Through its many sequels, the Dynasty Warriors series has taken players back in time to the historical battlefields of China and, well, let them all out brawl. Now players are getting the chance to hack-and-slash using their smartphones in Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed, the series' first mobile game. Get a look in the trailer below:
The game lets you play as one of the 48 characters from the console series and embark on quests. Like in previous games, these quests involve your character using their powerful, larger-than-life weapons to conquer hordes of enemies on the battlefield. Players will also use strategy to promote generals, build armies, and unlock additional characters. The game's different modes include:
Conquest Mode - Challenge one or multiple players in the campaign
Skirmish - Battle in real-time with up to four players
Boss Fights - Skip straight to the boss fights, by yourself or in co-op mode
Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed also features a variety of multiplayer modes, including cooperative play and real-time PvP matches like Raid Mode, where you steal fragments from your opponents, and War Supply, where you occupy mines and gather resources to beat other players.
The game also promises "detailed, stylized graphics [that] keep the central focus on the action, running smoothly even as dozens of enemy units fill the screen." It is now available as a free download on iOS and on Android (with many in-game purchases of items and currency available).
The next superhero to get her own movie will be Batgirl, and there's reportedly some major talent set to helm the project.
Joss Whedon is "nearing a deal" to serve as the film's writer, director, and producer, according to a new report by Variety. The move would see Whedon going from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he wrote and directed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, to working on a DC property.
In addition to his work on the Avengers films, Whedon is also known as the creator of TV shows such as Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Agents of SHIELD.
Variety states this only came together in the last month, and as such, no other producers are attached at this point. It would be DC's second standalone female superhero movie, following the upcoming Wonder Woman, which releases in June. DC is also at work on a Gotham City Sirens movie starring a number of female supervillains.
HBO has released a new trailer for Game of Thrones Season 7, ahead of the acclaimed series' return on July 16. The video features Daenerys Targaryen in the Iron Islands, which makes sense given her allegiance with the Greyjoys at the end of Season 6. Cersei Lannister, meanwhile, takes a seat on the Iron Throne, likely filling the power vacuum left after the explosive end to the previous season. Finally, Jon Snow looks to be in Winterfell, brooding as always.
The trailer ends by pulling out of the Night's King eye, showing that the White Walkers will play a big role in the upcoming season. HBO also included a tag alongside the video that reads, "Fear is for the winter."
When Game of Thrones Season 7 begins in July, GameSpot of Thrones--GameSpot's companion show--will also return. You can get caught up on the last season of GameSpot of Thrones on YouTube here.
Today's news confirmed an open beta is coming to all platforms this summer, with those who preorder getting in first. The game itself then launches on September 8. Although Destiny wasn't available on PC, the sequel has been confirmed for the platform alongside the expected Xbox One and PS4 versions.
Here's the basic premise of the game, as described by Bungie: "Humanity's last safe city has fallen to an overwhelming invasion force led by Ghaul, the imposing commander of the brutal Red Legion. He has stripped the city's Guardians of their power, and forced the survivors to flee. You will venture to mysterious, unexplored worlds of our solar system to discover an arsenal of weapons and devastating new combat abilities. To defeat the Red Legion and confront Ghaul, you must reunite humanity's scattered heroes, stand together, and fight back to reclaim our home."
Today's trailer doesn't feature any gameplay; that will be coming as part of a livestream scheduled for May 18.
Destiny 2 will have a season pass called the Expansion Pass that includes "Expansion I and Expansion II, offering brand new story missions, cooperative activities, competitive multiplayer, and a wealth of new weapons, armor, and gear."
The description stating that competitive multiplayer--and not competitive multiplayer maps--are included makes it sound as if Crucible isn't included in the base game. That might very well be a typo, but we've followed up with Activision to clarify and will report back when we know more.
Besides the base game, there will be several different special editions. A Digital Deluxe Edition comes with a Legendary sword, emote, and Cabal-themed emblem. The Limited Edition comes with the game, a steelbook case, the Expansion Pass, and various physical and digital bonuses. The Collector's Edition (pictured in the gallery above) comes with all of that plus additional physical bonuses, including a messenger bag/backpack combo and a solar-powered USB charger.
