Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare players have killed 2,591,920,137 zombies in the game's Exo Zombies mode, developer Sledgehammer has announced.
Sledgehammer revealed the number in a new infographic that includes a bunch of other interesting figures collected from the game since it was released in November 3, 2014.
For example, if you've played the game's multiplayer mode you probably could have guessed that the most popular weapon type of choice among players is the assault rifle, followed by SMG, heavy, and sniper weapons.
Since launch, players have used 2,249,728,574 grenades. 44 percent of those were regular frag grenades, followed by semtex grenades, which accounted for 35 percent.
Players have also boosted enough times to circumnavigate the earth 14,000 times.
You can find the full infographic below.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's second expansion, Ascendance, is available now across Xbox One and Xbox 360. The add-on--which includes new maps, weapons, zombies content, and more--will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC in about one month, in accordance with Microsoft's exclusivity arrangement with Activision.
A 3D artist that goes by the name Game time has created a beautiful homage to the first BioShock in Crytek's CryEngine 3.
The short scene, which you can watch in the video above, recreates the opening of the game, when the player first enters the underwater city of Rapture through a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean.
The first BioShock was released in 2007, and was created with a heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 2.5. Needles to say, CryEngine 3, which was released in 2009 and is still used today to power games like Evolve and Star Citizen, gives BioShock a serious visual upgrade. Now that I've seen it, I kind of want a remastered BioShock.
"I loved working on this project, because it forced me to push myself further, having to learn Zbrush for the sculptures and becoming more involved with CryEngine's Trackview, Flowgraph and audio systems," Gametime said on the project's Art Station page. "I would like to further push this scene in the future by involving the player into the animations and extend the scene to Rapture itself."
If you watch any TV or online videos, odds are that you've seen one of the many advertisements for Game of War: Fire Age featuring Kate Upton. Those ads would appear to be a massive success, as the game now generates daily revenue of about $1 million, according to the LA Times.
The ads, featuring a Game of Thrones-y vibe and Kate Upton in a variety of low-cut outfits doing things like riding a horse or taking a bath, first showed up in November. They've since gone on to be aired more than 9,000 times, often during sporting events (as with the Super Bowl ad above) and other programming with heavy male viewership.
According to developer Machine Zone, the free-to-play game's in-app purchases--which range in price up to $100--have doubled since the advertising campaign started. This has come at a cost, as ad-tracking firm ISpot.tv estimates the airtime's price as $80 million.
Still, they've helped Game of War to stand out on the extremely crowded iOS and Google Play app stores, and to take hold of the second spot on the iOS App Store's chart for highest grossing games. It even topped Clash of Clans at one point to take the top spot, according to AppShopper, making it the only other game that can claim that recently.
Game of War is a multiplayer strategy game that plays similarly to Clash of Clans, allowing you to build an empire, team up with friends, and battle against other players. It was originally released back in July 2013.
Microsoft has announced that it will cease production of Kinect for Windows v2 sensors, but don't worry. The company will still support the device and you'll still be able to buy an Xbox One Kinect sensor and connect it to your PC with the $50 adapter Microsoft announced in October last year.
"Microsoft remains committed to Kinect as a development platform on both Xbox and Windows," the company said. "So while we are no longer producing the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor, we want to assure developers who are currently using it that our support for the Kinect for Windows v2 sensor remains unchanged and that they can continue to use their sensor."
The adapter is now available through the Microsoft Store. Combined with the $150 price of a standalone Xbox One Kinect brings the total price ($200) in line with that of the standalone Kinect for Windows v2 sensor. You'll get an equivalent experience no matter how you get Kinect hooked up to your computer, though you will need a USB 3.0 port and Windows 8 in order to make it happen.
"We are excited to continue working with the developer community to create and deploy applications that allow users to interact naturally with computers through gestures and speech, and continue to see the Kinect sensor inspire vibrant and innovative commercial experiences in multiple industries, including retail, education, healthcare, education, and manufacturing," Microsoft said.
The scene: it's right after the latest Nintendo Direct. I'm hunched over my laptop, humming with excitement over trailers for new Fire Emblem games. I love Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword was my first tactical role-playing game. I devoured every game in the series.
There were four years between the last two Fire Emblem games released in North America. I played 2013's Fire Emblem: Awakening like someone who had spent years trudging through the driest desert and suddenly came upon water. I played it through three times, only once on Classic permadeath mode, because I accidentally lost Donnel and there was no way in hell I was forging ahead without him and decided I couldn't bear to lose anyone else.
I am not a collector. I'm known to purchase the rare oddity of merchandise connected to video games and franchises I like, but I'm never of the mind to break the bank on them. I never cared for amiibo, but now they fill me with rage. It is the rage of someone who has loved and lost, through denial. If you don't care about amiibo, it's easy to dismiss others' fervor for them. That is, until you catch that fervor against your will.
I knew Lucina and Robin, the Fire Emblem amiibo, were coming for months. I had already missed out on Marth and Ike the first time around, because I was so swamped with life things that I missed pre-order windows. I eventually shrugged it off, thinking, "I don't need to spend $26 on these when I bills to pay." Right? RIGHT?
Back to the present. The morning after the Nintendo Direct I walk into work at nine. My desk neighbor, editor Peter Brown, tells me that GameStop pre-orders for the new amiibo start at noon. He already has the GameStop webpage open to the amiibo section.
I mean, there's no harm in just pre-ordering them. I'll pop the site open around noon, grab a Robin and Lucina, and then learn how to main them in Smash to justify the purchase. No big deal. They look pretty, I love the game, I love the characters, so what's $26, right?
But also going up for pre-order at noon was Ness, a GameStop exclusive amiibo. I do love Earthbound... If I'm going to buy two amiibo, I might as well through a third on there.
Fast forward four hours. Peter and I are tense in our seats, frantically refreshing a web page that has been displaying a maintenance message for an hour. Peter is quiet. I am a loud, angry mess, shouting at my screen, groaning, frantically checking NeoGAF and the amiibo subreddit and Twitter for news of what's going on. People are already Tweeting that Lucina and Robin are completely sold out. I feel sick. I shout across the office to News Editor Justin Haywald, who is having the same problem. He stares sullenly at the broken GameStop webpage, shaking his head. I refresh Twitter again. I send my boyfriend this text message:
But do I REALLY not care anymore?
In four hours I went from "maybe I would like these tiny plastic toys" to "I HATE EVERYTHING BECAUSE I CAN'T HAVE THESE TINY PLASTIC TOYS." But why? I'm normally a reasonable human being. But in the span of a morning, I went from feeling indifferent to amiibo to utterly outraged that I could not purchase the ones I want.
