Microsoft continues to roll out new backwards compatible games for Xbox One. Two more Xbox 360 titles are now playable on the current-gen console, and this time both are from Konami's Silent Hill series: Silent Hill HD Collection and Silent Hill: Homecoming.
Silent Hill HD Collection was originally released for Xbox 360 (as well as PS3) back in 2012. It includes high-definition remasters of Silent Hill 2 and 3, as well as the Born From a Wish bonus chapter for the former. GameSpot awarded the package a 7/10 in our original Silent Hill HD Collection review and called it "a convenient way for fans to experience the series' early years on modern hardware."
Silent Hill HD Collection
Silent Hill: Homecoming, meanwhile, is the sixth installment in the series. It was first released in 2008 and casts players in the role of Alex Shepard, a soldier returning home from war to find his brother missing and his hometown consumed by evil. GameSpot awarded it a 6.5/10 in our original review and said, "Silent Hill: Homecoming, while quite a departure from the psychological horror that fans are used to, is still a decent, occult-themed action game."
If you still own a physical copy of either title, you can simply pop the disc into your Xbox One and begin playing. Alternately, if you've previously purchased either of the games digitally, they will automatically appear in the Ready to Download section of Xbox One's My Games and Apps menu. Both titles are also available to download from the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft has been releasing a steady stream of new backwards compatible games for Xbox One since the feature was first introduced in 2015. More than 400 Xbox 360 games are now backwards compatible with the console, along with a selection of original Xbox games.
The PC game retailer Green Man Gaming is running a big Summer Sale right now, with particularly good deals appearing and vanishing daily. The current Deal of the Day puts Grand Theft Auto V in the spotlight, bringing the price down to $16 / £13--the lowest it's ever been. But you'll have to hurry, as the deal only lasts until July 25.
The reason for the discount is to celebrate the "After Hours" update that just hit GTA Online. After Hours introduces a bunch of things related to nightclubs to the online portion of the game. You can buy nightclub properties, deck them out with the decor of your choice, hire DJs and support staff, and host parties. Your nightclub can also act as the central hub for your criminal enterprises.
While GTA Online may be the primary draw these days for GTA players, you also get the full single-player campaign. From GameSpot's 9/10 Grand Theft Auto V review of the PC/Xbox One/PS4 release of the game: "This is the definitive version of GTA V, and the bar by which all other open-world games, or indeed any game that aims for a cinematic feel, should be judged. It is beautiful, and thought-provoking, and thrilling throughout. Even if you've played through GTA V once already, it's worth going back just to be reminded of what an outstanding achievement it is."
Green Man Gaming also has the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack Bundle for over half off, landing it at $26.39 / £21.99. It comes with the game itself, plus the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack, which contains a long list of in-game items valued at over GTA$10,000,000 in GTA Online, including additional properties, vehicles, weapons, clothing, and tattoo options. You can find the full details here.
NBA Playgrounds 2 is getting a new publisher with a slight tweak to the title to match. 2K announced today it will publish Saber Interactive's arcade basketball game, shifting the name to NBA 2K Playgrounds 2. The two-on-two basketball game will hit PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this fall.
The announcement suggests that the partnership will infuse Playgrounds 2 with "NBA 2K flair," but was short on details of how resources may be shared. In any event, it's a more casual approach to complement its annual NBA 2K series, which has enjoyed generally better critical buzz than EA's NBA Live series.
"The original NBA Playgrounds was a fantastic throwback to the glory days of arcade-action sports," said Visual Concepts president Greg Thomas, in the announcement. "The new NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 will step up this energy and attitude big time--with a bit of added NBA 2K flair--giving fans of both franchises an exciting new way to game with friends around the world."
The original NBA Playgrounds was published by Mad Dog Games, and received a middling reception. In GameSpot's NBA Playgrounds review, Blake Hester enjoyed the cartoon aesthetic and satisfying challenge, but found the audio repetitive and suggested its single game mode offered too little variety.
If you're looking for a deal on Xbox One games, you don't have to search far to find it. Last week Microsoft kicked off its Ultimate Game Sale, which sees sizable discounts on over 700 games and add-ons between now and July 30 (we've even compiled a list of the best Xbox One games on sale for under $10). On top of that, Microsoft is running a weekly sale, meaning there's a good chance you'll find something worth buying for cheap. Click the links above for details about the Ultimate Game Sale. Below you'll find highlights from Microsoft's weekly sale, which also ends July 30. Keep in mind you'll need an Xbox Live Gold account to get discounts on some of the games.
