Rogue Trooper is a 2006 third-person shooter based on the comic 2000 AD. Rebellion, its original developer, is collaborating on Rogue Trooper Redux with UK studio TickTock Games. Today's announcement notes it's the first time a team outside of Rebellion will work on a 2000 AD game.
Redux "will remaster the Rebellion classic for a new generation of players, taking them to the chem-blasted battlefields of Nu Earth," reads the press release. "Rogue, a bio-engineered Genetic Infantryman (or 'GI') immune to the planet's poisonous atmosphere, is the last soldier standing against the colonial Nort regime. Carrying three fallen comrades as biochips in his equipment, Rogue is a one-unit squad of death and destruction, and he only has one thing on his mind: revenge."
There's no word on exactly what's being changed or updated in this remaster, nor do we know when it's coming or how much it will cost. We'll report back as more details are announced.
DICE's well-received 2010 FPS Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is currently half off on multiple platforms, with its Vietnam expansion completely free on at least one system.
The Bad Company 2 discounts might be available on PlayStation 3, too, as the game is currently listed for $10. We'll report back with more details on this and more deals as the PlayStation Store refreshes today.
Bad Company 2's Vietnam expansion includes four maps based on locations from the Vietnam War, as well as 15 weapons and six vehicles from it. There is also music of the time, including Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son," the lyrics of which are about the Vietnam War.
Ubisoft and James Cameron teamed up for an Avatar game that was a prequel to the director's 2009 sci-fi action movie. Now, Ubisoft is again working on another game based on the series. The new Avatar game is in development at The Division studio Ubisoft Massive; the game will run on that developer's proprietary engine, Snowdrop.
The new and untitled Avatar game is coming to unspecified consoles and PC; it is described as being "cutting-edge," though no details were provided about this. A teaser video has been released, featuring commentary from people at Ubisoft Massive and Cameron himself. Note that everything you see in the movie is from 2009's Avatar, not the new game; no gameplay footage has been released.
Little is known about the new Avatar title, apart from the fact that it is set on Pandora from the movie series. Four sequels are in the pipeline, and Ubisoft said it is working alongside Cameron's film company, Lightstorm Entertainment, and Fox Interactive on a game that will "continue to expand and deepen in the Avatar universe in exciting and innovative ways along with the films."
"James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment changed the way we think about immersive storytelling with the first Avatar, and the ambition that they have for the forthcoming films and this game is really inspiring," Ubisoft Massive managing director David Polfeldt said in a statement. "It's a privilege to work with them and we're honored that they've entrusted us to create an experience worthy of the Avatar name."
Ubisoft pitched this Avatar game to Cameron and Lightstorm with an "early game prototype," though there was no mention of what this prototype contained. Whatever the case, Cameron sounds excited.
"What impressed me about Massive were the group's passion for this project and the power of its Snowdrop engine," the director said in a statement. "I believe Ubisoft's team at Massive Entertainment are absolutely the right partners to bring the beauty and danger of Pandora to life."
Sony has launched a new promotion offering some incentives to subscribe to or extend your PlayStation Plus membership right now.
Buying 12 months of Plus through the US PlayStation Store at regular price ($60) will net you three additional months of Plus, as well as a three-month subscription to Showtime. The Showtime portion of the deal is only available to new Showtime subscribers and is offered through Sony's TV streaming service, PlayStation Vue.
This offer is available from now through the end of March. It's limited to one per person, so you can't buy multiple subscriptions in the hopes of receiving multiple sets of bonus months to Plus or Showtime. It presumably stacks with the ongoing spend $100, get a $15 credit offer, which expires at the end of today, February 28.
Sony says on the PlayStation Blog that this offer is valued at $112. That's perhaps a bit misleading, as you can frequently purchase a Plus membership for less than its regular price. But with the combination of extra months and Showtime--a channel that will soon get a lot more attractive with the return of Twin Peaks--it's a solid deal.
As long as you're a member by next Tuesday, February 7, you can claim February's free Plus games, which include LittleBigPlanet 3 on PS4. They'll be replaced that day by March's games, which should be revealed soon.
Full discloure: Showtime is a division of GameSpot parent company CBS.
EA and DICE have announced details of all four upcoming Battlefield 1 expansions, available as individual purchases, or as part of the game's $50 Premium Pass.
The first expansion "They Shall Not Pass" gives players the chance to play as the World War 1 era French army, fight across four French maps, and take control of the Char 2C tank, the game's newest behemoth class vehicle. A lot of info has already been released on this first expansion, as well as a series of videos posted from expansion content available on the Community Test Environment.
The second expansion is called "Name of the Tsar," in which players will take control of the Russian army and ride "with the legendary Hussars," taking part in the historic Brusilov offensive and Albion assault.
The third is "Turning Tides," which has a naval focus. A new destroyer and coastal class airship will be available, and players will take part in the Zeebrugge raid, and storm the beaches of Gallipoli.
Finally, the "Apocalypse" expansion will include "the most infamous battles of WW1," and introduce the "brutal tools and unique weapons born out of desperation and deadlock," so look forward to a chance to descend even further into the hell of war.
Those that commit to the Premium Pass will receive all four expansions, including two weeks of early access as they're released, priority server access, and 14 superior-level battlepacks full of in-game cosmetic unlocks.
In other Battlefield 1 news, the game recently took home the Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design award at the 2017 DICE Awards, as well as seven other nominations.
Following the release of the Turok remaster in 2015, a remastered version of the sequel, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, now has a date--and it's soon. Developer Nightdive Studios announced today that the game will launch on March 16 for Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store.
A new trailer has also been released and can be seen below.
Seeds of Evil, an FPS in which you play as a dinosaur-slayer named Turok, was originally released for the Nintendo 64 and reportedly sold more than 1 million copies.
The Seeds of Evil remaster contains everything from the original, along with new "grotesque" bosses and 20 new weapons. One of these is the Cerebral Bore, which can drill into skulls to send brain matter flying. A new game mode, Last Turok Standing, is also added in the remaster. This is a multiplayer mode that lets players fight to the death for an "even more visceral gaming experience."
Seeds of Evil is playable at the Game Developers Conference this week at the Intel booth.
Not unlike when Sony allowed fans to vote for a PlayStation Plus game, the company has announced a new initiative in the US where you can help decide which games are discounted on the PlayStation Store.
Voting continues until tomorrow, March 1, with the winner set to be announced this Friday, March 3. One of the two games will then go on sale for the weekend, which will see the price of Final Fantasy XV drop to $36 or The Ezio Collection to $30.
Subsequent votes will start on the Monday of each week over the next month. This campaign is based on one that's been run by Sony in other regions.
Separately from this, the newest round of weekly PSN deals should be arriving later today. We'll report back once those are live; in the meantime, you can check out our roundup of the best of the weekly ads.
Elon Musk's space travel company, SpaceX, announced this week that it will fly two citizens around the moon next year, marking the first time anyone's gone to deep space in more than 45 years. In a news release, SpaceX said two "private citizens" approached the company and paid a "significant despot" for the space flight.
"Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration," SpaceX said. "We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year.
The company added that others have come forward to express a "strong interest" in a trip around the moon and more are expected to follow.
SpaceX went on to thank NASA, which paid for most of the funding for the company's Dragon 2 rocket, calling the government group a "key enabler for this mission." SpaceX works with NASA to deliver cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.
