Arguably the best Batman comic ever written, the one-off Batman: The Killing Joke, is being turned into an animated film, DC Comics announced at Comic-Con today.
Bruce Timm, who has worked on a number of DC animated series, will executive produce the new movie, which is due out sometime in 2016. It will be one of three movies released next year under the DC Universe Original Movies banner. Unlike The Killing Joke, both of the others--Batman: Bad Blood and Justice League vs. Titans--will be original stories.
Details are scant on the The Killing Joke adaptation, but it's described on DC's website as "retell[ing] this classic tale in an exciting new way." It'll be preceded by a 15-minute prologue that sets up its story and gives "longtime fans of the story something new to look forward to."
The Killing Joke was originally published back in 1988. Written by Alan Moore (best known for Watchmen) and illustrated by Brian Bolland, it provides an origin story for the Joker. It also marks a significant moment for Barbara Gordon in a scene that's referenced in the recently released Batman: Arkham Knight.
In addition to this, there's reportedly another live-action Batman movie coming after Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. We learned this week that Ben Affleck may don the cowl a second time in a film he'll co-write.
Today at Comic-Con, Legendary Pictures released new character art for the upcoming Warcraft movie's two main characters, Lothar and Durotan. I definitely like the art direction here.
The Warcraft film is an Orcs vs. Humans origin story that will see Lothar (the human) and Durotan (the Orc) go head-to-head as they each attempt to do right for their people, according to director Duncan Jones.
Lothar is played by Travis Fimmel, who is perhaps best known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok on the TV show Vikings. Durotan, a character partially created through CGI, will be brought to life by Toby Kebbel. The actor previously did similar work, when he portrayed the ape Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Also at Comic-Con today, Jones shared an image of a new prop for the film.
New prop being revealed today at the Legendary booth at SDCC. Lady Taria's dagger. A beauty! pic.twitter.com/HuYe6ebrlm
We're expecting to learn more about the Warcraft movie later this afternoon during a Comic-Con panel that begins at 2:30 PM PDT, where we may finally see the film's first trailer.
Nintendo has finally broken its silence regarding the recent report that claimed Nintendo will no longer publish Wii U exclusive action game Devil's Third in North America.
In a statement on Twitter today, Nintendo acknowledged the mysterious situation, but didn't exactly clear things up concerning the company's publishing arrangement for the game.
"We know you are eager to hear more about Devil's Third," Nintendo of America said. "We are excited to bring the game to Wii U and will have more to share soon."
In his own statement on Friday, designer Tomonobu Itagaki responded to the report by saying, "The world brims over with lies and rumors." For what it's worth, his statement also did not include specifics regarding whether or not Nintendo of America is still involved with the game.
Devil's Third, which combines shooting and hack-and-slash elements, has been in development for years and has quite a history. The game was originally going to be published by the now-defunct publisher THQ. At the time, it was an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC game, but later shifted to become a Nintendo-exclusive.
Even if Nintendo does decide to no longer publish Devil's Third in North America, which wouldn't be unprecedented, it's always possible another company could step in.
Following the close of the market this week, the price of an EA share sits at $72.07--an all-time high, and a figure that is roughly double where it was just one year ago.
EA's stock had previously topped out at $68.12, back in early 2005. While it remained strong over the next few years, the second half of 2008 was not kind to the company (and many others), as its share price ended the year at $15.32. Things got even worse in 2012, with shares falling under $12.
Since then, however, the company's stock has pretty consistently been on the rise, thanks at least in part to CEO Andrew Wilson, who took over the role in 2013 from John Riccitiello. On July 11, 2014, the company's share price sat at $35.97 a share. With its current price at $72.07, the stock's price has doubled in one year. According to CNBC, it's the "best-performing stock in the S&P 500."
The impending launch of Battlefront certainly hasn't hurt
EA is set to report its first quarter financial results (for the period covering April-June 2015) on July 30. Its most recent financial report came in May, when it announced that it had exceeded its guidance, posting revenue of $896 million during its fourth quarter (January-March 2015). It also posted better-than-expected EPS (earnings per share, or the amount paid out to the owner of each share in the company) of $0.39. Its full-year revenue was up from the prior year, with a substantial amount of that coming from record digital sales, where the company has made strides with things like Ultimate Team and mobile.
The video, which you can watch below, was directed by Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job director F. Gary Gray. It features illustrations by Pop Mhan, who has worked on numerous He-Man and Gears of War comics.
It's a visually stunning video that looks like a comic book brought to life. It sets up the story for Syndicate, introducing you to the game's Victorian London setting and main characters, twins Jacob and Evie Frye.
For more on how the Syndicate animated short came to be, check out this behind-the-scenes video, which features insight from Gray, Mhan, and other people involved in its creative direction.
Following up on last month's announcement of Trackmania Turbo, Ubisoft has released more than five minutes of new gameplay footage showcasing its upcoming racing game.
The video shows off more of Turbo's new Lagoon Rollercoaster environment, meant to be set in Southeast Asia. Most of it is just standard gameplay, so you can get a better feel for what the game is all about than in the E3 trailer that frequently showed camera angles that you'd never be playing from.
Turbo functions a lot like past Trackmania games. Rather than playing out like a standard racing game where you try to end up in first after a set number of laps, here you try to set the best lap time possible while racing alongside ghosts of other players. Restarts are instantaneous, allowing you to start right over without any fuss.