Seeing as a good chunk of the Xbox One game library is already discounted thanks to the Ultimate Game Sale, this regular weekly sale isn't as big as it usually is. Even so, some worthy deals can be found. For instance, Hitman: GotY Edition is on sale for $30 / £22.50. With a sequel launching on November 13, now is a great time to buy this edition, which includes everything that came in the regular game, plus extra missions, Escalation Contracts, weapons, outfits, and more.
Anime fans can pick up Dragon Ball Xenoverse for $10 / £10 and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for $18 / £15. While you're at it, you may want to check out the visually stunning Zelda-like game Okami HD while it's on sale for $14 / £11.
For a couch co-op game with a twist, you can get Screencheat on sale for $5 / £4. It's a split-screen FPS in which everyone is invisible. To figure out where your opponents are, you have to glance at their section of the screen to see what they're seeing, just like cheaters used to do in the GoldenEye 007 days.
You'll find a few more noteworthy games on sale in Microsoft's weekly Xbox One deals below. For the full list, plus the week's Xbox 360 deals, head over to Major Nelson's blog.
Following the Splinter Cell missions with Sam Fisher, Ghost Recon: Wildlands is crossing over with yet another Tom Clancy franchise: Rainbow Six. We already spent several hours with the update--which is available now on all platforms--and toward the end of the content we discovered a tongue-in-cheek reference to Rainbow Six: Patriots, one of Ubisoft's notorious cancelled projects. Spoilers follow for Ghost Recon: Wildlands' new update.
In addition to a new permadeath difficulty and updates to its PvP mode, Wildlands' newest free DLC update brings several characters from Rainbow Six Siege to open-world Bolivia. After discovering the scene of a firefight in which several Cartel members didn't make it out alive, you're introduced to Valkyrie, a fan-favorite character from Siege. She informs you that a small contingent from Team Rainbow is in Bolivia searching for one of their lost members: the Brazilian operator Caveira.
After helping Caveira rescue her brother from the hands of the Cartel, you extract them to one of Ghost Recon's outposts. During the car ride, your Ghost asks Twitch--the French drone specialist from Siege-- about an "Operation Patriots" that was rumored to have "gone south." In the video above, you can hear Twitch's response, and the rest of Ubisoft's self-aware reference to its cancelled project from 2013, which eventually evolved into what we now know as Siege.
The new Rainbow Six crossover mission is the next in a series of free updates Ubisoft has added to its open-world military shooter. You can watch more of the DLC here with Aaron Sampson and Mike Mahardy, and read our full Ghost Recon: Wildlands review here.
Alright guys, Comic-Con is over for 2018, so it's time to get back to watching movies and shows on Netflix. This week, there are a bunch of titles coming to the streaming giant, including a lot of Originals from the streaming giant.
Perhaps the most exciting original coming to Netflix this week is Season 6 of Orange Is The New Black, which will be released on Friday. After the dramatic conclusion of Season 5, many fans are really looking forward to seeing what will happen next.
Some other originals coming to Netflix include shows like Roman Empire: Reign Of Blood (July 27), and Iliza Shlesinger's new stand-up special, Elder Millennial (July 24).
As far as non-Originals go, there are a few movies coming to Netflix this week including Her, the futuristic love story starring Joaquin Phoenix, and The Company Men starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. Season 8 of Shameless is also hitting the service this week.
Check below if you'd like to see the complete list of everything coming to Netflix this week, or if you're looking for something more comprehensive, head over to our complete list of everything coming to Netflix in July. We don't yet know what's coming in August, but that list should be coming along soon, given that the end of July is in sight.
Arriving On Netflix This Week
July 22
An Education
Bolt
July 24
The Warning- Netflix Original Film
Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millennial- Netflix Original
July 27
Cupcake & Dino - General Services- Netflix Original
Extinction-Netflix Original
Orange Is the New Black: Season 6-Netflix Original
Roman Empire: Reign of Blood: Master of Rome- Netflix Original
The stylized military action worlds of the Tom Clancy brand are colliding, as a special event in Ghost Recon Wildlands brings in characters from Rainbow Six Siege. You can use two new Siege-inspired PvP classes or complete a two-part PvE mission starring Siege's operators.
In the mission from Special Operation 2, titled Operation Archangel, Valkyrie tracks the missing operator Caveira to Bolivia. You'll partner with Twitch to help Valkyrie find Caveira, while unlocking the mystery of why he's in Bolivia at all. You can start the mission in the province of Caimanes, and it can be taken on solo or with four-player co-op.