The rocket headed beyond the moon will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center's famous 39A Pad, which is the same one that NASA used for its lunar missions in the '60s.
"This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years, and they will travel faster and further into the solar system than any before them," SpaceX said.
With any crowdfunded project, there is a certain degree of skepticism. Will the developer deliver on their promises? Will the final product be any good? Will there even be a final product?
The game's developer, Playtonic Games, is a new, independent studio, but it contains a few familiar faces. Much of the company's talent is made up of ex-Rare employees, and this is a note that the group leaned on significantly during Yooka-Laylee's Kickstarter campaign, claiming the project would be a "3D platformer Rare-vival."
To find out how the project was coming along, we recently spent some time playing the game and interviewing the band behind the Banjo.
GameSpot: Did you ever worry about how to balance Yooka-Laylee for hardcore Banjo-Kazooie fans and newcomers, and meeting expectations of backers?
Andy Robinson, writer and comms director: Yes and no. One of the key features we wanted to put into the game is the expandable worlds, and that naturally helps appeal to different audiences. One of the big focuses of this game is we wanted to put a lot of player choice into it, and empower players to make their own decisions in how they take a route through the game. Even watching media guys today play the game, you could see that everyone was at a completely different section. Some people decided to go straight to the second world. Some people decided to expand the first world, make it bigger, and just hoover up all the collectibles.
In that way, if you're looking for more of a laid back experience, where you play through in a linear fashion and see lots of different cool environments, you can do that, but if you're a completionist, and you want to hoover up absolutely everything, you can expand the worlds and go through in that fashion.
We've said we're going to make a Banjo-Kazooie-style game and that's where we got all our Kickstarter backing from. But at the same time, we don't want to just be stuck in the past.
Steve Mayles, character art director
There's [also] not been a game like this for a long time. We think that just by that fact that there's a whole new audience out there who have perhaps never played a game like this, never discovered a game like this before--we're quietly optimistic that it will find a new audience just because of that. Even from the fact that there's no HUD, there's no big mini-map telling you where to go. There's no imposing nav arrow, waypoint arrow, telling you, "Here's the challenge." You are free to explore and discover the game at your own pace, which is a rare thing in games today.
Steve Mayles, character art director: It's a fine line to tread really because on the one hand, we've said we're going to make a Banjo-Kazooie-style game and that's where we got all our Kickstarter backing from. But at the same time, we don't want to just be stuck in the past because like you say, that's not going to bring it to new audiences. So we have tried to add in a few elements that weren't seen in their games.
Gavin Price, studio head: We've tried to be as inclusive as possible. We've got the co-op mode in there as well [for] people new to the genre. That was based off a lot of feedback we had from people who had played the old games and wanted to get their kids into this type of game. So we thought, what if we have a kind of hand holding co-op mode that gives families an easy choice to make in terms of, well we could buy this game, we know how to play it. We can slowly show, our kids can be involved as we're playing it and then hopefully they get to take over and become the main driver.
How does the co-op work?
Price: When you have a second controller, you control the B Team, which is a team of bees. They can basically help out Yooka and Laylee. Their storyline is they're a bit angry at [main villain] Capital B giving bees a bad name so they're here to sort that out. They can do things like pause and hold platforms for you, get out of reach Quillies [one of the game's currencies], grab and hold onto and then dispense butterflies for energy as and when the player needs it. It's very much a kind of assistant mode. And the B Team we think will be back in other games as well, and hopefully they'll have expanded roles. Something we talked about once we'd developed the B Team--we thought it'd be great like how you saw in old cartoons, you saw a swarm of bees create shapes and do things, so we think they could come back in future Playtonic games, where you might see the B Team create the shape of a hammer and then you can use it to help.
The B Team and another character, Trowzer Snake, seem perfect examples of the game's humour.
Price: The humour throughout is something that purely reflects the type of people we are when we're making the game--it reflects our personalities. It's kind of a key thing that you don't see so much of in large-scale video games these days--they don't have chance to let a developer's personality come out in humorous ways, they kind of have to play things a bit straighter and by-the-book for fear of overstepping the mark. Hopefully we don't overstep any marks, we just stay the right side of it. But it's brilliant to have that creative freedom--it happens quite naturally during office discussions. Someone will say a joke and we'll find a way of re-contextualising it and getting it in the game somehow.
With our history as well, we kind of had a reputation for trying to get content in under the radar. When we all worked at Rare and Rare were part of Nintendo and [then] Rare were part of Microsoft, we kind of made a rod for our own back. Everything we did was put under the microscope and looked at, and even stuff that was completely innocent, people said, "Hang on, are you trying to say something here?" and it's like "no, no, it literally is what it is." Being completely independent again it's up to us to decide how far to push things and what goes in. But a lot of us have mellowed a bit; we've all become family men now, and I know Steve Mayles got a bit of [abuse] off his wife when she first saw Trowzer Snake, which to the rest of us made it even funnier--that was the funniest thing about the character was the fact that Steve was going home and getting earache off his wife!
What's it like going down the Kickstarter route rather than working with a big publisher like Nintendo or Microsoft like you have done in the past? Do you feel the backers' pressure?
Price: We've got 70,000-plus bosses is what we say inside the studio. And it's good. We're really, really lucky that from day one every fan we've seen commenting on it, there's so much alignment between the type of game and personality they are and we are as developers. Spookily, there's been quite a few instances of stuff mentioned by fans on forums literally moments after we were saying the exact same thing in the office regards a game feature, a character, a potential future project and we start looking around saying, "Hang on, is our office bugged?" We've moved offices four times just to make sure!
We're really lucky with having that community along for the ride with us and they're just eerily aligned to the way we think already. Perhaps it's that we're familiar in a sense through the old games and that's great to have.
It definitely feels like there's a sense of getting the Rare family back together to make this game.
Price: When we're making content as long ago as 20 years ago together, we had a way of working with each other which just worked and brought the best out in us. Since then we've had a lot experience and learned how to improve and bring other elements into our development. It was like having a family. You could say anything to each other and say anything about the game and no one would take offense and it was all, "Yep, I see what you're saying, let's do this." There's such a strong commitment from everyone to continue raising the bar internally. It's exactly like that again now.
The funniest thing about Trowzer Snake was the fact that Steve was going home and getting earache off his wife!
Gavin Price, studio head
It really was, I think the way the industry went it kind of helped us by creating with factors outside of our control. A set of circumstances that meant guys like us could come back together and give it another go at being able to develop how we want to develop on content we want to develop. Things like Kickstarter, the independent game development scene, digital distribution, they've all just come together, but often experiences and genres perhaps being overlooked by companies in pursuit of bigger revenues leave really good gaps for nimble folk like ourselves who can be really creatively led to go into it. Saying, "Hey, we love making that type of game, there's plenty of people asking for it, we don't need 100 million dollars to do this." We don't have a fancy office in San Francisco. [We have] four rooms and a roof over our heads in Stoke-on-Trent.
Mayles: There's no egos, because we've all worked together in various capacities over the years. It's quite a flat hierarchy at Playtonic. So there's no one saying, "I'm in charge of characters. That one's shit, redo it." There's none of that rubbish. So it's just a pleasure to work with these guys, and I think they're all much more talented than me. It's just a pleasure to work with them all.
Andy, you didn't work with the original team; what was it like coming in and joining what was a pre-established team and family?
