If you're benchmarking different PC hardware components in a short period of time you can accidentally lock yourself out of games that use Electronic Arts' digital distribution platform Origin, the publisher has confirmed.
The news comes out of Guru 3D, where writer Hilbert Hagedoorn discovered he had locked himself out of Battlefield Hardline while running a graphics performance test using different graphics cards.
After using a "handful" of graphics cards, he received a notification from Origin that too many computers have accessed his account's version of Battlefield Hardline. Hagedoorn thought that this was a new kind of digital rights management software associated with Battlefield Hardline, but Electronic Arts has since released a statement that this is a part of Origin in general.
"Origin authentication allows players to install a game on up to five different PCs every 24 hours," Electronic Arts said in a statement. "Players looking to benchmark more than five hardware configurations in one 24 hour period can contact our Customer Support team who can help."
It's not going to be an issue for most players, but at least now you know that if you're going to be testing a lot of new PC hardware components, you'll need to contact EA's Customer Support team first.
Mortal Kombat X's gory fatalities are a gruesome sight, but have you ever thought about the work that goes into creating the sound effects for them? Turns out, that process is almost as gross as the fatalities themselves.
Yesterday, Mortal Kombat X developer NetherRealm held a live broadcast, "Kombatcast," where it offered some new information about the fighting game as well as a look behind the scene.
During the broadcast, NetherRealm showed some of the foley work (the process of recording sound effects) that went into the game. In the video, which you can see above, NetherRealm developers use green goo, a plunger, and some other tools to create the gross, goopy sounds you'll hear during Fatalities. NetherRealm added that it destroys a lot of vegetables, fruits, and nuts with hammers to create other sound effects.
NetherRealm also discusses how it created the game's music and other improvements it's introducing to Mortal Kombat X, so the video is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the series.
Update: The second wave of tickets--equal in size to the first--went on sale overnight and was gone even more quickly. By 10:04 PM Pacific, all tickets to The International were sold out, meaning it took a total of just 10 minutes for all 2015 International tickets to be sold. Unfortunately, we're already seeing some people resell their tickets on eBay, though it remains to be seen if Valve will do anything to prevent this from happening.
Original Story: If you're the sort of person who takes six minutes to blink, you may have just missed your chance at the first wave of tickets for The International, Dota 2's wildly popular championship tournament.
After going on sale today at 10 AM Pacific, the first half of the tickets that will be available for the event were gone by 10:06, Valve has announced. Last year, it took an hour for all of the 10,000 tickets available to be gone.
The second--and final--wave of tickets for this year's tournament will go on sale later today, at 10 PM Pacific. You can place an order (or at least try) on Ticketmaster's website.
There are no assigned seats, and all tickets are available for the same price of $99. Buyers are limited to five per household, a limit that carries across waves.
This year's International takes place August 3-8 at KeyArena in Seattle, WA, the city that's hosted the last three tournaments. Last year, the prize pool eclipsed a whopping $10 million.
I'm not what you would call a veteran of From Software's games. I first played Dark Souls while livestreaming the entire endeavour, so I had a troupe of viewers offering me advice, and laughing at my literal pitfalls, as I crept through Lordran. I absorbed Dark Souls II in discrete chunks over a series of press preview events--a scenario too fractured to form a coherent picture of Drangleic. I feel as though Bloodborne is my first true Souls experience. I'm going in blind, and--as I'm playing before the multiplayer servers come online--there's no one around to help me.
That sense of isolation dictated my playstyle in the previous games. Even with a Twitch audience, Dark Souls' world was scary, and its combat pacing entirely foreign to me. My natural reaction was to equip myself with a sword and shield from the outset. After all, defence equals safety, right? I could hide behind my shield from any of the Undead Burg's lumbering residents, and catch arrows and crossbow bolts in its wooden frame. I crept forward slowly, shield always raised, and tended to take two steps back every time a skeleton took a swing at me.
You can imagine how this would make for slow progress through the game. However, it gave me time to study my enemies, learn their attack patterns, and use the shield bash to parry their strikes and follow up with a riposte. I could parry almost every strike. What resulted was a playstyle wholly focused on being reactive, rather than making the first move.
Imagine my horror when I discovered there was no shield on offer in Bloodborne's initial equipment choices. Imagine my double horror when I found out that the health regain system meant that survival encouraged aggressive action. In removing the sword and board, Bloodborne removed the only way I knew how to play the Souls games. From what I understand, it was a playstyle that was considered a somewhat amateur way to play, too. So, with threaded cane and blunderbuss equipped, I ventured into Yharnam with a timidness brought about by my assumed vulnerability.