Most amiibo buyers fall into three types of categories: hardcode collectors that want them all, hardcore fans of certain franchises that just want one or two figures, and the casual who aren't that picky. I was firmly in the latter camp until the announcement of the Yoshi Yarn amiibo, which fueled my interest in the Fire Emblem amiibo and sent me into a tailspin of need. The people in the hardcore collectors and fans camps are the ones waiting outside brick-and-mortar retailers at 8 a.m. for a noon pre-order because this is their passion: they collect, it is their hobby. These tiny rare things enrich their lives. I argue that the hardcore collectors are more intense than the hardcore fans, as the hardcore fans aren't the ones spending $13 a pop on 50-plus amiibo.
But why are some of them so hard to find? Nintendo only manufactures a certain number of each amiibo. Therefore pre-orders of amiibo act differently than other pre-orders. Horribly, sadly, differently. Normally pre-orders are a way to inform retailers and companies how many units of a certain product to order. If the demand is there, the supply will increase. But with amiibo, it's like a restaurant reservation; there are a limited number of tables to sit at, so if you didn't make reservations fast enough won't be getting a fancy dinner that day, or in this case a tiny plastic toy.
Last December, Nintendo issued a statement saying the scarcity of some characters is deliberate. "We will aim for certain amiibo to always be available. These will be for our most popular characters like Mario and Link," reads the statement. "Due to shelf space constraints, other figures likely will not return to the market once they have sold through their initial shipment." Then and now, Nintendo has offered no further details on what characters will be harder to find.
I think Nintendo is failing to read its audience here. It's clear there's a high demand for all amiibo. Isn't the idea to get these out to the most number of people, so more Nintendo fans can have the full experience? People may be more willing to buy a game if they also have access to the amiibo that go with it. Isn't it better to enrich someone's playtime with Code Name: STEAM by making sure they can access Marth and Lucina amiibo? Wouldn't it just make more money for Nintendo if everyone who owned Super Smash Bros. could also buy the Villager and Rosalina? You would think it would be better if more people could play the game to its fullest limits.
Hold onto your butts.
Another thing that bothers me a bit about this whole amiibo craze: Hardcore collectors purchase amiibo and keep them in their boxes. They are never played with. And for every collector with an amiibo pristine in his box, there is a kid out there who really wanted to play Smash with a Fox or Ike amiibo and can't, because they don't have hundreds of dollars to drop on eBay.
Makes you feel kind of guilty, doesn't it? It's like that line from Toy Story: Toys are meant to be played with. It makes the whole thing seem really gross. I'm watching grown adults waste their energy on chasing toys; I'm watching them lose their minds on Twitter because they can't buy a Greninja figure. I keep thinking about the little kids at home that just want to play Smash Bros. with Greninja and can't because they didn't get in line at a GameStop at 6 a.m. to get one. The whole situation is weird to me. I'm not blaming collectors, but I do think eight-year-olds are probably less understanding about supply and demand woes.
There are two ways to point blame here. Nintendo's been feeding both the Wii U and 3DS with a steady stream of releases the past year, and it looks like 2015 and 2016 could be more great years for software. The company has embraced DLC, launched an online store, and been forward-facing in a lot of its more recent endeavors as far as consumers are concerned. Except when it comes to rare goods. Remember what happened with the Majora's Mask New 3DS XL? Nintendo was mum after the disaster, and they've been mum about the Wave 4 woes as well. There's aren't enough amiibo to go around, and Nintendo seems oblivious to this, like they genuinely don't know or care that their fans climbing over one another for tiny plastic versions of their most beloved characters.
I'm reminding myself that I am freaking out over toys. Yes, they are merchandise of franchises I love, but they're not worth the stress.
As for that second point of blame, that's us. We did this. We did this to ourselves and we love it. We rail against Nintendo and retailers for squeezing us out of buying these toys, and we readily do it again and again and again. We allow this to happen. We stand in pre-order lines for hours, huffing and puffing about the wait and how we took off work to wait the entire time. We crazily refresh websites for hours, crashing an entire company system with our hunger for tiny Charizards. The amiibo fever exists because we make it so, passing it along to one another like kids on the playground pass mono. Stop placing your lives on hold to pre-order a plastic figure the size of your middle finger. That figure won't put bacon on the table or keep you warm at night. Stop waiting in lines for hours and just go to the store to get them when it's convenient for you; don't feed the hysteria.
But back to me. At 3 p.m. I gave up hope that I would get my Lucina and Robin amiibo. When Justin told me he was planning to get up at 4 a.m. for the Toys R Us online pre-orders, I sadly responded that I would not be joining him. In one day I had caught amiibo fever and completely burned it out, discouraged and disgusted at myself.
The day after the amiibo fiasco, I am exhausted. I don't own any amiibo and I don't know that I will ever consider purchasing one ever again, even if I think it's a cool addition to a game I own. I can't bring myself care as deeply as I know other people do, because the heinous, enthusiasm-killing atmosphere surrounding the amiibo market has driven me away.
Nintendo is limiting its amiibo market by limiting access to the amiibo people want; that's a lot of sad fans and a lot of dollars lost. People want certain amiibo because they love certain series, because Nintendo has created something that they enjoy and adore and they want to deepen their connection to that franchise. By deliberately making fans fight for a chance to buy an amiibo, you're dividing the community and your audience.
So please: don't get so riled up over amiibo. Although if anyone bought an extra Lucina, I will happily take it off your hands.
Whether or not you've already finished Bloodborne and are starting your New Game + playthrough, there is a good chance some of the game's more obscure mechanics may have passed you by. As with From Software's previous games, the heady days surrounding the release of Bloodborne are when the community experiments and makes exciting discoveries not detailed in any instruction manual or walkthrough.
Beginner's tips have already been well covered with the likes of this starter guide, so instead, here are some more advanced tips that will help you gain further mastery over Bloodborne's combat.
Note: This article spoils certain areas and enemy types from the later half of the game.
1. You can attack while climbing a ladder
This is simple to pull off, but I wouldn't be surprised if you've never tried. Just press R1 to punch upward, or R2 to kick downward. It's rare that you'll ever need to use this, since NPCs don't seem to climb ladders all that often, but if you get into a PVP stoush over climbing space, this will definitely come in handy. Just don't run out of stamina while on the ladder, or you'll fall to your death.
2. Your Trick Weapon transformation is also an attack
Though pressing L1 to transform your Trick Weapon while idle looks cool, it's even cooler when you fluidly integrate that transformation into a combo. If you're in the middle of striking an enemy, you can press L1 to perform an attack that also transforms your weapon into its other mode at the same time. This is especially useful if the distance between you and the enemy suddenly changes, and you don't want to let up your barrage of strikes.
