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Electronic Arts has revealed two new pieces of downloadable content that are coming for free to Dragon Age: Inquisition next week.
The first of these is called The Black Emporium. It's described by developer BioWare as a "premiere shopping destination" where you'll be able to purchase new weapons, accessories, crafting materials, and rare items from Xenon the Antiquarian.
The store also houses something called the Mirror of Transformation, which will allow you to change your character's facial features. Additionally, the DLC offers two new thrones for Skyhold that can only be unlocked by those who played Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age II.
Inquisition's other new free DLC pack is an expansion for multiplayer called Dragonslayer. It will allow you to craft an item called the Dragon's Call, which, as you'd expect, allows you to face off against various dragons. The DLC also adds a new Ferelden castle and three new agents: Isabela, Skywatcher, and Zither: The Virtuoso (who was originally revealed as an April Fools' Day joke on the game's website).
BioWare also announced today that PS4, PS3, and Xbox 360 players will finally be able to get their hands on the Jaws of Hakkon DLC this month when it's released on May 26. This was available as a timed exclusive on Xbox One and PC.
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.
It has been quite a while since I played the original Killing Floor. But I still remember the excitement of the hunt, the joy that came with the perfect headshot, and the blood--oh, so much blood. Killing Floor 2, now in early access, continues that tradition, but adds more customization options, better weapons, and more blood than ever before. And so far, Killing Floor 2 has the potential to be one of the finest multiplayer co-op shooters to come around in a while. Here, every day is a fight for survival in a destroyed world--a ruined land where headshots reign king.
Like its predecessor, Killing Floor 2 is all-out, intense human-on-zed warfare. You and up to five other players fight against multiple waves of vicious zombie-like zeds, whose sole purpose is to rip you and your meatbag allies to shreds. The game starts off at a disarmingly moderate pace during the initial waves… but the calm doesn't last long. The first round starts with weaker zed forms meandering slowly toward their prey, sluggishly crawling over ruined cars, tables, and snow-covered crates. They're dispatched easily with a well-aimed headshot, so long as you stay at a distance from the clutches of stalkers, and avoid the blood-coated blades of more powerful gorefasts.
But the action ramps up quickly. Soon, zeds march toward you en masse, crawling out of sewers, ventilation ducts, and other various openings, as if the very gates of hell had burst open. Faster, stronger zeds start to roam, shooting flames or crawling on walls, while rotund bloats spew noxious bile that blinds you as sirens split the air with ghastly cries. Making their return appearance are the most powerful of zed forms, the fleshpounds and scrakes, whose arrival is announced by a guttural roar guaranteed to get your heart racing.
You face a tough boss fight after completing all the waves.
You're not defenseless against this terrifying horde. Before each match, you choose one of four different perks (think: character classes), each coupled with a set of four weapon tiers. Performing certain objectives, such as using weapons associated with the perk, welding doors shut, or healing other combatants, earns experience points for that certain class. A choice of two skills gets unlocked at level five, and two more become available every five levels up to 25. Leveling up also grants perk bonuses. For example, with every level up, the melee-focused berserker character earns bonuses to his attack damage and speed, while the field medic is granted increased potency in the healing syringe and increased armor strength. Returning to Killing Floor is the trader, a mysterious weapons dealer, who this time can be found in futuristic pods. The trader pod opens up between waves, allowing you to purchase armor, weapons, ammunition, and grenades in exchange for dosh, the in-game currency earned by killing zeds. You're rarely without a means to protect yourself, though, even if your wallet is little light. Occasionally you can find guns and melee weapons scattered around maps, as well as crates of ammo and combat armor.
Regardless of which perk best suits your style, don't expect an easy ride: Killing Floor 2 is challenging, and it will take some mastery before you win your first game (it took me nearly three hours). Zeds are ferocious enemies; boldly charging into Killing Floor 2 without caution will quickly send you to the death screen, where you pay for your hubris by watching your allies play through the remainder of the wave. Even as your head-popping skills grow, zeds will still find a way to surprise you. Cloaked enemies suddenly appear to slash away at your life bar, and crawlers seem to love getting the drop on you--quite literally.
Zeds like to sneak out from the dark, so put that flashlight to work.
Special zeds are especially tough. Scrakes, hulking monstrosities with a chainsaw for an arm, and the fleshpounds, with spiked clubs instead of arms, know how to take as much punishment as they can dish out. I can't count the number of times I smiled upon a room of zeds I had just taken out, only to turn and see one of these horrors walking toward me. Worse, however, is Hans Volter, the boss you face after completing the final wave. Volter, a disheveled Nazi scientist strapped with armor with glowing green needles on his fingers, flings potato masher grenades and nerve gas bombs, and dual-wields a pair of nasty rifles. He can also blanket the area in a thick smoke screen, as well as grab you and drain some of your precious life into his.