In removing the sword and board, Bloodborne removed the only way I knew how to play the Souls games.
The first thing I needed to get past was my own fear. Dark Souls and its sequel have scary moments--such as the Capra Demon's appearance in the former, or the pitch-black hallways of the latter--but I've never been particularly scared of its enemy designs. The fear in those games comes through the mechanics--it's a fear of losing souls, and progress. That's still present in Bloodborne, but the enemies themselves are far more monstrous. They scream at you with ungodly howls, and the beast-folks' unnervingly detailed body hair accentuates every swipe of their sharp claws. Without a shield, my natural reaction is to run, but that's the opposite of what Bloodborne wants. So I keep them at a safe distance by emptying my blunderbuss' quicksilver bullets into them at fast as the weapon will reload.
The first time I stagger a half-man, half-wolf doing this is a turning point. He falls to his knees, and I follow up with a visceral attack that results in much literal viscera, along with massive damage. I have just learned that my gun is basically a shield with ammo. Dark Souls' parry and riposte is there, just in a limited supply. In a way, the blunderbuss is actually safer than a shield--if you mis-time a shield bash in Dark Souls, you're going to get hit by the enemy's incoming attack. If you mis-time a stagger in Bloodborne by firing too early, you're still going to interrupt the enemy. And here, the cost isn't stamina, but readily-available quicksilver bullets. I imagine my character looking at her blunderbuss with a mixture of shock and awe upon this realisation.
Suddenly, Bloodborne's enemies aren't so scary. I'm no longer waiting for them to come to me, but I'm closing the ground--willingly, for a change--and baiting them into a strike. Those big ogres that try to squash you with a massive brick? Dead with one parry attack. Father Gascoigne? Straight to third form with a couple of parry attacks.
I've also learned to do something that I never thought I'd be capable of in the first two Souls games: run past everything. There's a childish glee to be had upon realising that most of the game's enemies aren't all that quick on their feet. I figured out direct routes to the Cleric Beast and Vicar Amelia that don't require me to make a single strike, or take a single hit. I've become more focused on identifying environmental constraints, such as available rolling space, than keeping an eye on my character's stamina and health bars.
I feel now that I'm playing Bloodborne in the way that Souls veterans do. There's a confidence and cockiness to my movements that I had never thought I'd be capable of exhibiting in these games. Central Yharnam is no longer a scary place crawling with crazed citizens; it's where I go if I need to collect a few bullets and blood vials quickly. The scythe-wielding witches of the Frontier are just a roar of my blunderbuss away from no longer being an obstacle.
I begin to wonder if all this time my sword and shield build was weighing me down. It has taken multiple things to get to that realisation: the time to discover Bloodborne's intricacies on my own, without a Twitch audience, without the constraints of a press event, and without walkthroughs to turn to. Most of all, it has taken a game that hasn't just encouraged me to try a new play style, but required it. Bloodborne may just be the first From Software game that I truly click with. And you know what? I haven't even used the wooden shield I found.
Typing of the Dead: Overkill will now let you type zombies to death with words of your choosing, Sega has announced.
Typing of the Dead: Overkill plays just like a light gun game you'd find at an arcade, but instead of pointing and shooting at zombies you type in specific words that appear on screen in order to kill them. With the Custom Dictionaries update, players can create their own list of words that will appear in the game, and offer them to others through Steamworks.
Basically, all you have to do is create a text file with a list of words and add it to the game. You can find instructions on how to do this here.
Players are already adding their own dictionaries to the game, and as you'd expect, using them for nefarious means. One user has created a "Social Justice dictionary," which includes racist, sexist, and anti-semitic words. At the time of writing, the mod was still available to download.
Sega and developer Modern Dream has done a great job of supporting Typing of the Dead: Overkill since it was first released in 2013. They've released several pieces of DLC which let you play the game with different dictionaries, like the Shakspeare DLC, and the foul-mouthed Filth DLC.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin's release is nearly here, as is its convoluted, tiered pricing system.
If you're planning to buy Scholar of the First Sin on Xbox One or PS4 (releasing April 7), the price is simple: $60. If you're on PC (releasing April 1), things are a bit more complicated, as there are four possible price points.