3. You can restore the health lost from blood bullets
If you press up on the D-pad, you can create some extra bullets from your own blood at the cost of a portion of your health. However, that health lost has Bloodborne's regain system applied to it--which means you can restore most of that health if you attack any nearby enemy immediately after creating those blood bullets. Free ammo is always useful!
4. You can add gestures to your notes
When using the Notebook to jot down a note, press R1 a couple of times to find more options. You can add a second set of words to your note, and you can also add a gesture which other players will see in spectral form when reading your note. I've found that adding the "Point" gesture is most useful here, because it actually saves the direction you're looking in when you start writing the note. As such, it's possible to literally point out secrets and specific pathways for other players if you line yourself up just right when writing a note.
5. You can break out of grab attacks
Around the time you reach the Forbidden Woods, you'll encounter enemies that grab you and deal a lot of damage while you're unable to move. If you quickly alternate between pressing L2 and R2, you can break out of the grab slightly quicker. Additionally, you'll be in a different state when breaking out of the grab. Without pressing L2 and R2, you'll end up knocked to the ground and it takes seconds to get back up. If you do press L2 and R2, you'll throw the enemy off you and will immediately be able to take action.
6. You can reassign the controls
Thanks to the PS4's 2.50 System Software Update, you can now reassign every button on the DualShock 4 controller. This is especially useful for Bloodborne, because it means you can move the sprint/dodge button from circle over to L1. Personally, I've always found it frustrating that I can't sprint and control the camera in the Souls series, because I need to take my thumb off the right stick to hit circle--but now I can! It makes even more sense to do this in Bloodborne because many of the bosses are best tackled without locking onto them, so having full camera and sprint control makes these battles more bearable.
7. You can regain health from dying enemies
Bloodborne's regain system allows you to restore health by immediately attacking an enemy. For each successful strike, you'll restore a little bit of HP. It's natural to assume that once the enemy you're attacking dies, you'll no longer be able to siphon health from it--but if the regain system is still active, that's not the case. Enemies who are performing their death animation can still be attacked to regain health. So, if it's safe to, keep whacking away at collapsing corpses to maximise your use of the regain system.
Video game accessory maker Hyperkin has announced plans to release a new device that will essentially turn your smartphone into a Game Boy Color.
It works quite simply: Plug your iPhone 6 Plus (and, in the future, other smartphones) into the Smart Boy and it'll allow you to play Game Boy and Game Boy Colors cartridges. The Smart Boy is equipped with the standard Game Boy set of buttons, while the phone's screen is used to display the game. The Smart Boy has a built-in battery that can be charged by the phone; with a 6 Plus, gameplay is said to last for five hours.
The Smart Boy was originally announced earlier this week as an apparent April Fools' joke, but is now set to become a real thing due to the strong response to its reveal.
"A lot of you were speculating that the Smart Boy is an April Fools' Joke. Well, it sort of was," Hyperkin wrote on its Facebook page. "We 'leaked' it with the initial intent of testing the market, seeing whether or not it should be something we'd actually make, under the guise of an April Fools' Joke.
"Looks like you awesome folks ACTUALLY WANT IT, so the Smart Boy is now in development! Thank you all for your enthusiastic responses!"
The original announcement notes that the details and image above are for a conceptual design, meaning features could change between now and the time it's released. As for when that will be, or how much it will cost, there's currently no word.
It's also unclear what Nintendo's reaction will be to this. We know it likes to protect its intellectual property, but Hyperkin already offers the well-regarded Retron 5, a device that allows you to play games from a number of systems--NES, SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, and more--on your TV in high definition.
The closed beta test for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void kicked off earlier this week, and you might very well be in without realizing it.
At this stage of the beta, Blizzard won't be sending out beta keys. Instead, it says it'll directly provide access to Battle.net accounts, something which won't necessarily provide you with any indication that you're in.
Luckily, there's an easy way to check. In the Battle.net desktop app, simply click on the region-selection drop-down menu (located just above the Play button) and look to see if you have anything listed under an "In Development" section. If so, your account has been given the go-ahead to start putting Legacy of the Void through its paces.
If you aren't in, you should make sure that you've indicated that you're interested in StarCraft betas on your Battle.net profile (something you can also do for Blizzard's other franchises). Beyond that, there's little you can do to help your chances of getting in--testers are selected based on things like systems specs, recent StarCraft II activity, and luck.
In the future, there will be giveaways that provide access. Alternatively, if you bought a ticket to BlizzCon (the event or a Virtual Ticket) or the StarCraft II WCS 2014 Global Finals, you'll be getting "priority access" before people who have simply indicated they're interested in the beta. Because beta keys aren't being distributed right now, only the account that bought tickets to any of the aforementioned events will get access, even if you bought multiple tickets.
The lack of beta keys also means one other thing: If you're notified about a way to receive one, it's a scam.
There's no time table for how long the beta will run for. Even if you don't get in, those who do have access are free to stream and talk about the experience, so there won't be any shortage of details to come in the weeks and months ahead.
Recently, Grand Theft Auto V players discovered an exploit that allowed them to bring some of the game's single-player-only cars into the game's online mode, but Rockstar has put an explosive end to this practice.
As first discovered by Reddit, Rockstar recently patched the game to make the Duke O'Death vehicle explode as soon as you get into it. The armored muscle car is an overpowered vehicle from the game's story mode, but you can only drive it in the online mode by taking advantage of the exploit.
As you can see in the video above uploaded to YouTube by xKoingWolfx, it's a satisfying method to deal with cheaters.
It'll be interesting to see if players discover a whole new set of exploits once the game hits PC on April 14. If you're looking forward to that version, you can pre-load GTA V on PC starting April 7.
If you didn't get your hands on the Bloodborne Collector's Edition but still want to be able to listen to the soundtrack, you'll be able to buy it later this month.
Sony has announced that Bloodborne's soundtrack will be released on April 21. It'll be available both digitally on Sumthing.com for $10 (or $.99 per track) and on CD, the latter of which may be of interest even to Collector's Edition buyers, who only received a downloadable version of the soundtrack.
The album is comprised of 21 tracks (preview them all on Sumthing's website) from the game's score totaling almost 70 minutes. Its composers include Yuka Kitamura (Dark Souls II), Tsukasa Saitoh, and Nobuyoshi Suzuki, in addition to two guest composers: Ryan Amon (Elysium) and Michael Wandmacher (Twisted Metal).
The performances were done by a 65-piece orchestra and a 32-piece choir. The video above offers a behind-the-scenes look at a recording session for one of the songs, "Cleric Beast," which plays during the game's first tense boss fight.
