The latest Humble Bundle features games for Wii U and 3DS, marking the first Humble Bundle to offer games for consoles and handhelds.
The Humble Nindie Bundle is comprised of a handful of indie games for the two Nintendo platforms. This bundle works like any other--you can pay any price you want (over $1) for certain games, while beating the average sale price gets you a few more, or paying at least a certain price (in this case, $10) gets you all of those games and two more. You're also free to distribute your money between Humble, the various games' developers, and charity.
More games will be added at some point over the next two weeks, but the current lineup looks like this:
This Humble Bundle's charity is Code.org, a non-profit group that works to expand computer science education and encourage participation in the field by women and students of color.
Humble Bundles are typically comprised of PC and mobile games, though in recent years the company has branched out to occasionally offer things like ebooks and music albums.
Harmonix's earlier Rock Band games had campaign modes, but it appears Rock Band 4 will take things further, and feature an "epic, branching" story that will play out differently based on your actions.
"You go from your hometown to being the biggest band in the world, you choose…what kind of band you are," designer Alli Thresher told IGN.
Rock Band 4 will require players to make decisions that have significant consequences for the future of their groups, just like it would happen in real life.
"You can take corporate gigs and make a lot of money as a band, you can take a path to pursue your artistic integrity, and along the way, as you make these choices, the game kind of responds to you," Thresher explained.
"So, you might take a gig where you decide you are the spokesperson for off-brand salted meats and start your every gig by warming up the crowd telling them how much you like salted meats," she added. "And the crowd is not into it and booing and stuff, and you have to play really, really well to get them over it."
Players don't have to accept corporate sponsorships, however. There is also the option to "couch surf around the country, use social media to meet people, and sleep on their floors," Thresher said.
Taking this route, however, means you'll have less money to spend on guitars and character customization. But on the flipside, it might result in a better overall reputation for your band.
Activision today revealed the first details about the third DLC pack for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and also released a trailer showcasing the new content.
Supremacy, as the DLC is called, adds four new maps, including two that take you to landmarks in London (the Palace of Westminster) and Moscow (the Kremlin). Another, Skyrise, is a remake of a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 map, Highrise. You can see each of these in the trailer, and check out Activision's descriptions of them below.
Also included in Supremacy is the next episode of the Exo Zombies mode, entitled Carrier. Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) joins the cast, which already wasn't lacking for star power (and might now lack John Malkovich's Oz, based on the trailer). The mode's four characters are stuck on an Atlas aircraft carrier during this episode, which features new weapons and enemies.
Supremacy is due out on June 2 for Xbox One and Xbox 360 before being released on other platforms at a future date. It costs $15 on its own, or can be had as part of the $50 season pass.
Activision's descriptions of the new multiplayer maps follow:
Parliament: Docked on the River Thames, this military cargo ship delivers a view of the London cityscape along with a fast-paced combat experience. Mixed sight lines provide opportunities for all styles of play to dominate this medium-sized map. Players can take control of the map-based scorestreak to unleash a barrage of missiles that annihilate enemies.
Kremlin: Gamers must prepare for intense combat outside Russia's presidential palace in the new map Kremlin, as they navigate the worn-torn buildings of Red Square in this medium-sized, three-lane map. Secure elevated positions to give the team a strategic advantage, or use exoskeleton capabilities to avoid being caught in the minefield that activates mid-match.
Compound: Players take combat preparation to the limit in an Atlas training facility hidden away in the Colorado wilderness, as they'll have to be quick on the trigger in this small, symmetrical map, which funnels high-speed combat through tight corners to the main tower structures.
Skyrise: Players deploy to an Atlas Skyscraper overlooking the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Based on the fan-favorite, Highrise, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward, this map brings new exoskeleton mechanics to the classic multiplayer layout. Gamers must dominate the power positions in the center of this small-to-medium sized map to control the key navigation points.
Watch the video below to see Criminal Activity's four new maps (they are quite varied), along with one of the game's two new vehicles, a lowrider. Also on display are some of the game's new masks and weapons.
Criminal Activity also adds a new gadget and a Bounty Hunter game mode (among other things), but these are presumably being saved for another trailer. The DLC arrives in June for all platforms, though Battlefield Premium ($50) members will get a two-week headstart.
Three additional Hardline expansions will follow: Robbery (summer), Getaway (fall), and Betrayal (early 2016). Pricing has not been announced for people who buy Hardline's expansions outside of the Premium offering. However, history suggests that they will go for $15 each.
The awesome-looking Star Wars arcade machine that debuted earlier this year, Star Wars: Battle Pod, will be available for purchase for your home beginning next month in standard and premium editions. The asking price? $35,000 for one, and $100,000 for the other.
