A pair of players have been banned from an upcoming Tekken 7 tournament following accusations of "collusion" at a recent qualifying event.
Bandai Namco shared the news today on its Facebook page, stating that both District G | KingJae and District G | C-Krizzle will be unable to participate in the UK Championship London Qualifier on May 14. This news comes not long after the Birmingham Qualifier, during which Bandai Namco said "two players have been suspected of collusion in order to manipulate the results of the tournament."
For his part, KingJae has posted a pair of videos on Twitter disputing the claims and stating, "I don't understand where this collusion stuff is coming from." He concludes the second video by saying he won't be responding to the situation further "because it's pure nonsense." Subsequent tweets do seem to address the matter, with one stating, "Last time I shake hands with a snake in the FGC." Another reads, "I think it was the worst mistake coming back into the UK Tekken offline community."
Bandai Namco has already announced that both players' spots in the qualifier will go to the two people with the next highest placements, RTFM | Asim and ED | K_Justice. They have each been invited to the MCM London Comic Con Finals, scheduled to take place on May 26.
As a result of the alleged chicanery, Bandai Namco will be altering its rulebook. "We will amend the rules to have a clear clause on collusion as a result of this event," it said.
Tekken 7, which is currently only available in arcades, launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on June 2.
The 2014 sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow may have been a hit with both critics and audiences, but when it subsequently arrived on home entertainment formats, it was confusingly also given the extra title Live Die Repeat. Now director Doug Liman has spoken about the sequel, and revealed it will have a similarly strange name.
In an interview with Collider, Liman stated that the film will star Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt once more, and will be called Live Die Repeat and Repeat.
"We have an amazing story! It's incredible!" Liman enthused. "Way better than the first film, and I obviously loved the first film. It will be called Live Die Repeat and Repeat. Tom is excited about it, and Emily is excited about it. The big question is just when we'll do it. But it's not an if, it's a when."
In an earlier interview with the site last year, the director revealed some more details about the film and boldly claimed that it would "revolutionize how people make sequels."
"I've had some radical ideas about how to make a sequel that would interest me," he said. "I've had these intellectual ideas on how you should make a sequel that are unlike how anybody else makes a sequel, and this script and this idea fit perfectly into that idea. It's more heresy in the film world for me to pitch things that are sort of unheard of."
Grand Theft Auto V's Online mode changes again this week, with a new Premium Vehicle Race and more reward bonuses.
The new race is called Beach Party, and you'll have to use the Blazer Aqua quadbike to take part. Players will get triple RP just for participating, while the top three players in each race will earn "big" GTA$ rewards. This week's Time Trial, meanwhile, is titled Raton Canyon. Beat the par time for a "sizeable" GTA$ and RP reward.
Finally, this week's update will reward players double the usual amount of GTA$ and RP earned during online Heists. The offer, which stands from now until May 16, is valid on all five of the multi-part robberies.
Its popularity is at least in part maintained by continued support for GTA Online, which is updated weekly. One recent update introduced a new game mode similar to old-style GTA games and miniature racers like Micro Machines. You can keep an eye on GameSpot for future updates, or see all GTA V's recent news here.
That name was first reported by WWG and has since been corroborated by Eurogamer. The latter's sources also indicate the game is a prequel that will launch for PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this year.
The alleged leaked Assassin's Creed: Origins image
Separately, an off-screen image purporting to be a "first look" at Origins has been published on Reddit. Eurogamer's sources also indicate that the image is legitimate. It pictures a bow-wielding character on a boat, albeit one much smaller than what players controlled in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
Early last year, Kotaku reported the the new game would take place in Egypt and was set for a fall 2017 under the name Assassin's Creed Empire (a name that has seemingly since been changed).
"Since the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, we've learned a lot based on your feedback," it stated at the time. "We've also updated our development processes and recommitted to making Assassin's Creed a premier open-world franchise. We're taking this year to evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the promise of Assassin's Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay experiences that make history everyone's playground."
Update: The Deadly Premonition board game's Kickstarter campaign is now live. Stretch goals listed include bonus action cards, unique artwork, and a new Agent character from Swery65, the video game's creator.
Pledge bonuses, meanwhile, range from early bird discounts on the board game to Steam keys for the Director's Cut of the video game.
Original story (May 8) follows.
Deadly Premonition is attempting a comeback--but not as a video game. Following last week's teaser, Rising Star Games today announced a Kickstarter campaign for a board game based on the 2010 video game, which has become something of a cult hit.