Mortal Kombat X developer NetherRealm has released a trailer showing off Goro, the half-man, half-dragon, four-armed fighter.
As you can see in the trailer above, Goro still has all of his signature moves, including spitting fireballs, holding fighters up with one set of arms while pummeling them with another, and readjusting spines in terrible ways.
Goro will be playable in the game for people who preorder Mortal Kombat X. NetherRealm plans to make Goro available as a DLC fighter in the future, but has yet to announce a date.
The highly anticipated PC version of Grand Theft Auto V will be available to pre-load on Tuesday, April 7, developer Rockstar has announced.
Pre-loads will be available from Rockstar Warehouse, the company's own digital store, and Steam. Rockstar said it will update this page with an exact time as soon as that information is available. If you preordered the game from a different retailer, Rockstar asks that you contact its customer support department for more details on pre-loads.
You can also receive an automatic notification as soon as there's more information by logging into Rockstar's Support Site and subscribing at the top of this page.
If you pre-load the game, you'll be able to play as soon as it's released on April 14.
For more on the PC edition of GTA V, check out the game's minimum and recommended specifications. If you want an idea of what it'll look like on PC, watch the latest trailer above.
GTA V was originally released in September 2013 for last-generation consoles. The game launched for current-generation machines in November 2014, selling 10 million units on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as of December 31. In all, GTA V has shipped a massive 45 million copies worldwide.
Xbox One's Quantum Break Delayed: Another big 2015 title has been bumped back. Microsoft announced this week that Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment's upcoming time-bending shooter Quantum Break is now due to launch in 2016. But not to worry, Microsoft says, as it still has big-name exclusives like Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends, Forza Motorsport 6, and more this year.
Witcher 3 Dev Can't Promise Improved Xbox One Resolution With DirectX 12:More drama about Xbox One resolution this week, as Witcher 3: Wild Hunt designer Damien Monnier said getting the Xbox One version of the game to run at 1080p (it currently outputs at 900p) would "require a much bigger change from Microsoft than DirectX 12..."
Watch GTA 5's Incredible 60fps PC Trailer:Rockstar Games this week released a jaw-dropping new trailer for the PC version of the game showing off what Los Santos looks like at 60fps. The results are incredibly impressive. Watch the full thing here.
THE OTHER STUFF:
Grand Theft Mario 5. That's the inspiration for a new, custom-made tshirt you can buy right now. Grand Theft Auto and Mario are pretty much on the opposite of the gaming spectrum, but this t-shirt hits the nail right on the head. Check it out here. http://www.othertees.com/design/9072/
The Texas Lottery announced this week that it's launching a new Tetris-themed scratch-off game with more than $11.5 million in prizes up for grabs. Even non-winning tickets are still good for something, as players in Texas can enter them for a chance to win Tetris merch.
Patent Arcade has the scoop this week about a new complaint that alleges gaming giant Activision Blizzard is violating numerous "networking" patents for games like World of Warcraft, Destiny, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Read more about the dispute here.
The personal strain of AAA game development can be extreme. Just ask Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory designer Clint Hocking, who says pouring in long hours to make that 2005 gave him brain damage. Read the full summation of Hocking's thoughts here.
Want to know more about Geralt of Rivia, the hero of the Witcher series? Then check out this new comic from Dark Horse. It's available now online for $4 and should hold you over under The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt arrives next month.
The Guardian has an excellent interview with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne designer Hidetaka Miyazaki. In it, he talks about his origins in gaming and also reveals that some Bloodborne enemies were modeled after gaming executives. Maybe he was kidding, but it's a good read all the same.
Two new modes are available now for Crysis developer Crytek's free PC shooter Warface. The modes are Domination Versus and Marathon Survival. You can read more about each here.
Want to listen to the haunting music of Bloodborne on the go? Soon you'll be able to, as Sumthing Else Music Works and Sony have announced that the Bloodborne Original Soundtrack will launch on April 21.
This new Mad Max: Fury Road trailer is absolutely insane. That is all.
Some teachers in the United Kingdom want to report parents who let their children play violent games. Sound crazy? Read all about it in this BBC story.
Steam's first non-documentary movie, Motivational Growth, is now available to buy on Steam. That's right, Steam is in the movie business now. Buy the movie here.
The Sims 4's first major expansion, Get to Work, is now available for PC and Mac. Among other things, the content introduces three new careers: Doctor, Detective, and Scientist. The add-on is available today for $40.
DLC alert!Tropico 5's "Hostile Takeover" expansion is now available for the Xbox 360 edition of the simulation/strategy game. Though the PC edition of Tropico 5 has welcomed loads of new expansions since the game's release last year, this is the first add-on for the Xbox 360 version. Here's what it includes:
3 new standalone scenarios that include an original story, objectives and voiceovers
3 new buildings for all game modes: The Asylum, Fast Food Joint, and Defense HQ
3 new avatar accessories: The Funnel Hat, McWig, and impressive General's Hat
3 new sandbox maps: St. Dimpna, Punta de Refugio, and Madre de Dios
3 new music tracks and additional voice recording
The sixth and final expansion for racing platformer Trials Fusion, called "After the Incident," is now available across console and PC. The add-on introduces 10 new tracks, 24 challenges, five trophies, and more objects for the game's track editor.
Tickets for this summer's huge gaming event in Germany, Gamescom, are now on sale. Head to the event page here to secure your tickets. The show itself runs August 5-9 in Cologne.
Virtual reality is like choose-your-own-adventure on steroids. That's according to HTC America President Jason Mackenzie speaking with CBS News about the company's upcoming virtual reality headset, which it's making alongside gaming juggernaut Valve. Watch the whole thing here.
Upcoming role-playing game Final Fantasy 15 has an all-made primary cast, but the title may indeed have female guest party characters. Game director Hajime Tabata spilled the beans recently in an interview with Japanese media. "It's possible we'll have female characters join the party as guests. But since it's an all-mate party, when you have a female character as a guest, their behavior might change because a woman is around."
This giant, weaponized Minecraft robot is totally amazing. See it in action here.
Eager to try out Microsoft's new browser, Project Spartan, the one that will finally replace Internet Explorer? Now you can, provided you're in the Windows 10 preview program that is. If you are, though, now you're able to test out the slimmed down, more refined browser. Read more here.
Harmonix has launched yet another new survey for Rock Band 4. This one, however, is really starting to get specific. Among other things, it asks what kinds of bundles you might be interested. Just the game? A game with a plastic guitar? Drumset? Let your voice be heard by filling out the survey.