Checkpoints still work as they have in previous games, too, except that passing one changes the game's music. Braking has an effect on the music as well, muffling the sound in order to encourage you to hit the gas.
As we heard previously, the game consists of 200 tracks over four environments, each of which is said to have its own "specific gameplay." There's also a track-builder tool that lets you share your creations online, and a co-op mode where two players coordinate to control a single vehicle. Both of these are shown in the second half of the video.
Turbo, unlike past games, which have mostly been available on PC, will be available for Xbox One and PS4 in addition to PC. It's due out on December 1 in North America and November 27 in Europe.
As major technical issues with the PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight continue to persist, publisher Warner Bros. has announced that the game's first story expansion, A Matter of Family, has been delayed for computers. The content remains on schedule to launch on July 14 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but the PC version is now expected sometime later, Warner Bros. said in a forum post.
"Our continued focus on getting the right PC fixes in place for the main game has had an impact on the development of all DLC content for the PC version of the game," the company said. "This means that the Batman: Arkham Knight--Batgirl: A Matter of Family DLC will not be available on July 14 for those who are currently playing the PC version of the game."
"We apologize for the delay and only want to make sure that any content that we offer is up to the standards that PC players expect."
Also in the blog post, Warner Bros. again apologized for the sorry state of Arkham Knight's PC version, sales for which have been suspended. Progress is moving forward on implementing new fixes, but Warner Bros. did not say when it plans to resume sales for the PC iteration. This will happen only when the game meets a "superior quality bar."
"Addressing the PC performance issues is still our top priority and at this time, we believe we have identified a number of fixes for the larger issues that were affecting PC players at launch," Warner Bros. said. "These fixes are currently being implemented into the game and once we have been able to do some initial testing, we'll have a better idea on the status of our progress. We'll provide an update on how things are developing next week."
Finally, Warner Bros. said it is taking "full responsibility for releasing a product that did not meet our quality standards." The company also said that, due to Arkham Knight's rocky launch for PC, Warner Bros. is making changes to its review process for future titles.
"We can also assure you that because of this latest launch, we are modifying the internal review process for all of our games," it explained. "For those who are waiting for the updated version of the game on PC, please know that we are working on this every day."
Arkham Knight's console versions were developed by Rocksteady Studios and received a generally positive critical reception. The PC version, meanwhile, was outsourced to Iron Galaxy Studios.
Welcome back to GameSpot Q&A a weekly section where we ask our staff and readers an interesting discussion question about video games. Look at this as a forum where you and others can discuss and compare your opinions of this beloved hobby of ours. Let us know what your answer is to this week's question in the comments below!
This week's question is:
What video game character deserves his/her own spin-off?
There's no denying how video games contain the most amazingly memorable characters. However, it's a shame that not all these characters are the focus of their respective games, nor are they even playable. So have you ever wished that a character had a unique game of their own? If so, who? Here's what we each had to say on the matter.
Navi from The Legend of Zelda | Chris Watters, Host
The obvious choice for this, the highest of honors that could be bestowed on a sidekick or supporting character, is Navi. In Navi: Wings of Karma, you fly around modern day Tokyo, seeking out people who are evil, immoral, or just plain rude, and convincing them that you are a special fairy there to lead them to a glorious destiny. And then you prank, pester, and otherwise mess with them until they repent their evil ways or end up completely ruined. Hey, listen!
Ciri from The Witcher 3 | Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Ciri from The Witcher 3. Geralt's passionless quest for money and the pleasures of the flesh has served him (and us) quite well, but Ciri's sequences in The Witcher 3 were a great tease, proving that there are many tales left to tell in this world. We only experienced bits and pieces of Ciri's life, but imagine the encounters she had that we never got to see for ourselves. I want to see the brutal world of The Witcher through Ciri's eyes; I suspect her point of view could further deepen that rich fantasy universe.
Kefka from Final Fantasy VI | Synthia Weires, Community Lead
Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. I've always been a fan of seeing how a character becomes their true self (their final form if you will), and Kefka is no different. I imagine it would be something comparable to another clown prince, the Joker in the Killing Joke. The game would go into the details of Kefka as the first experimental Magitek Knight and as we progress we would see what events drove him madness.
Jack from Mass Effect 2 | Jessica McDonell, Host/Producer
Jack from Mass Effect 2. Jack, or Subject Zero, has the coolest backstory and such a fantastic personal mission. I'd love to play a game all about her. She is a killer biotic, hates pretty much everybody, and, unlike every other character in Mass Effect, being sweet and thoughtful to her won't get you into her good books. Or her bed, for that matter. I'd have loved to experience more of her evolution from a chaotic renegade to the confident and mature woman she is in Mass Effect 3.
Sylvanas Windrunner from Warcraft | Zorine Te, Editor
Sylvanas Windrunner from the Warcraft universe would make an excellent main character in an action role-playing game depicting her life, from early childhood to the leader of the Forsaken she is now. Imagine partaking in the battles she would have fought and seeing all the pivotal events of the Warcraft universe she witnessed! Her skillset as a ranger would also translate well into action-oriented gameplay. Then there's the moment she became a banshee, granting a whole new perspective and changing up how she could play. I'd love to gain an insight into her life story; such a troubled and complex character would have a great a story arc
Cortana from Halo | Eddie Makuch, News Editor
I think Halo's Cortana is fully deserving of her own game. Sure, the Halo extended fiction dives deep into her backstory and origins, but I think it's time to go even further. Since she's an AI, this of course would present its own set of gameplay challenges. And, Halo fans will know this game would probably have to be a prequel because [redacted Halo spoilers]. But I think such a game has a lot of potential.