Robinson: It impressed me how much comes natural to those guys. People like Chris Sutherland, our lead gameplay programmer, these guys do this stuff in their sleep. It's a culture. It really is a culture. It's the whole reason that the company was formed, is because they wanted to return to what they had in the 90s, where it was basically ... There's no imposing structure. There's no line manager. There's no big design doc saying, "You can do this. You can't do that."
It's quite a flat hierarchy at Playtonic. So there's no one saying, 'I'm in charge of characters. That one's shit, redo it.'
Steve Mayles
They all know each other. They've worked for each other a long time. They trust each other. You're trusted to go, "I want a character like this," go make it. Go and animate it. They'll go from concept to creating the model to animating it, it's in the game, which is very rare today. That would probably be five people involved in that. That's probably what impressed me the most. Chris as well, being able to just ... He'd spend months controlling a cube [rather than an animated character] for this game. He'd get the cube fun to run around with. Then that's when [he'd] actually replace it with a character. It's like a science. Watching him is like watching bloody Beethoven.
The group that we've put together during the course of this game ... When we did the Kickstarter, we were seven people. I think we're 22 now. Some of those guys joined after we'd pretty much done the game as well. We made this game with I think an average of 15 people in less than two years, which is also incredible. It's because they know what they're doing. This is their bread and butter. The group that we have put together through the course of this game, personally, is very, very exciting. With people like Justin Cook, who joined us recently, who designed Viva Piñata, and Gary Richards, who designed every single handheld game that Rare did, it's exciting for the future as well.
How do you modernize a game like Banjo-Kazooie for a modern audience? Did you even want to modernize it at all, given many backers are simply wanting a sequel to those games?
Robinson: Obviously, the mandate for this game is that we would make a spiritual successor to the games that a lot of our team worked on in the past. We did have a mandate. The second is that we intentionally spent a lot of time on look and feel. There are a lot of things in the gameplay that we did to try and modernize the genre. Player choice is something that we thought was very important, because all games today give the player a lot of choice on how they experience it. It was important that tonally it felt right, and presentation is obviously front and center to that.
It impressed me how much comes natural to those guys. They do this stuff in their sleep.
Andy Robinson, writer and comms director
That's why we spent a lot of attention to detail in things like the font, which we had made completely custom for the game. It's big, and it's loud. Even the gobbledygook speak--which [composer] Grant Kirkhope and our programmer, Chris Sullivan, made for the Banjo-Kazooie games--recreating that, even that's a long process. You'd be surprised that you have to make sure that the sounds don't go below a certain pitch, or over a certain pitch. It's very, very complex to do that, but we thought it was worth it. We thought that players would appreciate that.
Do you think you can push the genre forward with Yooka-Laylee in the same way you did before?
Price: I think there's room to do that, especially within a sequel. I think the first thing we had to do was deliver on our promise to Kickstarter backers that this is a game that's gonna be familiar to you in cool ways and if you like those, you know you're gonna like this experience. I think then, as a company, if we return to 3D platforming in the future, which I'm sure we will at some point, the challenge is then on us to take it another step further and really push harder and try riskier stuff without breaking what people already love. That's a really exciting challenge. We think we may have an answer lined up for it but there could be one, two, four, five games between now and that point. We're open to existing in any genre. We don't want to be a company just defined by a single genre.
[UPDATE] Walmart has now confirmed that it will also have Nintendo Switch units available for walk-in shoppers at launch on Friday, March 3. 24-hour Walmart Supercenters will start selling the consoles at 12:01 AM local time on March 3. For stores that are not open 24 hours, Walmart said it advises people to call their local store to find out when units will be available to buy.
The original story is below.
The Nintendo Switch launches this Friday, March 3. Preorders for the console are sold out basically everywhere. However, if you're in the market for the system, you may still have a chance to get one for launch.
According to WWG, retailers Target and Best Buy have now confirmed that they will have some amount of units available at their stores for walk-in shoppers on launch day or via midnight release events. GameStop, too, will offer systems for walk-in shoppers, the retailer announced last week.
Target will have Nintendo Switch stock available for walk-in shoppers starting at 8 AM local time on March 3.
Best Buy will open its stores at 12:01 AM on March 3. People can buy the Nintendo Switch itself, as well as games and accessories. Additionally, the store is giving out free Zelda posters while supplies last. You can find out if your local Best Buy is holding an event on this website.
"Kolin works behind the scenes in order to fulfill the Prophecy of Miraha and stop any who dare stand in Gill's way," reads a line from Capcom's description of her. "She is typically calm and collected, but can suddenly fly into a rage when anybody threatens Gill and his plans. Spoiler-alert, she resurrects Nash and uses him as a pawn too, showing she will do anything to achieve her goals."
Kolin uses the power of ice, which allows her fight with "deadly icicles" and "frigid blasts." Additionally, she makes use of the Russian martial art of Systema, which is all about using an opponent's momentum against them.
"She is often heard speaking condescendingly towards her opponents, knowing they don't stand a chance before her, let alone Gill," Capcom said.
Kolin's story, premium battle, and nostalgia costumes are also available today, February 28. You can see the costumes in the image gallery below.
Kolin is included with the Street Fighter V Season 2 Character pass, which sells for $30. This pass includes the first Season 2 DLC character, Akuma, as well as Kolin and four more coming later.
Microsoft announced a new Xbox One subscription today, Xbox Game Pass. For $10/month, subscribers can play more than 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games (via backwards compatibility) as much as they want for as long as the title is available. The catalog will be refreshed on a monthly basis as games are added and others removed.
Microsoft has not yet announced the full lineup of games to start, though we do know about a handful of them. We've rounded those up here and will update this post with more as they are announced ahead of launch this Spring.
Xbox Game Pass is currently available for people in the Xbox Insider Program for testing (with a limited selection of titles) before its public rollout.
Microsoft says it aims to stock the Xbox Game Pass library with titles across a number of popular genres, including action, adventure, shooter, puzzle, strategy, and RPG.
In the market for a new Xbox One controller? Amazon has a pretty good deal going on right now that you may want to consider. The online store is selling white and black controllers for $40; they normally go for $60.
The discounted controllers are the new, Bluetooth-enabled ones that launched in August 2016 with the Xbox One S. They also have better wireless range and texture grips. The controller works with Xbox One, Xbox One S, Windows 10 PCs and tablets, and Project Scorpio when it comes out this year.
This does not appear to be a Deal of the Day item, but there is no word on when the offer may expire. Here are links to the product pages (via Kotaku):
[Update] An earlier version of this story stated Xbox Game Pass would be available on PC, however a Microsoft spokesperson has clarified that it is only available on Xbox One.
"The Xbox One and PC icons appear on the Xbox Game Pass description page because you can redeem on console, web and PC, however, Xbox Game Pass is only available on Xbox One consoles."
Microsoft has announced Xbox Game Pass, a service that offers "unlimited access to over one hundred great Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles" as part of a monthly subscription of $9.99 / £7.99 per month. The service is expected to launch "late Spring 2017" and will be available for Xbox One.
"Play games across multiple genres, from action/adventure and family favourites to shooters, sport, puzzle games and more. And with new titles added every month, you'll always have a wide selection of great games to choose from," the website reads.