Bandai Namco today announced plans to offer a home version of Battle Pod, the arcade machine that lets you relive iconic scenes from the original movie trilogy, including the trench run and the Battle of Hoth. In addition to the novelty of its dome screen that helps to immerse players, the machine shoots air and has a rumbling seat.
These machines have been in select arcades (primarily Dave & Busters) for several months now, but you can soon have one of your own for $35,000--a sum that doesn't include shipping and setting fees. Considering this is a 1,200-pound machine, it seems fair to assume that won't be cheap. Orders begin on June 18.
The $100,000 premium edition units are custom built upon being ordered. They have leather seats and the unit itself comes in one of two designs inspired by either the Rebel Alliance or Darth Vader. Other perks of this edition include a plate with a serial number and your name engraved on it, a special owner's manual, and "exclusive carpeting."
More details on how and when this version can be ordered will be announced on the official website "after mid-June," presumably once the fervor over the exclusive carpeting has been allowed to subside.
You can check out video of the Battle Pod in action here.
As part of Activision's ongoing "Tracklist Tuesday" campaign, the company today revealed an additional ten tracks for upcoming music game Guitar Hero Live.
Halestorm
Whereas last week's new songs were focused on metal, these are pretty much all over the place. There's a good mix of new and old, including "Mind Your Manners" off Pearl Jam's 2013 album Lightning Bolt, as well as Tenacious D's "Tribute," originally released back in 2001.
Check out all ten tracks below (or through the Spotify embed at the bottom of this post), but be warned that these songs could be either on-disc or part of Guitar Hero Live's online mode, Guitar Hero TV.
These ten new songs bring Guitar Hero Live's currently confirmed soundtrack to 47 tunes. In all, the game will offer "hundreds" of songs, Activision says.
Guitar Hero Live is the first new entry in the core Guitar Hero series since 2010's Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The game is due out this fall for consoles and mobile, alongside Rock Band 4 from Harmonix.
Publisher 2K and developer Turtle Rock Studios today released a new, free mode for its four-players versus one monster multiplayer shooter Evolve.
The new Arena Mode lets players get right to the action, pitting hunters against the monster in best-of-three matches set in fixed arenas.
The fixed arenas are set on 14 of Evolve's maps for a total of 70 locations to fight in. Hunters enter the arena and face off against a monster that starts the match at Stage 2, and simply battle to the death. The round ends when either the monster or all the hunters are eliminated, and the next match starts in a new fixed arena on the same map.
Arena Mode is completely free on all platform and is available starting today. If you want to watch Arena Mode in action, check out Evolve's Twitch channel here starting at 12:00 PM Eastern Time.
Earlier this month, 2K parent company Take-Two said Turtle Rock will continue to support Evolve throughout the year with new characters, modes, and more. Evolve has shipped around 2.5 million copies since its release across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC back in February, and the publisher called it a "key long-term franchise for 2K."
What sounds like the setup for a frivolous argument--Halo versus Call of Duty--is actually the name of an excellent, over-the-top video that is full of twists and surprises.
The video below (which is not safe for work) is the creation of self-proclaimed "wannabe filmmakers" Danny and Michael Philippou. The two teamed up to direct and edit the short film, which has surprisingly excellent production values for something that could have easily looked bad.
I won't spoil any of the surprises for you, but suffice it to say things get crazy; what has the makings of a debate turns into something much different when the Master Chief drops through the ceiling.
Developer Supermassive Games on Tuesday announced that its upcoming PlayStation 4 horror game, Until Dawn, will launch in North America on August 25. The game will debut from August 26 in PAL territories and August 28 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Stormare's character in Until Dawn
That was just one piece of the announcement today, however. Supermassive also revealed that the Until Dawn cast has added another celebrity actor in the form of Peter Stormare.
You may remember him from his roles in Fargo, The Big Lebowski, or The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
"He gave some incredibly powerful performances in the motion capture studio and you can tell from the end result in the game that he had some fun with the character," Supermassive producer Pete Samuels said in a post on the PlayStation Blog.
What's more, Supermassive has released a new trailer for Until Dawn. Featured is Stormare's character, as well as those played by other actors, including Hayden Panettiere (Heroes, A Bug's Life) and Rami Malek (Need for Speed, Night at the Museum).
On top of that, Supermassive announced a new pre-order bonus for Until Dawn: a special scene where main characters Matt and Emily are alone on the mountain and everything goes wrong.