Indeed, the game is difficult, but it's all fantastic; Killing Floor 2 is some of the best shooting I've had in a multiplayer co-op game in I don't know how long. The combat is punchy, fast, and incredibly satisfying. When the game slows for zedtime, its version of bullet time, you're able to appreciate the terrifying detail that goes into enemy animation and models as you slowly dance to the maelstrom of flying bullets and flayed body parts. Indeed, it's remarkable how enjoyable Killing Floor 2 is in its early form. I went for nearly five hours straight after I first started the game, spending much of the time with a big, stupid grin on my face. It has sunk its blood-soaked claws in me, and I refuse to shake them free.
Killing what? What floor?
Killing Floor 2 has only three maps available at the moment. You run and gun through a snowy military base, a laboratory with enormous vats of swirling blood, and the streets of a ravaged Paris--including a burning and partially collapsed Eiffel Tower. One tactic in the original Killing Floor was to find that "sweet spot" where you could funnel enemies into a shower of bullets, and there are some places in Killing Floor 2's maps where you can do the same. But enemy density often has you running from that safety fairly quickly, that is, unless you have some semblance of team cohesion. Regardless, I found the game to be much more fun when traveling in a group. Many of the maps are also exceptionally dark in places, enough so that you feel grateful for your rechargeable flashlight, lest you end up firing at the creeping shadows.
There are some issues with the game, which will likely be fixed as it moves through its early access lifespan. However, despite this, I was surprised to find only a few nagging problems. Normally, you're able to walk over small walls or railings without having to jump--a great way to prevent you from getting stuck and dying in a particularly embarrassing manner. Zeds can also traverse these small obstacles, but doing so will cause them to briefly pop up into the air. It's actually quite comical, and when it involves more than one enemy, the game looks like a zed edition of Whack-A-Mole. Lag occurs from time to time, but I found it to be thankfully rare. Beyond that, I would like to see more variety in available characters. Out of the seven you can choose from, there is only one female option: the mohawked Goth girl Ana. Hopefully there will be more choices for female characters later down the line.
Three maps, seven characters to choose, and four unique perks. It takes a few hours to get into the swing of things, but it's hard to stop playing once you get into the motions. You can play with up to five others, though you're not locked to that number. Some servers are allowing 32 players to jump in on the fray. You can also play the game solo if you wish.
What's to Come?
More maps, characters, perks, and weapons.
What Does it Cost?
$29.99 for the regular edition, $39.99 if you upgrade to digital deluxe version, both sold through the Steam store.
When Will it be Finished?
The developer says the game won't be out of early access "until it's done." But, it is hoping for a full release by the end of the year.
What's the Verdict?
To put it plainly: Killing Floor 2 is awesome. Even though there is still plenty of development left, it's shaping up to be one of the finest shooters of 2015.
Electronic Arts on Friday confirmed plans for its E3 2015 press briefing.
The FIFA and Mass Effect publisher will hold its conference at the usual time on Monday, June 15, starting at 1 PM PDT. It will take place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, and is expected to run for an hour.
Details about EA's E3 briefing emerged today on games forum NeoGAF. We confirmed the time, date, and venue with EA this afternoon, but no further information about the event is available.
Although we don't know for sure what EA will be bringing to the show, we'd be surprised if we didn't see Star Wars: Battlefront, this year's EA Sports games, and the next Need for Speed.
Below is a breakdown of the expected E3 2015 press conference schedule. Microsoft, Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo have not announced their plans yet, so we've used historical data.
Right on schedule, Sony Online Entertainment's Daybreak's PC MMO H1Z1 on Friday added female characters, a feature fans have been calling for. Development on the avatars began in March as part of an effort to overhaul the look and diversity of all of the game's characters. As you can see in the image below, Daybreak has designed its female characters to look fairly typical, but also somewhat athletic.
We caught up with Daybreak art director Sebastian Strzalkowski and picked his brain about why female characters are coming to H1Z1 now, how he and his team designed their look, and what impact their introduction might have on the game overall. Strzalkowski also outlines some future plans for H1Z1 in terms of character customization, saying Daybreak is hoping to add more skin tones and head sizes next.
Check out our full interview with Strzalkowski below. A variety of renders for the new lady avatar are also available in this post and in the image gallery at the bottom. You can also read today's full H1Z1 patch notes over on Reddit.
Why were female avatars not available when H1Z1 was originally released?
H1Z1 was--and still is--in Alpha. When we launched on Steam Early Access we knew we weren't launching with a complete game but we wanted to have a little vertical slice of all the features, so we started with just one character model. This female character model is just the first iteration. We have plans to expand the head models for the females and male characters as well as add skin tints to give players a range of customization options.
I've read that you designed H1Z1's female characters to look "relatively typical," if not somewhat athletic. How did you decide on these attributes?