Completing the mission before August 14 will get you Caveira gloves, which unlocks a special CQC move and automatically unlocks enemy positions. You can also customize your Ghost character with a Rainbow Six Gear pack, which includes Caveria's Luison handgun, a new HK 416 assault rifle, a Valkyrie head-wrap shemagh, and a Twitch skull balaclava.
Two new Ghost War PvP classes are also available. Toxic and Surgeon are inspired by Smoke and Doc from Siege, respectively. Toxic uses a drone to deploy toxic smoke, and Surgeon uses a stim pistol to revive teammates at range. The update also includes two more PvP maps, Factory and Checkpoint, a new Observer mode for spectating, and a higher difficulty PvE game mode with perma-death.
By Anonymous on Jul 24, 2018 11:20 pm EA didn't force BioWare to make a multiplayer shooter with Anthem; meanwhile, the Fallout 76 beta is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC in October.
The big new update for No Man's Sky, dubbed Next, makes what appears to be a huge number of changes and additions. At least on paper, it's a dramatic overhaul for numerous areas. While these new mechanics and gameplay elements--along with multiplayer--are the most exciting components of the free update, developer Hello Games has also given the game a visual makeover.
As detailed in a blog post outlining all of the changes and patch notes, Hello shows how it has improved the graphics of No Man's Sky. This includes "massively improved draw distance," allowing you to see further into the horizon, and "new dynamic tessellation [that] enable detailed terrain height maps without sacrificing performance." The latter won't necessarily be available to everyone, as Hello notes that "tessellation will be rolling out in parity to all platforms that can support it very soon."
Although Hello lumps them in with the visual improvements, some of these changes are more than just visual enhancements. For instance, while it says the surfaces of planets "look more interesting and representative from orbit," the actual geography can now be different, too. Hello says that it's improved "planetary terrain generation [to] create more varied alien environments, featuring higher mountains and more navigable cave systems."
You can see some comparison images above and below (use the slider tool to see how things looked before and after the update). The changes also extend to out space, where you'll find asteroid rings around planets, among other improvements.
The need for a visual overhaul is not what held No Man's Sky back, and we'll be diving in to see how the gameplay additions stack up. But this is all a welcome addition to what's looking like a very nice set of changes for a free update.
This week's PlayStation Store sale is now live, meaning you can find a whole new set of PS4, PS3, and PS Vita games available at a discount. This week's selection isn't particularly large, but big discounts on a handful of noteworthy games are available. We've combed through the deals and highlighted some of the best ones below. Note that some of these require a PlayStation Plus membership.
No Man's Sky just got its big "Next" update, which adds a robust multiplayer component to the game, along with other improvements like "near-unlimited base building, command of freighter armadas," and more. It's on sale for $30, or $27 if you have PlayStation Plus.
Anyone looking for a co-op shooter that gets frequent updates can pick up Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands for $20. Alternately, the Gold Edition (regularly $100) is on sale for $33; it comes with the game's two big expansions, plus a bunch of additional in-game extras.
Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2 is a four-pack of games that usually costs $50, but is on sale for $12 for PS Plus members. It contains Bleed 2, The Coma: Recut, Slayaway Camp: Butcher's Cut, and The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human. The unrelated indie darling Crypt of the Necrodancer is also on sale for $3, down from $15.
The upcoming platformer Guacamelee 2 just got a release date (August 21), and PS Plus members can pre-order it for $16 instead of its usual $20. We have a few more selections listed below, but you can find the full list of PlayStation Store deals here.
No Man's Sky's big Next update is now available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The free update makes sweeping visual improvements and introduces a number of much-requested features to the ambitious sci-fi exploration game, including multiplayer, enhanced base building, a third-person perspective, and more.
Multiplayer is the most significant addition to No Man's Sky. Now, players are able to form a small team with friends or other random players and explore the universe together. Developer Hello Games says players are also able to fight with friends and foes in "epic space battles," as well as race exocraft together across planets.
As previously mentioned, base building has also been overhauled in the Next update. Now, players are able to own multiple bases, which can be constructed anywhere on a planet. The complexity and size limits of the bases you're able to build have also been "dramatically" increased, while "hundreds" of new base parts have been introduced to the game.
Additionally, the Next update introduces the ability to command freighters. Players can now assemble and upgrade a fleet of frigates, then send them out into the universe or use them to help explore a particular system. Players can also invite friends on board to embark on multiplayer missions together from the Galactic Commission Station.
