Telltale Games is best known for its games based on big-name, established franchises such as The Walking Dead, Minecraft, Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. The studio has not made an entirely new IP since Puzzle Agent, but now the company has basically confirmed it is working on something new--but fans might have to wait a while to see it.
"An original, new IP is definitely still in our future," Telltale Games head of communications Job Stauffer told GameSpot in an interview at E3 today. "It may not be as immediate as the next few things we have coming up. We haven't been able to say a lot about it in the last few years."
Stauffer gave no indication as to the genre or story for what the new IP might be. Intriguingly, however, he mentioned VR and streaming services.
"I think the landscape of what's possible in digital interactive media, particularly in the streaming environment, and quite frankly the VR space, is very exciting," he said. "And while there is nothing to announce right now, I think you can look forward [to a Telltale new IP] further on in the future. Yes, it's still something we very much have in our minds."
Also in our interview, Stauffer doubled down on how Telltale plans to bring its games to new platforms beyond console, mobile, and PC. Interestingly, he suggested Telltale might bring its catalog of games to set-top boxes and possibly even Netflix ... somehow.
"I think there is a lot of space for Telltale to move on to platforms that most people don't even really consider to be game systems," he said. "A lot of boxes of many different varieties in homes--millions and millions of homes across America, where people don't even think game-playing is possible on them, but maybe they're watching stories or consuming narrative-driven content or streaming it.
"And for us, we're looking at that. It would be unfathomable to think about playing a Grand Theft Auto [game] over Netflix. But it wouldn't be so unfathomable to think about playing a Telltale game over a streaming video service of that calibre."
Telltale's Eric Stirpe told GameSpot that when he walks around the studio, he sometimes has a peek at what the UI team--"a bunch of wizards," he called them--is working on. Stauffer cut him off as he was about to say something more about what the UI team was working on. Stauffer went on to reiterate that Telltale is eager to bring its games to new platforms, saying more details on the plans will be announced this summer.
"The Telltale experience will be expanding onto services and devices that are already on millions of homes across the world," he said. "And we'll be talking more about it this summer."
Also in our interview, Stauffer said Telltale--which has as many as 400 employees these days--is capable of working on four projects at once. We know the team is making more Game of Thrones, Minecraft, and Guardians of the Galaxy episodes. Beyond those, fans can expect to hear about "a handful of things" this summer that Stauffer believes people will be excited about.
As always, we'll report back with more details as they're announced. GameSpot's interview with Stauffer and Stripe covered a number of other topics, including Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, more multiplayer features, and a lot more. Check back with GameSpot soon for more from our conversation with the developers.
Telltale didn't have any announcements at E3 this year, but other companies did. Click the links to see roundups for all the big Xbox, PlayStation, EA, Ubisoft, and Nintendo news.
Call of Duty: WWII aspires to be an authentic, accurate representation of the war--a Saving Private Ryan for the current video game generation. However, it also includes a Zombies mode, a mode popular for its absurdity and over-the-top weapons. This year's mode is a return to Nazi Zombies, and according to Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey, balancing these two elements of the game is difficult, but the studio is working hard to make it happen.
Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Condrey fielded a question about the necessity of including a fan-favorite mode like Zombies, even while the studio is developing the game's story to reflect the horrors and brutality of war.
"Each of the modes has their own creative drive and priorities, and campaign is really about delivering that authenticity and deeply personal story," he answered. "Multiplayer is really social and competitive, and there are some liberties there. And return of Nazi Zombies--we can't sit here and say there's authenticity to that, and nor do fans really want that. This is a creative outlet."
Condrey did argue, however, that the Zombies mode isn't entirely outlandish or incongruous with the rest of the game. "Now, it's rooted [in] where the franchise began. Zombies in Call of Duty started in Nazi Zombies [in Call of Duty: World at War], so that's an honor for us. We get to put a Sledgehammer Games stamp on that, [with] our background with Dead Space, and so it'll be an adrenaline-fueled take on it. It'll be rooted in some research we found about some of the beliefs that Germans had."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be the next part of Fox's ongoing mutant superhero series, and the movie's main cast and director have now been announced. Many of the stars of the last three films will return, and it will be directed by series producer Simon Kinberg.