Games are downloaded "directly to your console and play online or offline in full-fidelity, without any streaming or connectivity issues." Those that subscribe will also be given a 20 percent discount on purchasing a game from the catalogue and 10 percent off "all related add-ons." Discounts to add-ons are only available "while the base game is currently in the catalogue." Xbox Live Gold is not required to play Xbox Pass games, though you'll still need a Gold membership to play multiplayer in those titles.
"As we prepare to launch Project Scorpio this holiday, bringing the most powerful console ever made to the Xbox One family of devices, we continue to make platform improvements to connect the growing community of players on Xbox Live and add to a robust and diverse portfolio of games across Xbox One and Windows 10," reads a statement from head of Xbox Phil Spencer.
Those that are part of the Xbox Insider Program will be able to test Xbox Game Pass "in the Alpha Preview ring starting today with a very limited number of titles."
EA offers a similar service with EA/Origin Access, which lets subscribers play a selection of titles on Xbox One or PC at no additional cost. They are also frequently given access to new releases earlier than the general public. For example, subscribers will be able to play 10 hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda on March 16. The full game launches on March 21 (March 23 in Europe).
A new trailer for Alien: Covenant is coming tomorrow, film company has Fox has announced. You don't have to wait until then to see something new, however, as a brand-new poster is out now.
The creepy poster uses the tagline "Hide." Check it out:
Directed by Ridley Scott, Alien: Covenant arrives in theaters on May 19 and stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, and Demian Bichir.
We'll report back tomorrow with the new trailer when it arrives.
Last week, Fox released a prologue for Alien: Covenant titled "The Last Supper." The video shows off the crew's final toast before going into cryosleep--watch it here.
Here is the official plot synopsis for Alien: Covenant:
"Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with Alien: Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape."
Actor Hugh Jackman has been playing the Wolverine character for 17 years, but after 10 movies, the run is expected to end with Logan, which hits theaters on Friday. Now, Jackman has revealed that it was comedian Jerry Seinfeld who convinced him to say goodbye to the character.
Appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Jackman said he approached the Seinfeld cocreator two years ago to ask for his advice about potentially leaving Wolverine behind. Seinfeld shared his own philosophy with Jackman--and it resonated strongly, so much so that Jackman just hours later decided to say goodbye.
"He said, 'Look, when you creating something, it's very important not to run yourself dry. It's not about finishing on top necessarily, but making sure that you are creatively still have something left, which propels you into whatever is next,'" Jackman recalled.
"I went home and I said, 'This is it; this is the last one.' And then the next morning, I wake up at 4 in the morning, and I record into a voice memo because I had this really strong idea for what to do for the last one; and that's like two years ago."
Also in the Fallon interview, Jackman teased that Logan will end in dramatic fashion.
"There's no living with the killing; it has to have a price," Jackman said about his character. "[Logan] is violent, but it has something to say about violence. There are ramifications."
In a second video piece, Jackman enjoys a massive bowl of pasta prepared by none other than world-renowned chef Mario Batali to celebrate the fact that he no longer has to stay in shape, apparently.
The 89th Academy Awards broadcast ended on Sunday in a strange way, with the Best Picture award initially given to La La Land before it was revealed that Moonlight was the real winner. Now, host Jimmy Kimmel has shared his own story of what happened during the "craziest Oscars ever."
He explains in the video below that this was no prank. The presenters, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, were given the card for Best Actress (Emma Stone, La La Land) instead of Best Picture. As you might have noticed, Beatty looked confused when he read the card, later handing it to Faye, who makes the announcement that was ultimately shown to be incorrect.
Conspiracy theories popped up immediately, as Stone said in an interview that she was holding her Best Actress card during the fiasco. However, in the interest of security, there are two cards for every winner, so that explains that.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountant company that holds the winner cards, took responsibility for the major flub and promised an investigation will be conducted.
Asked if the day one patch would come out on March 16, Flynn said, "Yes that's the plan." Gamble jumped in to say that's the goal, though it might not happen. "No promises yet. But we are working hard to make that a reality," he said.
Power Rangers opens in theaters on March 24, 2017. It stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, and Ludi Lin as the Rangers. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) portrays the Rangers' mentor, Zordon.
Early in his career, Cranston worked as a voice artist on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Last month, the actor revealed that he took the role in the movie when he realised that it was taking a different approach to the show. "I thought, 'Power Rangers? It's kind of the [1960s] Batman television show--Pow! Zing! Whap!'," he told IGN. "And I had a phone call with the director and he said, 'Think of it this way... Batman came from TV and became a completely different animal in the movies, so too is it here. We're going to take this and revamp it and it's going to be grounded and real.'
"And I thought 'Okay, with that, let me read it.' I read it and went 'You're right.' The kids sound like real kids and not everyone is this great athlete and everything is working out. I thought, 'This might be a nice bookend to what I was doing before,' since I started out doing voices."
In a tweet explaining the earlier tweet, Flynn said, "Sorry, I gave the wrong impression. We have strong characters, great gameplay, romances, and more, all dealing with mature themes."
The Division grows and evolves in a big way today. As announced previously, Ubisoft is releasing a massive free patch today that adds new Dark Zone areas, more Contamination events, a Legendary difficulty, new character customization options, weapon balance changes, and a lot more.
The patch is 8.5 GB and is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Ubisoft said on Twitter. Servers are offline right now due to "unexpected complications," with the game now scheduled to come back online with all the new content and changes at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET.
Additionally, Ubisoft is launching The Division's final expansion, Last Stand, today. Among other things, it introduces the Last Stand game mode and the Stolen Signal Incursion. Unlike the previous two expansions, Underground and Survival, Last Stand launches simultaneously on all systems.
Last Stand is available in the $40 The Division DLC pass or it can be purchased by itself for $15.
Finally, a free trial for The Division is arriving today on all systems. It caps players at level 8 and lets you play for six hours. All progress will carry over to the full game.
You can see the complete patch notes for today's update for The Division below, as written by Ubisoft.
Expansion 3: Last Stand
Last Stand game mode
SHD tech data relays loaded with operational information were left behind in the Dark Zone when the JTF was forced to withdraw. Rogues have targeted these data relays and are attempting to access what is inside. Engage in 8 versus 8 PvP combat and secure the data before the Rogues can.
Fight to control three key tactical locations on one of 4 Dark Zone maps.
In order to capture a tactical location, the team will need to control three objectives inside the location. Once the tactical location is secured, the team will begin scoring points.
First team to reach the max score wins.
To help propel their team to victory, players can activate powerful fortifications and SHD tech tactical boosts.
New Incursion – Stolen Signal
Stolen Signal takes place in a civilian TV Broadcast center taken over by the infamous Rikers gang.
Players will venture into three different wings and face unique combat scenarios. Each encounter is meant to push players to play tactically and make the best use of their builds.
All wings bring their own challenges and rewards; completing all of them will unlock the final boss fight and the strongest opposition yet.
Update 1.6
The following content, changes, and bug fixes are available free for everyone. Update 1.6 is available on February 28 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Game Changes
Dark Zone map expansion
Explore three new areas to the north of the Dark Zone. Engage powerful enemies and discover the dangers hiding around every corner.
Dark Zone Leaderboards
Earn rewards in the Dark Zone by participating in weekly and monthly activities tracked via the new Dark Zone leaderboards.