Until Dawn, which was previously in development for PlayStation 3 with Move support before shifting to PS4, follows a group of eight friends who take what they think will be a fun trip to a cabin in the mountains. Obviously things don't go as planned and they must fight to survive...until dawn.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare lead writer David Gaider has spoken out to address the topic of sexual diversity and inclusivity in video games. Gaider, a 16-year veteran of the RPG studio who recently wrote for Dragon Age: Inquisition, started off in a new interview by recalling his reaction when he learned that BioWare's 2005 RPG Jade Empire--which he didn't work on--would offer gay romance options.
David Gaider
"I remember hearing about when they made that decision to put it in and I was floored," Gaider told Video Game Sophistry. "I mean, I'm gay myself, so I felt it kind of odd when I heard about it, how shocked I was because I just never thought that part of my life had a role to play in work. Like I said, it just wasn't done. I didn't even really consider the idea, so when they made that decision it was like, 'Oh, really?'"
Gaider went on to say there was "a lot of apprehension" regarding what the public's reaction to this would be. But it's something the team pushed for, Gaider said, because it "needed to happen," and ultimately, the response was generally positive.
"It's nervousness from the people who have all the money, and they're worried about the risk," Gaider said. "And I think it's from the people who make the games that are probably, I would say, lean liberal and educated and sort of what they assume their audience will or won't accept. So, when the decision was made for Jade Empire, I think there was some apprehension, but I think also an idea that this was something that needed to happen. And I think when Jade Empire went out we were kind of surprised at how it really didn't cause the kind of explosion that we had thought. And I think that made us a lot bolder."
In the years since Jade Empire's release, there has been "sort of a cultural development"--along with some level of resistance--as it relates to sexual diversity in gaming, Gaider said. But overall, sales of BioWare games have not been materially impacted by the studio's efforts to create characters of all backgrounds.
"There's a certain amount of backlash but I think also a certain amount of support as well," he said. "And I think what each time we've done that, what has become pretty clear is that from a bottom line standpoint, you could make the argument, I suppose, that if we didn't include that maybe the game would sell more. You could also make an argument that if we didn't include that the game would sell less."
"We're putting out something that appeals to players who don't traditionally get represented in games, so maybe more of them come to play the games," Gaider added. "Maybe it's just enough to make up for the ones that are turned off by that. But, ultimately, it hasn't really affected our sales insofar as we can tell. So, the idea of how commercial a consideration it is kind of goes out the window and we can focus on just doing the right thing."
CD Projekt Red, developer of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has said it isn't planning to talk about its next game, Cyberpunk 2077, until 2017 at the earliest.
Speaking to Reuters, CD Projekt CEO Adam Kicinski said he expects Cyberpunk 2077 to be a bigger commercial success than The Witcher 3, and added that the company doesn't plan to offer more information on the game for a while yet.
"We hope and we are certain that Cyberpunk has even bigger commercial potential," he said. "It is too early to talk about it, though."
"This year, and the next one will be the years of the Witcher," he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kicinski said The Witcher 3 is going to change how the studio is perceived, presumably alluding to the high-quality open-world RPG experience it's been able to deliver on its first attempt at the genre.
"Sales of the third part will be many times higher than with our earlier games," he said.
"We broke into the mainstream. It is such a moment in our firm's history that after some years people will look differently at CD Projekt before and after this release."
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in October 2012, and believed to be developed by a separate team inside CD Projekt Red.
Cyberpunk 2077 puts players into a "dark future" in 2077 where advanced technologies have become "both the salvation and the curse of humanity."
The game will offer a nonlinear story designed for "mature" players and is set in the metropolis of Night City. It will also have sandbox elements and some form of multiplayer, though CD Projekt Red stresses that Cyberpunk 2077 is a "true RPG," and definitely not a multiplayer shooter.
Although platforms for Cyberpunk 2077 have not yet been announced, the studio has said it will "probably" come to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A release date has not yet been announced.
As announced on developer CD Projekt Red's Facebook page, these DLCs come in the form of a new quest and cosmetic option for Yennefer:
CONTRACT: MISSING MINERS - Miners from a small Skellige village are disappearing. Investigate and find out what's happening.
ALTERNATIVE LOOK FOR YENNEFER - Check out this entirely new look for the mighty sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg.
No official release date for this content was announced. But presumably it will become available later this week when each store refreshes. The DLC will be available across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
In all, CD Projekt Red plans to release sixteen free expansions for The Witcher 3. The first two, The Temerian Armor Set (for your horse) and the Beard and Hairstyle Set (for Geralt), were released last week. The remaining twelve will be released on a weekly basis throughout June and July.