There are two different PC versions of Scholar of the First Sin: DirectX 9 and DirectX 11, each of which will have its own Steam store listing. The latter offers a variety of new features and--assuming your PC can handle it--is the more desirable version. As such, the DX9 version is priced at $40, and the DX11 version is priced at $50.
However, if you already own Dark Souls II and its DLC on Steam, and your computer can't handle DX11, there's no point in upgrading to the newer version, as an update released last month on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 will have already provided you with the full DX9 Scholar of the First Sin experience.
If your PC is DX11-capable, upgrading to Scholar of the First Sin costs $30. That is, unless you have all of the DLC already, in which case the price is $20.
In short:
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin Xbox One/PS4: $59.99
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 9): $39.99
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 11): $49.99
DirectX 11 Upgrade price for existing owners of Dark Souls II on Steam: $29.99
DirectX 11 Upgrade price for existing owners of Dark Souls II and all DLC on Steam: $19.99
As for transferring your save data over, that doesn't have a single answer, either. Players staying on Xbox 360, PS3 or the DX9 version can move their saves, whereas those going from any of those versions to the Xbox One, PS4, or DX11 versions cannot.
Additionally, these two groups of players (last-gen consoles/DX9 and current-gen/DX11) can't play with each other online due to changes that Scholar of the First Sin introduces, such as enemy spawns and item locations. For more about what's new, check out our chat with producer Atsuo Yoshimura.
Bandai Namco also provided minimum and recommended system specs for the DX9 and DX11 versions of Scholar of the First Sin, which you can find below.
Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (DirectX 9)
Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2GHz / Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E8500 3.17GHz
Memory: 2GB RAM
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 9600GT / ATI Radeon HD5870
DirectX: 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
Hard Drive: 12GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 sound device
Additional Notes: Controller support: Microsoft Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (or equivalent) recommended
Three separate instances of swatting are being attributed to a 13-year-old boy who plays Minecraft, according to local police.
The name of the boy, who is from Southern California, is not being released due to his age. According to Ars Technica, he is now back in his parents' custody and is set to appear in juvenile court in April, where he's said to likely be put on probation.
Detective Gene Martinez of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, who spoke with Ars, said that the boy has admitted to being responsible, and that "he felt he was wronged." In one of these cases, he threatened to blow up a house with hostages inside.
"The Camarillo incident there were 20-plus officers there. I was at that call. We basically surrounded the house. The caller reported there were 10 hostages in the house and demanded $30,000 in cash or he would blow up the house," Martinez said. "Whenever there is a hostage situation, we activate specialized units to respond."
Swatting is the dangerous trend in recent years of making a prank call to police that results in SWAT teams being dispatched to a victim's home. We've seen this happen with gamers a number of times, including earlier this year with Twitch streamer Joshua Peters who later spoke about the experience.
"I had police point a gun at my little brothers because of you," Peters said in an online message to the culprit in February. "They could have been shot, they could have died because you chose to swat my stream."
The penalties for swatting are serious. Although probation sounds like a light punishment in this latest case, that's only due to the boy's age; 19-year-old Brandon Wilson was arrested last month on suspicion of swatting and faces up to five years in jail if he's found guilty.
Mortal Kombat X will introduce a feature that allows players to more easily pull off the series' signature finishing moves, Fatalities.
For many, Fatalities are the highlight of any Mortal Kombat game, but they can be tricky to pull off. At the end of a match, you're given a limited amount of time to get into the correct positioning and input a series of button presses to initiate a Fatality. Fail to do so in time and the match will simply end, or screw up the inputs and you're likely to end the match on a simple punch or kick, which I know I'm guilty of doing countless times.
That's where MKX's new "easy Fatality" feature comes in. During the most recent NetherRealm Studios live stream, community specialist Tyler Lansdown confirmed fans' suspicions that a small skull seen near the bottom of the screen in previous videos was related to easy Fatalities.
"Now, we've learned through years and years of study that there are a lot of people who just can't pull off Fatalities, or they get freaked out or they can't figure out the timing," Lansdown said. "So when the game launches, you'll have a couple of those--maybe three of them--day one. You'll have those just to use and do easy Fatalities on.
"There are certain places you can unlock those and things like that. So you'll always have access to easy Fatalities--if you want to use them."
Also during the live stream, it was confirmed that Goro--who is available as a playable character if you preorder--will be sold as DLC in the future. This was already widely assumed, as it's the standard route for DLC given away as a preorder bonus.