Lamar Davis from Grand Theft Auto V | Jake Dekker, Video Intern
The Grand Theft Auto games have always had a stellar cast of characters, but Lamar Davis from Grand Theft Auto V might just be my favorite. He's funny, strong willed, and always looking for trouble. I would love to see a game set in Los Santos where I got to play as a younger Lamar alongside Franklin and partake in all sorts of nefarious activities.
Lead Scout Harding from Dragon Age: Inquisition | Tamoor Hussain, News Editor
I think it is tragic that Lead Scout Harding wasn't one of the romance options in Dragon Age: Inquisition because she is the most charming character in that entire game and I love her. The only way to make up for this obvious dropping of the ball by BioWare is to give her a game.
I've done most of the hard work and put together an elevator pitch for BioWare: Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker, but with Lead Scout Harding as the main character. As the player, you guide her through strange new locations, investigate points of interest, perhaps help the locals. When all that's done, you send a sweet little letter back to the Inquisitor talking about the things you've seen and learned.
M. Bison from Street Fighter | Rob Crossley, Editor
This is awfully tough, because there are so many amazing candidates to choose from. Very tempting to suggest a noir whodunnit starring Mordin Solus, or a double-cross simulator featuring Revolver Ocelot, but top of the list for me is the mighty M. Bison. This utter badass has his own biochemical drugs and arms business (Shadoloo) and I'd love to actually see it in operation via a XCOM style strategy and management sim. You'd scout for the world's best fighters, whilst also trying to maintain a volatile Psycho Power Generator, whilst also micro-managing key staff (Vega, Sagat, Blanka, et al) to keep them happy.
Chop Chop Master Onion from PaRappa the Rapper | Edmond Tran, Video Director
Chop Chop Master Onion: Origins is the gritty prequel to PaRappa the Rapper where we explore Onion's life as a young bulb, solving all of life's problems by karate-chopping the ever-loving crap out of everything. School? Kick! Parents divorce? Punch! Romance? Block! It's all in the mind! Coming 2017!
To some people, AMD has fallen behind Nvidia because of its lack of response to cards like the GTX 980 Ti and GTX Titan X, but that stops now, with the red team unleashing its newest flagship GPU: the Radeon R9 Fury X.
It's an interesting chip that impresses in several key departments. AMD's familiar architecture has been upgraded in every important area, and the corporation has ditched air-cooling for a separate water-cooling module that it promises can keep the beefy chip chilled.
This amount of hardware doesn't come cheap, however, which means you'll have to shell out $650 for the Fury X. That's similar cash to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which is the Fury's main 4K rival.
Radeon Fury X Specs
AMD's new GPU is called Fiji, and it turbo-charges the existing Graphics Core Next architecture to help the Fury compete with the 980 Ti.
The core is constructed from four Shader Engines, with each divided into 16 Compute Units--and each of those is rammed with 64 stream processors. That means the Fury X is built with 4,096 of those stream processors, which is a huge jump from the 2,816 included in the GTX 980 Ti and the Radeon R9 290X, which was AMD's previous flagship.
The new GPU is clocked to 1,050MHz, which is about 50MHz more than the GTX 980 Ti, and the chip is built from a 8.9 billion transistors--which, if you're counting, is almost one billion more than the Nvidia GPU.
"AMD hasn't just turbo-charged its major components to build the Fury X, it has also deployed a new memory system."
AMD hasn't just turbo-charged its major components to build the Fury X, it has also deployed a new memory system. The new chips are called High Bandwidth Memory and replace the more familiar GDDR5, and they change the fundamental structure of memory to improve performance: the chips are stacked vertically as well as horizontally, and they're accessed using a far wider bus than any previous graphics memory system.
Those changes improve performance and increase efficiency so much that AMD only has to run the Fury X's memory at 1,000MHz and it still manages to far exceed the GTX 980 Ti in bandwidth. AMD's new card can deliver a theoretical throughput of 512GB/s, while the Nvidia card offers 336GB/s.
The structure of other components remains the same. A single Graphics Command Processor still controls the chip from above, and each Shader Engine retains its dedicated texture and rasteriser units. The 28nm manufacturing process also remains in place.
Innovation isn't limited to the inside of the card. Traditional air-cooling has been ditched in favour of a water-cooling unit that's similar to the pre-built devices available for processors. It's a double-edged sword; the cooler is modestly sized and helps the card measure just 195mm, which is almost 100mm shorter than other top cards, but the cooler does require a 120mm mount inside of a chassis. That shouldn't be hard to find in most enclosures, but it's still something to bear in mind.
The water-cooling bodes well for keeping the chip chilled, and we don't expect the Fury X to prove hotter than its rivals either; its top power requirement, of 275W, is competitive. To get the Fury X running you'll need a PSU with two eight-pin connectors, which is a little more than the eight- and six-pin connectors needed with the GTX 980 Ti.