The board game is based on the characters, locations, and events from Deadly Premonition. In a news release, Rising Star said the board game is a "passion project" for Rising Star's Samuel Elphick and Saniel Osuna Perez. The adaptation has the blessing of Hidetaka "Swery65" Suehiro, the video game iteration's director.
The board game is a card-based affair for two to four players, with games taking between 30-45 minutes. You take on the role of a detective in search of truth and justice, but there is a killer among the ranks, and the game involves seeking out and bringing this Raincoat Killer to justice.
The Kickstarter campaign goes live tomorrow, May 9, with a goal of $50,000, and an official website can be found here. Click through the images in the gallery below to get a closer look at the box and components, while there is also a picture of Swery holding the game box.
"Our vision was to create a compelling, atmospheric game inspired by Deadly Premonition's delivery of big reveals, plot twists, and consequential moments," Elphick said in a statement. "The venture started out as an idea between colleagues. With hopeful optimism we put together a proposal for Swery and he loved it."
Rising Star says it's launching a Kickstarter for the game instead of funding the project with its own money because the board game market is outside of its normal business ventures. Kickstarter also affords the company an avenue from which to gather feedback about the game, it said. If the crowdfunding campaign is a success, the plan is to have the game out by Fall 2017.
It's been a year since real-time strategy game Stellaris was released, and to mark the occasion, developer Paradox has released a special edition for the game. It launches today alongside a new patch.
The Digital Anniversary Edition comes with the three expansions released over the past year in addition to the base game. It includes the Plantoids Species Pack, which adds twelve portraits of sentient plant-like beings, the Leviathans Story Pack, which adds new monsters and encounters, and the Utopia Pack, which adds megastructures and new advancement options. This edition costs $70.16 on Steam, a 10% discount from buying the game and each expansion individually.
Current owners of Stellaris get some freebies, as well. Paradox announced that the Creatures of the Void pack, previously reserved as a preorder bonus, and a new Anniversary Species Portrait Pack will be free for Stellaris players. Further, it will be cutting the price on the base game and the Leviathans and Plantoids Packs, although those discounts are not live on Steam at the time of this writing.
In addition, the latest update for Stellaris went live today, and it focuses on quality of life improvements. You can see the massive list of bug fixes and tweaks here.
There are also a few new features that come in the update, which you can read about below:
(Utopia Expansion) Added Devouring Swarm civic to the game for Hive Minds
(Utopia Expansion) It is now possible to find and repair ruined Megastructures in the galaxy
Possible to repair ruined Ringworlds with the Mega-Engineering technology
Reworked the empire diplomacy rooms into a set of 16 different rooms themed around AI personalities that can be freely chosen between when designing an empire
Replaced Growth Time modifier effect with Growth Speed and rebalanced related values
Added the ability to drain sector resource stockpiles, giving you 75% of their stockpiled resources at the cost of 100 influence. The cost is reduced to 25 influence during defensive wars
It is now possible to terraform inhabited planets if you have researched the new Ecological Adaptation tech
You can now set taxes for Energy Credits and Minerals on sectors separately
Ironman autosaving is now quarterly instead of monthly
Pop Culture Shock Collectibles has announced the newest addition to its 1:3 scale figure line. Its newsletter (via Toyark) provided a sneak peek at the new figure, which actually comes in three variants. They're each priced at $900 and stand 30 inches (76 cm) tall.
These will be available in limited quantities, with 325-350 of each one being sold. Unfortunately, if you're eager to pick one up, they're still a ways out--they won't ship until the fourth quarter of 2018.
You can check out a photo of each in the gallery above and see the basic details below.
Street Fighter Classic Chun Li 1:3 Collectible Statue PCS Classic Qipao Exclusive
30" (76cm) H x 9.5" (24cm) W x 7.25" (18.5cm) D
Limited to 350pcs
SRP $925
Estimated ship date Q4 2018
Includes tailored fabric costume and Certificate of Authenticity
Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) Chun Li 1:3 Collectible Statue PCS Alpha Exclusive
30" (76cm) H x 9.5" (24cm) W x 7.25" (18.5cm) D
Limited to 325pcs
SRP $900
Estimated ship date Q4 2018
Includes tailored fabric costume and Certificate of Authenticity
Street Fighter V Chun Li 1:3 Collectible Statue PCS Battle Dress Exclusive
30" (76cm) H x 9.5" (24cm) W x 7.25" (18.5cm) D
Limited to 325pcs
SRP $900
Estimated ship date Q4 2018
Includes tailored fabric costume and Certificate of Authenticity
These aren't available for preorder yet, but they'll be sold through the PCS website. A post on Facebook promises a full reveal is coming this Sunday, May 14.