The reviews are in, and it looks like Bloodborne is a great excuse to get a PlayStation 4 if you don't have one already.
If the PlayStation 4-exclusive has finally convinced you to get the console, Amazon has a great deal. For $400, you'll get a PlayStation 4, a copy of Bloodborne, a $20 Amazon gift card, and copy of The Last of Us Remastered. You can find the deal on Amazon here.
GameSpot's review gave Bloodborne a rare 9/10 for its agile, precise combat, fantastic artistry, and interconnected world.
Halo Returns to PC With Halo Online, But Only in Russia for Now: One of the week's biggest pieces of news was one we did not see coming. A Russia-only Halo game for PC? Crazy! There's no word yet on if it's coming to North America, but you can watch a gameplay trailer here.
Batman: Arkham Knight Release Date Delayed Again:It happened again, but thankfully, this delay is a short one. The new Caped Crusader game from Rocksteady has been pushed a couple of weeks from its previously schedule June 2 release to a new launch date of June 23. At least there's an epic new gameplay trailer to enjoy.
Batman: Arkham Due Remastered for PS4 and Xbox One, Report Claims:A new report this week claimed that Rocksteady's first two Batman Arkham games, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, will be getting remastered versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This is unconfirmed at the moment, so take this with a grain of salt for now.
THE OTHER STUFF:
Want to try BioWare's Mass Effect 3? You're in luck, as BioWare is now offering a free, one-hour trial of the 2012 game for PlayStation 3. The only catch is that you need a PlayStation Plus membership.
It's not Star Wars: Battlefront, but a new Star Wars game is out this week. Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions is available now for iOS, Android, and Windows devices. The game, a side-scrolling mobile action-platformer set in the Star Wars Rebels universe, lets you play as characters from the TV show.
The New York Times has an excellent, in-depth story on the controversial topic of online gamer "swatting." It's a comprehensive, deep dive into the issue, featuring lots of interviews and more. Read it here.
Good news, Resident Evil fans! The long-awaited, Resident Evil 5 "Gold Edition" content is now available on PC through Steam. Anyone who already owns the standard Resident Evil 5 through Steam or a boxed copy of the Games for Windows Live version can get a free Steamworks copy now and then buy the Gold Edition content for $15. Other bundles are available, too.
Are Call of Duty games actually about duty? That's the topic that the PBS "Game/Show" tackled this week. The full episode, which is well worth a watch if you're interested in the subject, is available below.
Looking for something new to play this weekend? After years of development following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Fallout developer Obsidian Entertainment's role-playing game Pillars of Eternity is out now on PC. Buy it now on Steam or through the game's website.
"From burnout to beer and playgrounds." That's the title of this excellent GamesIndustry International interview with BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk. Curious about his post-BioWare life? You'll want to read this, for sure.
Good times for Clash of Clans developer Supercell, as yearly profits for 2014 were double what they were last year. Impressive! The success is the result of strong performance for the company's marquee free-to-play games, including Clash of Clans and Boom Beach.
The Best Dad Ever™ has spent $100,000 to recreate Jurassic Park in LEGO form for his eight-year-old daughter. D'awwww.
Maybe you saw the recent story that claimed to have some information about Rock Band 4's tracklist? Well, it's not accurate, according to Harmonix's Eric Pope. Some of the rumored tracks included Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" and "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore.
speaking of Rock Band 4 this list of songs is completely false! http://t.co/EKmjjYf6g1 CMON KPOPSTARZ
Whoa, man. Majora's Mask mixed with Donnie Darko actually works? Yes, it does.
Want to learn English or Spanish using your Xbox One? Now you can. Rosetta Stone has released a free "Discover Languages" app for Microsoft's new console that promises "immersive simulation." It's actually a pretty neat idea;."Virtual travel experiences teach you the vocabulary and grammar necessary for real-world interactions. So before you book a flight to a foreign destination, grab your controller."
Looking for a deal on Skylanders, Disney Infinity, or amiibo? GameStop has you covered. Today (March 28) and tomorrow, GameStop is rolling out a suite of deals on the toys-to-life category. Check out a breakdown of everything on sale below.
