which enjoyed "sustained demand."
Another positive for Ubisoft in the quarter was digital revenue, which totaled €54.1 million and made up a healthy 56 percent of all sales, compared to 23.2 percent during the same quarter last year.
Ubisoft will hold an earnings call to discuss these results and answer analyst questions later today. Check back for more news as it's announced.
Horizon: Zero Dawn, the new property from Killzone developer Guerrilla Games, will not feature a traditional competitive multiplayer experience.
Speaking to GamesRadar, studio art director Jan Bart Van Beek and lead producer Lambert Wolterbeek Muller said "the core of the game is a single player experience," but added that there will be "certain social features in there" too.
The duo also discussed the game's world, saying it is explorable in its entirety: "Every mountaintop is accessible, every river you can go through, every valley, and this [E3 demo] is basically one of many valleys."
Combat, meanwhile, breaks down into three distinct styles. One style allows players to focus on stealth tactics, while the other gives the player plenty of firepower to use. The third and final style is oriented around setting up traps.
"There are ways where you get to customise your character and tune her more towards your play style, or develop them all to make her more into a Jack of all trade," explained Van Beek. "The XP system is mostly tied to the perk system, so you can develop and focus your character."
The world shown in the debut gameplay video, which you can watch above, was vast and colorful. The world will have full day/night cycle and players will get to explore forests, mountains, and "atmospheric ruins of a bygone civilization."
PlayStation Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida added that Sony wondered if it would be "risky" to launch such a major project with a female protagonist. Its developer, however, was able to show people would respond well to the game's central protagonist, as well as the open-world RPG, and the set up of machine versus primitive weapons,
Streaming services like PlayStation Now could be a big boon for publishers, helping them accumulate extra revenue from back catalog games long after release. That's according to Sony's Jack Buser, who told A List Daily, Buser said video games still have a ways to go to catch up to movies and music in this department.
"In the games industry, we've been very focused on the first few months after a game is released," he started off. "Unlike our friends in the movie and music industries, there wasn't as much of a long tail for the game industry. I think PlayStation Now has an extremely interesting role to play as the lifecycle of the game industry matures."
"This gives publishers the chance to rejuvenate the ability of a title to generate revenue," he added. "When we release a title into the subscription, we create quite a bit of buzz around a title that may not have been advertised for a year or two, even three years in some cases. Now because it's coming into the subscription, gamers are talking about the title, they're curious about the title, and it's like this breath of fresh air into a franchise or even an individual title that previously was very difficult to do in this industry."
Buser goes on to say that the response to PlayStation Now so far has been positive, thanks in part to the service's new $20/month subscription offering.
"Year over year, we've seen a 300 percent increase in PS Now users," he said. "This is largely due to the subscription being so compelling. If you look at usage per week, average usage is going to be about four hours, which is a very high engagement metric. If you look at it per session, we're looking at about 45 minutes a session, and for popular games over an hour."
"You can see that people are coming in, playing for very long sessions, and then they're playing multiple sessions per week to get to that very high average per week of four hours," he added. "That's where that new user experience becomes so important, because when you have such a large growth in your user base and they are so engaged in not just one but several games, it's important to give them a rich user interface to help them more easily transition to other games they might not have otherwise checked out."
After years of development, the Warcraft movie from Godzilla studio Legendary Pictures and Blizzard Entertainment is nearly finished, director Duncan Jones said at Comic-Con. He revealed the details in a new interview, in which he also said he and Blizzard have ideas to expand the one film into a trilogy.
Speaking with i09, Jones said about the Warcraft film, "We have pretty much a finished movie." There are about ten VFX shots still yet to be implemented, he explained, but the rest in finished. And he certainly sounds optimistic about it.
"I know that it's good," Jones said. "I've shown it to people that I trust, whose opinions I respect, and who are honest with me, and they've said it's good. So now I just kind of clench my fists and grit my teeth and wait for everyone else to see it."
Not only does Jones think the Warcraft movie will live up to fans' expectations, but he's also eager to get to work on two follow-ups.
"I think we have a movie we're very proud of," he said. "I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed after this. And if it goes well, I am pretty convinced that [Blizzard story and franchise director Chris Metzen] and I have a very good idea of what story we can tell in three films, given the opportunity."