If you've used a wireless headset with an Xbox One before, you know that they all require some sort of external receiver or connector. However, the newest licensed headset coming for the console is changing that trend: it gets rid of anything extra and connects directly to the Xbox.
Announced by LucidSound and reported by Eurogamer, the LS35X headset is the first to offer "direct connect" to Xbox One and to Project Scorpio, meaning that it communicates with the consoles in the same way as a controller. It uses the same wireless tech as in Xbox One controllers, so it configures automatically when connected.
It's also compatible with Windows 10 PCs, and if you happen to have a PC with Xbox Wireless tech built in, you'll be able to connect the headset without an adapter. If not, you can use the separate Xbox Wireless Adapter.
It's already available on the UK and Australian PlayStation Stores, costing £12 / AU $23 (£9.59 / AU $18.36 for PS Plus members), though it is not yet up on the US Store.
The original launched exclusively for PSP over 10 years ago and never came to any other platform. This will therefore be the first time the wacky title has been available on a home console.
Two more LocoRoco games launched for PSP after the original: LocoRoco 2 and a Halloween-themed spinoff called LocoRoco Midnight Carnival. It is unclear whether these will ever come to PS4.
"There's a generation of gamers who will find Parappa the Rapper Remastered validates all their happiest memories watching Parappa kicking and spinning with Chop Chop Master Onion again, more vibrant and colorful than ever before. But there will come a point when they have to confront how incongruous the aggravating gameplay is with how delightful everything else around it is. The aesthetics and vibe are still unlike anything else out there, and they're still worth the hassle. But the greatest trick Parappa the Rapper ever pulled was convincing the world it's not a broken game."
Back in March 2016, following the release of the Need for Speed reboot, EA announced that the series would not have an annual release cycle. Instead, it stated that a new game would come sometime in 2017. Today, EA and developer Ghost Games have confirmed that there will, in fact, be a Need for Speed game launching by the end of this year.
Fans will have to wait a bit longer to hear news about what, exactly, this upcoming game will be. Ghost stated in a press release that it will share information about the next Need for Speed in the run up to EA's E3 2017 event, EA Play. However, it did hint at some of the important features that will be included, specifically customization and police pursuits.
"Rest assured that we're committed to customization having a home within the Need for Speed series," Ghost stated. "It's not going away and it will play as strong a role as ever as we move forward into the next game and beyond."
In addition, Ghost shared that it is focusing on making the next Need for Speed's world beautiful and full of things to do, including off-road driving: "Whether you're checking out your freshly customized ride or smoking the competition in an event up in the canyons, you're going to want a world that not only looks beautiful, but offers you the space in which to do the things you want. We're dialing up the action and allowing you to tear up the tarmac, and dirt, to your heart's content."
Finally, Ghost revealed that it is making at least one significant change from the reboot, which was released in 2015. That game was always online, meaning that you couldn't play it unless you were connected to the Internet. This will not be the case for the 2017 game. "When release day rolls around for the next Need for Speed, you will be able to play through a single player experience completely offline. Before you ask, and we know you will, this does mean you will be able to pause the game."
Update: Sega has posted another cryptic photo on its Twitter account that possibly points to an impeding PC release for Vanquish. Like yesterday's photo, which was labeled with the year "2017," the new image that Sega shared simply says "05," suggesting the game could be coming to PC sometime this month.
Original story: With the recent PC release of Bayonetta, there's been speculation that another Platinum-developed title, Vanquish, could also be coming to PC in the near future. While nothing concrete has been announced yet, publisher Sega added more fuel to the speculation today by posting a cryptic photo on Twitter (via Wario64).
Rumors of a PC port of Vanquish have been swirling since last summer, when Platinum co-founder Atsushi Inaba teased the possibility in an interview with Kotaku. Fans who purchased the PC version of Bayonetta, meanwhile, found another hint at a potential port: an avatar of Vanquish protagonist Sam Gideon in the game's Extras folder.
While not direct confirmation that Vanquish will receive a PC release, the photo that Sega posted this morning on its Twitter account is the most explicit hint the publisher has dropped thus far. Labeled with the year "2017," the photo depicts the logo of the Order of the Russian Star--the same emblem that adorns Vanquish antagonist Victor Zaitsev's armor. Considering that a PC port of Bayonetta was teased with a free 8-bit game before it was released on Steam, this is a good sign that Vanquish may be following suit.