$20.00 off Skylanders Trap Team starter packs (PS4, XB1, XB360, PS3, WiiU, Wii, 3DS, Tablet)
$5.00 off Skylanders Eon's Elite figures
Free Skylanders Giants 3-pack with any new Skylanders purchase of $19.99 or more
$25.00 off Disney Infinity Starter Pack (XB360, PS3, 3DS, WiiU, Wii)
$35.00 off Disney Infinity Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack 2.0 (PS4, XB1, PS3, XB360, WiiU)
$20.00 off Disney Infinity play sets
$90.00 off Disney Infinity Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack 2.0 collector's edition (PS4, PS3)
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a prediction for the future, and it's a dark one. "Like people including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the future is scary and very bad for people," he says in a new interview. "If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they'll think faster than us and they'll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently." What do you think?
LEGO fans, this one's for you. Warner Bros. and TT Games this week released the latest LEGO game, LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin. The game is now available across the United States for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The game, of course, is based on the LEGO Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu TV series.
PC gaming company Razer is bolstering its board. The company this week announced that Mr. Koh Boon Hwee has joined the firm's board of directors. Koh previously served as the chairman of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Telecom Group, and the DBS Bank Singapore.
Want to go inside the mind of veteran Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono? Now you can...kind of. Capcom has published a lengthy interview with the well-known developer, covering topics like the company's move into China and tons more. Read the full thing here.
Here's a pretty excellent piano/guitar cover of Dragon Age: Inquisition's theme music.
Looking for a good deal on a mobile game? You're in luck, as a variety of 2K Games mobile titles have been marked down. Here's what's on sale through April 5:
What does Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski think about VR? We now have a much better idea, as the veteran game developer has published a lengthy blog post on the subject. Something to consider, though, is that--being an early round investor in Oculus VR-- he has a vested interest in seeing the technology succeed.
The second part of the Pillars of Eternity documentary, which chronicles the game's development--including its wildly successful Kickstarter and development process--is now available. Called "Road to Eternity," you can watch it for free right here.
38 Studios has been closed for years now, but Curt Schilling's failed game company is still making headlines--but not for much longer. The final 38 Studios auction was held this week in Rhode Island. PC monitors and more were sold.
Want to sleep with Assassin's Creed?Now you can, by way of this Assassin's Creed Unity-themed bedroom set, which includes a pillowcase, sheets, and more.
Indie developer Fatshark has released a new gameplay trailer for Bloodsports.TV, a new "Gladiator-style" arena game coming to PC. Check out the trailer here to see what it's all about.
The first phase of this boss fight involves fending off a herd of bulb-headed creatures. At first, it might not seem like you're not doing significant damage, but you'll notice the boss' lifebar decrease with nearly every kill. If you rely a lot on the lock-on, you might find that leaving it off for most of this fight will let you hit more enemies in a single blade swing. It's a roomy area, so feel free to back up once in a while to heal, regain stamina, and tighten the crowds of enemies.
The real boss appears once its lifebar is reduced to about 50%. It's arms might not look long relative to the rest of its body, but since it's much larger than its minions, its reach is surprisingly long. If it manages to hit you with a three-swing combo, be ready to retreat and heal. Conversely, avoiding the combo will give you an opening to unleash a series of quick attacks for as long as you have stamina. Eventually it will change into its hairier form, which gives it ranged attack powers. These are easy to prepare for since the glowing light preceding each attack is obvious. These can simply be avoided with dodges to the side. Like its combos, a well-dodged beam will leave the Emissary open to quick attacks.
The key defensive strategy is to use the man-made terrain to your advantage. You can back up and lure the Emissary and its minions to the higher sections of the area and then escape with a drop to the lower sections. The Emissary might drop down to follow you, but the minions most likely won't. This will give you some 1-on-1 time with the Emissary.
Darkbeast Paarl resides where Old Yharnam and Yahar'Gul, Unseen Village meet. This lanky, bolt-enhanced boss is shifty, but he's also prone to collapsing given its long legs. When Darkbeast Paarl is on its feet, it's best to avoid its front as it specializes in wide, sweeping attacks. But if you pummel it enough with a combo of hits, you will get Darkbeast Paarl to collapse, which is when you should definitely be at its front, namely close to its head. Even without a bullet to stun it, Darkbeast Paarl's head is vulnerable to visceral attacks. Other than that, just be ready to keep up with strafing motions and don't let its screams intimidate you. The latter is mostly for show.
MGM today published the first trailer for this year's 007 movie, Spectre, and it gives us a lot to think about.
One line in particular stands out to me. "You've got a secret. Something you can't tell anyone, because you don't trust anyone," Moneypenny says to Bond at the beginning of the spot. What do you make of that?