As for why CD Projekt Red is giving away content for free, co-CEO Marcin Iwinski previously explained that it's a means of saying thank you to fans.
"As gamers, we nowadays have to hold on tight to our wallets, as surprisingly right after release, lots of tiny pieces of tempting content materialize with a steep price tag attached. Haven't we just paid a lot of cash for a brand new game?" he said. "At CD Projekt Red, we strongly believe this is not the way it should work and, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we have decided to do it differently. This is our way of saying thank you for buying our game."
Looking further ahead, CD Projekt Red plans to release multiple paid expansions for The Witcher 3. The first of these, Hearts of Stone, will launch in October.
Video game giant Valve, the studio behind Counter-Strike and Steam, has sought out a former Olympian in an effort to help improve the overall health and general well-being of its employees.
Geekwire reports that Valve has been working with Ja'Warren Hooker, who was part of the American sprinting team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, for more than two years now. Hooker now runs a corporate personal training company and sends his squad of trainers to Valve's offices in Bellevue for regular fitness sessions.
Ja'Warren Hooker
Valve even has a dedicated workout area where employees can take part in various workout regimens and exercises, including yoga, pilates, and meditation. The program is already paying off.
"A happy and healthy employee is always a better thing to have," Hooker told the site. "We've just seen a lot of transformation, physically and mentally, at Valve."
For its part, Valve boss Gabe Newell said the company is always looking into how it can help its employees live healthier, more fulfilling, and productive lives.
"Like many companies in the tech industry, Valve employees work long hours, have a lot of stress, and need to manage the demands of both their personal and professional lives," Newell said. "We're always looking for ways to improve the quality of life for both our employees and their families."
Hooker's fitness program isn't exactly traditional. Mental challenges are combined with physical workout routines. One example is a drill where employees must solve a maze or a Where's Waldo challenge while performing push-ups or boxing.
Newell went on to say that employees are flocking to Hooker's workout services, noting that the fitness program represents the second-most popular Valve employee benefit. Number one, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Valve's yearly all-expense paid trip to Hawaii.
Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment's Oskari Hakkinen has left the studio to found a new mobile game and app startup called Futurefly.
Hakkinen, who was previously head of franchise development at Remedy, has been at the studio for a number of years, working on Death Rally, as well as the first two Max Payne games. Hakkinen was also instrumental in convincing Microsoft to develop and release Alan Wake for PC.
His new studio consists of nine people and is based in Helsinki. Among the studio's staff are ex-Remedy, EA, and Microsoft developers.
Speaking to VentureBeat, Hakkinen said Futurefly's goal is to introduce gameplay into what would traditionally be non-game apps.
"In early 2014, I came up with a concept that I simply couldn't let go of and ended up putting together a garage band of developers to bring it to life, working on it in our free time," he said.
"We are on a mission to disrupt the consumer app space with games on the top of our minds. We are designing consumer apps with playable mechanics as part of the primary input mechanism."
"This is a new take, and something that is better shown than talked about," he added. "Fortunately, we are well into the development of our first instalment, so you won't have to wait too long."
In April, Quantum Break, Remedy's upcoming time-bending Xbox One shooter, was delayed. The game, previously set to launch in 2015, is now slated to arrive next year.
At the time, Microsoft head of publishing Shannon Loftis said in a statement that the company already has the "strongest games lineup in Xbox history" with games like Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends,Forza Motorsport 6, and "more we'll announce in the coming months."
"With so many games launching this year, moving Quantum Break to 2016 extends our incredible portfolio into next year with a monster new IP," she said.
The marquee offer is what 2K is calling an "Early Tip-Off Weekend." Anyone who preorders the game at stores or online will get to play four days early, meaning September 25 instead of September 29.
On top of this, people who preorder will receive the following in-game items:
10,000 Virtual Currency (VC);
MyTEAM VIP Package:
New-Gen & PC - 3 MyTEAM Emerald Packs each with a guaranteed Emerald player;
Prior-Gen - MyTEAM Gold Booster Pack with Guaranteed Gold Player and 4 additional Gold items.
Paying for early access to upcoming games isn't exactly a new concept. One example is EA Access, which lets subscribers play unreleased games ahead of time for $5/month or $30/year,
NBA 2K16 was announced last week during an earnings call. 2K Sports hasn't announced firm details about the changes and improvements compared to last year's game, but the developer is not holding back in boasting about its potential.
"NBA 2K16 promises to be one of the most groundbreaking sports titles in video game history, combining exciting new features with uncanny realism," NBA 2K vice president of marketing Alfie Brody said in a statement.