Jones went on to say that he would love to return for two Warcraft sequels. What would help make the decision easier, he said, is if he could make his pet project, an indie movie he's calling Mute, in the time between now and Warcraft's release next summer.
After multiple delays, the Warcraft movie is now scheduled to open June 10, 2016. It stars Clancy Brown (Spongebob, The Shawshank Redemption) as Blackhand and Dominic Cooper (Need for Speed,Captain America) as King Llane. For more on the movie's cast, check out this story.
We're expecting to learn more about the Warcraft movie this week at Comic-Con. Legendary Pictures has a panel scheduled for this Saturday, July 11, where we may finally see the first trailer for the Warcraft movie.
2K Sports on Thursday announced the first details for NBA 2K16's soundtrack, which the developer is calling the biggest and "most extensive" in the history of the professional basketball franchise. Songs on the soundtrack will be chosen by producers DJ Premier, DJ Khaled, and DJ Mustard.
The NBA 2K16 soundtrack will include more than 50 songs, including six songs that will be "exclusive" to the game. All manner of genres will be represented, including hip-hop, electronic, pop, rock, and alternative. There will be classic tracks from the '70s all the way through to Top 40 hits from today.
Confirmed songs so far include:
"Blitzkrieg Bop" -- The Ramones
"Represent" -- Nas
"I Want You to Know -- Zedd (feat. Selena Gomez)
NBA 2K16's soundtrack will be divided into six in-game playlists. Three lists are curated by each of the three producers, while another will be an international-themed "Around the World" playlist. There will also be a 2K Classics Mixtape featuring "fan favorites" from past games. And finally, a "master playlist" will feature all 50 songs from NBA 2K16's soundtrack.
What's more, DJ Khaled, DJ Premier, and DJ Mustard are contributing new instrumental tracks for the game's MyPlayer and MyGM modes.
Square Enix and Avalanche Studios on Thursday revealed the Just Cause 3 Collector's Edition, the marquee piece of which is a 15-inch replica grappling hook based on Rico's iconic traversal tool. This is a "display version," however, so it probably doesn't actually work.
In addition, the collector's edition comes with a 32-page hardcover art book and a 24" x 24" poster of the game's Medici map. Also included is the "Weaponized Vehicle Pack," the contents of which were not specified beyond the fact that it will help you "launch your assault on General Di Ravello's forces in style."
The grappling hook's inclusion as the featured item in the Just Cause 3 Collector's Edition is a direct result of a fan voting process. Other options included a remote-control helicopter, a nine-inch Rico statue, a camouflage backpack, and even a destructible statue/puzzle, among other things. The grappling hook received the most votes, though it's unclear how the wide the margin was.
If you're having trouble logging into Destiny today, there's no need to worry. Your game isn't broken, but rather, Bungie has taken the game's servers offline for regularly scheduled maintenance.
The maintenance period started earlier today and runs through 12 PM PDT / 3 PM EDT / 8 PM UK. During this time, all versions of Destiny will be unplayable and you may receive the "Loganberry" error code.
Bungie did not announce a specific purpose for today's maintenance.
Developer IO Interactive has addressed the discussion around its upcoming Hitman, specifically concerns about the release strategy, quality of the content, and its online hooks.
In a Q&A, the studio clarified that, although Hitman will be released initially through digital platforms such as PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Steam, it will also be released on disc "at some point in 2016," reiterating earlier reports about the physical release.
At E3 2015, IO revealed the new Hitman will be updated regularly with fresh content, leading to comparison with episodic titles. This, however, is an inaccurate description, according to its developer.
"We think the word 'episodic' sets up the expectation that we will sell individual content drops for individual prices but that's not something we're planning to do," it explained.
"That said, there are some episodic elements to the story in the sense that it's delivered in chunks over time, so experiencing the story will probably feel episodic. But there is also a ton of other content including live events, which have nothing to do with the story. We'll also be improving and changing the game constantly whilst you're playing it."
On the subject of price, IO provided assurances that the all content will be available as part of the standard $60 pricetag, and there are no microtransactions.