There's one major area where the Fury X can't compete, though, and that's partner cards, as in, the modified versions of GPUs that often appear with overclocked cores, different cooling configurations and extra features. At the moment AMD isn't opening the Fury X to board partner modification, which means you have to buy its reference design instead.
That makes it important to pay attention to the Fury's ports. We've no qualms about its trio of DisplayPort connectors, but the HDMI 1.4 output omits a couple of features when compared to HDMI 2.0; There's no 4K support at 60fps or 21:9 aspect ratio support using HDMI 1.4, for instance.
Undoubtedly, the Fury X is a good-looking card. The exterior is made from metal with illuminated logos, and a row of eight LEDs indicate GPU-load in either red or blue. The main plate can be removed with four screws, and AMD has appeased modders by making the design of that plate available for 3D modelling, so it can be replaced by custom designs.
Radeon R9 Fury X vs Titan X vs Others
GPU
Radeon R9 Fury X
Radeon R9 290X
GTX 980 Ti
GeForce GTX Titan X
CUDA Cores
4,096
2,816
2,816
3,072
Base Clock
1,050MHz
1,000MHz
1,000MHz
1,000MHz
GPU Boost Clock
N/A
N/A
1,075MHz
1,088.5MHz
Memory
4GB
4GB/8GB
6GB
12GB
Memory Data Rate
1,000MHz
5,000MHz
7,010MHz
7,010MHz
Memory Bandwidth
512GB/s
320GB/s
336GB/s
336GB/s
Memory Interface
4,096-bit
512-bit
384-bit
384-bit
ROPs
64
64
96
96
TDP
275W
290W
250W
250W
Fabrication Process
28nm
28nm
28nm
28nm
Radeon R9 Fury X Performance (1440p)
Radeon R9 Fury X
Radeon R9 290X
GTX 980 Ti
GTX Titan X
Heaven @ Ultra, 8X AA
42.7
33
51
52.1
3D Mark Fire Strike Extreme
7,276
4,973
7,405
7,598
Crysis 3 @ Very High
64.6
42.3
62.6
64.6
Tomb Raider, Ultimate, FXAA
131.1
N/A
126
N/A
Bioshock Infinite @ Ultra DOF, AA
97.5
62.4
103
100.5
Battlefield 4 @ Ultra, 4X MSAA, HBAO
63.8
46.1
73.9
74.3
Batman: Arkham Origins @ Very High
125
92
149
168
Metro: Last Light @ Very High
85.5
52
77
73.1
Shadow of Mordor @ Ultra
83.7
N/A
85.2
N/A
Radeon R9 Fury X Performance (4K)
Radeon R9 Fury X
Radeon R9 290X
GTX 980 Ti
GTX Titan X
Heaven @ Ultra, 8X AA
20.1
14.7
21.9
23.1
3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra
3,943
2,658
3,888
3,959
Crysis 3 @ Very High
31.9
22.1
29.8
31.1
Tomb Raider, Ultimate, FXAA
62.7
N/A
59
N/A
Bioshock Infinite @ Ultra DOF, AA
52.5
29.8
54.7
54.7
Battlefield 4 @ Ultra, 4X MSAA, HBAO
34
23.9
37.2
38.4
Batman: Arkham Origins @ Very High
74
44
82
81
Metro: Last Light @ Very High
45
30
42
39.9
Shadow of Mordor @ Ultra
48
N/A
47.3
N/A
Editor's note: The GTX 980 Ti and R9 290X benchmarks are based on previous tests which did not account for Tomb Raider or Shadow of Mordor.
There's no mistaking the fact that the Fury X is one of the fastest cards on the market right now--our 1080p benchmarks aren't displayed on these graphs, but that's because the results are elementary. If you're playing games at 1,920 x 1,080 the Fury X is overkill.
At 1440p, the situation isn't as clear-cut. The Fury X can easily handle any game at this higher resolution, but it faces competition from the GTX 980 Ti. The AMD card proved faster in Crysis 3, Tomb Raider and Metro: Last Light, but it was never far ahead--its averages of 64fps, 131fps and 85.5fps were only a handful of frames beyond the Nvidia card.
However, the GTX 980 Ti was meaningfully faster in our four other test games--in some cases, it was ten frames or more faster than the AMD card. The GTX 980 Ti's 1440p victory was further emphasised by our theoretical tests, in which the Nvidia card proved quicker than the Fury X in both Unigine Heaven and 3D Mark Fire Strike.
"The Fury X proved faster than the GTX 980 Ti in Crysis 3, Tomb Raider and Metro: Last Light, but it was never far ahead... the 980 Ti was meaningfully faster in our four other test games."
The battle was similarly close at 4K but, crucially, the Fury X fought back. Its 3D Mark result of 3,943 is better than the GTX 980 Ti could manage, and it was a handful of frames quicker in Crysis 3, Tomb Raider, Metro and Shadow of Mordor. It's a close-run thing, with its best victory coming with three-frame leads in two games.
Nvidia's card took the crown in Bioshock Infinite, Batman Arkham Origins and Battlefield 4, but only by similarly slim margins. Its best result came from Batman, where it was six frames better than the Fury X.
The Fury X fell behind at 1440p and just about took an overall victory at 4K, but neither card proved dominant, and the Fury X's improved 4K performance is undermined elsewhere. Nvidia's card is a few frames back in some of our 4K tests, but the GTX 980 Ti is available in dozens of overclocked configurations, and most of those will help the green team's hardware catch up. That's something not available with the Fury X, which is only manufacturerd as a reference design.