See how you stack up against other players in the Dark Zone on leaderboard activities that reset and change every week and month. All the tracked weekly and monthly activities count towards your total score. The higher your score, the better rewards you will earn when the leaderboards reset!
Dark Zone Contamination Events
The pockets of virus contamination in the subways below the Dark Zone are festering and becoming even more deadly. Cleaners have been attracted to the rising contamination. Players must manage their health as the virus eats away at their filter while battling against powerful Cleaners. Clear each Dark Zone subway of Cleaners to earn extra rewards.
Legendary difficulty
Pit yourself against elite LMB forces equipped with superior gear and advanced tactics.
Legendary difficulty strips missions of all narrative and focuses purely on combat scenarios.
Each Legendary mission has a single checkpoint, about halfway through.
Legendary difficulty is only available in World Tier 5.
Available missions: Napalm Production Site, WarrenGate Power Plant, Times Square Power Relay.
More options for character customization
Explore all new ways of customizing your agent, with weapon skins, backpack skins, new clothing sets and emotes!
Visit the Premium Vendor in The Terminal to unlock premium vanity content; stocks update weekly so check back regularly!
Combat
Increased the time to revive a downed teammate from 3s to 5s.
Bleed no longer blocks sprint. Instead it reduces movement speed by 20%. Additional applications refresh the timer.
Medkits can now be used at full health and cleanse the character of all applied status effects.
Hipfire stability has been significantly reduced when moving.
Increased Hip-fire penalties: Weapon spread is now wider while stability and recoil are also more impacted.
Player camera will now be impacted by hipfire, reducing their field of view the longer they keep firing.
There is now a short cooldown between each combat roll.
Body shot damage has been slightly increased in PvP (this change does not apply to PvE, headshot damage is unchanged).
Implemented visual feedback when an enemy player uses a Medkit.
The PvP damage multiplier has been set at 0.42. This applies to both Last Stand and the Dark Zone.
Last Stand Gear Normalization
When entering a match of Last Stand, characters stats will be modified in order to bring a more stable balance to player versus player combat.
Gear pieces:
Automatically increase to Gear Score 256.
Main attributes (Firearms, Stamina, Electronics) will be increased to the maximum roll of the existing stat on each equipped piece.
All bonuses, included from gear and performance mods, will be increased to their maximum roll.
Weapons:
Automatically increase to Gear Score 256.
Talents unlock based on the normalized main attributes.
All bonuses (including from mods), damage and attributes will be increased to their maximum roll.
All players will be set to 35% armor mitigation value. This armor mitigation is affected by Talents and Skill buffs.
Player talents, Gear Set bonuses and Weapon Set bonuses function as normal.
Dark Zone
Players can now fast travel between Dark Zone checkpoints.
Players will no longer lose Dark Zone experience and funds when killed in the Dark Zone if they are not Rogue.
Supply drops will now reward Dark Zone experience as well.
Koreatown is no longer classified as a Landmark.
Armor & Resistances
Armor has been removed as a Major bonus from items and is replaced with Health.
Base Health has been added to the game. Depending on the World Tier you are in, you will automatically receive a given amount of Base Health for free.
Added a new bonus called "Resist All" which adds resistance to all types of status effects.
Older items (pre 1.6) with Health bonus will see this bonus replaced with a Resist All one.
Resist All is capped at 60%.
Resistances to status effects will now reduce the effect instead of having a chance to resist it. This means that a 10% bleed resist will lower the bleed damage and duration by 10% instead of having a 10% chance to ignore it.
When applied repeatedly in a short time, the player will naturally build up resistance to this status effect. In other words, status effects will now have diminishing returns when applied repeatedly to a player.
If the player manages to build up 100% resistance to a status effect, they will resist it entirely.
Gear Talents
Rejuvenated now gives 40% resistance to all status effects for 10 seconds, when using a Medkit.
Gear Stats
Gear Bonuses have been moved around on various Gear Pieces
-bonus is removed
+bonus is added
=bonus remains
Chest
-Damage to Elite
-Damage from Elite
+Skill Haste
+Enemy Armor Damage
=Health
=Health on Kill
=Exotic Damage Resilience
=All Resistance
Backpack
-Skill Haste
-Signature Skill Resource Gain
+Weapon Stability
=Health
=Critical Hit Damage
=Skill Power
Mask
-Damage to Elite
+Enemy Armor Damage
=Critical Hit Chance
=Health on Kill
=Exotic Damage Resilience
=Skill Power
=All Resistance
Gloves
-Damage to Elite
+Enemy Armor Damage
+Skill Haste
=Critical Hit Chance
=Critical Hit Damage
=Health on Kill
=Assault rifle Damage
=LMG Damage
=Marksman rifle Damage
=Shotgun Damage
=SMG Damage
=Pistol Damage
Knees
-Damage to Elite
-Damage from Elite
+Enemy Armor Damage
+Skill Power
=Health
=Critical Hit Damage
=Exotic Damage Resilience
=All Resistance
Holster
-Damage from Elite
-Pistol Damage
+Critical Hit Chance
+Reload Speed
=Health
=Skill Haste
Other changes to stats:
Enemy Armor Damage is now a Major bonus and no longer a Minor.
Damage to Elites is now a Minor bonus and no longer a Major.
Damage from Elite values have been halved.
Pistol Damage is doubled on gloves.
Recalibration
With all these changes to Gear stats, here are the details of how existing gear should convert with this update.
If you had a native Armor bonus (not recalibrated), it will be turned into health.
If you had a recalibrated Armor bonus, the recalibration will reset and you will be back to the initial bonus the item had when it was acquired.
If you had a native Health bonus (not recalibrated), it will be turned into All Resistance.
If you had a recalibrated Health bonus on any other Gear Piece, the recalibration will reset.
If you had a recalibrated Health bonus in Chestpiece and no native armor roll on this piece, the Health roll will remain.
If you had a recalibrated Health bonus in Chestpiece and a native armor roll on this piece, the recalibration will reset as you would otherwise end up with 2 Health bonuses.
If you had a recalibrated Health bonus in any other Gear Piece, the recalibration will reset.
If you had a recalibrated Skill Haste bonus on your backpack, the recalibration will reset.
If you had a recalibrated Pistol Damage bonus on your holster, and the holster was acquired after update 1.5, the recalibration will reset.
If you had a recalibrated Enemy Armor Damage or Damage to Elite and the item was acquired after update 1.5, the recalibration will reset.
All recalibrations on Exotic weapons will reset.
Unique talents on Exotic weapons cannot be recalibrated.
Free talents on Exotic weapons that don't have a Unique talent (Liberator, Centurion, Eir and Hildr) can be recalibrated.
Note that when a recalibration resets, the money spent will be reimbursed, based on the recalibration costs of Update 1.6. Since recalibration now has a cost cap, if the initial recalibration costed more, you will only be reimbursed according to this cap.
Character talents
On the move reduced to 15%.
Battle Buddy reduced to 30%.
Critical Save reduced to 20%.
Adrenaline will no longer apply Overheal. Instead it replaces the instant heal of Medkits with a heal over time that can also apply while taking damage.
Skills
Changes to Skill Power:
The Skill Power curve has been modified, resulting in less efficient skills at low Skill Power, and more efficient skills at high Skill Power.
Skills will now scale to the World Tier you are currently in as an "expected Skill Power" has been implemented.
Diminishing return on Skill Power will not kick in before 450 000 Skill Power.