We wanted to make the female character feel authentic. She is a survivor of a zombie apocalypse, so we gave her somewhat of an athletic build to justify some of the physical endurance she'd require or gain quickly in order to survive not only a zombie horde but competition from other human survivors.
How many different iterations of the female avatar did you go through before deciding on the model you have now?
We started by creating a collage of faces and body types as reference and narrowed it down to some options that felt right for the first pass. We used physical anatomy sculptures for both genders as reference, too. We chose the bun hairstyle for simplicity but will support additional hair styles in the future.
What has your approach been when it comes to clothing--I've heard before that you're making male and female equivalent clothing, but what does this mean exactly for H1Z1?
We made clothing unisex for a few reasons. We didn't want players to have to sort through clothing items created exclusively for the opposite gender that they can't even use, and we wanted to keep art production simpler so we can focus on making more content. Most importantly, we wanted to give players maximum flexibility to choose what they want to wear and how they want to customize their character.
Are female characters more technically taxing on H1Z1's engine because they have more hair to animate than men? Is this an issue you, as an art director, need to consider when coming up with new designs?
The biggest technical challenge was fitting the same skeleton to both genders. We wanted to make sure that neither gender had an unfair advantage in H1Z1, but there are some obvious anatomy differences we had to reconcile. Choosing a slight athletic build for the female not only fit the story, but it also helped keep the body types close enough that the overall silhouette could be comparable without breaking the universal skeleton.
You've worked on all manner of games before, from Free Realms to Star Wars Clone Adventures to the EverQuest franchise. But those were more stylized as opposed to realistic. What was the experience like for you transitioning to the darker and grittier world of H1Z1?
Since I joined the team halfway through production I had to play catch up listening to the team and analyzing what the best direction should be for the art. For a game that identifies with realism, I wasn't sure where art style would fit, but there is always room for an aesthetic direction regardless of the graphical limits. I've actually had a lot of fun working with these limitations because they really pushed our team's creativity.
"We wanted to make sure that neither gender had an unfair advantage in H1Z1, but there are some obvious anatomy differences we had to reconcile."
As an example, in-game lighting has been a crucial area of development for the art style. The H1Z1 world looks much like a raw footage film and we post-process the view in real-time with color-grading and tone-mapping to create a specific mood and style much like a movie director will do with a colorist for a film.
Maybe this is a question for a game designer instead of an art director, but how do you think the introduction of female characters into H1Z1 might impact the overall game experience?
The addition of a female character helps diversify the game and gives players more options for customization, which is especially important in a game like H1Z1 where role-playing is so popular. Now that we have both genders in-game, we're moving onto more skin tones, more head styles, and more customization in general.
Anything else you'd like to share regarding your work on the new female character models for H1Z1?
We're really excited for this addition and we hope our players are too. This is just the first pass though; we'll be adding more features, such as new hairstyles and giving her a voice, and making refinements to the character throughout Early Access.
The Kickstarter campaign for the Banjo-Kazooie successor called Yooka-Laylee from a team of former Rare developers went live today, and it was a quick hit.
The 3D platformer needed only about 38 minutes to reach its funding target of £175,000, or about $265,000. At press time, more than 5,600 people have backed the campaign, which ends on June 16.
Yooka-Laylee was officially revealed yesterday. It's a "buddy-duo" game in the vein of Banjo-Kazooie, but instead of a bear and a bird, it stars a chameleon and a bat.
Now that the Yooka-Laylee page has gone live, we know quite a bit more about the game. First, it's now confirmed that Yooka can use his tongue as a grappling hook, while Laylee can fly, but only for a short period of time. Developer Playtonic also teases that there "may or may not be a move involving a giant fart bubble," which is in-line with the humorous tone developers say they are going for.
There are five worlds to explore, and players can even expand these levels by spending their collectibles, called Pagies. These are scattered throughout the world, on the ground and in the air. Also, hidden throughout the gameworlds are arcade machines, which offer mini-games based on "old-school gaming goodness." Beat these games and you'll be rewarded with Pagies.
Another gameplay element is the "Play Tonic" system. These tonics are gameplay modifiers that allow Yooka and Laylee to "run faster, hit harder, and fly further," among other things.
Yooka-Laylee will feature a soundtrack by David Wise and Grant Kirkhope, former Rare veterans known for their work on the Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie franchises.
Now that Yooka-Laylee's funding goal has been met, the game will be released for PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U. The PC, Mac, and Linux versions are due to launch by October 2016, while the console editions may come later. Only if $1 million is raised will all versions ship at the same time. You can see a full list of stretch goals and more on Yooka-Laylee's Kickstarter page.
You can secure a copy of Yooka-Laylee by pledging at least $15. Backing at that level gets you a copy of the PC version, while you'll need to pay around $22 to get a console copy.