Gearbox and Sega will be among the exhibitors for MomoCon 2015, event organizers have announced. The show takes place May 28-31 in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of the standout panels include:
Gearbox Software -- Borderlands Behind the Characters
Sega -- Sega 3D Classics – a discussion regarding remastering masterpieces
Ke "Jacky" Jiang, art director, thatgamecompany – Journey of Art through Disney - will discuss his work at Disney and on the hit title Journey
A Tetris movie is currently in production, but how the heck is that going to work? Check out this interview with the producer Threshold Entertainment at The List to hear all about it.
Runescape and Block N Load publisher Jagex has a new CEO. Rod Cousens has joined the UK-based studio after exiting another international studio, Codemasters. "Rod will oversee the company during a period of expansion," Jagex said in its announcement, referencing a new Runescape card game and the upcoming launch of Block N Load.
After last week's LCS matches, I sat down with Yuri "KEITHMCBRIEF" Jew, the dark horse substitute ADC for Team Liquid, and asked him to give some insight into the matches that took place and his predictions for playoffs. In this interview, we discuss Team Liquid's changes to their team composition in their games against T8 and Dignitas, C9's victory over CLG with an unorthodox pick and ban, the overall Cinderhulk meta shift and how an ADC must adapt to succeed. With playoffs nearing, Keith also gives us his analysis into the match-ups between CLG vs. Team Liquid and TiP vs. Gravity that will take place this weekend.
GameSpot: Liquid has been hit or miss with their pick & ban phase in the past. What did they do differently against Dignitas and T8 and could you elaborate a bit on their team composition?
Yuri "KEITHMCBRIEF" Jew: Liquid was able to pick up a team comp that was relatively simple to play as a team. With just a "go hard" mindset, there's little room for error. It's also important to note that Dignitas gave up a lot of power picks. As for the T8 game, I think Piglet really showcased his skill. He had a lot of support from Quas and Xpecial and I think he did well. They played decently all around.
A lot of people have put C9 on the back burner, but they've really solidified themselves again this past weekend in their games against TSM and CLG. What do you think of the Vayne pick into Draven and how that match-up usually works?
To me, that game wasn't very serious. I actually consider Draven to be a counter to Vayne because of how much stronger he is. Vayne gets bullied in lane but it could work out if there's a lane swap.
What do you believe Vayne needs in order to be viable in the meta again? What kind of team composition needs to be built around her in order for her to really carry the game?
Honestly, Vayne is viable, but she's not a strong pick. There's just a lot of other AD carries that are better. What she needs is stronger laning because she has the kiting and damage potential, but picks like Kalista can do everything better. Protect the AD comps as well as standard engage comps could work well with Vayne because she follows up well and she can kite on her own with relative ease.
Meteos chose Zac jungle, and Hai chose Jarvan mid in this game against CLG. It seems like a lot of teams are trying to adapt to this new "Cinderhulk" meta, where tank junglers seem to have more success. What specifically does an AD carry have to do in order to adapt to this meta?
For an AD carry, it's become a lot harder to showcase individual skill. With the new Cinderhulk meta, there's a lot less potential for outplay. I think hyper carries like Kog'Maw will become meta again, relying on more passive play. The game has become very team based and the AD carry's job is just to deal damage.
What do you think Liquid has to do in order to defeat CLG in playoffs?
CLG is definitely a tough opponent. To be honest, it's hard to say what weaknesses CLG has that you can exploit in order to win. I think it will depend on the draft and maybe forcing Doublelift onto a lesser carry/outplay AD carry like Sivir. Of course, at the same time, Liquid will have to win the vision battle and the objective control in order to defeat CLG.
It looks like TiP has really found their footing in the LCS. What do you think has been the reason for their recent success? Is it a change in play-style? Or do you think it has more to do with an improvement in communication?
I think TiP is a team with an incredible amount of individual talent that became strong after getting used to playing with each other. They are really smart about their draft and can play the map out extremely well. But I think the reason for their improvement is ultimately their communication.
Who do you think is the favorite coming into TiP vs. Gravity? What do you expect from the lane match-ups between the players?
Both are, without a doubt, great teams that are fun to watch. However, I think the match favors TiP because of how well they have been playing. Bunny is a monster on Thresh but I think if you take that away from him you can abuse his weak laning. I also think that Impact has the edge on Hauntzer because he has proven that he is one of the best top laners. On top of having stronger laning match ups, TiP has the better rotations and objective control.
Gravity has been innovating some unconventional picks like Urgot mid. In what situation would picking Urgot be viable for a team composition?
Keane sparked a lot of Urgot play in competitive play as well as in solo queue. People didn't realize Urgots strengths until Keane beat TSM with it. Urgot is actually really strong in general as a mid-laner because he can shut down assassins effectively. Although he has a lack of wave clear, his sustained damage and tankiness more than makes up for it.
If you could make an all-star line-up of NA players, what would that line-up look like?
My personal all-star line-up would consist of Impact, Meteos, Bjergsen, Sneaky, and Aphromoo. They all have incredibly strong mechanics and game sense and they would mesh well as a team.
What's next for you after you graduate high school? Any plans to return to the LCS? Or maybe the challenger scene?
As of now, I think I want to pursue a year of playing professionally. I have already shown that I have the potential to be one of the best and I want to make the most out of it.
If the LCS didn't work out for you, what would you be doing instead?
If I didn't think I could make it back into the LCS, I would go to university after graduating high school in hopes of pursuing a career in engineering.
Any last words you want to say to your fans?
Thank you for all the support! I truly love the league scene whether I'm in the LCS or not. I would be a different person without this game and the people that play it. If I do play in the LCS again, I'll give it my best to make you guys proud.
GameSpot's early access reviews evaluate unfinished games that are nonetheless available for purchase by the public. While the games in question are not considered finished by their creators, you may still devote money, time, and bandwidth for the privilege of playing them before they are complete. The review below critiques a work in progress, and represents a snapshot of the game at the time of the review's publication.
Perhaps life in Texas's oil country has left me jaded, but I've come to believe that our first earnest forays onto other planets will begin only when we've stripped our own of most of the valuable resources underground. Cynical, perhaps, but it's a vision that Offworld Trading Company seems to share. Even better, OTC takes this bleak concept and builds an entertaining strategy game around it--one that shines even on Steam's Early Access. But you'll find no marching soldiers and rumbling tanks here. At heart, this is cutthroat strategy as mining accountants see it, where the world turns according to who has the highest numbers.