All skills have been adapted to this new scaling.
Skill Haste gear bonuses have been increased by 100%.
Skill Haste has a cap of 50%.
Sticky Bomb
Changed Flashbang mod to have only a flashbang effect.
Replaced the Proximity Fuse mod with Disruptor, which has an EMP effect. Its explosion radius has been increased to 9 meters.
Added warning and delay to Sticky Bomb. This means that Sticky Bombs, except for Disruptor, will no longer detonate immediately, but after some time.
First Aid
Defibrillator will now heal in 2 steps, one instant burst of healing following by a heal over time.
Booster Shot: Damage Mitigation bonus decreased by 50% from 15% to 7.5%.
Turret
Shock Turret will no longer deal any damage and only shock the enemy.
Base skill and Active Sensor: Range decreased from 35 meters to 25 meters.
All mods except Shock: Base health reduced by 25%.
All mods: Skill Power impact on health reduced.
Mobile Cover
All mods: Base cooldown increased by 33%.
Pulse
Reduced impact of Skill Power on Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage.
Tactical Scanner
Critical Hit Chance increased by +20%.
Critical Hit Damage reduced by -11%.
Smart Cover
Damage Resilience decreased by 33%.
Reduced impact of Skill Power on Damage Resilience.
All mods: Base cooldown increased by 9%.
Seeker Mine
All mods: Added a PvP damage modifier that applies to all PvP activities, to reduce its potency. The multiplier is set to 40%.
Base cooldown increased by 17%.
Cluster
The stagger effect has been removed. Explosion damage has been decreased, bleed damage has been increased.
Support Station
All mods: Radius decreased from 8 meters to 7,5 meters.
Life Support: Revive time increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
Support Station heal procs have a 1 second cooldown.
Signature Skills:
The exhaust that applies after a player received a Signature Skill effect is extended to 60 seconds (from 30 seconds).
Players will no longer be able to trigger a Signature Skill if they are under the exhaust effect from a previous application.
Signature Skills cooldown will now be affected by Skill Haste.
Tactical Link
Damage bonus is decreased to 10% in Last Stand. (this change doesn't apply outside of Last Stand, where the bonus remains at 30%).
Weapon Stability will be more hindered by the rate of fire bonus.
Gear Sets
D3-FNC
4 pieces: When used, your Ballistic Shield has no skill mod active. It will no longer remove Critical Chance from your weapon.
Characters will now automatically switch to their sidearm if the SMG runs out of ammo.
Reclaimer
2 pieces: +30% Support Station range.
3 pieces: +50% Support Station duration.
4 pieces: All Support Station mods are active at the same time.
AlphaBridge
4 pieces: Now only provides the 3rd (free) talent of the unused weapon instead of all three. All talents ignore unlock requirements.
Tactician's Authority
2 pieces: +15% Skill Haste.
4 pieces: Now consumes the skill power buff on skill use instead of after 10 seconds.
Banshee's Shadow
4 pieces:
While Rogue, all ammo is completely refilled every 30 seconds. Damage taken from non-rogue players reduced by 10%. (no change)
While not Rogue, Damage to Rogue players is increased by 10%. This bonus is increased to 20% for 10 minutes after being killed by a rogue.
Deadeye
4 pieces: Now only works with zoomed scopes.
Loot
High-End Named items become Exotic:
This quality comes with a new item color.
Exotic weapons have been removed from the Advanced Weaponry Vendor.
Updates sources for Exotics: Some sources have been moved around. We also added more sources with chances to drop any Exotic.
Exotics Caches have been added to the game. These guarantee an Exotic item when opened.
Phoenix Credits cap has been increased from 2000 to 5000.
The scavenger box in the Base of Operations will now properly scale with world tier.
Weekly Assignment Caches will now guarantee an Exotic item.
Exotic items sold at Vendors have had their prices slightly increased.
Gear Set items have been lowered to be equivalent to High End prices.
Crafting
Recalibrations are now unlimited. This means that once a stat is picked for recalibration, it can be recalibrated as many times at the player has currency to pay for it. The cost will increase at first but eventually cap and no longer increase.
Weapons
Base damage on all weapons has been reduced to balance correctly with the reduced damage mitigation from the change to Armor (note that NPC health and damage has also been adapted to preserve the Time to Kill and Time to be Killed values pre 1.6).
SMGs have been given back their Critical Hit Chance, with a maximum roll of around 22%.
Coolheaded will now have a small cooldown to not trigger repeatedly with automatic weapons.
L86
Base Damage increased by 4%.
Damage falloff at range reduced by 40%.
Provident talent: The last bullet of a magazine deals 10% more damage. (Instead of 60%)
Named Weapons
All Named Weapons are now of Exotic Quality.
Exotic weapons now each have a unique talent in the 3rd free slot. The other 2 talents are rolled randomly from the list of talents available to this weapon type.
Exotic weapons owned pre-Update 1.6 will have the new unique talent added and their remaining talents randomly rerolled.
Exotic weapon talents are not transferred to the other weapon when using AlphaBridge.
Exotic talents cannot be recalibrated. See above for more information about how recalibration works for legacy items.
Exotic weapons each received a unique descriptive lore text in their UI.
Some Exotic Weapons now function as Gear Sets: The unique talent unlocks when two specific Exotic weapons are equipped.
FAMAS is now an Exotic weapon and Uncomplicated its unique talent. It has been renamed Bullfrog.
Base damage increased by 11.7%.
Tommy Gun
Carefree: Hipfire damage is increased by 11%.
Medved
Center Mass: Shoots heavy slugs instead of buckshot.
Hungry Hog
Glutton: Killing a target increases your damage dealt by 10% until you stop firing. Multiple kills stack this bonus up to 5 times.
Tenebrae
Lights out: Destroying an enemy weak point resets skill cooldowns for you and your nearby group members. This talent has a 10 second cooldown.
Pakhan
Pakhan: Each kill makes the next reload have 20% extra bullets compared to its base.
Liberator & Centurion (Weapon Gear Set)
Free Republic: Each shot with the Liberator grabts +5% to you next headshot damage with the Centurion. Max is 200%. Kills with the Centurion grant +10% RPM to all weapons for 10 seconds.
Valkyria becomes Hildr & Eir (Weapon Gear Set)
Valkyria: Each hit with Hildr increases critical hit damage by 1% to a max of 30. The bonus decreases by 1 every second. This bonus only applies to Eir.
Hildr cannot crit.
Cassidy
Boomstick: Double trigger fires off both barrels in short succession.
Urban MDR
Base damage increased by 65%.
Distracted: Your damage is increased by 18% against targets with status effects.
Warlord
Play rough: Damage taken is reduced by 20% while firing. The taken damage is applied when you stop firing.
Thompson M1928
Carefree: Hipfire damage is increased by 11%.
Damascus
Quickdraw: When drawn weapon damage is increased by 20% for 2 seconds. After that weapon damage is decreased by 20%.
Golden RhinoGolden Rhino: Increase stagger by 200%.
HistorianHistory repeats: Each bullet embers itself in the target and detonates 2 seconds later for 700% of the user's Firearms.
Caduceus
Caduceus: Each Critical Hit heals you and your group for 1% of the user's Skill Power. This talent has a 0.2 seconds cooldown. A player can only be healed by one Caduceus at a time.