The Wii U edition of racing game Project Cars did not launch alongside the console and PC editions earlier this month. Now it sounds like it may be quite some time before the Wii U version arrives--if it ever does.
Slightly Mad studio head Ian Bell wrote in the Project Cars forums that the Wii U edition is struggling at the moment. The current build of the game is "running at about 23FPS," Bell explained, noting that 720p is the best resolution the developer has been able to achieve.
Bell went on to say that Slightly Mad is hoping Nintendo makes some kind of hardware announcement at E3 next month. "We're awaiting/hoping for more of a hardware announcement at E3..." he said.
This is unlikely to happen, however, as Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has gone on record to say the company's new console, the NX, won't be at E3. Nintendo doesn't plan to talk about it until 2016.
After a fan pointed this out in another forum post, Bell replied: "Honestly, unless we really cut the looks back I think we're looking to Nintendo's next console."
GameSpot scored Project Cars an 8/10. Critic Austin Walker wrote: "Project Cars offers a different fantasy, one that's a little less attractive and a bit harder to enjoy: the fantasy of learning how to do something difficult."
A team of former BioShock developers impacted by the Irrational Games closure have assembled to create Deep End Games, a new Boston-based indie developer that today announced its first project, a horror game called Perception. Though it's early days, the game certainly looks and sounds exciting.
Perception sees you playing as a blind woman--Cassie Thornton, aged 29--who must make her way through a mansion called Echo Bluff in Gloucester, Mass. occupied by a force known as the "presence." (Creepily enough, the "presence" is constantly surrounded by moths; it's schizophrenic; sometimes it sounds like man, other times a woman; it's always searching for you). Her only physical tools are her walking stick and a smartphone, and also her hearing. Every tap of the walking stick or sound creates a visualization that illuminates the world around you.
"You don't have shotguns and magic powers and all that," project lead Bill Gardner told GameSpot. Gardner worked at Irrational for more than a decade, recently serving as design director for BioShock Infinite.
"All you can do when it's coming for you is run and hide; hop in a closet, get under the bed or the couch," he says. "And hope, pray that it just passes you by. The tension here is that you see through sound. So you have to very carefully weigh whether or not you should throw that vase down the hall to see what's down there because you could attract the presence."
Overall, the game aims to capture a cat-and-mouse/hide-and-seek feeling, not unlike Alien: Isolation. Check out the video below to see how it works.
The game plays out across a series of chapters from different eras, each of which explaining what terrible things happened at the mansion. Once these are completed, players travel back in time--and the mansion completely changes form, from its geometry to the people and spirits dwelling inside it. Gardner describes Perception as a narrative-driven game overall.
"She's been haunted by these visions of this mansion; every night she has nightmares," Gardner says. "She knows it's a real place. For months and months she's been trying to find where it is and what it all means. And so she ends up finding it one day and jumps on the first plane she can find; flies across country, and arrives right before this storm of the century, this blizzard. So she winds up being snowed in and has to rely on her echo-location and her wit to escape this presence."
The team at Deep End Games is made up of industry veterans who have worked on big-name franchises such as BioShock, Dead Space, and Rock Band. Leading the group is Gardner, while also on the team is Robb Waters, who designed BioShock's famous Big Daddy characters. Although Deep End Games certainly has ties to BioShock, Gardner explains that Perception won't exactly match the formula of that shooter series.
"Most of your time is spent shooting things and changing out weapons at gene banks," Gardner says of BioShock. "And that's fine; obviously I'm proud of the game. But then you look at Gone Home, on the other hand, and it's almost entirely spent interacting with the narrative, which is also great. So what we have with Perception, there's a bit more of a mix. Between the game of hide-and-seek you play with the presence and using your smartphone and all the different mechanics to unravel the mystery."
Deep End Games has funded Presence up until this point out-of-pocket, but that changes today with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for the project. The team is looking for $150,000 to make the project a reality. Should the Kickstarter campaign fall short, Deep End Games plans to pursue other funding options.
Presence is due to launch in 2016 for PC, with stretch goals for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Other stretch goals include a "GTFO" mode with randomized mansion levels and another for virtual reality support ($350,000), including Oculus Rift and possibly Morpheus. Pledging at least $20 gets you a copy of the game. Head to the Perception Kickstarter page to get all the details.
"That's exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in--opening people up to entirely different world experiences and different perspectives," Gardner says about Perception.
Other teams rising out of the ashes of Irrational include The Molasses Flood (The Flame in the Flood) and Otherside Entertainment (Underworld: Ascendant). It hasn't all been success stories, however. A third studio to emerge from the Irrational closure, Day For Night Games, recently announced that its game, The Black Glove, had been shelved indefinitely.