You can see a full list of LE and CE contents below.
Limited Edition
Destiny 2 base game
Destiny 2 Expansion Pass
Limited Edition steelbook case
Cabal-themed Collector's Box, containing:
Booklet with secrets into the Cabal Empire
Cabal Schematic
Collectible Postcard Images
Cabal Military Pawns
Premium digital content:
Legendary Sword
Legendary player emote
Cabal Empire-themed emblem
Collector's Edition
Destiny 2 base game
Destiny 2 Expansion Pass: Get access to both Expansion I and Expansion II, offering brand new story missions, cooperative activities, competitive multiplayer, and a wealth of new weapons, armor, and gear.
Destiny 2 Frontier Bag
Customizable bag that can be worn as a backpack or messenger bag
15" Laptop/Tablet Sleeve with protective pocket slip
Planescape: Torment is getting remastered for the ages: the classic role-playing game will be re-released on April 11 with improved gameplay, a better soundtrack, and 4K resolution. You can get a look at the brand new trailer above.
The game was released in 1999 to critical acclaim. Since then, it's garnered many lifelong fans and taken its place among the best RPGs of all time (GameSpot even named it one of the 'Greatest Games of All Time'). Beamdog, the publisher behind the new Enhanced Edition, has partnered with Planescape: Torment's original lead designer Chris Avellone. Together, they've curated a series of gameplay updates, bug fixes, and enhancements. Here's what's new in the remaster:
New interface rebuilt for 4K resolution
No loading times between areas
A remastered musical score
A whole host of gameplay tweaks. Including quickloot, the ability to zoom, a floating combat log, and support for widescreen
The ability to turn off these new features, if you're looking to relive 1999 and play the game in a more authentic form.
Planescape: Torment's story follows an immortal being known as "The Nameless One." Much of the game's lore comes from the Dungeons & Dragons universe, while the unorthodox plot takes players on a journey to uncover the being's lost memories and figure why they cannot die.
"The game told a very unusual story with plenty of twists and turns," wrote GameSpot's Andrew Park in 2006.
"Unlike in most other fantasy games, you weren't a handsome hero in shining armor looking to save the world; you were a grotesque character in a hostile and bizarre place just trying to find out who you really were. Because so much of the character's story came from your own choices and interpretations, you would eventually make the Nameless One's story your own."
Planescape: Torment will cost US $19.99 when it's released. iOS and Android releases are coming soon too.
After the release of a teaser image and trailer earlier this week, Destiny 2 has gotten its official reveal trailer.
It shows returning characters Zavala and Cayde talking about the loss of Earth's Last City, intermixing humor and an inspirational speech. (Ikora Rey makes a brief appearance, too.) Check it out above.
Bungie also announced the game's release date (September 8) and a lot more. You can read all about that here. A livestream on May 18 will show the first gameplay.
Atlus has provided a rundown on all of the DLC that will be rolled for Persona 5 in the coming weeks, and while none of it appears to be meaningful, game-changing stuff, there is a lot of it.
We already knew about much of the DLC, but this new schedule highlights even more. The most exciting additions remain crossover content, such as the Persona 3 and Persona 4 packs that add outfits and battle music from those games.
There are crossovers with other Atlus games as well, including Shin Megami Tensei IV and Catherine. Besides the free stuff, prices range from $3 to $7. You certainly won't be left lacking ways to throw extra money at the RPG.
In addition to everything below, Atlus will release a number of character-specific theme and avatar sets for PS4 throughout April that cost $2 each. Character-specific PS3 themes will also be released for $1 each.
Telltale Games today released the first trailer for its Guardians of the Galaxy series, which premieres in April with the first of five episodes.
The trailer shows off main characters Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot going on an all-new adventure separate from the film series. The story picks up with the Guardians finding "an artifact of unspeakable power" that an evil force wants to claim for her own.
Episode 1, Tangled Up In Blue, premieres on April 18, with the remaining four to follow. The first episode costs $5, while there will be a $30 physical disc version (providing access to the first episode and the further four as they're released) available starting on May 2 in North America.