Capcom today continued the rollout of free DLC for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. For May, that content includes more weapons, gear, and items, some of which includes crossover content from Metroid, Street Fighter, and Mega Man.
The new DLC, which is out now, adds 14 new missions, five new weapons, and three full sets of armor to earn. You'll also be able to earn six new Palico weapons and six new armor sets for your feline companions.
More specifically, by completing specific missions, you'll be able to get Blanka, Chun Li, and Mega Man outfits for your Palico, as well as two sets of Samus' armor (Varia and Zero suits) and her Arm Cannon weapon for yourself. There's also new gear based on a collaboration with Universal Studios Japan.
Other new content of note includes Guild Card customization options, a bonus Palico, and a Poogie outfit (the Kitchen Pig).
All of this can be had for free, although, as with past MH4U DLC releases, you'll need to browse through the many categories listed in the DLC menu to manually download it all. You can access the DLC area from the main menu.
More free DLC will be coming for the month of June on the first Friday of the month. The trailer above for May's DLC teases that next month's content will include Dante's (pre-DMC) outfit and weapon from the Devil May Cry series.
As part of Kotaku's latest Kotaku Asks feature, Double Fine president Tim Schafer fielded all manner of questions about his unique independent company. As you might have guessed, Double Fine's 2009's metal music-themed action game Brutal Legend came up a lot. But Schafer didn't shy away from responding to questions about the game, which remains Double Fine's best-selling title to date.
Below are some of the most interesting things Schafer said about Brutal Legend. Be sure to read the full Kotaku Asks feature for tons more insight about Double Fine straight from Schafer.
One more piece of context to consider is that the original Brutal Legend cost around $25 million; Schafer previously said raising that much money--or more--for a sequel "might be tricky." With that out of the way, below are Schafer's Brutal Legend responses from Kotaku Asks.
How Brutal Legend's RTS Elements Might Have Hurt the Game
"We definitely had some surprised people when the RTS elements showed up in that game. :) I do think if we talked about that element more people wouldn't have been so vocal about it. The frustrating thing is we DID talk about it, just not enough. We had a whole press event about the Stage Battles in that game. I was on G4TV and Morgan Webb said 'Hey, this is an RTS game!' We also put out a video that was a mini-tutorial on them before the game came out.
But the demo didn't have any RTS in it because it was the first level in the game, and that really hurt us. My lead designer tried to warn me about that, but there just wasn't time to add it. On the flip side, lots of people loved it and it's still our best-selling game, so there you go. :)" [Source]
Brutal Legend Licensing Issues, How EA Helped, and What Might Come Next:
"We had 107 licensed songs in that game, so that was a great example of a game that really needed a big publisher to get made. EA has a whole room full of people who just do that, so they were a big help. But who knows, maybe we could do it ourselves [with a sequel] with indie metal bands?" [Source]
Brutal Legend 2?
"Never say never! (But I would also not say Anytime Soon!)" [Source]
What Schafer Wanted to Do With the Canceled Brutal Legend 2
"I really just wanted to tell more of the story, bring back the faction we cut out, provide more multiplayer modes, and improve all aspects of the combat. I also would have added a mode that would allow you to chose either the action or the strategy component for each mission, or play them both like in the first game." [Source]
Would Double Fine Ever Make Another AAA Game?
"We never close any doors. We could very well do a game like that again. The industry shifts all around every year so you never know what might happen or what we might be doing. We just try to stay nimble so we can survive, no matter what the environment becomes." [Source]
The upcoming Assassin's Creed movie, which recently entered production, will begin shooting in September. That's according to lead actor Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, 12 Years a Slave), who will star in the movie alongside Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception).
"It just takes time to get a good story together and we really want to do it right," he explained. "It's exciting. It's going to start this year; we'll be filming in September."
Also in the interview, Fassbender was asked which character from the Assassin's Creed series he will play in the movie. It's been suggested that he'll portray Desmond Miles, but Fassbender said with a smile: "You don't know that. Don't listen to what they tell you; that's the first rule."
Ubisoft hasn't shared anything in the way of official plot details for the Assassin's Creed movie. The franchise has visited all manner of different time periods and settings, and this is part of the challenge that producers are currently facing, Fassbender said.
"There are so many elements to it, so trying to translate that to an audience, you have to pick key things," he said. "So yes, that is part of it, getting through the density of it and paring down and engaging a simple story."
The Assassin's Creed movie, produced by New Regency and 20th Century Fox, will hit theaters on December 21, 2016. That's one week after the first Star Wars spinoff movie hits cinemas. Directing is Justin Kurzel, who directed Fassbender and Cotillard in the latest theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Though the Assassin's Creed movie won't arrive until 2016, fans of the stealth-action series are getting a new game this year in the form of Assassin's Creed Victory, which is set in Victorian era London, according to a recent leak.