The world here is Mars, although, aside from OTC's red-hued maps and the looming graphic of the Red Planet on the title screen, it doesn't assert its presence much. Mars is a fascinating choice, as it's both realistic and (if you'll pardon this use of the term) a tad mundane. Not only do Mars's crimson vistas lack the exotic appeal of a Pandora or even a Hoth, but for the most part they conceal little more besides old terrain friends like aluminum, carbon, silicon, and iron. This may be science fiction, but it's the kind that could become fact if given enough decades.
Familiarity, of course, isn't necessarily a bad thing, and that's especially true when it's used to ease players into navigating the strategic map. As with so many other strategy games, each match begins with a probe working its way through the darkness beyond the home base, uncovering, as it goes, nodes for metals and resources like water on hexagonal spaces.
This is cutthroat strategy as mining accountants see it, where the world turns according to who has the highest numbers.
Once your claims are used up, you have to rely on your cash-making skills to expand.
And that's where both the fun and the differences begin. From there it's all about staking claims--slapping down a hydro plant for your workers here; placing an iron mine over an iron node there--to the point where you simply run out of claims. Aside from using the four to five new claims that appear each time you level your base, from here on out it's all about buying and selling. If you've played your claims right, you've got plenty of surplus resources that you can sell to pay off debt or buy new claims that go up for auction every now and then. (But watch it! You can oversaturate the market by unloading too many goods.) You start buying stock from other players, making sure they don't buy you out completely in the process. And at last, when things get really dirty, you call up the Black Market to do nasty things like freeze a competitor's water sources, trigger bombs, or instigate worker strikes.
Victory comes when you're still standing after all of this and you've bought out all your opponents. It comes quickly, too. The longest match I've ever sat through lasted for about half an hour; the shortest lasted about the span of a commercial break. (And no, alas, I wasn't the lucky entrepreneur.) At times, indeed, it suffers from the suddenness of such victories, as it's difficult to keep tabs on how your rivals are doing aside from watching their stock prices. One second you're converting iron to steel as usual, or looking for a plot for a new wind-power generator, and then, bam, you're slapped with a notice that you've been bought out. It's a little less brutal in the campaign mode--a comparatively rudimentary affair based on meeting certain conditions with limitations on buildings and resources--but I admit I never fully found my footing in the multiplayer. That's the true game here, and OTC's greatest chance for longevity; at this stage of development and in the absence of any real story, the campaign seems an extended form of the tutorial at best.
There's no real story yet, but the campaign mode provides challenges sculpted around very specific conditions.
If there's any one problem about all of this, it's that OTC in its current state still seems to struggle with merging its number-crunching and visual-strategic elements. The opening seconds may hinge on finding nodes and smartly placing buildings, but once they're all in place and claims are all down, Offworld Trading Company almost entirely confines its action to the column taking up the left quarter of the screen, where the interface compiles all the data about the resources going in and out of your operation. The actual visual design of this element is a little rough, but its implementation is intuition itself. Toggles let you sell or buy resources with a click, and in the same glance you can find information on how much cash you have and how much you owe.
All this really hammers down the perception that this is an interplanetary comptroller's game, as the action (often limited to watching transport vehicles shuttling resources to and fro) usually goes on without your input, save in those precious moments when more claims become available. Unless you dabble in the Black Market and rain doom upon your peers, it's almost possible to forget that there's anything happening on the map at all. More features will no doubt come in future patches, but right now it seems like a bit of a waste. There's no need to clutter all this up with the manual assignment of convoy movements or the like, as in a traditional strategy game, but Offworld Trading Company often lacks even the SimCity-style interaction of seeing your hard work go to crap while you struggle to fix it on the map itself.
Womp, womp.
But does it matter? Offworld Trading Company already works so well as it is that it could easily pass for a completed game, and a good one at that. The main challenge now seems to be how to spread out its numerical information more evenly without sacrificing convenience, which will hopefully happen around the same time that developer Mohawk Games replaces some of the god-awful placeholder voice work. Most of the other issues pertain to quibbles with balance, which hopefully will vanish by the time OTC reaches its stated 2016 release date. With almost every patch, the fortunes of the four different types of headquarters (Scavenger, Scientific, Robotic, and Expansive) seem to shift, which is hardly surprising considering how vastly their respective abilities can alter the starter game. Robotics-focused headquarters, for instance, don't need to worry about all that food and oxygen junk, but they rely heavily on electronics. Scientific headquarters, on the other hand, can develop new patents faster, thus giving them a significant edge over the competition. Get them to all play fairly together, and everything else is basically a matter of polish.
If all this sounds fascinating, you'll be happy to know that this is one Early Access product where the buyer doesn't have to beware. Before jumping in, however, just make sure that you're the kind of person who's as turned on (or more) by the thought of balancing a checkbook as commanding armies on battlefields. The great achievement of Offworld Trading Company is that you can still find fun here even if this isn't the case, but you should never lose sight of the fact that this is a game where the Littlefingers and Cyril Figgises of the world can truly shine.
What's There?
A whole new barren world full of minerals to exploit for iPhones and Coke cans back home, and a ledger to keep it all in check. Multiplayer and single-player campaigns both available.
What's to Come?
Additional balance work, some visual refinement, and interface cleanup.
What Does it Cost?
$39.99 on Steam. A tad steep, but you're essentially getting a full game.
When Will it be Finished?
Sometime in 2016.
What's the Verdict?
Offworld Trading Company is a unique, fast-paced strategy game that trades the battles associated with the genre with equally vicious squabbles over numbers. It's fun, it's intense, and it's one of the most complete games available through Early Access.
The Rainbow Siege SiegePC closed alpha is nearly here. Ubisoft announced in a blog post on Friday that the testing period will officially begin on Tuesday, April 7 starting at 7 AM PDT / 10 AM EDT. The alpha will come to an end on April 13 at the same time in the morning.
Ubisoft is focusing on three main areas for the Rainbow Six Siege alpha. Ranked in terms of priority, these are (via Ubisoft):
Test the core gameplay loops – Siege has reached the point in development where we need your creativity to test the game and validate the experience we've been building. It's still early enough that a lot can change.
Test our server infrastructure – Strong online connection and matchmaking is crucial for operating a game as a service. Testing our infrastructure early will help us optimize your experience at launch.
General feedback - We've been working on this game for a long time, and having fresh pairs of eyes reviewing the experience helps us figure out any problem areas we might have missed.
Ubisoft also points out the the content featured in the upcoming Rainbow Six Siege alpha represents only "a small sample of the full scope of the game." Testers may also encounter bugs and other issues.
"We're looking for passionate testers who understand the nature of a PC Closed Alpha and are willing to work with us on making it better," the developer explained.
You can sign up for a chance to get into the Rainbow Six Siege alpha here.