Here's the official plot description for Spectre:
"A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre."
What do you make of the trailer? Let us know in the comments below!
Spectre, which also stars Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Bautista and Academy Award-winning actor Christoph Waltz, opens on November 6, 2015. The movie is being directed by Sam Mendes, who was also behind 2012's blockbuster Skyfall.
Looking for more Spectre content? Check out this behind-the-scenes video that shows the difficult--yet rewarding--job of shooting an action sequence on top of a mountain.
The fate of the James Bond video game series is unclear. Call of Duty publisher Activision is thought to have dropped the license, and it's unclear if anyone picked it up.
The path to optional boss Martyr Logarius is not an obvious one. Starting from the large roof in Castle Cainhurst, the route involves dropping down to seemingly inaccessible areas of the castle as well as hugging the sides of a couple spires. Do that, and you'll reach Martyr Logarius.
Not since the Blood-starved Beast has a battle been this fierce, which makes defeating Martyr Logarius all the more satisfying. This rooftop is filled with spires, which are meant for you to take momentary refuge to quickly heal and avoid Logarius' ranged attacks. In the same way you can attack through some of the game's collision, so too can this phantom king. The smokey red skulls in his spread attack can often be avoided using the spires, but an occasional skull will sneak through, so don't get comfy. It takes practice, but a well-timed roll toward the spread attack can often be effective. If he hits you with the more concentrated giant skull attack, be ready to retreat and heal.
He might be three times your size, but Logarius is best addressed using melee attacks. This will prevent him from using ranged attacks and if there is a little distance between you two, you have an opening to trigger a visceral attack. If you're quick with your melee attacks, you can interrupt many of his own blade assaults. Just keep one eye on your stamina.
If the first half of this duel lets you experiment with the visceral attack, the second half is an ideal case of placing faith in the regain system. Like a heavyweight boxing match consisting of an even trade of blows, you can knock a good chunk of life off Logarius by relying on quick attacks with the shortened version of your melee weapon. Trust the regain system, deal a combination of quick attacks, and retreat behind a spire to heal. No matter how good you are with the regain system, Logarius will take down your health, so be mindful of your HP and your blood vial inventory.
Just because the first expansion for Dragon Age: Inquisition--Jaws of Hakkon--launched first on Xbox One and PC, doesn't mean it's not coming to PlayStation 4. The content will indeed be released on Sony's new console, and BioWare is planning to announce more details about the PS4 release sometime next week.
"Jaws of Hakkon is a timed exclusive for the Xbox One and PC (through Origin). This approach allowed for a lot of support from Microsoft and Origin in launching the DLC, so [it] did have that benefit for the team, and we appreciate the partnership," BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn said as part of a Kotaku Q&A session today.
"However, as a timed exclusive, it is definitely coming to the game's other platforms, and based on our internal discussions I expect we'll be announcing more details next week."
"I hope no one boycotts the purchase, as it's a pretty fun adventure that WILL be available on all platforms," he added. "That said, everyone is free to vote / message / communicate how they feel, so if that happens it happens. We're definitely paying attention."
So far, the Jaws of Hakkon expansion has been confirmed only for Xbox One, PC, and PS4. BioWare has not announced any plans to bring the DLC to last-generation consoles such as Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
In Jaws of Hakkon, players will "discover the fate of the last Inquisitor and the powerful dragon he hunted."
Set in an overgrown wilderness populated by the Avvar hunter people, the content will see players exploring an "ancient Tevinter fortress that hides a dangerous secret."
Gamers can also expect to face off against new enemies, and amass new legendary armor and weapons. Jaws of Hakkon concludes with a battle against an "ancient god of war bent on destroying the world."
For more on Jaws of Hakkon, check out GameSpot's review and some images in the gallery below.
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
Nintendo's upcoming Legend of Zelda game for Wii U has been delayed. Previously expected to launch by the end of 2015, the game is now due to arrive sometime later. Veteran series producer Eiji Aonuma announced the news today in a video update posted to Nintendo's social media channels.
In addition, Nintendo confirmed on Twitter that it will not bring the game to E3 in June.
According to Aonuma, Nintendo recently discovered "several new possibilities" that could make Zelda a better game on Wii U. Thus, the company is taking more time to realize those ideas.