Ubisoft is working on five other movies based on its games at the moment: Far Cry, Rabbids, Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. In all instances, Ubisoft will retain creative control through its Ubisoft Motion Pictures group.
The game will be available on both platforms May 12 for $10. Also on this day, Naughty Dog will lower the price of Left Behind DLC for PS3. The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 already comes with Left Behind.
Left Behind (read our review here) is a prequel to The Last of Us that follows Ellie and her friend Riley. They sneak out of their boarding school and journey through an abandoned, post-apocalyptic mall.
"Left Behind is an excellent addition that gives further insight into the chilling world of The Last of Us and its most interesting character," reviewer Tom McShea wrote in his review.
"We realize that most of Naughty Dog fans will have probably already played The Last of Us and maybe even the Left Behind Add-on chapter," Naughty Dog community strategist Arne Meyer said in a post on the PlayStation Blog. "if you enjoyed the games, be sure to tell your friends that haven't played this great introduction to The Last of Us."
In addition, Sony has announced that a two-hour trial for The Last of Us' multiplayer mode, Factions, is included with the standalone Left Behind game. Should you decide you'd like to buy the full Last of Us game, including multiplayer and DLC, there are upgrade paths available. See below.
With the latest Avengers movie, Age of Ultron, hitting theaters today, Blizzard Entertainment has taken the opportunity to show off what characters from the Marvel franchise would look like in HearthStone.
Take a look at the unlikely mashup in the tweet below from Blizzard.
HearthStone is a free-to-play collectible card game for PC, Mac, phones, and tablets. The game's most recent expansion, Blackrock Mountain, was released last month. For more, check out all 31 cards.
"Let's have a game that, in fact, will fundamentally help us change new categories," Nadella said. "HoloLens was very much in the works [when Microsoft announced the deal last year], and we knew it."
During the HoloLens announcement event in January, Microsoft showed off a Minecraft tech demo, though the company was clear that this was very much a work-in-progress. But it's not hard to imagine the appeal of Minecraft in an environment beyond a PC or smartphone.
GameSpot sister site CNET got to try the Minecraft demo back in January. Editor Nick Statt wrote about it: "The demo turns an entire room into a lively game world, punching holes into tables and through the walls to reveal interactive environments that can be changed with the tap of a finger."
Microsoft has not announced any real games for HoloLens yet or revealed when the headset will ship or what it will cost. But that news may be coming soon, as we learned this week that Microsoft is bringing HoloLens to E3. The company also recently signed a deal with game engine giant Unity (HearthStone: Heroes of Warcraft), which could pave the way for more games to show up on the headset.
In a recent interview, PC MMO H1Z1 boss John Smedley said the way people play games today is changing, so much so that he commented: "I firmly believe the days of the WoW-style MMO are over." Also in that interview, he said, "How many people do you still know that are still raiding in WoW every night?"
Now, Smedley has clarified his comments in a post on Reddit, offering more insight in how his company, Daybreak (formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment), is approaching game development in 2015 and beyond.
"I was asked in the interview about what things we're doing differently for our new games going forward and that's when I said we're focused on shorter session times because not many people have the time anymore to spend on a four-hour raid," Smedley began.
"Don't mistake that comment for me not believing in raiding or knowing that there are a ton of people that play MMOs that still absolutely love to do it! We also plan on continuing to support EverQuest and EverQuest II for the very long haul and providing exactly the kind of cool content our players have expected. None of that is changing."
Though Smedley said he still believes in the appeal of raiding, Daybreak is making an active decision to create games that are tailored to shorter average play sessions.
"Why? Because that's the way the gaming world has evolved and we need to adapt," he said. "That's precisely why we aimed so high on Everquest Next. We know we needed to change our aim on these games. We can't just expect our users to want to grind through an epic eight-hour raid encounter or treat these games like it's a second job. We need to make sure our games are just as fun in smaller time increments."
"That's the entirety of what I was talking about [in the interview]," Smedley added. "It's not a comment on today's games. It's a comment on today's reality and where we are aiming at least some of our games."
What do you make of Smedley's response? Let us know in the comments below!
Warren Spector, the veteran games developer who helped create the seminal Deus Ex original, has praised the series' 2010 reboot Human Revolution, but hopes the next game offers more than what was shown in the recent reveal trailer.
Writing to fans on Reddit, Spector explained he was a fan of Human Revolution, stating: "I don't finish a lot of games and I finished DX:HR. That'll tell you something. When I did finish it, I kinda sat back and thought, 'Wow, I just had a Deus Ex experience.' It sounded like DX and felt like DX. It was pretty cool."