For a closer look at Perception, which runs on the latest version of Epic's Unreal Engine, check out some images in the gallery below.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released a new trailer for Mad Max, the video game set in George Miller's post-apocalyptic universe and developed by Avalanche Studios, the team behind Just Cause.
The trailer is a meaty two minutes of story exposition and gameplay, and shows Max on the search for his iconic car. Along the way we're also treated to a look at some explosive car sequences reminiscent of the recently released Mad Max: Fury Road and some brutal hand-to-hand combat too. Watch the trailer above.
As previously detailed in a Mad Max gameplay preview, players are thrown into The Wasteland with no possessions and must first build a car, the Magnum Opus, which can be upgraded and customized. This customization extends to hand-to-hand combat as well, with armor and weapons also upgradable.
The pale skinned War Boy ran at me, oblivious and uncaring to the fact that I was sitting behind the wheel of the heavily reinforced armored vehicle that just laid waste to his own souped-up car. We had just clashed--he and another vehicular cohort of his against my ride (dubbed the Magnum Opus)--and I had easily prevailed after quickly ramming one car into scrap and using the Magnum Opus' on-board harpoon to rip the back wheel off the other to render it immobile. But still the War Boy ran at me. I considered simply running him over, but that seemed too, well, easy, too boring a way of finally getting passage to Valhalla. So I fired my harpoon, a weapon usually reserved for ripping sections off enemy cars, thudding it into the War Boy's chest. I quickly retracted the harpoon, sending the War Boy flying far behind me.
Being in the Wasteland isn't all about killing crazies, though. Once during my hour of playing Avalanche Studio's Mad Max, I ran across a small group of people, bedraggled and begging for water. I approached the leader, but I was still unfamiliar with the game's controls--I fired off my shotgun instead of lending aid. The leader dropped dead, and the other two survivors started to flee, terrified of what I had just done. I ran after them, hoping to offer water, but the game wouldn't allow me to help. After only a few feet of chase, the other two collapsed, crawling away as best as they could. Such is life in the Wasteland.
The Mad Max films have always showcased a contrast between all-out action and casual horror at what has become of humanity after society's collapse, and the game treads similar ground. But don't expect any direct ties between the films (especially the recent Fury Road) and the game. Just like the films, which feature only the barest of connective tissue between them, this game exists on its own. There is Max, there is the Wasteland, and there is a whole load of insanity in the world's few survivors. And that's about as deep as the narrative cohesiveness between the films and the game goes.
Viewers of Fury Road will have some visual touchpoints, however. The pale skinned War Boys, for instance, are in the game, as are the areas around the film's (mostly unseen) Gas Town. The design of the world and its vehicles, too, easily evoke the chrome and leather and spikes of the Mad Max universe (though in the short time I played, nothing came close to the mind-bending visual of Fury Road's Doof Warrior). Publisher Warner Bros Interactive's production and general manager Peter Wyse says people who have seen Fury Road will find the game "familiar", and says the rapturous critical success of the recent film spells only positives for the game.
"We're excited because it establishes the universe that we have set as the backdrop for our game. We took tons of inspiration from the world and characters that (film director) George Miller created. We hope that when people who have seen the movie play our game they are in a setting that feels familiar, yet also crafted for the game experience," he said.
One thing from the film that won't be a major part of the game will be the Interceptor, Max's trusty Ford Falcon GT Coupe. Despite the Interceptor's iconic status within the films, the car will be the first thing you lose in the game.
"It is really the impetus for the game and the game's narrative. Max and his vehicle are almost symbiotic and we thought that it would be an interesting journey for the player to have to understand how important a vehicle is in this world by having them build and customize a vehicle of their own design," Wyse said.
That vehicle will be your Magnum Opus, a ride you'll build from scratch and upgrade using parts scavenged from around the Wasteland. The Wasteland itself is large and open, and is broken up into several "areas" that each contain forts to be taken over, sniper nests to be destroyed, vehicle convoys to demolish, and many other side activities. Each activity lowers the threat level in an area, gradually making it safer for you to travel around the open world.
If you think the structure of this world sounds somewhat familiar to games such as Assassin's Creed or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, then you'd be right. What's also very familiar is Mad Max's melee combat, which features a system of attacks and parries similar to the aforementioned games. In my brief time playing Mad Max, I infiltrated two heavily armed camps. I started on the perimeter, taking out snipers camped out on platforms from long range, before using the harpoon on the Magnum Opus to rip down the camp's heavy steel gates. Once inside, the combat fell into a familiar pattern--I was surrounded by multiple enemies, and I'd attack until that telltale indicator flashed above a foe's head telling me that I needed to parry. Occasionally, another prompt would appear to tell me I could execute a finishing move, or that Max had reached a "frenzied" state in which his attacks would become more brutal. But for the most part, it was attack, attack, parry, attack, attack, parry. Rinse and repeat.