"That $60 includes everything we create in this story arc; from what we release on December 8 through to the end of the story arc in 2016 and all the live events too. There's no microtransactions or hidden costs in there. No extra paid DLC on top either. It's one package, all-in for $60. We want that to be simple and clear and it was important for us to be up-front about that."
Finally, IO tackled the discussion that the content released will be of an unfinished state, similar to in-development projects released through Early Access.
"Early access can often mean something unfinished or unpolished," it said. "That's simply not the approach we're taking. All of the content we release live to our players will be complete and polished,. It will always be a polished Hitman experience."
Publisher Square Enix has confirmed the Hitman release date as December 8. 2015 on Xbox One, PC, and PS4. New assassination contracts, locations, and gameplay mechanics will be made available over time. Some of the missions will function as "live events," appearing for a brief time window and giving players just one chance to attempt these assassination contracts.
GameSpot got a chance to see the game at E3 2015. Read our full Hitman preview here for more on the game.
Lionhead's upcoming online-focused free-to-play Fable game for Xbox One and PC, Fable Legends, will offer players a constant stream of post-release downloadable content. That's according to game director David Eckelberry, who says in a new interview that Lionhead's plans for add-on content are "aggressive."
"Yes," Eckelberry replied when asked by G2G Evolved if Legends would add lots of new content over time. "We'll be continuing to release new heroes, quests, and creatures at a very regular and dare I say aggressive cadence after the game's release."
Eckelberry did not say if this content will be free or paid. But Lionhead said previously that players will be able to experience the entire game for free, with no gated areas, along with open access to all quests, and no energy bar to limit play time.
The fact that Fable Legends chose a free-to-play model drew some amount of concern from fans when this was first announced earlier this year. The game will indeed let you spend real-world money on virtual items, but in a previous interview, Eckelberry explained that it's his job to prove to fans that Lionhead is approaching free-to-play in a way that doesn't come at the cost of the experience, but rather improves the game overall.
Also in G2G Evolved's interview, Eckelberry was asked if Lionhead was pressured by Microsoft to make a "safer" Fable game like Fable 4 after the Xbox 360's Kinect game Fable: The Journey.
"No," Eckelberry said. "Microsoft has always encouraged Lionhead's history and practice of innovation, and when we came to the Xbox leadership with the core of the idea for Fable Legends, they were almost as enthusiastic as we were."
Fable Legends is currently in development for Xbox One and PC, featuring cross-platform play between the two platforms. A release date has not been announced. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.
Sega has announced Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces, a new standalone multiplayer expansion for Relic Entertainment's PC real-time strategy title.
The expansion will be released on September 3 priced at $12.99 (£9.99). To incentivise preorders, Sega is offering 10% off to orders it on Steam. Those that already own any product from the Company of Heroes franchise on Steam will be given 20% off.
The British Forces features a "new set of distinctive tactical gameplay options articulated around a new tech tree including new infantry, team weapons, vehicles, upgrades, commanders with unique abilities, and a total of eight new multiplayer maps."
"Play as the unconquerable Britons and their motley-crew of soldiers! A force remarkable for its diversity, including Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen, Irishmen – representing everyone from the working classes to the upper class elite of the United Kingdom," reads the official description.
"Under the leadership of the fiery Sir Winston Churchill, this assorted mix put aside their differences and became the only remaining Western European nation to escape the grip of Axis-dominated Europe, before leading the final offensive with the other Allied Forces."
According to Relic, the new tech-tree "challenges the player to balance the constant trade-off between mobility and defense." Unique new abilities, meanwhile, are oriented around "staged events making the most of air raids and artillery."
The expansion also features improved motion capture "for the most common animation set, that will also update all of the previous armies' animation systems."
"You couldn't accuse this sequel of reaching the heights of the classic that spawned it," the review continues. "This familiarity is unlikely to breed much contempt, however, given Company of Heroes 2's consistent level of enjoyment. Its barrage of online and offline skirmishes doesn't always hit its mark. But when it finds its target, Company of Heroes 2 delivers a loud and mighty payload."
Today on the first day of Comic-Con, just as Microsoft said it would, the company announced a new Warzone multiplayer map for Halo 5: Guardians. It's called Raid on Apex 7, and it's the biggest ever Warzone map revealed so far. That's saying something, too, since the 12v12 Warzone itself is the largest mode in Halo multiplayer history; its maps are four times the size of anything seen in the franchise before.