Here is the voice cast for Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy series:
As for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise, the upcoming sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, comes out in May. A new trailer debuted recently, and you can check out our breakdown here.
The latest trailer for Injustice 2 has been released, and this one puts the spotlight on the bad guys, revealing two new ones in the process.
Four of the game's villains are featured in the video (above), each of which gets some time to show off what they can do. While Gorilla Grodd and Bane are not new, we also get to see Scarecrow and Captain Cold, who are new additions to the roster.
Captain Cold, as you'd expect, freezes enemies, slides around on ice, and generally lives up to his (let's be honest, very silly) name. Scarecrow looks like a monster, swinging around a chain with a hook on the end that he uses to throw opponents around the level.
Also in the video are some Super moves, including one where Scarecrow becomes a giant in the background of the level.
A new poster for the action-packed spy sequel Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle has been released. It was widely expected that Colin Firth would return for the second movie, and this poster confirms that he will be back as veteran agent Harry Hart. Check it out below:
The movie will see Taron Egerton play young spy Gary "Eggsy" Unwin once more, with Mark Strong and Edward Holcroft also set to return. The impressive supporting cast also includes Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, Vinnie Jones, and Elton John.
Kingsman 2 is directed by Matthew Vaughn. The first movie, also directed by Vaughn, was released in 2014 and ended up as one of the year's biggest surprise hits, making $414 million worldwide.
In a recent interview with Collider, Egerton hinted at what fans could expect form the new movie. "It's f***ing mental," he said. "But it's what people like and it's what Matthew is good at. It's not for the faint of heart, but it's awesome. It's bigger and it feels more ambitious, really.
"There are more characters, the world is explored in more detail. This weird version of reality where these spies exist is kind of explored more. I know Matthew's announced a lot about the fact that we discover a sister organization based in America called the Statesman. They're richer than us, they've got cool s**t."
Kingsman: The Golden Circle hits cinemas on September 29, 2017.
The Nintendo Switch's lineup of digital games grows a bit further today in the US with the system's third new game of the week.
Today's release is the classic game Metal Slug. It comes as part of the ACA NeoGeo series, of which there are now nine on the eShop--including another game from the franchise, Metal Slug 3. You can pick up any of the NeoGeo games, including Metal Slug, for $8 (£6.29) from the eShop.
This is the third new game of the week on the eShop. Unlike Metal Slug, which is a port of an existing game, the other two were completely new: Has-Been Heroes and Snake Pass. Each of those costs $20 (or £16 for Snake Pass; the former hasn't been released in the UK yet).
The closed beta for Quake Champions is just a week away, developer id Software has announced.
It kicks off next Thursday, April 6, with "an initial group of testers." There's no indication of how big that pool of people will be, but more will be added "over time." If you haven't already, you can still sign up for the beta here.
Id also unveiled another of the game's characters (or champions, as it calls them): Anarki, who returns from Quake III Arena, where he was an Arena Lord and playable character. He still has his signature hoverboard, and he's among Champions' fastest characters.
His active ability is Health Injection, which allows him to heal himself (but not others). His passive ability is Hoverboard Air Control, which allows him to turn more sharply in mid-air than other characters. He also gains speed as he strafe-jumps. You can get a look at him in the video above.
The beta, which is a 3 GB download, will last the duration of the weekend, from 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST on March 31 through to 11 PM PT on April 2 (2 AM ET / 7 AM BST on April 3). You'll be able to build your own deck and try out the tutorial before testing your skills against other players in online casual matches, according to developer CD Projekt Red.
The company says the purpose of the beta is nothing to do with balance tweaks, but to assess server capacity on PS4: "the game is already fun," reads an official Q&A. It is also stated in the blog post that users will not need PS Plus to participate in the beta, while microtransactions are disabled until the release of the full game.
Looking for something new to play this weekend on Xbox One? Microsoft has announced a free play weekend for WWE 2K17. Now through 11:59 PM PT on Monday, April 3, Xbox Live Gold members can play the professional wrestling game as much as they want at no cost (beyond the price of an Xbox Live Gold subscription).
Additionally, all Gamerscore and Achievements will carry forward to the full game if you decide to buy it. And on that front, the game is on sale for half off ($30) right now, so it's a good time to pick it up if you're interested.