Ubisoft will also hold a closed beta for Rainbow Six Siege later on. You can guarantee yourself a slot in the beta period by preordering a copy of the game. The final version of Rainbow Six Siege is due to launch across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 later this year.
Best Buy's eBay account is offering 10% off of Xbox gift cards, basically giving you free money to spend on the Xbox game store. You can get $15 for $13.50, $25 for $22.50, $30 for $27, or $50 for $45.
Green Man Gaming is currently offering discounts on orders for some of the year's biggest releases. You can get Grand Theft Auto V for $46.79, Batman: Arkham Knight for $43.79, Battlefield Hardline for $50, Magicka 2 for $11.24, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited for $46.79, or Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward for $30. You can find all the discounts in Green Man Gaming's VIP page, for which you can sign up for free.
You can get 22 percent off at Green Man Gaming with the code: SAVE22-OVERHO-LIDAYS
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.
Obsidian has released the 1.03 patch for Pillars of Eternity, perhaps the most important aspect of which deals with a serious bug that centers around equipping items.
As detailed in the 1.03 patch notes, you can now safely equip items by double-clicking them. Prior to this, doing so would cause your character's passive abilities to be permanently lost. Thankfully, you won't need to start over if you were hit by this bug--simply open up your save with the game updated to 1.03 and your passives should be restored.
The patch is out now on Steam, but may take a day or two to show up on Origin and GOG.
Other additions include new icons for a variety of items, new graphics settings for antialiasing, the ability to use lockpicks stored in the Stash, and a way to cast area-of-effect skills on party members by clicking on their portraits.
Pillars of Eternity was released late last month, the product of a successful 2012 crowdfunding campaign that raised $4 million.
You can see the full list of patch notes--which features a large number of bug fixes, balance changes, and reductions in "antelope feet sliding" (yup)--below, courtesy of Obsidian's forums.
"Big Ticket" Items
Bears and Cats can now be equipped with hats. This is most likely not a joke... but might be a joke.
Double-clicking to equip items was causing passive abilities to get removed from the character. This has been fixed and we were able to retroactively fix the problem for people that have already run into the issue. If you open your saved game in the latest patch, your characters will be repaired.
Fixed a problem where attributes on characters could permanently increase by equipping certain items. This will also retroactively fix the problem in saved games that have characters with this issue.
The crash in Raedric's Hold has been fixed.
Fixed the looping audio sounds that can occur if you play with minimized tooltips.
Previously Wizard-summoned items could persist after the spell's duration. This has been fixed and it will also retroactively fix the problem in saved games that have characters with this issue.
The items Drinking Horn of Moderation and Talisman of the Unconquerable were causing Ciphers to permanently lower their amount of focus gain. We've included a fix to retroactively resolve the issue on Ciphers but the effect is still on the items. Unfortunately the fix will not fix the broken effect on those items, so you'll need to keep those items unequipped until the next patch. If you do equip them, perform a Save/Load to fix your Cipher.
Features
Added graphics setting to toggle antialiasing levels. This can improve performance on lower end machines when disabled.
Added pro tips to the Glossary.
Many new icons for items.
Added new voice set reactivity for lockpick, poison, enemy spotted in stealth, spell failure, death, immobilized, and completed task.
Added indicators on the loot screen when looting crafting and quest items.
Party can now use lockpicks that are in the Stash.
You can now cast AoEs on party member portraits and the spell will be targeted at the companion's location.
Balance
Monk unarmed attack buffed by 1 point at the top end.
Arbalest damage has been lowered.
Fast melee weapons do slightly more damage.
Slight bump to sabre damage.
Tuned down Mind Blades.
Tuned ranges of many Wizard spells to be higher.
Slicken spell is now a single hit AoE.
Chill Fog is now a friend or foe spell.
Curse of Blackened Sight is now foe only.
Changed reload speed multiplier from 2 to 1.2 for Sure-Handed Ila.
Fixed the price on Seal of Faith.
Adjusted price on figurines.
Adjusted price on rings.
Tuned up the Goldrot Chew.
Reduced the penalties for Bonded Grief.
Tuned up Bulwark of the Elements.
Modified attributes of companions and Itumaak.
Raised the bonus for having fewer than six party members from 5% per character under the limit to 10% per character under the limit.
Added cooldown to NPC Rogue's Escape ability usage so they won't use it back to back.
Rebalanced fight difficulty and spell selection for the Old Watcher.
Lowered the scale of the Defiance Bay reputation by 15%.
Beloved Spirits adds 0.4 Endurance to Ancient Memory instead of 2.
Changed duration of the Flagellant's Path defense penalty.
Adjustments to the Mantle of the Dying Boar.
Reduced the price of the Brighthollow Hearth and Courtyard Pool.
Heart of Fury will now apply to all damage types.
Tuned damage on Brilliant Radiance down.
Systems
Fixed issue with Wizard's summoned magical items getting stuck after save and load. Wizards will be restored to a proper state after loading a game.
Changed one of the fatigue status effects to not end with combat.
Fixed save game issues with spells and abilities that place down traps.
Fixed issue to prevent Ciphers from casting abilities without the required Focus.
Restored modal flag for Reckless Assault.
Set Transcendent Suffering to not be combat-only.
Fixed duration issue with Plague of Insects.
Fixed companion audio triggers for some status effects.
Hunting Bows had the wrong speed descriptor. They are now listed as Fast.
Character Hit Autopause option should be working as intended.
You can now close the Grimoire and Chant UI with a hotkey.
Fixed issue with summoning magic items while unarmed.
Fixed delay issue on Knockdown.
Fixed a few issues with Dominate and Charm spells.
Fixed a bad item mod on the Ring of Protection.
Fixed issue with the Terrible weapon mod.
Changed bad data in ranger summons.
Made Takedown to be consistent with Knockdown.
Fixed multiplier on Blooded.
Summoned weapons will be removed when Spiritshifting.
Fixed issue with bouncing reflected melee attacks.
Party members will no longer switch to different weapons after being Charmed or Dominated.
Ancient Memory is now Ally only.
A summoned weapon will not unequip the grimoire.
Fixed Spellstriking mod.
Fixed trigger count issue with the Prone reduction mod.
DOT spells should clean up properly when combat ends.
Fixed Deflection +10 mod.
All Exhortations are now combat-only.
Only play weapon ineffective VO if the attack is hostile.
Aggrandizing Radiance will now last until combat ends.
Holy Radiance is now combat-only.
Carnage now works better.
Quests
Fixed issues with factions and super friend quests with Lady Webb's dialogue.
Adjusted trigger in front of the Salty Mast to fix a possible way to skip a required cutscene.
Fixed issue with the Winds of Steel quest line.
Fixed a trigger outside the First Fires Keep that could have been avoided.