Microsoft revealed the map in somewhat of a peculiar manner: through a Mega Bloks model. No, really.
Check out some images of the map below, which is made up of more than 89,500 blocks and weighs a half-ton. Two master builders spent 16 weeks putting it together--and it looks darn impressive (watch a video below for a closer look). The 6' x 6' model also sports working, interactive LED lights.
As for the map itself, Raid on Apex 7 is a spiritual success to the Halo: Combat Evolved mission, "The Silent Cartographer." Here's how it will play, according to Microsoft's official description.
"Clearing out the initial Covenant threats and controlling the Forerunner Spire in the center of the island is paramount to a team's success and provides a central base of operations. If your team loses the Spire, don't despair; players can use a system of caves or taketo the beach to flank the base. Beware of the Covenant though, for they will not let you take this islandso easily. They will counterattack and fight to retake their territory. Continue the push for control of the island and take out the opposition's core… before you awaken something much worse."
For more on Raid on Apex 7, check out a video and some concept art in the gallery below.
Publishing giant Electronic Arts wants to be known as more than just the maker of huge franchises such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars. According to EA Studios executive vice president Patrick Soderlund, EA has a responsibility to "push the industry forward." Part of this effort includes forming partnerships with smaller, indie studios such as Unravel developer Coldwood Interactive.
"We've had a lot of discussions inside the studios around our responsibility as Electronic Arts to push the industry forward and to help others," Soderlund said in a new interview with GamesIndustry International. "We can't just be a company that's only about gigantic big things. There's more of a portfolio mentality that there's some things that we want to give to the players, that's something like Unravel."
He went on to explain how Unravel came to be an EA-published game and why he thinks the game itself is important for the industry overall.
"I think [Coldwood Interactive] were showing Unravel to a lot of other publishers as well, and I think that we managed to convince them that we would be a good home for this, and that we would nurture it and take care of it the way it deserves," Soderlund said. "Meeting [creative director Martin Sahlin] and hearing him talk about the game, and how deep it is to him, and how important it is to him, and where it came from; this industry needs that, as well as the other things. A company the size of EA should be in both, I think."
In Unravel, which GameSpot editor Alexa Ray Corriea dubbed E3 2015's "most adorable game," you play as a creature made of yarn whose name of course is Yarny. The yarn represents love--and you'll run through someone's life, trying to put the pieces back together. Players will use the yarn to solve environmental problems, like using it to swing across a gap, fly a leaf like a kite, and climb over obstacles like trees.
In addition to Unravel, EA has reached an agreement with Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons director Josef Fares for his next game, called Hazelight. EA's investments in these smaller games does not, however, take away from the publisher's affinity for large-scale, AAA games.
"We will always put a lot of effort into our AAA games, but it's good for us to have a portfolio that is maybe broader than what we've had in the past," Soderlund explained.
Ahead of Halo 5: Guardians' release later this year, Microsoft has released a version of the Halo Channel news and information app for iOS and Android devices. The free app is available now on iTunes and Google Play. A Windows Phone version will launch later this month when Windows 10 arrives.
Halo Channel for mobile devices sounds similar to the Xbox One and Windows 8 PC version that launched last year. The app aims to help Halo fans stay up-to-date with the extended Halo universe, offering news posts, original programming, and details about competitive gaming events.
In addition, Microsoft has announced that everyone who watches a video (just one) in the Halo Channel app will receive a "Promotional REQ Pack" for Halo 5. This includes a "special emblem" for the upcoming game.
People who have already watched Halo Channel videos on Xbox or PC aren't being left out in the cold, as they will also receive this REQ Pack without any further effort on their part.
The Halo 5 emblem will be delivered to players when the game launches on October 27 for Xbox One. Microsoft did not share any images of the special emblem, so we'll have to wait to find out what it looks like.
For a closer look at the new Halo Channel app, check out some images in the gallery below.
EA's new PGA Tour game, Rory McIlory PGA Tour, is scheduled to launch on July 14. However, Xbox One owners can play the game starting today by way of Electronic Arts' membership program EA Access.
A membership costs $5/month or $30/year.