The free download for WWE 2K17 should show up in the Gold Member area of the Xbox One dashboard. Alternatively, you can download it directly from the Xbox Store.
It's free as part of Microsoft's Free Play Days promotion. Other games that have been featured in the program in the past include NBA 2K17 and Rocket League, among others.
The Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul returns for its third season next month, and now we know a little bit more about it, at least in terms of tone. Co-creator Vince Gilligan said at the show's Los Angeles premiere today that Season 3 brings the show more closely in line with Breaking Bad.
"Things get quite a bit darker in season three, more Breaking Bad-like," Gilligan said, as reported by Variety. "We didn't set out for that to happen--it came to us organically."
Season 3 will also show more of by-the-book lawyer Jimmy McGill's transition to slimy attorney Saul Goodman. "There's a big movement into the character of Saul Goodman," McGill/Goodman actor Bob Odenkirk said. "This is the first time he presents himself as Saul Goodman, which is actually kind of fun."
"There's more of an internal movement of this really sweet character, Jimmy McGill, who kind of shuts himself down and does some very callous things that are very Saul Goodman-like. It's just sad. It made me feel bad."
Another interesting element of Season 3 is that the character Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) is joining the show--and he'll play a big part, apparently. "We're going to see a lot of Gus Fring as he builds his drug empire," Odenkirk said. "Dominoes start to topple at the end of Season 3. Season 4, if there is one, should be a rollercoaster ride."
Titanfall 2's Colony Reborn update is almost here. The free update launches on March 30 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and now, Respawn has posted the full patch notes.
As announced previously, this update adds a new map in the form of Colony from the first Titanfall. Also included is a new weapon, the R-101, and the Curb Check execution.
All of that content is free, but this update also adds new paid items. You can now buy two new Prime Titans, while 20 each of new camos, banners, and patches are now available to purchase.
Outside of the new content, the Colony Reborn update introduces a number of balance changes and fixes bugs. One of the issues that the patch fixes a problem where Titans could "[warp] to the floor when disembarking in mid-air."
The full patch notes follow below, as written by Respawn. You can watch the video above to see some of Colony Reborn's content in action.
To mark the launch of Colony Reborn, Respawn is running a free weekend for Titanfall 2 from March 30 through April 3. This will include access to the full suite of multiplayer modes, as well as the Gauntlet training mission and the first single-player campaign level. Those two missions will remain free to play forever, too. Plus, you'll be able to grab double XP the whole weekend.
Titanfall 2 Colony Reborn Update:
NEW CONTENT [FREE]
MAP
Colony
WEAPON
R-101
EXECUTION
Curb Check
NEW CONTENT [PURCHASABLE]
PRIME TITANS
Northstar
Legion
CAMOS
20 camos
CALLSIGNS
20 Banners
20 patches
TITAN NOSE ART
5 new designs
1 new Warpaint per Titan
BALANCE CHANGES
PILOTSBoosts
Roll the Dice - increased earn meter needed to use
Smart Pistol - Fixed bug with locking onto the base of Amped Wall and Hard Cover
WEAPONS
Thunderbolt Adjustments
Damage per hit increased
Damage pulses at a faster rate
Substantially reduced the AoE size to Titans
Reduced the missile speed
Charge Rifle
Charge Hack mod is now a Quick Shot mod instead of Instant Shot.
Mastiff
Fixed Speedloader mod not working properly
TACTICALS
Holopilot
Holo Pilot now has the name and a health bar of the owner pilot
Holo Pilot pulses randomly on the minimap
Holo Pilot will give a subtle audio cue now to the owner when it's destroyed
Amped Wall
Amped Wall can now be destroyed
TITAN CHANGES
Reduced the amount of core meter generated by dealing damage to Titans
Removed the icon on top of a battery that would appear after a Pilot stole a battery via Rodeo
Scorch
Increased the base duration of Thermal Shield
Reduced the increased duration of Inferno Shield kit so it's total duration stays the same
Fuel for the Fire Kit now reduces the cooldown of Fire Wall instead of increasing its duration
Fixed a bug where Fire Wall and Flame Core were still being extinguished by Electric Smoke
GAME MODES
Attrition
Enemy npcs appear on the minimap in Attrition - for Titanfall 1 veterans, all pilots have Minion Detector.