Meanwhile, The Fury X performed well in thermal tests. The Fury's water-cooling unit saw the core hit a maximum temperature of 65°C, which is far cooler than the 82°C GTX 980 Ti, but the Fury X wasn't as frugal as its rival: our AMD-powered rig drew 369W from the mains, but the GTX 980 Ti machine needed just 330W.
Click on the thumbnails below to view in full-screen
Verdict
The revisions made to AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture means the Fury X delivers a huge leap over its predecessor, and it's got plenty of innovation on board – the water-cooling unit is impressively effective, and the revised memory system delivers incredible bandwidth with a smaller, slower amount of RAM.
AMD's latest chip is consistently quick, but it can't quite overhaul the GTX 980 Ti. It just about loses out at 1440p, and at 4K its slight lead will be wiped out by many of the overclocked Nvidia cards that have entered the market. While AMD's latest card is an undoubted 4K contender, especially if the card's smaller size appeals, it's only able to draw level with Nvidia rather than take a clear lead.
During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con this week, Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor fielded questions about Halo 5: Guardians' length and why developer 343 Industries chose a frame rate of 60fps. First, O'Connor said the number of hours it can take to finish a game can be misleading.
"The reality is that length is a really weird metric because people play the game so differently," O'Connor said to a fan who remarked that the Halo 4 campaign felt a little too short. "So [instead], I think about things like replayability and scale. It's a much bigger game [than Halo 4]."
O'Connor went on to say that Halo 5's four-player co-op extends the number of hours you can play. In Halo 5's campaign, you'll always have three companions--played by either AI or human players. As a result of this, along with Halo 5's bigger levels designed to accommodate four players, the same campaign can be played in a number of different ways.
Overall, O'Connor said Halo 5 is absolutely a bigger game than Halo 4--but that's not the whole story.
"It's definitely, definitely bigger," he said. "And for some of the players in this audience, the [Halo] games do seem to be getting shorter, but that's because you're getting much, much, much better at the game as well. And if you're like me, you're going to grab a Warthog and drive it places it's not supposed to go."
"It's currently longer for me right now; your mileage may vary," he added. "But for me, it's much longer because there's more places to explore and much more open, sandboxy stuff."
O'Connor went on to say that Halo 5 is a much more "vertical" game than past entries in the series. Using the new Spartan abilities, players will have all manner of new ways to move through the world--including vertically--to explore in ways they never could before.
Also during the panel, O'Connor explained why 343 chose a frame rate of 60fps for Halo 5. In short, O'Connor claims that 60fps is not about visual fidelity, but rather "experiential fidelity."
"Some people are fine with 30fps; we're not discounting that," O'Connor said. "But our simulation, the way your controller works, the way that you move through the levels; the way that four players move through those levels; they're all actually tied into a 60fps simulation. So the reality is, if it was visuals, what we'd do is we'd just overload everything at 30fps; higher fidelity textures and lighting and so on."
"The reality is 60fps is gameplay," he added.
A frame rate of 60fps might take some getting used to, but O'Connor said Halo fans who tried the 60fps Halo 5 beta or the 60fps multiplayer in Halo: The Master Chief Collection have realized there is no going back. "When they go from [60fps] back to the OG version at 30 and sometimes less than 30, it's kind of a shock," O'Connor said.
Overall, O'Connor said he hopes fans see 60fps as a positive move for the franchise. It's also worth noting that Microsoft has not locked in a final resolution for Halo 5 just yet--it might be 1080p, or it might be lower.
"We hope you love the game at 60fps, we hope that you think it's beautiful, that's up to you to decide," O'Connor said. "But it is gameplay. It has never been a question about visual fidelity but everything to do with experiential fidelity. 60fps is the speed you'll move through the universe, not the speed we're updating the frame buff."
What do you make of O'Connor's comments about length and frame rate? Let us know in the comments below.
With its crowdfunding campaign every day getting closer to $100 million, Cloud Imperium Games' upcoming PC space game Star Citizen is clearly a hit. But fans raised some concerns about the project's development recently after the studio revealed that the game's FPS mode, Star Marine, had been delayed. Now, director of community engagement Ben Lesnick has responded to these concerns in a detailed forum post.
First, Lesnick took issue with the phrase "delayed indefinitely" being used to describe Star Marine.
"The phrase 'delayed indefinitely' being bandied around is incorrect," he said. "We do not have a release date to announce yet, which is not the same thing."
Star Marine has not been canceled, Lesnick stressed. An in-progress version of the mode was supposed to launch in April, but this never happened.
"The short story is that Star Marine was not ready for launch when we had hoped (and planned.), Lesnick said. "We spent several weeks expecting that resolving a then-current crop of blockers would allow a PTU publish. When this didn't happen, we conducted a full review of the module lead by our top technical folks from around the company. What they determined was what you read in [Chris Roberts'] letter two weeks ago: we need to rebuild several 'boring' backend pieces and we need to fix serious animation issues before there would be any benefit to a release."
Lesnick said it "would not be my place" to announce a new timetable for Star Marine's release. But he did say that the delay will amount to weeks and "not months/years/decades." He went on to say that Cloud Imperium Games is purposefully not announcing a new release date, or even a release window, because "we might find ourselves in exactly the same position when the current set of issues are resolved."