You can play the full game--not a slimmed down trial version--for a period of 10 hours. If you enjoyed what you played, you can buy the full game for a 10 percent discount, which comes to $54 instead of $60.
The game's cover star, 26-year-old Rory McIlroy, recently went down with a real-world injury that will prevent the current World No. 1 from defending his Open title next week at St. Andrews.
The ability to play EA games ahead of launch is just one of EA Access' perks. Others include a 10 percent discount on all EA digital content and access to a dozen free games.
Harassment and verbal abuse sometimes occur in competitive online games. As a result, developers often try to monitor their games to reduce instances of harassment, to varying levels of success. Riot Games, developer of League of Legends, seems to have created a system that is very effective in significantly lowering the amount of racism, sexism, and homophobia that occurs in the game.
In an article on Recode, designer of social systems Jeffrey Lin described how the introduction of League's "Tribunal" has greatly impacted the civility of matches in the game. The system works by giving players an open forum to report, view, and discuss instances of harassment in the game.
The Tribunal also allowed Riot to develop the ability to swiftly respond to reports from players about verbal abuse in a match. It can differentiate between sarcasm and malice, as well as respond to passive-aggressive comments. Consequences are tailored to the individual situations Some actions necessitate penalties, and others only trigger incentives to act better. The reporting is done by other players, giving them a voice in the proceedings.
As a result, instances of harassment have plummeted. As Lin explained, "Incidences of homophobia, sexism and racism in League of Legends have fallen to a combined 2 percent of all games. Verbal abuse has dropped by more than 40 percent, and 91.6 percent of negative players change their act and never commit another offense after just one reported penalty."
This is great news for competitive games, which have often struggled with vitriolic online interactions. Hopefully the lessons learned by Riot's efforts can be applied to other titles in the future.
Heroes Reborn, the upcoming continuation of NBC's superhero drama series, has spawned tie-in video games for mobile devices and consoles.
Heroes Reborn: Gemini is a first-person action adventure game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game casts players as Cassandra, a new character that has the ability to manipulate time and use telekinesis, which she must use to overcome enemies and puzzles.
The mobile game, titled Heroes Reborn: Enigma, is developed for iOS and Android using Epic's Unreal Engine 4, and follows Cassandra's 14-year old sister Dahlia, who is trapped in a secret government facility known as The Quarry.
Both games are being developed by Phosphor Games, a Chicago-based studio that has previously worked on tie-in games for Man of Steel and World War Z.
The studio also developed WWE Immortals, as well as original titles Horn and The Dark Meadow.
A trailer for both games is expected to be shown on July 12 at NBC's Heroes panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
Heroes Reborn picks up where the 2006 series left off and will "reconnect with the basic elements of the show's first season," which shot to popularity by depicting normal people awakening inner superpowers.
The show's story begins shortly after a terrorist attack in Texas, which the government is blaming on super-humans. As a result of this, powered people have been exiled and forced to live in hiding. The show focuses on a number of characters as they try to uncover the truth of the attack, or seek revenge for lost loved ones.
Heroes Reborn is scheduled to begin airing on September 24, with returning cast members such as Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura) and Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet) starring.
The publisher previously announced a special edition of the game for all consoles--expect the 3DS--called the Dark Edition. On the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, this special edition includes a dark version of the Spitfire, Hot Streak, and Stealth Elf Skylanders.
The Wii and Wii U, meanwhile, each have their own exclusives. On the Wii U, the edition comes with Spitfire and Hot Streak, as well as the dark version of Turbo Charge Donkey Kong, the Amiibo/Skylander crossover figure. It also comes with a dark version of the Barrel Blaster, Donkey Kong's Skylanders vehicle.
On Wii, in addition to Spitfire and Hot Streak, you'll get the dark version of Hammer Slam Bowser and his vehicle, the Clown Cruiser.
These versions are in addition to the regular starter packs, which come with normal colorings of all the figures. As a result, if you really want every Amiibo, you'll have to get the normal and Dark editions of the game for both Wii and Wii U.
Skylanders: Superchargers Dark Edition will cost you $100, while the normal version costs $75. On 3DS and iPad, the game is priced at $65 and comes with the normal versions of the figures.
The game launches on September 20 for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, 3DS, and iPad.