As reported by Deadline, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, and Kodi Smit-McPhee will all reprise their roles. After last year's X-Men: Apocalypse failed to match the success of previous entries, there had been rumors that the studio was looking to reboot the entire franchise. However, this no longer seems to be the case. The site also states that Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, The Martian) is in talks to play the villainous role of Lilandra Neramani.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will be Kinberg's directorial debut. However, he has been associated with the franchise since 2006 as both a producer and writer. He now oversees the entire connected X-Men universe, which also includes movies such as Deadpool, Logan, and the upcoming New Mutants.
"I think everything that hasn't been told from First Class and Days of Future Past is up for grabs going forward," he said. "So, it would absolutely be a story that we could tell in a different way."
The character of Phoenix--aka Jean Grey--was played first by Famke Janssen, and most recently by Turner. Dark Phoenix was an extended storyline that ran in issues of The Uncanny X-Men throughout 1980. It focused on Jean Grey becoming corrupted by the Phoenix Force that provides her with her powers, and turning them against the X-Men.
Call of Duty fans likely think of the multiplayer mode when they hear "headquarters." But in Call of Duty: WWII, Headquarters actually refers to the game's new social space. Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey explained what you can expect from the space when the game launches.
It sounds similar in concept to something like Destiny's Tower or Reef social spaces. You'll gather in this area along with a bunch of other players for a bit of downtime between battles, and it lets you show off your customized character and gear. However, it also has plenty of Call of Duty-specific touches.
"This is taking you into a true space where your character, your investment, division, advancements, and customizations now have a place to live," he explained. "48 players come together in this living world where you can compete in new ways, like our one v. one, or shoot-offs in our virtual firing range that now becomes a living firing range. You can be rewarded, be social, and show off in ways that I know the community loves to do."
Condrey also explained that Headquarters brings a big change to the process of gaining Prestige levels. In Call of Duty multiplayer, once you hit the level cap, you can elect to "Prestige," which resets your level and gear progress. In the past, this consisted of clicking on a button in a menu, and you'd receive an emblem or a special skin as a reward. In Call of Duty: WWII, gaining a Prestige level will have a lot more fanfare.
"In Headquarters, you get to go to what we are, in development terms, calling Prestige Overwatch, where you go up on the cliff above the whole Headquarters and you Prestige in front of the whole community, and you celebrate," Condrey described. "And they get to celebrate with you. And that's how it should be; this is a moment in your progression that's important, and now we give you a space where you can do that with your friends and other members of the community."
Condrey and Sledgehammer seem very confident that the social spaces will be a huge improvement to the Call of Duty multiplayer experience, and he went so far as to say, "We think this is the biggest innovation in multiplayer this year."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
Call of Duty: WWII is bringing the series back to World War II for the first time in a decade, and developer Sledgehammer Games has said that it's focused on making it a faithful and respectful representation of the conflict. In pursuit of this goal, Sledgehammer is drawing a lot of inspiration from other media, including Saving Private Ryan. But more than that, Call of Duty actually aspires to fill the same role as that film as a cultural touchstone for a generation.
Saving Private Ryan came out in 1998 and is one of the most famous war films ever made; it's largely considered a brutally realistic, and very accurate, depiction of war, and it acted as an inspiration for countless more war films in the years after its release. Speaking on GameSpot's stage show, Sledgehammer studio head Michael Condrey stressed that the team did a lot of its own research, but that the game has certainly been influenced by the film and other media about World War II.
"For us, giving the chance to give a new generation, maybe generations who've never seen Saving Private Ryan or maybe Band of Brothers, which was ten years ago, or played Call of Duty that hasn't been [to WWII] in nearly a decade, this might be their first exposure. So we wanted to capture that, in our own way."
When asked if Sledgehammer wants Call of Duty: WWII to be "the Saving Private Ryan of the current gaming generation," Condrey replied without hesitation. "Absolutely, absolutely," he said.