Vanquish was directed by Shinji Mikami, who is renowned for his work on the Devil May Cry and Resident Evil series. The title was released to universal acclaim for PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010; we awarded it a 9/10 and called it "one of the most gleeful and memorable experiences" of that year.
Project Cars 2 is currently scheduled for release later this year, and developer Slightly Mad Studios has published a trailer showing off some of the visuals and environments that players can expect in the full game. The video focuses on the McLaren 720s, a brand-new supercar revealed in March at the Geneva Motor Show.
Although it's only a short trailer, it gives a glimpse at the visual fidelity and detail that the developer is shooting for. And, at least from what can be seen, it's shaping up to be a very good-looking game. The video shows off the McLaren racing on the Long Beach Grand Prix track.
It also gives an idea of some of the weather and time-of-day effects, graphical details on the car, and urban environments that will be in the game. You can check out the trailer for yourself above.
For as long as there have been game consoles, there have been console wars. Discussions about the superiority of the PS4 over Xbox One or vise versa are commonplace on the internet. Whether these debates have any value, however, is another question.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, for instance, recently expressed his view that console wars are unproductive. Writing on Twitter, Spencer stated, "When specific game discussions turn from playing great games to which piece of plastic I own I feel like we've lost the plot a bit."
This post was in response to a conversation sparked by one follower remarking that Spencer had been tweeting a lot about Little Nightmares, a game recently released for PS4 and PC as well as Xbox One. Spencer responded, "I'll never feel strange promoting great games," adding that fans should "play [Little Nightmares] on the platform you own."
President of Sony's Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has himself been known to post congratulatory and positive remarks about games and platforms outside of the PlayStation ecosystem. Yoshida, too, has faced fans criticizing him for these posts. One of his responses was, simply, "Be cool, be you."
Little Nightmares came out on April 27 to positive reviews. In our 8/10 review, GameSpot critic Matt Espinelli said, "The journey to reach its provocative conclusion is filled with unnerving questions and imagery that take hold of your morbid curiosities and pull you deep into introspection. While its puzzles are at times too straightforward, Little Nightmares is a chilling odyssey well worth taking."
The latest episode of Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver's HBO program, tackled an issue that could particularly affect gamers and video game companies alike: net neutrality. In the episode, Oliver called for an effort from gamers to resist threats against it.
"Every internet group needs to come together like you successfully did three years ago," he said on the show, referencing the concerted effort made in 2014 to protect net neutrality rules. "Every subculture must join as one. Gamers, YouTube celebrities, Instagram models, Tom from MySpace if you're still alive. We need all of you."
Net neutrality is a policy currently enforced by the Federal Communications Commission that requires that internet service providers treat every website and online service the same way. In other words, Comcast or Time Warner cannot offer "tiers" of internet service that buy faster access to certain websites. If it was not for the policy of net neutrality, ISPs could charge customers more for higher-speed access to specific services like Netflix.
In terms of its effect on gaming, an elimination of net neutrality rules could make it possible for ISPs to charge different prices for gaming services like Steam, PlayStation Network, or Xbox Live. In the past, developers such as Lorne Lanning, the creator of the Oddworld series, have spoken out in support of net neutrality.
Oliver addressed net neutrality because the FCC has announced plans to loosen these restrictions, an effort led by the newly appointed chairman Ajit Pai. Pai argues that enforcing net neutrality increases uncertainty in the ISP market, stating earlier this year, "It's evident the rules were a mistake."
Proponents of protecting net neutrality, on the other hand, say that the potential for ISP abuse is far too high to walk back the regulations.
Oliver also set up a domain, www.gofccyourself.com, which redirects to the FCC's page on its proposed policy change, "Restoring Internet Freedom." You can click the "+express" link on the page to share your thoughts with the FCC.
There are a lot of Stephen King adaptations coming our way in 2017. As well as movie versions of It and The Dark Tower, JJ Abrams is working on an anthology series called Castle Rock, and King's spooky novella The Mist has been adapted for TV. A gory new trailer for the latter has been released--watch it below:
This will be the second time that King's 1980 novella has been adapted. In 2007, Frank Darabont directed a movie version, which was a critical hit but failed to make much of an impact at the box office.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Christian Torpe explained how the new series would differ from the source material. "The novella is 200 pages and one location, and we needed to change that to make an ongoing series. But we wanted to remain faithful to the heart of the story," he said.