But as in the films, it's when Max gets on the road that things take a turn for the better. Car combat in the Magnum Opus is fun, frenetic, and fast, providing a sharp contrast to the more common beats of melee fighting. The Magnum Opus feels great to drive--responsive, agile, and seemingly unable to be rolled, it's a great match for the sand and stone of the Wasteland, as well as the other armored vehicles you'll find roaming within it.
Your surest way of damage dealing is also the most fun--the head-on collision. Using nitrous to build up speed just before impact can take off most of an enemy vehicle's health, and it was a blast to line up enemies in a direct line ahead of me so I could ram them at top speed. You'll also be able to sideswipe cars alongside you, but outside of a head-on crash, firing off the harpoon to get closer to enemy vehicles or rip off entire pieces (such as armor or wheels) was the best way I found to take out foes. While the Magnum Opus I was driving for the demo was already levelled up significantly (making it feel like it was close to indestructible), it was still hugely enjoyable to go at top speed along the Wasteland trying to chase down a whole convoy of enemy vehicles. In one convoy chase, I sideswiped one car off a cliff, rammed another into submission, shot out the fuel cannisters on a third, before using the harpoon to pull off the armored front grill of the convoy lead to make it easier to crush. The car combat in Mad Max felt liberating, and I can't wait to play more.
Warner's Wyse says the mix between on-foot melee and car combat in the final game will be about 50-50, and even within the short time I had to play, I found plenty of fights and events to get involved in. But with seemingly so much to do, will the Wasteland in Mad Max still feel like the desolate, soul-crushing vastness the films portray? What balance will there be between the demands of a modern, content-heavy action game and the unique, bleak tone of the source material?
It turns out that the team at Avalanche did at one stage dial back on the number of "things" available for players to do in the world. "In fact, yes, there was a point where we decided that we'd hit the right balance," Wyse said. "At that point we focused on eliminating some of the encounters and camps so that we could make the remaining ones as polished and unique as possible."
Top Xbox boss Phil Spencer has spoken out to clear up confusion regarding the exclusivity status of upcoming adventure game Rise of the Tomb Raider. On Facebook, Xbox Australia updated a post from January 2015 to say that Rise of the Tomb Raider is no longer a timed exclusive, but a full exclusive.
But that doesn't seem to be exactly accurate. Asked on Twitter about this very message, Spencer said nothing has changed since he revealed last summer that Rise of the Tomb Raider was only a timed exclusive for Xbox.
"There has been no change to our deal on Tomb Raider," he said. "Same as before when I answered. Timed." In another tweet, he said, "We are working with Crystal Dynamics on Tomb Raider to make it great on Xbox this Holiday; that's our goal and 100 percent of our focus."
Microsoft will be heavily involved in the forthcoming release of Rise of the Tomb Raider this year for Xbox One and Xbox 360, as the company will publish Rise of the Tomb Raider and handle marketing and distribution. No release date for the game has been announced, but we expect Microsoft to talk more about the title during its E3 2015 briefing next month.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a direct sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider reboot. That game has now sold more than 8.5 million copies, making it the best-selling Tomb Raider game of all time.
What's your take on Rise of the Tomb Raider's Xbox exclusivity? Let us know in the comments below.
The PC version of the Xbox One murder-mystery game D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die finally has a release date. The Windows edition will arrive on June 5 for $15, while a variety of downloadable content (see below) will also be available for purchase. Developer Access Games (Deadly Premonition) also said a free demo version would be available soon, though no further details were provided.
D4 will be available on Steam, GOG, the Humble Store, and Playism.
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.
Microsoft has announced this week's Deals With Gold lineup. Now through June 1, 2015, Xbox Live Gold subscribers can save on games like Scream Ride, Alien: Isolation, and various Call of Duty titles.
Check out all the deals, divided by platform, below. Note that all deals require an Xbox Live Gold subscription except Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Gold Edition, which is also available for Silver members.
Are you picking anything up this week? Let us know in the comments below.
Xbox One:
Alien: Isolation -- $24
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Digital Pro Edition -- $67
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Gold Edition -- $49.80
Capcom has said it is assessing the possibility of including support for PlayStation 3 arcade sticks in Street Fighter V, which is currently in development for PlayStation 4 and PC.