"For people who are coming back, like you and me who've played Call of Duty from the beginning, we want this to feel really powerful and new. And for people who are playing it for the first time, we hope that that's an experience that they'll look to now as their pop culture, iconic experience of World War II."
Keep an eye on GameSpot the rest of this week for more news, impressions, and videos coming out of E3 2017. The week's not over yet, and we'll have a lot more on all the big games at the show.
Samus's surprise return has been eagerly anticipated by fans for years; not only is it the first proper Metroid game since 2010's divisive Wii installment, Other M, it's also the first side-scrolling entry in the series since Zero Mission was released in 2004. Development on the title started roughly two years ago, following what Metroid producer Yoshio Sakamoto described as a fateful meeting with MercurySteam (developer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate). The Spain-based studio approached Nintendo with the idea to remake one of its classic games. After some enthusiastic discussions, the companies settled on Metroid's Game Boy installment, Return of Samus. Sakamoto was personally interested in revisiting the title as he wasn't originally involved in its development, and it seemed like the perfect choice for the project based on MercurySteam's experience with Castlevania.
Samus Returns is not an exact remake of the original Metroid II, but a reimagining in the vein of Zero Mission, the Game Boy Advance retelling of the original Metroid. The basic premise remains the same: the Galactic Federation, realizing the deadly threat the life-sucking Metroids pose, orders Samus to eradicate the entire alien species. She touches down on the Metroids' homeworld, the planet SR-388, and begins her quest to eliminate every remaining Metroid from the galaxy. As in Zero Mission before it, the story is set up through a series of comic-like stills, adding a bit more narrative framework to your expedition.
From the outset, the most noticeable change in Samus Returns comes in the game's visuals, which trade the spritework of previous 2D Metroid titles for polygonal characters and environments. While the new style may not seem particularly impressive on video, it's much more striking in person, especially with the handheld's 3D effects turned on; backgrounds appear much more cavernous by receding into the distance, giving the planet an eerier feel. And despite the move to 3D models, Samus is just as responsive and agile to control as she was in her 2D incarnations (though her Morph Ball seems to move with a bit more heft this time around).
As in the original Metroid II, your quest in Samus Returns is paced slightly differently than other Metroid titles. You still acquire power-ups and use the abilities they bestow to delve deeper into the planet's labyrinthine depths, but your progress is effectively tied to a Metroid counter; in the Game Boy title, exterminating a certain number of Metroids would cause the planet to quake and open up new areas to explore. Samus Returns replaces the Metroid counter with gates, though their purpose is effectively the same; slaying the number of Metroids depicted on a gate will drain the area of hazardous liquid and allow you to venture further into the planet.
That isn't the only difference in Samus Returns; Samus herself also has a number of new tricks in her repertoire to help exterminate the Metroids. While previous games limited you to firing at 45-degree angles, now you can freely aim your arm cannon around using the 3DS's Circle Pad, allowing for much greater precision. Samus's arsenal has also been expanded. In addition to traditional Metroid tools such as the Grapple Beam, you'll acquire a set of new Aeion upgrades that grant another unique clutch of abilities; one, the Scan Pulse, reveals breakable walls and hidden portions of the world. Another welcome addition is the ability to drop pins on the map to mark areas you want to revisit. This makes navigating the planet's complex layout much more manageable, as you no longer have to make mental notes of all the areas you'd like to explore later.
But the most unconventional addition to Samus Returns is the new melee attack. Outside of the more action-oriented Other M, Samus could never engage foes in hand-to-hand combat before; now, however, she can bash an enemy with her arm cannon by pressing the X button. This attack can be pulled off at any time, but it's most effective as a way to parry a charging monster. There's a strategic benefit to doing so as well; parry an incoming enemy at the right time and you'll follow up with a more powerful blast from your arm cannon that'll result in extra pickups. The first Metroid mutation you encounter hinges on this new skill; the alien attacks primarily by swooping in at Samus, and you have to parry at the right moment to expose its underside to a stream of missile blasts. Not only does this make battles feel more thrilling, it's integrated well into the gameplay, making what initially seems like an unorthodox mechanic for a Metroid game a natural addition to the series.