The other concern that Lesnick responded to was the claims some are making that "Star Marine is Call of Duty in space." It's true that Star Marine and Call of Duty are both FPS games, but that is basically the extent of the similarities between the two.
"The important thing that I want to point out here is that Star Marine isn't an aside in any way," Lesnick said. "It's an essential part of Star Citizen, something the rest of the game must have. We aren't making a giant first-person shooter, but we're making a game that needs that technology in order to work."
"Star Marine is the blood and sinew of the game, the connective tissue that plugs planetside into boarding into space combat and so on," he added. "One of the least sexy but most important aspects of game development is building the behind-the-screens modules that make up the finished form. For everything you see, there's dozens of pieces working together: audio systems, streaming managers, graphics renderers, physics layers, and so on. Star Marine is that on a macro level… it gets plugged into Star Citizen to build the whole we've dreamed of."
In other recent Star Citizen news, a new $400 passenger ship is now available to buy. What's more, the game's executive producer, who oversaw development on the entire project, recently left the team.
Developer Rare is planning to fix Battletoads' infamous two-player co-op glitch for the upcoming Rare Replay collection for Xbox One. Speaking this week at Comic-Con, the developer said it plans to remove the glitch, even though it is a "part of Battletoads legend.
"We're aware of the bug," Rare studio head Craig Duncan said, as reported by Polygon. "It's part of Battletoads legend."
"We have a way of fixing it, so it is something that's on our final bug list."
Battletoads, a beat-'em-up originally released for NES in 1991, is known for its difficulty.
But as Polygon explains, the bug made a difficult game even more challenging. After reaching the eleventh level in co-op, Player Two's controls would bug out, leaving the player unable to move. As a result, the other player needed to give up their own remaining lives so their friend could play on.
Also during the panel, Duncan said that--because of the glitch has become part of the Battletoads legend--Rare wasn't initially sure that it even wanted to fix it. But, it was later decided that, "Yes, we're gonna fix it."
We didn't get a new trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens at Comic-Con, but Lucasfilm did release a fresh behind-the-scenes video for the upcoming movie--and is does not disappoint.
The video, which you can watch below, outlines the upcoming movie's use of real sets and practical effects, married with of course the digital technology of 2015. It also gives fans a look at some new heroes and villains, along with returning cast members such as Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher.
"You've been here, but you don't know this story," Hamill says. "Everything's changed, but nothing's changed."
The Force Awakens, the first installment in a new Star Wars trilogy, opens in theaters on December 18.
In New Zealand, cyberbullying is now a crime. In short, the country's government has passed a new law that criminalizes being a jerk on the Internet. Get the full story here.
2015 marks the 30th anniversary of Nintendo's iconic Super Mario Bros. franchise. To celebrate the occasion, Nintendo of Europe has created a stunning Mario mural. Check it out.
Need more information about Fallout 4? Of course you do. Check out this new interview at The Telegraph with game director Todd Howard.
A new Peanuts movie is coming out this fall, and it will be accompanied by an all new Peanuts video game from, you guessed it, Activision. The game is called The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure. It's a side-scrolling game based, of course, on the iconic comic strip from Charles Schulz.
Alongside NBC's Heroes TV show revival, the company has also commissioned a pair of video games, one for PC/console and the other for mobile. Read more about them here.
Game Informer's August issue has a boatload of new details about Tacoma, the intriguing-looking new game from the makers of Gone Home. Read more about it here.
PC peripherals company Logitech has a new name and logo. The company is now calling itself just Logi--because what does "tech" really mean these days, anyway?. Check out the new logo and read more about what the change means for the company in this blog post.
EA recently lost its head of mobile, but the position formerly held by Frank Gibeau has now been filled. Game Informer reports that former Warner Bros. executive Samantha Ryan has joined EA as its new senior vice president and group general manager for mobile.
Boston-based independent Game of Thrones and Star Trek developer Disruptor Beam has appointed a new chief marketing officer. Pete Arden, who formerly worked at Eve developer CCP Games as its vice president of marketing, joins the developer as its latest hire.
What were the top "trending" games on YouTube for June? As you might have guessed, Batman: Arkham Knight led the way, followed by Lego: Jurassic World and Fallout 4. See the full list here.
Here. We. Go. Just exactly what do you do in No Man's Sky? Watch this new 18-minute gameplay video to find out.
The cutest Pokemon cosplay you've ever seen? Definitely maybe. Check out the adorable Magikarp cosplay here.
GamesIndustry has an excellent, wide-ranging interview with PlayStation Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida about the state of Project Morpheus and more. Read it here.
There are many changes coming to F1 2016's multiplayer mode. Developer Codemasters listed off all the new features and more as part of a new blog post this week, which you can read here.
Despite what you might have heard, upcoming PlayStation 4 horror game Until Dawn will not have a multiplayer mode. A PlayStation Asia press release for the game said it would, but this was a mistake, Sony has confirmed.
Polygon has a great interview with DayZ creator Dean Hall about Early Access, E3, his new game Ion, and a lot more. Read the full interview here.
Abbey Games announced this week that its new game Renowned Explorers: International Society will launch on September 2, 2015. The game is a strategy title set in the 19th century. Watch a gameplay video here.