However, for now, he is not quite as positive about the next project. He said: "I thought the Mankind Divided trailer was pretty violence-o-rific, which bugged me a little. I mean, Deus Ex was never about killing stuff. It was about picking your own play style, which might involve killing stuff."
Nevertheless, Spector appeared confident that the Mankind Divided video might not be representative of the final game.
"In trailers, you just have to give people the most action-packed stuff you can, I assume," he said.
"Given how well Human Revolution did at the whole choice and consequence idea I'm hoping--and have confidence--the actual game will be a little more in the 'Play-style Matters' mold."
"Play-style Matters" is a phrase coined by Spector to generally describe freedom in a game to make your own choices and, as a consequence, how its characters and world responds to those decisions.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, the murder-mystery game from Deadly Premonition developer Access Games and SWERY, has now seen more than 1.3 million downloads on Xbox One. Access Games announced the news on Friday, also confirming that a 1080p/60fps version of the game is in development for PC.
Originally released for Xbox One in September 2014, D4 was offered as a free download in January 2015 through Microsoft's Games With Gold promotion. This likely led to an increase in downloads for the game.
The PC version of D4 will feature a range of changes from the Xbox One edition. First, Kinect controls have been removed entirely; what's more, the PC version can be played entirely with a mouse only. It also includes all DLC, bug fixes, PC-only graphics options, and more.
For a full rundown of the new features for D4 on PC, check out the notes below, written by Access.
Earlier this week, SWERY--real name Hidetaka Suehiro--revealed D4 was coming to PC with a "Thanks, Obama" tweet. Although D4 is expanding onto a new platform with PC, the game is never coming to PlayStation 4, presumably due to an agreement with Microsoft, which published the Xbox One version.
At the bottom of this post you'll find D4's PC system requirements. A release date for the PC version of D4 was not announced, but Access says it will share more details at the Tokyo Indie Fest next week.
Changes from the Xbox One version
Basic controls using Kinect have been entirely removed, and revisions were made so that the game can be played using all controls with just the mouse.
Selection with the hand cursor
GRAB controls
PUSH controls
Changing direction
Changing stance
Confirm/Cancel
Interact
New mouse commands have replaced parts of the game that used Kinect gesture inputs.
New commands for common actions like drinking tequila or opening fortune cookies
New commands for special actions like beginning a dive or activating visions
New commands for gesture input that were used in cutscenes
New mouse commands have replaced parts that used synchronized Kinect inputs.
Sequences such as wiping a window or switchboard puzzles have been customized for mouse inputs.
Changing posture etc. has been replaced with mouse controls.
Commands for Synchro Stunts (QTE) using Kinect have been entirely removed, and all inputs have been re-implemented to function well with mouse inputs.
Actions performed by waving both arms widely or making repeated swipes have been replaced with new swipe inputs or commands.
New commands for gestures like swinging a bat
New commands for voice activated inputs
All downloadable content for the XboxOne version has been integrated into the game.
Revised so that collaboration costumes can now be acquired in game.
Revised so that downloadable facial hair can now be acquired in game.
Made adjustments to the parameters of each type of costume
Added a new "Today's Free Costume Corner" feature to Amanda's shop
Renewed the user interface that accompanies the revised parts listed above.
The revised parts have all been renewed to a format suitable for mouse input.
Removed the mic input that accompanies the revised parts listed above.
Voice activated inputs during Synchro Stunts (QTE)
Sega and Creative Assembly have announced that they have now released official mod tools for strategy game Total War: Attila. The "Assembly Kit," as Sega is calling it, is available to owners of the game through the Tools menu in your Steam Library.
The Assembly Kit is being billed as the "most extensive" mod tools package Sega has ever released, outdoing similar packages for Shogun and Rome II.
Courtesy of Sega, the Total War: Attila Assembly Kit includes the following:
DaVE: enables editing of the game's database entries.
BOB: enables processing of raw data such as textures, models, and animations.
TeD: enables the creation of individual battlefields for land, sea, and sieges.
Terry: enables the editing of campaign map aesthetics such as the height-map, lighting, and props. Unlike previous Assembly Kits, Terry now grants access to Terrain Raw Data, which means modders can determine which battle maps load in for specific campaign map locations.
Sega also pointed out that fans who want to "get the most" out of the Assembly Kit should download the Terrain Raw Data resource pack. This comes with a whopping 60 GB of assets for creators to work with. Check out the video above to see some of this in action.
Interested modders can also visit the Total War Wiki here for a more in-depth rundown of scripting methods and how to best leverage the new mod tools.
Set in an overgrown wilderness populated by the Avvar hunter people, the $15 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."
In GameSpot's 7/10 Jaws of Hakkon review, critic Austin Walker praised its new perspective on the Dragon Age lore and its gorgeous and varied environments. But Walker also wrote that Jaws of Hakkon lacks the cinematic storytelling of the base game, and notes that a few missions can be boring.