LTS
Balanced the locations of batteries that were heavily favoring one team and adjusted other battery positions relative to those being balanced.
Restricted Live Fire and LTS max draw rounds to 3
Live Fire
Adjusted Live Fire scoring priority so Kills now count higher than Flag Captures
You will now instantly steal the flag when executing an enemy flag carrier in Live Fire
Live Fire mode will now wait until all players have connected before starting the first round
NEW FEATURES / CHANGES
Featured Mode Colony 24/7 Mix of Modes
Added Random Pilot Execution option. This will choose a random execution out of the ones you have unlocked.
Advocate Gifts will now default to rewarding random cosmetic items instead of credits. This should help players who primarily play one type of loadout get more cosmetic rewards
Coliseum Improvements
Added new introduction ceremony
Added 9 new victory animations
Player now automatically wins Coliseum match if opponent disconnects
FIXES
Gameplay Fixes
Fixed bug in Angel City where embarking into your Titan in certain spots would lead to player death
Various fixes to improve overall movement
Various improvements to Pilot melee
Amped Wall fixes
Silence Pistols are now properly amped
Arc Grenades can now be thrown through the passable side of the Amped Wall.
Fixed issue with Inner Pieces so executed Pilot is facing the same way as the execution
Fixed some issues with weapon drops during executions
Fixed the sidearm dropping from the stim execution
Fixed 180 degree bug with executions.
Fixed bug where you couldn't move after Northstar's execution
Fixed Titans warping to the floor when disembarking in mid-air
Fixed bug in Coliseum where holding down ordnance button between rounds would cause player to spawn on same side as their enemy
Fixed a bug that could cause rodeoing pilots to not be hit by Electric Smoke.
Various Faction Leader announcement fixes when executing rodeo
Various improvements to Titan nose art issues
Adjusted disembark to better handle disembarking onto a raised platform
HUD/Menu Fixes
Added player level to callsign cards during killcam
HUD options menu now displays proper value for 2d/3d damage indicator settings
Player gen of 2.09 no longer incorrectly displays as 2.9
Fixed bug in Live Fire so flag icon now displays properly during killcam and spectator mode
Fixed custom loadout names sometimes showing wrong text
Miscellaneous
Fixed bug where you would still get an option to buy after purchasing Angel City's Most Wanted Bundle
Ahead of its release this week, a new extended clip from Ghost in the Shell has arrived. Posted by PlayStation, the video shows off nine minutes of footage from the highly anticipated movie.
The clip begins by showing Scarlett Johansson's Major awaking in a medical bay before she sets out on a mission that involves an intense firefight. It's a visually impressive sequence, for sure. Take a look:
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders talked about the challenge of translating the anime into a live-action movie.
"I first returned to the visual language of the original manga, which really caught my imagination. That imagery has enraptured fans all over the world and it was the cornerstone for us as we developed the movie," he said. "We didn't want to copy it frame for frame, but we also didn't want to reinvent it from the ground up since it is so essential to how fans experience the story.
"My goal was to build a bigger film around the source material while honoring the heart and philosophical essence, as well as the iconic images that have made the story universally popular."
Sanders also talked about Ghost in the Shell's central character, Major, who he described as being "powerful, sexual, and just a fundamentally exciting character." She is both human and machine, which make for a very interesting and multi-faceted character, Sanders said.
"Although there are conversations about humanity, technology, and dualism, our film is primarily a journey of discovery," he said. "Major is in pursuit of a bad guy, but she finds herself asking who this guy is and what his motivations are. As she follows each lead, she starts to understand that her path and his path are closer than she thought."
Ghost in the Shell offers a take on humanity where people and technology have fused such that no one completely knows what's going on.
"And that's the heart of this film, as well as the original manga: Who are we? What makes us human? How do we define humanity? These are the questions Major is seeking to answer, along with the rest of us," Sanders said.