New Witcher 3 DLC was released on Xbox One this week, but you should not download it, developer CD Projekt Red has announced. An alternate costume for Ciri was accidentally made available this week, and because it wasn't ready for release, there could be issues, CDPR warns.
The Japanese voice actor for the various incarnations of Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series has said Kojima Productions no longer exists as a development studio.
Otsuka Akio, who has voiced Solid Snake and Big Boss in the console and portable Metal Gear Solid titles, revealed the news in a Twitter update, which Japan-focused gaming website Gematsu has translated.
"[Kojima Productions] has been disbanded,: he said. :It appears that the work that the team has been putting their utmost effort into is nearly complete.:
:I'm not exaggerating when I say that I expect it will become their greatest masterpiece,: he continued. :I couldn't help it. I just wanted to say 'Kept you waiting, huh?' But even if this is the end, Metal Gear Solid is immortal!"
Konami has not yet officially announced whether Kojima Productions has ceased to operate. GameSpot has contacted the company for a statement.
In March 2015 GameSpot revealed that senior staff at Kojima Productions had been given restricted access to corporate internet, emails, and phone calls, following ongoing power struggles between Kojima Productions and its parent company Konami.
Senior staff at the studio, including Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, were essentially working as contractors, as opposed to permanent employees, with a focus on completing work on The Phantom Pain.
A source at the studio explained that, once the Phantom Pain's development was complete, management at the studio would likely disband and Kojima would leave.
"After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December," the source claimed. "At a team meeting, Mr Kojima explained that team have to be one and make a good game for fans."
Konami said at the time that "Mr. Kojima will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products."
Silent Hills, which was set to be co-directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro, is also believed to be a casualty of the collapse of Kojima Productions. Konami cancelled the project in April 2015.
A month later, Del Toro discussed the cancellation of Silent Hills, saying that split between Konami and Hideo Kojima was "completely unexpected."
A key executive at Konami later said the company will "pursue mobile games aggressively" going forward, and that smartphones will be considered its "main platform."
[Update]: Microsoft has released a statement emphasising that only the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition of the Xbox One would include a free copy of the game. During the Comic-Con panel Rod Fergusson, head of Microsoft's Gear of War development studio, indicated that the game would be available for free with all Xbox Ones.
"At yesterday's Gears of War panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Rod Fergusson stated that every Xbox One sold starting August 26 would include a copy of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. To clarify, only the Xbox One Gears of War: Ultimate Edition bundle will include a copy of the game," reads the statement.
"We're committed to offering gamers a variety of choices to help them jump into the current generation of gaming this year and are excited to offer the Xbox One Gears of War Edition bundle next month."[Update ends]
During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con today, developer The Coalition revealed that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, the remaster of the first game in the series, will come as a free pack-in with every new Xbox One following the game's release in August. The bundle will cost $350, the normal price of the system.
The Coalition also announced that the remaster will include five extra single-player missions. These missions were cut from the Xbox 360 version of the game to let the studio launch the game on time, and they were later added to the PC port.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition launches on August 25 for Xbox One and later this year for the PC. It includes access to the Gears of War 4 beta, which as of now does not have a date. The Ultimate Edition will be playable at 4K resolution on PC.
Today, CEO of Reddit Ellen Pao stepped down from her post. This follows several controversies surrounding the website over the past few months.
In a post on Reddit, board member Sam Altman explained that Pao had resigned in "mutual agreement" with the board of directors. Steve Huffman, founder and the original head of Reddit, is returning as the next CEO.
"We're very happy to have Steve back," Altman wrote. "Product and community are the two legs of reddit, and the board was very focused on finding a candidate who excels at both (truthfully, community is harder), which Steve does. He has the added bonus of being a founder with ten years of reddit history in his head."
Altman also laid out some upcoming improvements and changes for the site. He reiterated that subreddit moderators will soon receive new tools to help them work, and he also promised greater transparency from the administrators. Finally, he shared that Huffman is focusing on improving the Reddit experience on mobile.
Altman ended with a reminder to community members that threats and aggressive comments will not be tolerated. "Disagreements are fine," he wrote. "Death threats are not, are not covered under free speech, and will continue to get offending users banned."
Pao's resignation follows a series of controversial decisions that sparked outrage in the Reddit community. After a popular administrator responsible for helping run the "Ask Me Anything" subreddit was fired last week, several subreddits began a blackout in protest. Even though Pao apologized for not communicating with the Reddit community before making the decision, a Change.org petition calling for her resignation accumulated over 200,000 signatures.
Tacoma, the next game from Gone Home developer Fullbright, got its first substantial gameplay video today, which goes into detail about the mechanics of the game.
The game takes place in an abandoned space station, and players are tasked with exploring it and figuring out what happened to all the crew members. The video, which you can watch at Game Informer, details how this discovery will work.
Throughout the station, you'll find places to play footage of the crew members before they disappeared. This footage will bring up holograms of people who will talk, walk around, and go about their daily activities. Following and listening to them will reveal more information about the situation and uncover keys, codes, and important objects.
There's no gravity, so players can attach themselves to walls and ceilings via what appears to be magnetic boots. This will uncover hidden areas and more secrets to uncover. You can also pick up and inspect objects throughout the station, much like in Gone Home.
Tacoma will be released sometime in 2016 for PC and Xbox One. Keep an eye on GameSpot for more news about the game in the coming months.