Many fixes to music, audio, and VFX to a scene near the end of the game.
The prybar should now display the correct image in the Raedric's Hold moat scripted interaction.
Changed faction on the Hall of Warrior's containers.
Fixed scripted music for the forge knight combats in the keep.
Visual effects in the introduction cutscene should now be triggered properly.
Fixed conversation of the guards in Raedric's Hold to not repeat.
Added cape and armor to the loot for the Fampyr boss.
Fix to Osrya's starting timer not being attached to the trigger in the area.
UI
Fixed sound issue when collapsing the tutorial UI.
Fixed issue with double clicking items to equip. This is a retroactive fix and will restore characters with proper stats.
Fixed issue where camping supplies were disappearing when added to Stash.
Cage Cursor setting should not turn off after loading a scene or cutscene and is now on by default.
Fixed cropping on a few portraits.
Fixed issue with highlighting dead bodies and containers in the fog of war.
Fixed item stacking issue that was stacking items inappropriately.
Reduced the intensity of the explored fog of war on the area map, and fixed an issue where the shadow layer was causing the area map to be darker than it should be.
Small UI updates to the journal screen.
Reworked the enchanting UI to work better with multiple lines.
Fixed UI sorting issue in store.
Fixed UI sorting in crafting menu.
Fixes to Capitular glyphs in end-game slides.
Fixed issue with stronghold alert widgets not hiding properly.
Fixed an issue with weapon mods were incorrectly being displayed in some cases.
Drag select should work properly when starting the drag over an enemy.
Fixed a few issues with drag select and formation rotation causing issues when the mouse goes over UI elements.
Fixed some control issues with holding down keys.
Shot on the Run recovery value should be now displayed correctly.
Fixed issues to how the HUD fades out during conversations.
When the party receives or loses items, those log messages now go to both logs.
Cleaned up the character sheet formatting and made more items clickable.
Store item names can now take up two lines.
Spells now show DT bypass in the description.
Consumables now show per-Rest and per-Encounter usage limitations.
Other Fixes
Fixed stats issue with saving and loading on the same map where a companion is found. This is a retroactive fix and will restore companions and characters to the proper state.
Fixed issues with save games in Raedric's Hold, causing the game to not function correctly or freeze.
Ranger Animal Companions should not disappear anymore and broken animals will be restored after loading and saving the game.
Fixed possible issues with disappearing items and weapons.
Minor fixes to a few select voice over lines.
Fixed size issues with equipped capes on Godlike characters.
Changed Explorer achievement to check for 152 maps rather than 160.
Fixed many issues where combat would not end properly.
Updated credits with more backer names.
Updated paperdoll level up lighting.
Scripted music should now be restored properly after loading a game.
Updated Temple of Eothas render.
Fixed some rendering issues with Fog of War on some areas.
Fixed sounds on movie that plays near end of game.
Reduced antelope feet sliding.
Fixed issue with weapon caching causing issues when weapons are swapped.
Interstitial music no longer loops.
Fixed issue where party members could take damage in cutscenes.
Fixed voice cues during looting for full inventory.
Fixed transparency on ghost characters.
Fixed issues with cutscene pathfinding if the game's process is halted.
Fixed issue with Expert mode settings getting saved improperly.
Fixed issue where characters were not properly stopping at the last waypoint of their path.
Adjusted Skuldr scream vocals.
We now handle some edge cases in resolution management on some hardware configurations.
Fixed issue with the party member Knockout achievement not reporting the correct numbers.
Bloodborne features multiplayer support, but it isn't something that you'll access from a menu as you would in most games. The process for playing with others can be somewhat convoluted, so Sony has provided some tips on getting it all to work.
One thing to note first is that the PS4's long-awaited suspend/resume mode, which lets you suspend a game, put the system into Rest mode, and then resume after turning it back on, causes issues with multiplayer. In order to get matchmaking working, you'll need to restart the game and reconnect to the online servers if you put your PS4 into Rest mode while the game is running. According to a PlayStation Blog post by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio's Masaaki Yamagiwa, this problem will be dealt with in "an upcoming patch."
Assuming you've dealt with that, you have to follow a certain process when trying to engage in cooperative play. Up to three players (one host and two guests) can join together and fight through an area. If you successfully do so and defeat a boss, the guests will receive a reward and then be kicked back to their own single-player sessions. Should the host or a guest die, those players will be separated without receiving the bonus.
Follow these steps to get co-op going:
Host uses/rings the Beckoning Bell
Guests use/ring the Small Resonant Bell
Host and guest (up to two guests) are connected, and play within the Host's game
Click for a full-size view
It sounds relatively simple, but there are caveats not explicitly outlined in-game. Players can't use a Beckoning Bell if they've killed the boss in the area they're currently in, but can still use the Small Resonant Bell. To be matched together, players' levels can't be "too far apart." Yamagiwa doesn't specify, but players have found you need to be within about 10 levels of each other to play together.
Also not noted in the blog is the need for Insight--a currency you earn for various feats, like encountering and defeating bosses, or by using certain items. The Beckoning Bell is given to you for free in the Hunter's Dream once you've obtained one Insight. Once you've collected 10, a new store in the Hunter's Dream (pictured) opens up that allows you to buy the Small Resonant Bell and other items.
As announced prior to launch, players can make use of passwords to ensure they are only put into co-op games with others players using the same password. This is done from the Network menu and only affects co-op, not PvP.
Yamagiwa goes on to provide some hints on initiating PvP mode (which involves a bell-ringing woman and the Sinister Resonant Bell item) and Chalice Dungeons, which you can see here.
Bloodborne this week received an important update that fixes a game-breaking bug involving a key not dropping. There's no word yet on when the next patch will arrive, but we do know developer From Software is at least looking into the possibility of reducing load times.
One ultra-dedicated Bloodborne player has beaten From Software's punishingly difficult PlayStation 4 role-playing game without leveling up or using guns, all while playing as the game's weakest class.
YouTube user BOYvsVIDEOGAME (indeed, a fitting title), has published a series of videos recorded during his ten-day run through the dark, sinister world of Yharnam. Watch as he plays the low-level "Waste of Skin" class, the description for which reads, "You are nothing. Talentless. You shouldn't have been born."
The Waste of Skin class starts at level 4, which is the game's lowest possible level.
During his mighty impressive run, BOYvsVIDEOGAME also never uses visceral attacks, which come in handy when taking on more challenging enemies and bosses. As you might expect, he dies a number of times during the run, and he uses some colorful language in case you're concerned about that.
Embedded above is the first of more than a dozen installments that chronicle the playthrough, which is of course filled with spoilers.
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