Ghost In The Shell also stars Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, and Michael Pitt. If you're more interested in seeing a trailer, you can watch the latest one here.
BioWare has released an official statement regarding Mass Effect: Andromeda following its release last week. Posted on Twitter, the statement from the development team acknowledges that the studio has received "quite a bit of feedback" regarding the long-awaited spacefaring RPG.
"We've received quite a bit of feedback, some of it positive and some of it critical," the statement says. "That feedback is an important part of our ongoing support of the game, and we can't wait to share more of our immediate plans with you on Tuesday, April 4."
BioWare's statement goes on to say that developers are "working around the clock to gather information and plan out solutions to improve and build on Mass Effect: Andromeda."
We'll report back next week with the details on what BioWare's "immediate plans" are when they are announced.
"In many ways, Andromeda feels like a vision half-fulfilled. It contains a dizzying amount of content, but the quality fluctuates wildly," reviewer Scott Butterworth said in his critique.
What's your take on Andromeda? Let us know in the comments below!
Mojang has announced the next update for Minecraft's Windows 10 and mobile versions. Update 1.1, which is also known as The Discovery Update, is focused around things to uncover.
"There are many mysterious and wondrous things to uncover," Mojang said in a blog post. "Barter with a cartographer for a treasure map, sling your supplies into a llama's pack (or into a shulker box) and embark on an epic quest to locate the dank and dangerous forest mansion."
The Discovery Update also introduces new Enchantments, including Frostwalking (lets you walk on water) and Mending (keeps your sword sharp). Mojang also confirmed that if you defeat the monsters within the mansion mentioned above, you'll receive the "Totem of Undying" that keeps you alive when you should otherwise have perished.
Additionally, the update adds new features such as the ability to dye your bed a new color or build with new glazed terracotta and concrete blocks. The update also lets you change the movement properties of mobs, if that's what you want to do.
Finally, Mojang teased that this is "just the start" for new features in The Discovery Update. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Discovery Update will be available on Android for testers "in the near future." It's also coming to iOS and Windows 10, though there is no word yet on consoles.
While you still have to wait a while longer to see the next Pixar movie, Coco, a short film set in the movie's universe has arrived. Titled "Dante's Lunch," the video follows the Xolo dog Dante and his quest for a bone. Since Coco is set in a magical, Day of the Dead-like world, this is no ordinary bone.
As you'll see, the bone does not exactly cooperate, leading to some silly and endearing hijinks.
Coco director Lee Unkrich told Yahoo Movies (via Game Informer) that Dante's Lunch was produced "early" in the process of making Coco as part of an effort to learn more about Dante and how he operates.
The movie follows the story of a boy, Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez), who wants to be a musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). After a "mysterious chain of events," Miguel gets pulled into the Land of the Dead where he goes on an adventure with a "charming trickster" named Hector (voice of Gael Garcia Bernal) to learn more about his family history.
Coco is co-directed by Monsters University's Adrian Molina and produced by Toy Story 3's Darla K. Anderson. The movie opens on November 22, the day before Thanksgiving Day.
Blizzard Entertainment has responded to the feedback surrounding World of Warcraft's controversial enemy-scaling changes. It was recently discovered that enemy health values in the MMO could change depending on the level of the items you have equipped. This significant change, which Blizzard reportedly said it was against last year (via Eurogamer), is now being changed in response to what players said about it.
In a forum post today, Blizzard said it is now "significantly reducing the rate at which creature health scales with your item level." In fact, this change is already available in World of Warcraft.
"All we're trying to do here is prevent cases where monsters die too quickly for players to react to their presence, particularly around World Quests," Blizzard explained. "Our initial tuning was far more aggressive than it needed to be, which could make it feel like your upgrades weren't actually helping. This change will make it very clear that you are still becoming noticeably stronger than your enemies as your gear improves."
Another notable change that is now live in the game is that Blizzard is cutting back the enemy damage-dealing values. "Our overall goal with this change is to keep the amount of time it takes to kill a creature from getting ridiculously short, and increasing the damage they deal is unnecessary for that goal," Blizzard said. "Instead, this was making you feel like they were becoming more dangerous, which was not our intent."