Blizzard has announced a new book series that will delve into the history of Warcraft's lore and offer looks at never-before-seen parts of Azeroth.
Warcraft Chronicle: Volume 1, as the first entry will be called, covers the timeline "from the creation of the Warcraft universe all the way up until the story of The Last Guardian, which is essentially the story of Warcraft [Orcs & Humans]." That's according to Chris Metzen, Blizzard's senior vice president of story and franchise development, who offers a few details about the book in the video below.
Blizzard artist Peter Lee has created original artwork for the book. Some of what's depicted in it will be things seen for the very first time, particularly stuff from the pre-history of Warcraft.
"What's really fun about doing the Chronicle project is trying to take that holistic audit of our first ideas all the way to the now," Metzen said. "You can read through this thing and go, 'Oh I get it; I get how this begat this, and then this came from here, and this turn in history happened because of these three things. I never saw that before.'"
There's not yet a release date for Warcraft Chronicle, but it sounds like it'll make for mandatory reading for fans of the Warcraft universe.
It isn't the only new Warcraft reading on the way either, as Blizzard has also announced a prequel graphic novel for the upcoming Warcraft movie. That book, Warcraft: Bonds of Brotherhood, is due out in May 2016, just prior to the movie's debut on June 10.
The world of Halo 5: Guardians is stuffed with character and world details outside of the main story campaign, but rush through the game and you might miss them. That's the message 343 Industries shared with fans today at Comic-Con during a panel dedicated to storytelling for the upcoming Xbox One shooter.
"If you like our story, you'll definitely want to take this one slow," narrative designer Morgan Lockhart explained. "You won't want to rush through it."
She went on to describe Halo 5's story as one that has numerous layers.
"We definitely approached this story as a story of layers," she said. "So there's the high level that you're always going to see that's going to be the driving story that you need to understand to appreciate the game. But then there's a lot of narrative that you won't find if you rush through it. But if you take it slow and look and explore, you're going to find all these rich character and world details."
Lockhart went on to tease that Halo 5's story will deal with many "deeper questions" players might have about the Halo universe. This includes "controversial" topics such as the SPARTAN-II program and the Sangheili Civil War.
Halo 5's story will also be deeper and more involved than past entries in the series simply because the game has more main characters by virtue of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris. These are the two soldier squads of four led by Master Chief and Agent Locke respectively in the game's campaign.
"By having these unique voices, we're able to offer different perspectives and opinions, and our characters are able to argue, or find places to agree about these really big questions," Lockhart said.
Announced via the PlayStation Blog, the game is being ported to Sony platforms. It originally launched on PC in back in April. In the game, players and enemies both move to a beat, requiring strategic positioning to get through its levels. Dungeons are procedurally generated, and the game is a roguelike, meaning that progress resets upon death.
The PS4 and Vita versions of the game are also getting an exclusive remix of the soundtrack. It'll be playable in the game, and it's done in chiptunes style by the composer of Shovel Knight. If you don't want to play with either the original or remixed soundtrack, you can use your own MP3s as backing tracks to the levels.
GameSpot critic Britton Peele thought that the PC version of Crypt of the Necrodancer was great, and you can read our review of it here.
There's no word yet on a release date for the Vita and PS4 versions. Keep an eye on GameSpot for more news about the game in the coming months.
The $250 version of Halo 5: Guardians should be the ultimate version of the game for collectors--it is, after all, dubbed the Limited Collector's Edition. And yet, last month, we learned that it would include a digital copy of the game, rather than a physical disc. While this route has its benefits, many Halo fans were upset with the news, although 343 Industries now says it's hoping to have a solution that will make those players happy.
During a Halo panel at San Diego Comic-Con, franchise development director Frank O'Connor addressed a question about whether CE buyers will have an option for getting a physical copy. "The honest answer is that we did a lot of research and we didn't make that decision lightly," he said. "We have a significant number of people who want the game early. And with the digital version, we had to balance that against the production dates for the statue and all that.
"And we get it. Nobody thought this announcement was going to happen and would be easy and everyone would be happy. But the reality is humans feel loss more than they feel gain. So some things don't make up for things you lose."
That doesn't mean 343 isn't trying to do something about the feedback it's received. "[T]he good news is that we are working on trying to come up with a solution that can make the people who did want a physical disc happy," O'Connor continued, though he failed to offer any specifics. "And we'll hopefully have more to announce about that at a later time."
The absence of a physical disc in the collector's edition was deemed especially odd in light of the fact that both the standard and limited editions will include one. Unlike those versions, however, the collector's edition will be available a week early. This will allow CE buyers to begin downloading Halo 5 early, though they'll have to wait until it officially launches to actually begin playing.
"But we hear you," O'Connor said. "These logistical decisions are super hard. The statues have to ship before the other versions. Some people wanted the digital version. And as we go into this digital and physical transition, while hopefully we'll have a way to solve that for Halo 5, the industry's going to change. And the way that people play console games in particular is continuing to evolve more and more towards digital.
"But we have this oddity of a big, physical object. So we're trying to solve that, and we hope that we'll be able to make everyone who wants what they want as happy as they possibly can. And, again, we'll have more to announce about that at a later date."
Halo 5 is due out for Xbox One on October 27. The $250 Limited Collector's Edition, which includes everything pictured above, will be available on October 20.
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