In the book and the film version, the people of the town huddled together in a grocery store to avoid the mist and the monsters outside. While in the store, they became the monsters. In the TV show, there will be several of these "lockdown locations," according to EW.
The Mist premieres June 22 on Spike. It stars Alyssa Sutherland, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Bill Carr, Gus Birney, and Luke Cosgrove.
Much-loved indie game Risk of Rain is getting a sequel, developer Hopoo announced today, and the follow-up will make the leap from 2D to 3D.
"Risk of Rain 2 is our first fully 3D project," the company revealed in a blog post. "We think that 3D allows for much deeper design spaces and more possibilities for cool gameplay. Feelings of scale and atmosphere are also much stronger. We are really happy with the core of Risk of Rain--and we're finding it plays even better in 3D. It just won't crash anymore."
You can take a look at a short clip of the game in action above, though Hopoo did warn that the build shown off is "very, very early in development," and that "none of the systems, art styles, assets, or game design choices will necessarily translate to the final game." The company says it's been working on the sequel "for about 6 months," and it did not announce pricing, a release window, or what platforms the game might come to.
"Risk of Rain is highly enjoyable," said critic Cameron Woolsey in our review. "And with constant rewards of new items and character classes, it's hard to put down once you start. Even as I watched the last of the end credits roll by, I wiped the sweat from my brow and jumped back into the fray: I have an item log that still needs to be filled.
The upcoming multiplatform fighting game Tekken 7 is getting a PS4 Pro bundle in Europe.
PlayStation France has announced a new system bundle that comes with the souped-up PS4 (1 TB) and a copy of Tekken 7. There will apparently also be a Slim (500 GB) version. A listing at UK retailer Game shows a price of £250 for the Slim edition, though it's not clear what the Pro versionw will cost.
TEKKEN 7 Deluxe Edition avec notamment 2 personnages supplémentaires et un nouveau mode de jeu sera disponible le 2 juin en pack PS4 Pro ! pic.twitter.com/msd2dTpEPj
It remains to be seen if the new Tekken 7 bundles will be available in the US or other markets. We have contacted Sony/PlayStation in an attempt to get more details.
You can see a full rundown of this week's Xbox One and Xbox 360 deals here on Major Nelson's blog. Note that some of the deals require an Xbox Live Gold membership.
When the Nintendo Switch launched in early March, users discovered that they could not store their credit card information through the marketplace. But no longer will you have to re-enter your information for every purchase (or stack your digital wallet with extra funds), as Nintendo has enabled the ability to store credit card information.
As discovered by Nintendo Everything, you will now see the option to store these details when buying an eShop game. You can then see this information on your Account Information page when it's stored. Along with this, you now have the option to require or disable password entry when buying something when your credit card details are on file.
This new feature comes to the eShop without an update, instead arriving through the background. Nintendo's support site still says you can't store credit card info, so this new feature apparently only just rolled out very recently.
GameSpot found this feature available when booting up the Switch today in Australia. We also confirmed it works on US and Japanese accounts.
Following the announcement of the release dates for the four Avatar sequels, some casting news about those films has been revealed. According to Entertainment Weekly, Fear the Walking Dead star Cliff Curtis has been cast in all of the Avatar sequels, portraying a character named Tonowari.
He is the leader of "the reef people clan Metkayina," though that's all we know about his character.
Curtis plays Travis on Fear the Walking Dead, which is a spinoff of AMC's hit zombie show The Walking Dead. He will reportedly stay on Fear the Walking Dead. However, given what sounds like an intense filming schedule for the four Avatar sequels--which are shooting simultaneously--there is some speculation that Travis might be killed off Fear the Walking Dead, though nothing is confirmed. The show returns for its third season on June 4, so it might not be long until we find out more.
Avatar 2 also stars from the first film, including Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Zoe Saldana. James Cameron returns to the director's chair for the new films.
The first Avatar sequel will premiere on December 18, 2020, with the next ones arriving on December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024, and December 19, 2025.
"I'm telling you, these scripts are so amazing, I'm not worried about [disappointing fans] at all," she said. "Am I worried about how we're going to bring them to life? Yes, because they're so ambitious. They're so worth it. They're well worth waiting for. I'm not worried about that at all. We're trying to get it done as quickly as possible."
GameSpot Australia, Xbox, and 20th Century Fox are excited to give readers the chance to win an Alien: Covenant prize pack, featuring an amazing replica Facehugger.