Blizzard went on to say that some of the above-mentioned changes were already available in World of Warcraft through the 7.2 Public Test Realm patch, and even date back to January. The developer did not tells players about it right away because the studio wanted "raw and honest feedback."
"When that feedback never came, we assumed that meant it was an acceptable change--i.e., those who hadn't noticed it weren't bothered by it, and those who had noticed it thought it was fine," Blizzard said. "Clearly that was a false assumption, and we should have drawn attention to it later in the PTR cycle, so that we could have caught these issues before Patch 7.2 went live."
A new video game festival has been announced and it has some very high-profile industry figures attached. Tribeca Games has announced the Tribeca Games Festival, which aims to look at where video games come from and "what comes next in the race to innovate in the world's most popular medium."
The two day festival, which runs April 28-29 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, will feature talks about some of the "most fascinating games of the past year." There will also be keynote addresses from Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, BioShock designer Ken Levine, and Alan Wake boss Sam Lake.
Kojima will talk about "what's next for him," which could be a reference to Death Stranding. He'll also discuss "the influences of cinema on his work." As for Levine, his talk will see him reflecting on his more than 20 years in the gaming industry and "the legacy his work has created for interactive storytelling." Lake, meanwhile, will talk about "his unique approach to storytelling in games."
In addition to the keynote presentations, there will be what Tribeca calls X Post Conversations, which are described as "cross-cultural conversations" between someone from the video game industry and another person "of equal stature" from a field outside of gaming.
Additionally, there is a program called Retro Active that will see developers look back at some of the big games from 2016. For example, Overwatch game designer Michael Chu will talk about that game's characters, while Watch Dogs 2 creative director Jonathan Morin will discuss how Ubisoft went about making a game where "everything is connected."
What's more, there will be a "crowd play" of the first episode of Telltale's new Guardians of the Galaxy game and a concert from Mura Masa.
Tickets are on sale now through Tribeca's website; they're $30 for the opening night and $40 for the second day. A full schedule of events can be found on this site as well. It's unclear if the festival's events will be livestreamed; we'll report back with more information as it becomes available.
A new trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes is coming tomorrow, but you don't have to wait until then to see new footage from the upcoming action movie.
A short teaser for tomorrow's trailer has arrived, providing a glimpse of what to expect. As you'll see, the stakes have risen, with both sides preparing for an epic showdown between the apes, led by Caesar (Andy Serkis), and the humans, who are led by The Colonel (Woody Harrelson). Here's the video:
This is the third of the new Apes movies, following Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). War for the Planet of the Apes is directed by Matt Reeves, who also directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The movie opens in July.
Ubisoft today announced a brand-new Tom Clancy game for mobile devices. ShadowBreak is described as a "real-time multiplayer sniper shooter" that also features tactical objectives.
You play as an "elite sniper" who takes command of a squad and can make tactical decisions for where to send troops for the most impact. The game is set in the near future where factions known as Shadow Nations are threatening global stability. Your job is to take down these bad guys as part of an initiative called...ShadowBreak.
A post on the Ubisoft blog has more details. First, the matches are three minutes long, and you must divide your time between sending out troops and finding the best sniping vantage points for yourself.
ShadowBreak will feature a "wide selection of guns" and there are as many as four unique units available in each match. In typical Tom Clancy form, strategy is a big part of the game.
"Our hope is that the balance between these two aspects is very tight," ShadowBreak creative director AJ Morales said. "If you're a great marksman with an inferior troop loadout, you're still going to have a strong avenue to victory. If you're not as strong in your shooter prowess but have superior troops and strategy, you've still got a great shot at the win."
ShadowBreak is due out later this year for iOS and Android devices. Go to the Ubisoft blog to learn more about the game.
Netflix announced today that it has renewed The Santa Clarita Diet, a show in which Drew Barrymore plays a zombie of sorts who eats other humans. Season 2 will air in 2018.
The renewal announcement for the bizarre show comes in a fittingly strange way. The video below, captioned "Ready for seconds?" shows the number 2 being formed with body parts such as fingers and an eyeball. The happy music that plays over it is a nice, creepy touch.