Midas
Midas: Each bullet you hit with reduces your damage by 1% and your target's damage by 1% to a max of 20%. The effect is reduced by 5% per second.
Showstopper
Base damage increased by 11%.
Open World
Civilians will now always drop Target Intel when helped.
Collectibles will now reward players with more XP when picked up at level 30.
Survival
Crafting High End pistols will no longer cost Division Tech
Updated Survival Cache content: it no longer has a specific drop that weights towards weapons introduced in Survival and has a more generic drop instead. Exotic items have a small chance to drop as a bonus.
Reviving players from downed state will now cost a Medkit.
When matchmaking in Solo PvP Survival, players will end up in a guaranteed Solo instance where grouping is not possible.
Players can no longer "loot and kill" other downed players in PvE Survival.
Supplies available around the different spawn hideouts have been rebalanced.
Underground
Killing NPCs will now grant Underground XP instead of normal XP. This means that players will no longer earn normal XP when playing Underground.
Underground Caches now guarantee two items instead of one. Exotic items have a small chance to drop as a bonus.
Incursions
Increased the Weekly Rewards on all Challenging and Heroic Incursions.
Gameplay
[PC Only] Several improvements and bug fixes made to gamepad support on PC.
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug where sometimes consumables would not be consumed when used in Survival mode or normal gameplay.
Fixed a bug where the game would return an incorrect out of playable map area error in DZ06.
Fixed a bug where the UI would incorrectly reflect the protection bonus from Hunter's Faith. gear set talent when two or more players had the 4-piece bonus active while in close proximity.
Fixed a bug where players could accidentally use consumables while browsing the emote wheel.
Fixed a bug where the Pulse Master skill would not always trigger the early warning for hostile characters.
Fixed several instances of Ballistic Shield becoming unusable.
Fixed a bug where Recovery Link would not trigger correctly.
Fixed a bug where players would be unable to do anything for a few seconds after using a skill.
Fixed a bug where the UI QuickNav function would not work properly.
Fixed a bug where crafting material quality would not scale properly with world tier.
Fixed a bug on PlayStation 4 where players would be stuck in infinite loading.
Fixed a bug where weapon talents would not activate if the character attribute values were equal, but not higher than the requirements.
Fixed several instances of delay when using First Aid.
Fixed a bug where Vigorous talent would not work properly.
Fixed a bug where players would be able to use consumables infinitely.
Fixed a bug where the Competent weapon talent would not work for certain skills.
Fixed a bug where the Coolheaded weapon talent would reduce consumable duration.
Fixed a bug where the NPC audio would not work after ending a Survival game mode session.
Fixed a bug where a Favorited item could be accidentally marked as junk.
Fixed a bug where NPCs would often get perfect aim.
Fixed a bug where mods could be unequipped randomly when relogging into the game.
Fixed a bug with Mobile Cover where talents Adept, Competent and Capable would stay active until either the cover was destroyed or the player changed cover.
Fixed a bug where sometimes the player would lose input functionality after closing the stash.
Fixed a bug where the Signature skill cooldown would not update on the party's UI if used outside of party range.
Fixed a bug with the Chromatic aberration graphical setting.
Fixed a bug where crafted level 34 extended magazines would roll with lower stats than intended.
Fixed a bug where the Nimble talent could revive the player from a downed/dead state.
Fixed a bug where enemies would be stuck behind a door during a mission in the Garment District.
Fixed a bug where Brycce Thompson would randomly repeat some of his lines even after the player completes the related mission.
It's the last day of February, meaning now is your final chance to get some of February 2017's free Games With Gold titles before they return to their normal prices tomorrow.
Following the recent trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the anime classic Ghost in the Shell, a series of very cool motion posters have arrived. They focus on the characters and were tweeted by the film's official account--check out star Scarlett Johansson's poster below, and the rest at the end of this story:
Ghost in the Shell stars Johansson as the cyborg cop Major, who leads a futuristic anti-terrorist taskforce known as Section 9. It also features Game of Thrones' Pilou Asbæk as the Major's partner Batou, plus Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, and Michael Pitt.
The movie has been the subject of some controversy due to the casting of Johansson as the lead character, leading to accusations that the filmmakers were "whitewashing" a role that was Japanese in the original manga and anime. In a recent interview, Johansson addressed this criticism.
"I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person," she said. "Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive.
"Also, having a franchise with a female protagonist driving it is such a rare opportunity. Certainly, I feel the enormous pressure of that--the weight of such a big property on my shoulders."
Ghost in the Shell was one of the key anime films to break through to a western audience in the '90s. It was based on Masamune Shirow's manga, and was followed by three more movies, plus a number of video games.
Ghost in the Shell hits theaters on March 31, 2017.
For Honor's upcoming 1.03 update drops this week, bringing with it a bunch of changes for the recently-released brawler.
Arguably the biggest change is Ubisoft reverting the Guardbreak move to how it performed in the game's beta. This means you can now counter an enemy's Guardbreak by using the same move yourself.
A few of the game's fighters have also undergone changes as part of the update. Valkyrie is getting buffed with quicker and more powerful attacks, while a couple of Peacekeeper's moves have seen their range increase. Additionally, bots joining an in-progress match of Duel, Brawl, or Elimination will be dead until the round is over.
The update drops on February 28 at 5 AM PST / 8 AM EST / 1 PM GMT on PC, with PS4 and Xbox One versions currently undergoing certification with Microsoft and Sony. The patch contains a number of bug fixes and minor tweaks; check them all out below via the Ubisoft forums.
For Honor launched on February 14 to a positive critical reception. GameSpot awarded the game an 8 in our review; Matt Espineli said the game offers "some of the most satisfying multiplayer melee fighting conceived in recent years." For more, check out our full For Honor review.
Fixed a bug that caused players to lose the "Hard to Kill" Feat upon death.
Orochi & Berserker
Addressed bugs with their area of effect (AOE) ground Feats not working if the player stopped moving.
The Orochi's Nail Bomb & the Berserkers Stun Trap Feats now apply their damage effects correctly to characters who trigger the trap, but stop moving towards the trap, as it was intended.
Valkyrie
The Valkyrie Bloodlust Feat is now triggered on all types of kills as it was intended.
Berserker, Warlord, And Valkyrie
Tweaked the "Rush" Feat animation transition bug from idle to sprint animations.
Fight
All Fighters
We reverted the Guardbreak mechanics to the Beta behavior in order to have it be a more usable skill. Guardbreak is no longer un-counterable if you're Guardbroken during Guardbreak startup.
Attacks that cannot be blocked because they are too fast no longer display the Unblockable Attack feedback.
Fixed camera clipping issues with walls on executions.
Peacekeeper
Some tweaking was made on the Peacekeeper during the Beta, which caused some bugs and unintended changes. We are changing some of her moves to behave as designed.
Fixed the Peacekeeper Guardbreak and Bleed stacking bug.
Stab 1 applies 2 dmg + 15 Bleed dmg over 10 sec.
Stab 2 applies 2 dmg + 12 Bleed dmg over 8 sec.
Stab 3 applies 2 dmg + 9 Bleed dmg over 6 sec.
Bleed damage now stacks up for a total of 36 dmg, in the Beta this total was higher (45dmg) but has been reduced for balancing along with the accompanied bug fix.
Increased the range of the Peacekeeper Stab Attack to fix issues with missed stabs and therefore not applying Bleed.