Last week, Sony revealed that the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV would feature support for some fighting sticks thanks to the inclusion of drivers developed by Skullgirls studio Lab Zero.
Lab Zero's drivers allow arcade sticks (specifically those registered as a Generic USB GamePad or Joysticks) to work with the PlayStation 4. MadCatz's officially licensed line of sticks, which are generally the most popular among players, function this way and so are supported.
When asked by GameSpot if Street Fighter V on PS4 will also include these drivers and support for older arcade sticks, a Capcom representative said it was something the company is currently investigating.
"I can confirm that we are looking into this at the moment," said Capcom. "[We] will share more information soon."
The PS4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV rolled out on Tuesday. This version will include all costume DLC, including the recently released Vacation and Wild costumes, as well as the Omega Mode.
Namco Bandai's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has taken the top spot UK chart and, according to sales monitor GFK Chart-Track, has had the biggest debut week for a game release in 2015 so far.
The Witcher 3 beat Battlefield Hardline's sell-through by 53 percent to attain this record.
The game's week-one sales were an 608 percent increase over The Witcher 2's first week sales. However, it must be noted that the second game in the series initially only launched on PC, and was followed by an Enhanced Edition for Xbox 360 a year later.
Elsewhere on the chart, Farming Simulator enters at No.2, followed by FIFA 15 at No.3 and last week's top placement, Project Cars, at No.4.
The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red has acknowledged an issue affecting the ability to save games on the Xbox One version of its open-world role-playing game.
The issue, as reported by numerous users on the Witcher 3 forum, disables the auto-saving and manual saving function, but doesn't notify the player this has happened.
This has led to complaints that numerous hours of play have been lost and, obviously, is an issue that can negatively impact the experience of a large open-world RPG.
Responding to one of the forum posts, CD Projekt Red quest designer Philipp Weber confirmed the studio is "aware of the issue and treat it very seriously," adding that it hopes to "put the fix in a patch as soon as possible."
On Monday CD Projekt Red released a new patch for the PC version of the game that improved texture rendering quality, introduced the ability to rebind all keys, and more. The full Witcher 3 patch notes can be read here.
Capcom has announced Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster (Biohazard 0 HD Remaster in Japan), a high-definition remake of 2002's GameCube-exclusive Resident Evil Zero. According to Dengeki Online, the game will be released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC in early 2016 in Japan. A release for territories outside of Japan has not yet been confirmed.
Credit: Dengeki Online
Resident Evil Zero takes place prior to the events of the first Resident Evil. The game features police officer Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen, a prisoner on death row. The duo must work together to survive a virus that has resulted in a zombie outbreak. The player can switch between the two characters at any time for the duration of the game, a feature called "partner zapping." Each character possesses unique abilities. The player is also able to control both characters simultaneously, or have them separate to cover more area when exploring.
Earlier this year Capcom released Resident Evil HD, a high-definition remake of 2002's Resident Evil, which was a GameCube version remake of 1996's Resident Evil for the PlayStation. Resident Evil HD has sold more than one million units worldwide, setting a new record as the "biggest-selling day one digital title" on the PlayStation Network, according to Capcom. The game is also Capcom's fastest selling digital title in the company's history.
2K Games has revealed more details on an upcoming game announcement. Earlier today, the publisher posted a GIF on Twitter that starts with a shot of a seemingly normal cityscape, which then morphs into city wreaked with disaster. The image can be viewed below.
The publisher has also pointed to the Advent Future website, which initially reads as a community website for a company whose slogan reads "building a brighter future together." Staying on the page eventually reveals text that says, "The ADVENT is lying to you," as well as other changes with sinister connotations. In addition, a link to an Advent gene therapy pamphlet provides information on being supposedly "freed from illness."
Last week 2K's parent company Take-Two teased a "soon-to-be announced new triple-A title from 2K." The game will launch in Take-Two's fiscal 2016, which means a release date before April next year. Various images which appear to be concept art are viewable on the Advent website, as shown below.
What significance does the lit-up building hold?The figures on the billboards appear to be watching the city.Spot anything unusual?
What do you think 2K has lined up? Let us know your theories in the comments below!
Microsoft's latest Deals With Gold promotion is on, discounting a handful of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition for $30 and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes for $10. You can check out all the deals here.
The newest Humble Bundle featuring Paradox games is nearly over. Paying any price gets you games like Magicka and Knights of Pen and Paper, while paying $15 or more also gets you Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings II, and more. Alternatively, check out the new Humble Weekly Bundle on adventure games.
Get 20 percent off at Green Man Gaming with the promo code: GET20P-ERCENT-OFFNOW
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.
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