The Santa Clarita Diet premiered on Netflix in February. Netflix does not announce viewership figures for any of its shows, so we don't know how wide of an audience it reached.
Barrymore plays Sheila Hammond, who, along with her husband Joel (Timothy Olyphant), struggles to find happiness in her life as a real estate agent. In Season 1, she suddenly starts to enjoy the taste of human flesh. Her life improves in many ways because of this. She doesn't want to go back to the way things were, so, along with her family, she finds people to kill and eat, all while concealing her true identity as some kind of zombie/cannibal person.
The series also features Patton Oswalt, Nathan Fillion, and Andy Richter, though we don't know anything yet about the story or potential new cast members for the second season. Netflix did, however, confirm that production on Season 2 will begin this summer.
Maps that can only be accessed by players who have purchased DLC have long been a problem, as they make it difficult to play with friends who are unable or unwilling to fork over the cash for extra content. That's been true of the Battlefield series for years, but a possible solution is on the way.
Developer DICE today announced Premium Friends, a new feature that changes the way Battlefield 1's DLC maps are handled. Essentially, they allow players to access all DLC maps as long as at least one party member owns the game's $50 Premium Pass.
This sounds almost too good to be true, as a group of friends who always play together could in theory pool their money and have only one person buy the DLC. And indeed, there is a major caveat: Only the person who owns the Premium Pass--or anyone who owns the expansion pack containing the current map--will receive experience. Everyone else will bank that XP, retroactively receiving it if they choose to buy that content in the future.
Additionally, any weapons or vehicles added in a given expansion will only be available to those who own the Premium Pass or that expansion. The same is true of any medals or codexes related to an expansion.
This obviously isn't completely ideal, as many won't want to play on maps that won't provide them with any progression. Id Software's Doom operates similarly but without the restriction on things like XP, which is obviously preferable. Still, this is a step in the right direciton.
The Premium Friends feature will be enabled for a "test run" during the upcoming Battlefest event, which begins on March 30. In a blog post, DICE said, "We will pay close attention to your feedback on Premium Friends. It's our goal to work towards molding this feature into something that embodies our commitment to you, our amazing community."
We'll learn the first official details about the sequel to DICE's Star Wars Battlefront in about two weeks' time, EA announced today.
Battlefront II's first trailer will arrive on April 15 at 11:30 AM PT/2:30 PM ET/7:30 PM GMT. It will make its debut as part of a panel at Star Wars Celebration aptly titled The Galaxywide Premiere of Star Wars Battlefront II.
For those who aren't attending, it will be streamed online. We'll also bring it to you here on GameSpot as soon as it's available.
Battlefront II does not yet have a release date or confirmed platforms, but today's announcement reaffirmed that it's slated for launch later this year.
As promised, Blizzard is providing Hearthstone players with rewards for logging in every day, but only for a limited time.
Beginning today, March 29, and running for the next week, you can pick up some freebies by simply opening the game. You don't actually have to play a match or anything of the sort; you simply have to be running an updated version of the game. There's a specific reward available each day; today offers free gold, while card packs, dust, and a special card will also be available.
As it approaches its five-year anniversary, MMO The Secret World will soon be relaunched as part of what sounds like a major revamp.
Set to debut sometime this spring, The Secret World will now be known as Secret World Legends. It'll be available as a free-to-play game that Funcom describes as a "shared-world action RPG." More than just a name change, Funcom says it will feature "a redesigned combat system to make action feel more natural, more intuitive systems to interact with, enhanced visuals, and an improved flow of the quests, as well as the structure of the early game for new players."
Past and future content will all be available for free; Funcom boasts there's more than 100 hours of content to experience for free. Microtransactions come into play for those who want to purchase additional characters (free players are limited to one), weapon pages, inventory space, vanity items, and so on.
Once it's available, Legends will have has its own client that is available for download from Steam. Story progression will be reset for everyone, though existing Secret World players will be able to continue playing on their existing characters on separate servers. A limited selection of things--vanity items like mounts, pets, and vehicles, as well as customization options purchased through the store--can be transferred to Legends, as can existing subscriptions.
A closed beta for Legends kicks off today. You can sign up to participate here.
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