Two lucky GameSpot readers will win one of these Facehuggers, an Alien Covenant Poster, and a double pass to see Alien: Covenant in cinemas. This prize is in celebration of Xbox Australia's 'Crack the Code' promotion for Alien: Covenant.
To be in the running, simply fill in the form below and give us your most creative answer to the following hypothetical in 25 words or less:
"There was a Xenomorph egg abandoned on your doorstep this morning. What do you do with it?"
GameSpot staff will hand-pick the winners based on the creativity and/or humour. This competition will close on Monday, May 15 2017 at 9:00am AEST so get your entires in quick!
This competition is only open to residents of Australia. All entrants must be over 18 years of age.
Please use the form to enter the competition, answers written in the comments section are invalid.
Alien: Covenant releases in Australia on Thursday, May 11 2017
The Hellboy series might be coming back--but with some major changes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, film company Millennium is in talks to reboot the series with a new lead and director. The report said Stranger Things star David Harbour could play the demon Hellboy, with The Descent and Game of Thrones veteran Neil Marshall reportedly in discussions to direct. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola confirmed those details on Facebook, adding that the film will be rated R.
Okay, here's some news-- There IS going to be another HELLBOY MOVIE. It's going to be an R rated reboot directed... https://t.co/d1oyNeq4R9
The new Hellboy film is reportedly in the works under the working title Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen, with a script written by Andrew Cosby and Christopher Golden, while Mignola, is also on the writing team.
Ron Perlman has played Hellboy in the two previous films, 2004's Hellboy and 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, both of which were directed by Guillermo del Toro. The pair are reportedly not involved whatsoever in the reboot.
In 2015, del Toro explained that part of the problem came down to the budget. "The hard fact is that the movie's going to need about $120 million and there's nobody knocking down our doors to give it to us," he admitted during a Television Critic's Association Q&A.
Hellboy first appeared in 1993, and has featured in a wide variety of regular comic books, miniseries, one-shots, and crossovers since then, published by Dark Horse Comics.
What would you like to see from the Hellboy reboot? Let us know in the comments below!
Just days after the game's release, a speedrunner has beaten Arkane's new shooter Prey in under 20 minutes. The impressive feat was recorded, of course, so you can watch it in awe or disbelief in the video below.
The run was performed by speedrunner DraQu (via Polygon), who claims his time of 19:34 is a world record. As you'll see in the video below, the streamer makes use of tricks and manages to get outside of the intended playable space to speed up his progress significantly.
DraQu improved his time significantly in recent playthroughs. Earlier in the week, his speedruns came in at 59:28 and 44:06, so his world record is twice as fast as his next closest. Impressive!
Prey launched on May 5 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Due to publisher Bethesda's review policy, we were not able to post a full review at launch, but you can read our review-in-progress here. We'll have a full review coming up.
As part of a livestream event today, Microsoft showed off new gameplay footage from Forza Horizon 3's upcoming Hot Wheels expansion.
As announced previously, the Hot Wheels expansion adds Hot Wheels cars and tracks to the game, and it looks like a more arcade-style of gameplay. Players visit six "themed" islands off Australia's coast, each connected by Hot Wheels tracks that consist of loops, corkscrews, and more. There are also giant mechanical dinosaurs, because why wouldn't there be? You can see the footage in the archive of today's livestream, starting at around 30:20 (via Kotaku). The video also shows off the new cars and takes you inside the Hot Wheels headquarters, which is pretty cool.
Ten Hot Wheels vehicles are included in the DLC, such as the 2012 Rip Rod and 2011 Bone Shaker, as well as a mystery Barn Find car to discover. Here are the nine confirmed rides:
1969 Hot Wheels Twin Mill
2011 Hot Wheels Bone Shaker
2012 Hot Wheels Rip Rod
2005 Hot Wheels Ford Mustang
2016 Jeep Trailcat
2016 Zenvo ST1
2007 Toyota Hilux Arctic Trucks AT38
2010 Pagani Zonda R
1972 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E49
This is Horizon 3's second major expansion, following the excellent Blizzard Mountain. The open-world racing game has also received a number of additional vehicles through DLC.
Hot Wheels launches for Horizon 3 on May 9 for $20. It's also included in the $35 Expansion Pass that comes with Blizzard Mountain.
Also coming on May 9 is an update for the game. Few specifics were shared, but we know those playing the PC version will receive support for "numerous popular driving wheels" in addition to improved CPU performance and new graphical options.