Finally, the Next update overhauls nearly every facet of No Man's Sky's visuals. Hello Games says it has "dramatically improved planetary terrain generation, ground textures, water, and clouds." Ships, NPCs, and buildings have likewise received visual improvements, and the entire game is now playable from either a first-person or third-person perspective, both on-foot and in spaceships.
You can find the full patch notes for the update on the game's official website. Next is the fourth major update No Man's Sky has received since it first launched back in 2016, but it won't be the extent of the content coming to the title. Hello Games says it plans to continue supporting No Man's Sky with weekly missions and events, the first of which are slated to kick off next week.
Semblance is a game that relies on your enjoyment of the satisfying feeling that comes with the act of reshaping objects and environments. The game's world and its unnamed blobby protagonist are as malleable as playdough, and it's up to you to restore this world after it is infected by another harder, sharper race of blob. It's thin on plot justification, but that's fine--Semblance is a solid puzzle-platformer with a great hook and well-designed levels.
The game has you solve level-manipulation puzzles to collect numerous scattered orbs floating just outside of your reach. When you come across an orb, the camera will zoom out so that every piece of the landscape you need to solve the puzzle fits within a single screen, and it's up to you to figure out which platforms and walls to bend and shape to reach the orb. Levels are decorated using limited color palettes, but if a platform or wall has one consistent color tone, you can squish and deform it with your body.
Your character, a small indistinct blob, can move, jump, dash, and "reset" shifted pieces of the environment. Dashing allows you to shift or reshape platforms and dig crevices into larger parts of the level. You might need to dash into a suspended platform from below to push it up, creating a hump you can use to reach a higher ledge; alternatively, you might need to dash into the ground to create a hole so that a dangerous object moving on a set path through the level will pass over the top of you. At several points you can wall-jump by dashing into the platforms around you, creating little crevices to move between. It's all about finding ways to bend the environment into the shape you need it, with some mild platforming elements thrown in.
The puzzles in the game get much more complex over time with the addition of new obstacles and mechanics. In later levels, you're able to squash yourself flat, horizontally or vertically, which allows you to jump higher or further (like you're a frisbee being thrown around) and fit through narrow gaps, which leads to some great puzzle designs but also highlights the game's slightly fiddly controls. The blob's inertia is hard to come to grips with, and it's a little harder to move sideways in the air than it is in most platformers. It's easy to dash in the wrong direction during a jump, and on a few occasions, a platforming section seemingly became more difficult than necessary, because during a dash I'd deformed the platform I was meant to land on. Thankfully there's an option to reset the screen, but this can mean repeating a lot of steps during the more complicated puzzles.
Semblance is often frustrating, but solving a puzzle, and figuring out which step you've been missing in your process, can be very rewarding. Mid-way through the game you'll start to encounter lights that can snap objects back to their original form if they touch them. These lights are used for several clever puzzles; for example, you might need to press a platform down so that it touches a light below you, causing you to shoot into the air when the platform springs back into its original shape like you've just jumped on a trampoline. The game finds lots of inventive ways to deploy this trick throughout the game. There are a few moments where puzzle solutions are immediately obvious, or ideas get reused, but most screens require lateral thinking from the player. Insta-kill laser beams and fields that block your dash ability are also used to clever effect throughout.
Semblance is a charming experience, with a cute protagonist and nice sense of visual style, even if it never quite tips over into being properly beautiful. The art and sound design are both perfectly fine, but also quite repetitive over the course of the game. The game also tries to deliver story through vague cave paintings scrawled throughout the world, but there's not enough sense of place to make them worth paying close attention to. I also encountered a few glitches--I once got stuck inside a wall, and on another occasion I fell through the floor, hurtling through an endless void. A quick reset fixed these issues and I did not lose much progress, but there's a general pervasive stickiness to some of the game's surfaces that feels inconsistent, and this can be frustrating.
Semblance is a short game--you'll likely be finished within two or three hours, with the final area feeling particularly brief. This is a length that works perfectly well for some games, but Semblance feels like it should have more to offer--the ending arrives much faster than you'd expect after some build-up in the final level, and while the puzzles are clever and fun it feels like more could have been done to diversify the experience. Upon finishing the game it felt like something was missing.
Because it's so short, and the puzzles never get particularly fiendish, Semblance is an enjoyable but light experience. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--it's a relaxed game, a good one to clear over a few sessions in bed or on the train if you're playing on Switch--but it also means that it doesn't feel like the game realizes its full conceptual potential. But the fact that I desperately wanted more, and that I was disappointed when Semblance abruptly ended, says more about the game's strengths than its weaknesses. This is a good idea realized and executed well, even though you're likely to come away from it wishing for just a bit more.