"Since I declared at the Game Awards in December that the game would launch in 2015, the directors and the many members of the development team have been working hard developing the game," Aonuma said. "In these last three months, as the team has experienced first-hand the freedom of exploration that hasn't existed in any Zelda game to date, we have discovered several new possibilities for this game."
"As we have worked to turn these possibilities into reality, new ideas have continued to spring forth, and it now feels like we have the potential to create something that exceeds my own expectations," he added. "As I have watched our development progress, I have come to think that rather than work with meeting a specific schedule as our main objective, and releasing a game that reflects only what we can create within that scheduled time, I feel strongly that our focus should be to bring all these ideas to life in a way that will make Zelda on Wii U the best game it can possibly be."
"So I must apologize to all of you who were expecting the game by year's end, but we are no longer making a 2015 release our number one priority. Instead, our priority is to make it the ultimate and most complete Zelda game. I hope to use the added time to make a Zelda on Wii U that will reward you for your patience. So thank you for your continued support."
The Legend of Zelda for Wii U was going to be one of Nintendo's biggest 2015 titles. The company still has more Wii U games for this year, of course, including Splatoon, Mario Maker, Star Fox, and Xenoblade Chronicles X, Yoshi's Woolly World, in addition to whatever surprises Nintendo may have in store at E3.
The delay for The Legend of Zelda Wii U comes just days after Nintendo announced two other major developments. First, the company has reached a deal with DeNA to finally bring its franchises to smartphones. Nintendo also has announced its next platform, which is codenamed "NX."
Owlchemy Labs, developer of the newly released PC game Dyscourse, has hidden caches of Steam keys across the United States, waiting to be found by intrepid treasure hunters.
There are 10 caches in all, although the location of one has already been shared: a tree trunk located on the Hawaii 2 island in Maine. At least so far, no one has retrieved the drive that's been placed there, which contains 100 Steam keys for Dyscourse.
As for the other nine, finding those will require some serious sleuthing. A website, allegedly run by an in-game character named Teddy, has been set up to provide hints. It was created in the guise of a '90s conspiracy site, complete with a tiled background featuring Mulder's "I Want to Believe" poster from The X-Files.
"Teddy" notes on the site that, if the caches aren't discovered "soon," he'll release "more general information at the risk of them being found easier, for the sake of spreading truth."
It's a clever way to promote the release of a game, certainly. Dyscourse, a choose-your-own-adventure game, was released earlier this week following a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $44,000. It's available now on Steam for $15.
InXile Entertainment faces a big challenge in bringing Wasteland 2--a game that's at home on PC, but doesn't necessarily lend itself to being played from a couch with a controller--to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In dealing with that, the developer says XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a game that it's keeping in mind.
"Their UI on console was the gold standard for handling a complex game in a way on console that was very satisfying," InXile's Brain Fargo told Eurogamer, referring to the Firaxis-developed XCOM. "We recognize that. We always look at the body of work that comes before us. We want to make sure we're looking at what gamers gravitate towards, and what they think is done right."
"[XCOM] is certainly a starting point for us," added Wasteland 2 lead Chris Keenan. "We want to make sure we have similar ease of use in controls."
Enemy Unknown was lauded for bringing what was a PC-style game to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (and later, mobile) in an approachable, easy-to-play way. And, like Wasteland 2, it was the revival of a long-dormant PC franchise (11 years in XCOM's case, and 26 for Wasteland).
However, Wasteland 2, as players of last year's PC version can attest, contains a tremendous amount of text for players to read, and more complex inventories to manage than in XCOM.
"We know, and everybody else has stated, that how this thing plays and the controls are going to make it or break it on console," Keenan said. "So we've been putting some good time into the controller, the inventory and what moves the camera versus the characters. You're going to be able to see a pretty big upgrade."
One such upgrade is allowing you to compare items from a vendor's screen without having to back out to your inventory. Keenan also said, "Anything that needs unique UI for console is getting its own special UI."
Regarding the previously announced visual upgrade coming to the game (both on PC and console), the character models and terrain are two points of emphasis. "Every single scene is getting basically a complete treatment," Keenan explained. "We're not starting from scratch, certainly, because we have a pretty good foundation to everything. But we're just going through and putting a little extra love into every scene."
You can see a comparison between the existing version and the upgraded version in the image above.
The console versions of Wasteland 2 don't yet have a firm release date, but Fargo mentioned that Keenan had promised "late summer" as the target--something that drew a laugh from Keenan, so you may not want to write that in stone just yet.
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