Jaws of Hakkon was released first on Xbox One as part of an exclusivity arrangement between BioWare studio owner Electronic Arts and Microsoft. As part of this agreement, BioWare was forbidden from even talking about when the content would be released on other platforms.
Direct X 12, the next graphics API for Windows devices, has been demonstrated rendering real-time graphics with "six to twelve" times more polygons than its predecessor.
Speaking at the Build 2015 conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Microsoft technical fellow John Shewchuk talked through a strikingly detailed Final Fantasy PC demo that was running from a quad-SLI Digital Storm rig.
The video demonstration, which graphics card giant Nvidia says "points a way through the uncanny valley", can be found below:
"The thing that's really incredible about what you're seeing is just the density of data that's involved in this," Shewchuk said.
In a bid to show that the demo was not pre-rendered CG, Shewchuk opened the free camera to look around the scene in real-time, as well as make various changes to the lighting.
Shewchuk claimed that each scene renders about 63 million polygons. "That's about six to 12 times more than we could do with DX11," he said.
He went on to claim that the textures were 8K by 8K, and that "every piece of hair is being rendered as a polygon - this isn't surface map stuff. I think it's an incredible example of just how far people are pushing big data."
Nvidia said the demo was "running on four of our flagship GeForce Titan X GPUs," and described it as a "stunning example" of what can be done with Microsoft's next graphics API.
Direct X 12 is due to arrive with Windows 10, which is rumoured will release in July, though no official date has been set.
"Microsoft has said Windows 10 will launch this summer. We have nothing additional to share," a Microsoft spokesperson told GameSpot in response to the release date rumour.
Call of Duty publisher Activision has teased a possible upcoming entry to the series for Nintendo's Wii U. The official Activision Support Twitter account hinted at a release while replying to a fan's question about why Nintendo ID's can be connected to the Call of Duty website.
@GoodGamer14 Hey there. Stay tuned for more Wii U releases. ^DL
The tweet may be referring to the publisher's recently announced Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which is slated for release on November 6 this year. The game is currently confirmed for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It wouldn't be the first game in the series to be released for the Wii U, as 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II was launched for the console in 2012.
Bungie has announced a special edition Destiny Nepal Aid t-shirt available for pre-order on the Bungie Store at $24.99. All profits will go towards charities aiding the country of Nepal, which was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25.
The design featured on the t-shirt.
In addition to receiving a t-shirt, those who pre-order will also receive a custom in-game shader and custom in-game emblem. The Bungie Store is accepting pre-orders between now and May 24 at 11:59PM PST. Production for the shirts themselves will start on May 25 and be shipped early June. In-game items will be distributed "in an upcoming feature update later this year." Each shirt purchased will be accompanied with one Bungie.net redemption code, which will be sent to the email provided upon checkout.
Destiny's upcoming House of Wolves expansion is set to launch on all platforms on May 19. We've listed the biggest changes the expansion will introduce, which includes a new social space, tons of new ships, weapons, and armour, and raises the level cap to at least 34. For the full scoop on PVP changes to be made, check out our breakdown.
As detailed by Nvidia, the demo is titled "WITCH - Chapter 0 [cry]" and is powered by DirectX 12. The footage shown is allegedly in-game, with each scene comprised of "over 63 million polygons"; six to twelve times more than the capabilities of DirectX 11. Microsoft corporate vice president Steve Guggenheimer showcased the demo, altering lighting effects and camera angles in real-time. The build was shown on a PC running four GeForce Titan X graphics cards.
GameSpot Australia is giving you the chance to a day pass to Vivid's Game On Showcase in Sydney, an interactive games and online video showcase that will take place at the Australian Technology Park from May 22-24. Attendees can participate in workshops, watch performances, compete in esports competitions, and meet their favourite celebrity YouTubers.
We're giving away passes to the show! To enter, simply tell us in 25 words or less why you want to go to Game On! The GameSpot AU crew will award the top five most interesting and creative answers with a VIP ticket each to the event. In addition to being able to enter the show, VIP ticket holders get access to exclusive celebrity meet-and-greet opportunities, priority queues and seats, and will receive a goodie bag. Five selected runner-ups will each receive a general entry pass.
Competition closes at midday on Friday, May 8 so get your entries in fast!
The NFL Draft begins tonight and you can watch the entire event on Xbox One.
Now through Saturday, May 2 (yes, the draft is three days long), all Xbox Live members--Gold and Silver--can stream NFL Network's live coverage on Xbox One by way of the console's NFL app.
The app even supports Snap functionality, so you can watch the draft and play a game at the same time.
The NFL app also comes with a live polling feature and personalized content tailored around your favorite team through the My Team tab. In addition, there's an Xbox Draft Command Center option where you can highlight a specific player and then track them to see which team they end up going to.