ZombiU, the Wii U-exclusive zombie game from Ubisoft, has been rated on the Taiwanese rating boards for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, once again suggesting the title is set to be re-released.
Twitter user lifelower found the rating and box art of the game on the Taiwanese website. As expected, the rating calls the game "Zombi," most likely because the "U" in the original title refers to the Wii U.
Giving strength to rumours of its Xbox One and PlayStation 4 release are comments from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemont, who stated in 2013 that the game was not profitable for the company. Plans for a sequel were also reportedly canceled following poor performance on Nintendo's console.
Considering that ZombiU was received well by critics, it would make sense that Ubisoft would want to make more money on the game on other potentially more lucrative platforms.
Ubisoft has yet to officially announce the game for other platforms. Keep an eye on GameSpot for all news about Zombi as it becomes available.
Two fan-favourite characters from Street Fighter 3 will be announced as playable characters Street Fighter V, according to a new report.
Citing unnamed sources, Siliconera states Alex and Urien will be announced in the future. Both characters made their debut in the Street Fighter 3 series of games, and were not featured in its sequel, Street Fighter IV.
Of course, Capcom has not yet confirmed these characters officially. When asked for a comment, a Capcom representative said it "it has not made any announcements" but "[will] have more news on the Street Fighter V line up very soon."
In December of 2014, a Street Fighter community member used a special tool designed to help players practice combos and view hitboxes to unlock the camera in Street Fighter 4. Using this took a look at background assets in various stages and, among the Half-Pipe stage, he found a billboard with Alex on it stating "I will be back."
Urien, meanwhile, is the brother of Gill, the main antagonist of Street Fighter 3 and leader of the the Illuminati group pulling the strings behind the tournament. In Urien's story he covets the power Gill holds and wants to attain complete control of the Illuminati. However, in Gill's ending this power--or at least some of it--is given to Alex.
More recently, Capcom announced Street Fighter Alpha character Nash will be returning to the franchise. The character, believed to be deceased, now bears the forehead diamond previously worn by Urien and Gill, suggesting a link between the characters and perhaps paving the way for Urien's return.
As you can tell, Street Fighter lore is confusing.
Capcom recently detailed the upcoming Street Fighter V beta, which is set to begin on July 23 at 6 PM PT on PlayStation 4. The beta will have a total of six characters to play, but will launch initially with four, with Cammy and Birdie joining later.
John Smedley, former boss of Sony Online Entertainment and currently head of Planetside 2 studio Daybreak Game Company, has spoken out against Lizard Squad hacker Julius "Zeekill" Kivimaki, following a court's decision to give the teen given a two-year suspended sentence for more than 50,000 charges, and no prison time.
Posting on Twitter, Smedley recounted having his flight from Dallas to San Francisco grounded in September 2014 as a result of a bomb threat--an act which hacking group took responsibility for--and said Kivimaki in particular was to blame for instances of harassment against him, including leaking his personal information.
Smedley warned Kivimki directly on Twitter, claiming he could take further legal action, ending his message by stating "I'm coming for you".
that was the piece of garbage that brought my plane down, leaked my information and did all kinds of other crap to me.
According to a Finnish newspaper, Kivimaki has been "ordered to fight against cyber crime," and did not receive a prison sentence for his actions. Smedley, however, believes he may still go to jail as he has "15 other criminal cases awaiting prosecution in Finland."
Smedley added that he "may still go after his parents in civil court" and called him "a dirtbag."
"He still has 15 other criminal cases awaiting prosecution in Finland," he said. "I may go after his parents in Civil court too. Little dirtbag."
When questioned about his decision to publicly announce his intention to pursue Kvimaki further, the former Sony Online Entertainment boss reiterated that he would be using the legal system, emphasising the impact the hacker's action had on his life.
@j_smedley "I'm coming after your family, dirtbag," more or less. How graceful.
Lizard Squad claimed responsibility for a number of high-profile network and website takedowns, including Xbox Live and PlayStation Network during Christmas Day and New Year's period in 2014. During the downtime, Sky News aired an interview with Kivimaki, in which he indicated he had no regrets over the attack.
In response to his suspended sentence, Kivimaki Tweeted MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This.
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