Stab range increased from 1 m to 2 m.
Changed the range distance of the Peacekeeper Light Attack. She can now connect a Light Attack after a parry.
Normal Light Attacks had their range increased by 0.25 m; from 2.75 m to 3 m.
Berserker & Conqueror
Light Attack recoveries decreased to prevent free Guardbreak on Block. This was never the intended behavior.
Berserker's Light Attacks and chained Light Attacks recoveries on Block reduced from 900 ms to 700 ms.
Conqueror's Light Attacks and chained Light Attacks recoveries on Block reduced from 900 ms to 700 ms.
Valkyrie
Overall Valkyrie gameplay update/buff. We found that the changes we made during our latest Technical Test were impacting too much the dueling abilities of the Valkyrie. She has gone from the first place in Win/Loss in Duel to the last spot. We've made some of her moves a little faster and we've added some mix-ups.
Pouncing Thrust and Hunter's Strike damage increased from 12 dmg to 17 dmg.
Pouncing Thrust and Hunter's Strike can link into Light Chain faster: from 400 ms to 900 ms to 200 ms to 500 ms.
Light Attacks recoveries reduced by 100 ms.
Light Attack Miss Recovery 900 ms to 800 ms.
Light Attack Hit Recovery 700 ms to 600 ms.
Light Attack Interrupt Block Recovery 800 ms to 700 ms.
Light Attack Regular Block Recovery 700 ms to 600 ms.
Light Chain second Attack Startup reduced by 100 ms, recoveries reduced by 100ms.
Light Chain second Attack Startup 600 ms to 500 ms.
Light Chain second Attack Miss Recovery 800 ms to 700 ms.
Light Chain second Attack Hit Recovery 600 to 500 ms.
Light Chain second Attack Interrupt Block Recovery 700 ms to 600 ms.
Light Chain second Attack Regular Block Recovery 600 ms to 500 ms.
Shield Crush can now be chained into Light Chain.
After 400 ms into Hit Recovery.
After 500 ms into Miss Recovery.
Hunter's Rush Recoveries shortened by 200 ms.
Miss recovery 1000 ms to 800 ms.
Hit recovery 800 ms to 600 ms.
Interrupt Block recovery 900 ms to 700 ms.
Regular Block recovery 800 ms to 600 ms.
Orochi
Increased the dodge back on the Orochi's "Riptide Strike."
Increased the backward displacement from 1.75 m to 2 m.
Game mode
Duel, Brawl, Elimination
Bots joining an in-progress match will be dead for the current round.
According to a release from the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) today, the Australian game development industry has generated AUD$2.958 billion in 2016, a four percent increase over 2015.
This number comes from $1.065b in retail sales, and $1.893b in digital and mobile sales.
Digital sales increased in Australia during 2016 by 19 percent compared to the previous year, according to research commissioned by the IGEA from analyst firm Telsyte. Mobile games generated the most digital revenue, raking in $988 million. The largest field of growth came from downloads (full games and expansions/DLC), which were up 26 percent.
Retail sales have decreased a whopping 16 percent compared to 2015, across both software and hardware, according to market data from NPD Australia. Despite this, the increase in overall revenue paints a fairly clear picture that consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with digital purchase as time goes on.
"Consumers have once again shown they are receptive to the latest technologies, with virtual and augmented reality games making the move into living rooms and onto mobile devices," said IGEA CEO Ron Curry in the release."
"Australian consumers are increasingly comfortable buying games and DLC via digital storefonts," said Telsyte's managing director Foad Fadaghi, "with this trend set to continue as more devices get connected via high speed mobile and fixed networks."
Key highlights from Telsyte:
Video and computer games generated $1.893 billion in digital sales in 2016, a 19% increase on 2015
While mobile is still the largest part of the digital pie (up 14%), the biggest growth is coming from downloads of full games and additional content (up 26%)
Downloadable content (DLC) is a popular way to extend the life of a game and experienced 31% growth on 2015 sales
Key highlights from the NPD Group Australia:
Video and computer games generated $1.065 billion in traditional retail sales in 2016, a 16% decrease on 2015 sales
The primary area for growth in retail sales was in accessories for current generation consoles PS4 and Xbox One, which was up 25% on 2015
Games classified MA15+ sold the highest number of units in 2016, reflecting the 33-year-old average age of Australian game players
55% of games sold received an unrestricted classification (G, PG or M)
To hear the press release tell it: "A haunted hotel, an abandoned circus, a burnt-out pillow factory, a dead body pixelating under the bridge, toilets that run on vacuum tubes... you've never visited a place like this before. Five people with nothing in common have been drawn to this rundown, forgotten town. They don't know it yet, but they are all deeply connected. And they're being watched."
You can look forward to all the intrigue and "toilets that run on vacuum tubes" you can handle in the game, launching on PC (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and Xbox One on March 30, 2017.
The game is initially coming to the Steam, GOG, and Xbox Live platforms, "with other stores to follow." The game will also be coming iOS and Android later this year. Pricing on all platforms will be announced closer to release.
Job Simulator has been an introduction to VR for many, with its wacky tasks that encourage players to experiment and push their assumptions about what is possible in a video game, and more specifically in VR.
During an experiment weekend at Owlchemy Labs' office, developer Zi Ye created an homage to Overwatch in Job Simulator itself, replete with dual Reaper shotguns staplers (once one had been replicated in the Job Simulator's famous in-game photocopier, that is), a frozen hotdog version of Mei's ice wall, and a working representation of Widowmaker's sniper rifle, made out of a bottle of grape juice, an "I [heart] Job!" mug, and tape.
The player uses these items to defend against an attack from stylized versions of Pharah, McCree, and Reinhardt, all inside the familiar Job Simulator office level.
When asked whether an Overwatch expansion would be coming to the retail release of Job Simulator, Ye said it was a personal project only. We assume licensing for actual Job Simulator Overwatch DLC would be… expensive.
@JacobBertini No it's not real, haha. Only on my computer. =P
"It really is a home console that you can take anywhere. I've seen situations where home consoles can be transported, and it's like a big over-the-shoulder carry-on bag, but the versatility of this thing is groundbreaking," he said. "When you undock the Switch from its home console and go into handheld, the controller feels the same, it is the same, and it reacts the same. The screen on the undocked handheld system is big enough to be its own world, but small enough to carry anywhere."
He added: "I know for fans of Nintendo, they're going to go crazy. Everyone is speculating about how good the game actually is--it's going to exceed expectations and, for a dude like me, a 40-year-old [in April] who hasn't played Zelda since the gold cartridge, I sat down and was hooked. In a matter of 30-minutes, I didn't want to put it down."
The full interview is stacked with other great quotes from Cena about his gaming habits; read it here.
The Nintendo Switch launches on March 3. It costs $300 and does not come with any pack-in games. Extra sets of Joy-Con controllers are available for $80.
Pokemon Go has reached 650 million downloads. Developer Niantic Labs announced the figure during the Game Developers Conference today in San Francisco, according to Polygon.
Niantic also confirmed that people have now walked around 5.4 billion miles in search of Pokemon, which is almost the distance to Pluto, apparently.
Pokemon Go is a free-to-play game that is available now on iOS and Android devices, as well as Apple Watch. The game makes its money from microtransactions--and those have been a huge hit.