Round 1 of the NFL Draft is tonight, April 30, while rounds 2 and 3 will be held tomorrow, with rounds 4-7 taking place on Saturday, May 2. Head to GameSpot sister site CBS Sports for all the news from the draft.
UPDATE: Disney Interactive has not issued an official comment on the leak, but it did tweet out a not so cryptic message earlier today: "Geduld du haben must:"
That's German, written in Yoda's distinctive speaking style, and it translates to, "Patience you must have."
The original story appears below.
With the Star Wars series experiencing a renaissance of sorts, it should come as no surprise that the Disney-owned franchise is entering the toys-to-life market with Disney Infinity 3.0.
German retailer Saturn (via Twitter user Wario64) has published listings for a Disney Infinity 3.0 starter set featuring Star Wars characters. The set comes with characters that you might not have guessed: Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, the latter of which is a character from The Clone Wars animated series.
The box art for the game features a number of other Star Wars characters, including Obi-Wan, Yoda, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, C-3PO, and R2-D2. (Sadly, BB-8 is nowhere to be seen.) It's unclear if or when these characters will also receive Infinity figures, but it seems like a safe assumption that many--if not all--of them will eventually see release.
The website lists a release date of August 15 for the set on Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and PS3, and prices ranging from 60-70 Euros ($67-79).
Star Wars characters were teased for Disney Infinity last year, but Disney has yet to formally announce anything. We've contacted the company to find out more and will report back with anything we learn.
Rockstar today released a new patch for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V. It introduces a variety of fixes, but also reportedly kills the ability to use mods, something that wasn't officially supported in the first place.
The 350.1 patch focuses exclusively on dealing with bugs, crashes, and stability issues, as detailed in Rockstar's patch notes. This includes making it so you can alt-tab back into the Steam version of the game, resolving an issue where the game would freeze when a store is robbed while a player is buying snacks, and addressing clipping issues when talking in-game selfies.
Also fixed is an issue where players were losing their saved cars. When driving a new car from the street into a full garage, one of the saved cars would be replaced without any warning. Rockstar previously advised players to ensure garages they entered with a new car had empty space, but this is thankfully no longer a problem with patch 350.1 installed.
According to members of the modding community, today's patch renders Script Hook V, a tool used for GTA V mods, unusable. This is forcing those who wish to continue using mods to revert to older versions of the patch, which you can only do if you've made backups ahead of time or are willing to download older files online from unofficial sources.
We've reached out to Rockstar to find out if the patch's effect on mods was a deliberate move. We'll report back when we have more details.
Singer Marilyn Mansion has a new album out called The Pale Emperor. It's his ninth studio record, but it's his first released on old PlayStation discs.
Wait, what?
Yes, Manson released his latest collection of songs on the black discs that everyone played their original PlayStation games on back in the '90s.
The album's art directors, Hassan Rahim and Willo Perron, reveal to Kill Screen that they sought out the CDs directly from Sony. In fact, the discs came from the same plant as PlayStation CDs did.
But there's more to understand.
Rahim and Perron say the special discs are meant to highlight the "dark and light" theme of The Pale Emperor itself. They told the site that Manson said he "sold [his] soul to be a rockstar," and only recently "got the mortgage back on [his] soul."
Mirroring this, the discs first appear pure-black, but--with the help of a new thermal layer--they turn white during playback. This is meant to reflect the transition Manson says he's gone through in his own life.
Club Nintendo's final shutdown is still two months away, but one aspect of it--Elite Status gifts--won't be available for much longer.
If you reached Gold or Platinum status during the past year, you need to choose your gift by today, April 30, at 11:59 PM PST. You can do so at Club Nintendo's website.
Earning a certain number of coins in a given Club Nintendo year qualifies you for Gold (300 coins) or Platinum (600 coins) status. This entitles you to your choice of a free digital Wii U or 3DS game that is separate from the rewards you can spend your coins on.
Xbox 360 today received a new system update delivering a number of features previously only available to preview program members, Microsoft has announced.
The main feature of today's update is support for larger external hard drives. You can now connect a hard drive as large as 2 TB, a massive increase over the previous limit of 32 GB. That's more than 62 times as much space available on an external drive to go along with however much internal storage the system itself is equipped with (the many models of 360 have offered anywhere from none to 320 GB).
Larger external hard drives went into testing earlier this month for members of the Xbox 360 Preview program that launched in March. This is similar to the program on Xbox One where select Xbox owners are invited to test upcoming features before they're released as proper updates.
Other features now available include new sections for viewing recent purchases and network statistics (download speed, upload speed, and signal strength). There's also now a listing on the dashboard for how much money you have in your account right and a way to reset your password right from the system.
The update containing all of this should download automatically next time you power on your system while connected to the Internet.
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