With its many thousands of games and more than 125 million users, Steam is a giant the PC gaming space. Developers use the platform to reach a wide audience, but as Valve acknowledges in a blog post, one of the challenges of Steam as a storefront is that it "has to serve so many players whose tastes and interests are not only different, but sometimes complete opposites."
A successful Steam store, in Valves eyes, would ideally meet the needs of all the different groups of people who spend time with it. This includes the following groups, defined by Valve:
Players who are highly connected to the online game community & conversations, and players who are totally unconnected
Players who browse the store looking for a game, and players who arrive already knowing the title they're looking for
Players who come to the store once a month, and players who visit multiple times a day
Players who just want to buy the latest AAA title, and players who want to search for hidden gems
Players who want to play titles earlier in their development, and get involved in their evolution
Players who want games with specific attributes, such as a type of gameplay, support for a specific technology, translation to their local language, etc
Developers with AAA titles that have large, existing fan bases, and developers who are barely known, yet have a game that would be a hit if players found it
Developers who want to build deliberately niche games, and have them find that niche audience
Developers who want to get community feedback earlier in the development process
In a perfect world, the Steam store would treat all of these players in a "fair" manner, Valve said, but the tough part is that "these groups often have competing interests."
"So it's important to understand that if we're not doing exactly what one group wants, it's probably because we're trying to weigh it against another group's interests," Valve said. "It might seem obvious that developers have some competing interests, but it's also true on the player side--some players specifically enjoy exploring Early Access titles, while others never want to see them."
Overall, the Steam store is a "design challenge," Valve acknowledged, adding that it does not want to take the easy way out when it comes to its ambition to address everyone's interests.
"We could make the problem a lot simpler by choosing to ignore some set of players or developers, but we think there are already stores that have chosen to do that, and it's much more interesting to try and figure out how to build a single store that works for everyone," Valve said.
Valve has already taken steps to improve the Steam store. The Discovery update helped players to find games that align with their interests, while Steam has also added refunds, reviews, and a curator system in an effort to create a more complete and consumer-friendly store.
A major part of what drives Steam is an algorithm that spotlights the games that players want to see based on a number of feedback points such as a purchase history and what past buyers have said and gone on to play later. The problem with the algorithm as it stands, Valve said, is that "it's hard to know when they aren't working as intended. Did we not show a game to a player because the algorithm correctly guessed that the player wouldn't be interested in it? Or because there were other games it thought the player would be more interested in? Or just because of a bug?"
To improve things, Valve is planning to roll out "some features," including one that is out now: a section on the game page that explains why the algorithm recommended what it did.
"This section will let you see inside the black box, and understand what the Store is thinking," Valve said. "We hope it will be useful whenever you're exploring the Store, but in particular, whenever you've navigated from an external web page directly to a specific game's Store page. In those cases, this section will help you understand whether or not this game is something the Store would recommend to you. In other cases, you might be more or less interested in something the store recommends if you know exactly why it's recommending it.
"For instance, knowing that a particular friend or curator likes or dislikes a game might make it clearer whether you'd like it. Finally, if the store recommends something you know you're not interested in, you'll be able to see where its decision making is going wrong, and tell us about it."
Valve is planning at least two more blog posts that will cover the company's vision for what the Steam store should be. The next post will talk about how "bad actors" have been taking advantage of the platform's algorithms by confusing them and driving players to a product they may not want.
The third post will talk about the publishing fee for the Steam Greenlight replacement, Steam Direct. This was announced in February, and at the time, Valve said surveyed developers suggested prices ranging from $100 to $5000 per game. Presumably, Valve will announce the final fee value soon.
We'll report back with more details as they are announced.
Ahead of the movie's release next month, a pair of new videos--a clip and a TV spot--for Transformers: The Last Knight have arrived. The TV spot is quite silly, showing Optimus Prime not having such a good time with a dialogue coach who is trying to teach him a British accent.
The new clip, which you can see here at The Hollywood Reporter, has a lighthearted tone as well. It shows Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager and the new character played by Anthony Hopkins, Sir Edmund Burton, having a conversation about the Transformers. "You want to know, don't you, dude? Why they keep coming here, to Earth?" Burton says to Yeager.
The Last Knight is the fifth installment in the core Transformers series that began a decade ago with Transformers and the first since 2014's Age of Extinction.
Previewing some footage of The Last Knight at CinemaCon in March, director Michael Bay said, "This is not a number five. This feels like a brand new, fresh look into the Transformers," according to THR.