During San Diego Comic-Con, many studios and publishers had their own activations, which showcase various upcoming products these companies are producing. Over at DC Comics, the publisher is gearing up for the launch of its streaming service, DC Universe, which will have TV shows and movies the company has made over the years and new, original series you can only watch on the service.
At the activation, DC had sections related to each of the new shows that will be appearing on the DC Universe app. These include Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing, Young Justice, Harley Quinn, and Titans. Each one of these sections related to the series primarily with the tone. Doom Patrol's section was weird and quirky, while Swamp Thing's was horror. Additionally, there was a section for the Batman comic story "Court of Owls," along with some props from the '90s Batman films. Here's what we saw at the DC activation.
Additionally, there were props from some classic Batman movies in the activation from Batman, Batman Returns, and Batman & Robin, all of which will be on the DC Universe service.
Batman Props
Batman Props
Batman Props
Batman Props
Batman Props
Harley Quinn Section
In this part of the activation, you get into a jumpsuit and get to smash a bunch of stuff in a room. It took a long time to set up.
Harley Quinn Section
Titans Section
In the Titans room, an investigator wants you to find clues in Dick Grayson's loft in order to find out what's happened to him.
Titans Section
Swamp Thing Section
Because the show has a horror slant, the section of the DC Activation did as well. It was dark, atmospheric, and had a few scares. Here's the entrance to it as it was too dark to take pictures while inside.
Swamp Thing Section
Doom Patrol Section
We're still trying to wrap our heads around this one. It was a laboratory filled with mad scientists who wanted you to drink and eat experimental foods.
Doom Patrol Section
Doom Patrol Section
Doom Patrol Section
Young Justice Section
In this area, you filled out a questionnaire on a computer screen to find out which superhero you are.
Young Justice Section
Young Justice Section
Court Of Owls Section
This area captured the essence of the Batman story pretty well. While it was dimly lit, While it was low-lighting, we did get a few pictures of what you saw in this smaller section.
In a huge surprise, Disney revealed that animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is getting a Season 7. The news was shared at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, where fans got their first look at an older Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka in a new trailer, which you can watch below. A total of 12 new episodes of the animated series are officially coming to Disney's upcoming streaming service, although a specific release date has not yet been announced.
After being canceled on Cartoon Network, the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars returned for a sixth season on Netflix. The final season was shorter than the five that proceeded it and left many of supervising director Dave Filoni's stories unresolved, such as the fate for Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Maul, and Asajj Ventress. Several authors picked up those plot lines and wrote them into novels, such as Star Wars: Ahsoka and Star Wars: Dark Disciple, but viewers were left with more questions than answers.
Based on the SDCC trailer, The Clone Wars' seventh season seems to pick up close to the start of Revenge of the Sith. Anakin and Obi-Wan are called in to take a hologram call, only to see that it's with Anakin's former apprentice Ahsoka and Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze. In Ahsoka, we learn that Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka reunite on Mandalore after Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Order. The three, along with Clone Captain Rex and Commander Cody, go on to fight together in one last battle: the Siege of Mandalore.
Near the end of the siege, Anakin and Obi-Wan are called away to return to Coruscant to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, kidnapped by General Grievous. The two Jedi leave Ahsoka behind and in charge of Anakin's 501st Legion of clone troopers. It's at this point that the three's paths diverge, with Anakin and Obi-Wan's rescue mission being the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith and Ahsoka's solo command during the Siege of Mandalore being the opening narration of Star Wars: Ahsoka. Ahsoka supposedly never meets Obi-Wan again, but discovers Darth Vader is her former master and faces off against him in the second season of Star Wars: Rebels.
It's still a mystery whether The Clone Wars Season 7 is entirely focused on the Siege of Mandalore or split between several different conflicts that occurred prior to the opening hours of Revenge of the Sith. If possible, we'd love to see more of Ahsoka and what happens to her between TheClone Wars and Rebels.
At SDCC 2018, Lucasfilm also announced new Star Wars' stories that will flesh out characters from the prequel era of the movies, like Padme and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Meet Wrecking Ball—a resourceful tinkerer that fights with an iron-clad mech.
EA didn't force BioWare to make a multiplayer shooter with Anthem; meanwhile, the Fallout 76 beta is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC in October.
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