The Last Knight, which opens on June 23, also stars Isabela Moner, Josh Duhamel, Stanley Tucci, and John Goodman. The series may be continuing after it, but Bay has said it's his last movie in the series.
Hi-Rez co-founder Todd Harris told DualShockers that a Switch versions of Paladins is not in the works "at this time." The current focus for the studio is on the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 versions. Harris didn't provide any further details on why Hi-Rez isn't looking to bring Paladins to Switch at this time.
A free game, Paladins is currently available in beta on Xbox One and PS4, and also through Steam Early Access on PC.
Also in the DualShockers interview, Harris briefly discussed Microsoft's Project Scorpio console, saying it "looks like great technology." The team is looking into potentially supporting the console, but have not committed to anything yet; it wasn't said if the studio has a Project Scorpio development kit.
Scorpio launches this holiday season, and we expect to learn more about it at E3 next month, if not sooner.
Injustice 2 publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced the details of several different esports tournaments set to take place in its upcoming fighting game on PS4.
$600,000 in all is up for grabs for Injustice 2 players across these tournaments, which comprise the game's Championship Series. This includes the Injustice 2 Pro Series, which begins on May 26, not long after the game's release. It will run for four months and be broadcast on Twitch. The final 16 players from North America, Europe, and Latin America will head to the Finals, which are scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on September 17.
Those who aren't taking part in the Pro Series will have an alternative path to winning money by playing Injustice 2. The GameStop Hometown Heroes tournament is for players in the US and will have open qualifiers online starting on June 4. Regional Finals will be held in GameStop stores on August 12, followed by the Finals at GameStop's Consumer Expo in Las Vegas on August 27.
Players in Europe and Latin America will each have their own tournaments as well: the Path to Pro tournament and Liga Latina, respectively.
More details on how to register are available on the Injustice 2 esports website. It looks as if you'll need to be playing on PS4 to participate, thanks to a sponsorship by PlayStation.
The debut trailer has arrived for Ready or Not, a new tactical shooter that bears some resemblance to the Rainbow Six and SWAT series.
Developed by a new team known as Void Interactive, Ready or Not is described as a shooter where you play as a member of an "elite SWAT team tasked with defusing hostile situations in intense, claustrophobic environments."
Ready or Not includes both competitive and cooperative modes for up to eight players, as well as a single-player mode. The official website outlines some of the key features intended to help distinguish the game. These include a variety of non-lethal options (pepper spray, tasers, beanbag shotguns), a planning phase, and the ability to more fully control the speed you open a door (using the mouse wheel) or degree to which you lean around a corner. There are other systems outlined as well, such as one for simulating the effects of shots taken to the arm or leg.
You can get a brief taste of this in the trailer above, though we don't get a proper look at gameplay. It's clearly an ambitious project, though it remains to be seen if Void can make good on the vision it's laid out.
An accompanying blog post explains that development began in June 2016, but there's no word yet on when it will be released. Platforms also weren't confirmed, although given the use of the mouse wheel, PC is a lock.
Rocket League Update 1.34 is coming this Wednesday, May 10, and players will get the chance to compete again in a familiar arena, with a new battle-car and new upgrades.
"Your feedback has been heard! Neo Tokyo is back," publisher Psyonix announced today on its Rocket League website. Neo Tokyo has been redesigned to remove the parallel ramps on either side. It makes its return as a standard arena in all playlists, as well as Competitive and Private matches.
The old version of Neo Tokyo, first introduced last year, will be available again too. Renamed Tokyo Underpass, it will be playable in offline and Private matches only. It replaces the existing Underpass map, which will be moved out of the rotation as of this update.
If you loved the Batmobile in the 2016 Batman v Superman DLC, get a look at the new battle-car about to hit the game. The Mantis is "fully customizable and has an all-new look, but it uses the same low, flat hitbox, and turn radius as the Batmobile."
The Mantis is only available as a limited-drop inside Rocket League's new Nitro Crate. In addition to the battle-car, this new crate contains limited-drop wheels, decals, Rocket Trails, and Black Market customizations (get a sneak peak at them in the gallery above).
The last thing Psyonix is revealing is a new framework for in-game items tied to their new real life Mini Pull-Back Racers, announced earlier this year. Due to hit stores in June, Rare and Very Rare racers will have unique codes in them that you can redeem for sets of in-game items.
Psyonix is promising more changes in the update, which hits the game Wednesday, May 10 at 3 PM PDT (6 PM EDT). Patch notes will be revealed prior to then, so follow GameSpot's full coverage to get a look at them as soon as they're released.
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