While our hands-on time with Metroid: Samus Returns was brief, the demo we played left us wanting to explore more. Like the best Metroid titles, Samus Returns integrates its new mechanics seamlessly into the gameplay, subtly teaching you how to use your new skills through visual cues and clever level design. Whether or not the final game will be worth the nearly decade-long wait will be seen when it arrives on September 15, but so far it certainly looks like a promising return for one of Nintendo's most respected franchises.
Destiny 2 will not run at 60 FPS even on Xbox One X, leaving the PC version as the only one to make that possible. Game director Luke Smith confirmed the game runs at 30 FPS on Xbox One X at E3 this week when he appeared on Geoff Keighley's show to reveal some technical detail. 30 FPS is the same frame rate as Destiny 2 on PS4 Pro.
Some thought Destiny 2 might run at a higher frame rate on Xbox One X because the console is more powerful than PS4 Pro, but that's not going to be the case, it seems. One possibility is that Bungie wanted to keep the frame rate the same on platforms to ensure the experience is as close to the same as possible--a subject Phil Spencer discussed with us at E3. "30 frames per second on all consoles," Smith said. The PC edition of Destiny 2, meanwhile, has an uncapped frame rate and other PC-specific features.
In other Destiny 2 news, the game's beta trial dates have been revealed, with Activision confirming that pre-order customers will be able to play the beta on PlayStation 4 starting July 18, and on Xbox One beginning July 19. The beta will end on both platforms on July 23. The company also stated that a PC beta is planned for late August, with more details coming "soon."
Conan Exiles will launch for Xbox One in the console's Game Preview program on August 16, Funcom announced today, and an Xbox One X update will come later. The game is already out on PC, and has sold more than 500,000 million copies in its unfinished, Early Access state.
The other big news about Conan Exiles today is that the open-world game is getting a free expansion on August 16 that adds a new region for players to adventure go. You can get a glimpse of this new zone in the teaser trailer below.
"By releasing the free expansion update on PC and Xbox One simultaneously with the Xbox One Game Preview launch, we will provide players on both platforms with a new and fresh experience that expands the world of Conan Exiles by roughly 50 percent and comes complete with entirely new environments, monsters, buildings, game features, and more," Funcom's Lawrence Poe said in a statement. "As the game is still in Early Access, everyone who has already bought or decides to buy the game while it's still in development will get access to this massive update at no extra charge."
In other news, Funcom has confirmed that it will release an update for Conan Exiles to support Xbox One X. The update will "[take] advantage of the system's superior hardware power to bring the world of Conan the Barbarian to life in beautiful 4K resolution," Funcom said.
The new Conan Exiles expansion will be announced in full this summer. Today, June 14, the developers will appear at E3 to talk more about the content and tease further details. Check back soon for more. For now, you can see some screenshots in the gallery above.
Call of Duty: WWII does not seem likely for a release on Nintendo Switch. Speaking with GameSpot at E3 2017, developer Sledgehammer Games senior creative director Bret Robbins said there are "no plans" to bring the World War II-themed FPS to Nintendo's hybrid console. That's not to say it never will, but with its release slated for later this year, it looks as if will only launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Versions for last-generation consoles have not been announced.
Call of Duty: WWII not coming to Switch is no big surprise. Sledgehammer boss Michael Condrey said on Twitter that the decision about not supporting Switch was made by the "[Activision] business guys." The Call of Duty series has skipped Nintendo's consoles for a while now. The last installment in the shooter series to come to a Nintendo console was Call of Duty: Ghosts for the Wii U, back in 2013.
Call of Duty: WWII launches in November, but you may not need to wait that long to play, as a multiplayer beta is coming up this summer. The first multiplayer trailer for the game was released this week at E3--watch it here.
Nintendo was the final company to host an E3 2017 press conference this year, but Tuesday's broadcast was a noteworthy one. While not nearly as long as Sony or Microsoft's respective briefings, there were big announcements, including that of a new Pokemon RPG for Switch and Metroid Prime 4. Nintendo's E3 Presentation was followed immediately after by Nintendo's Treehouse livestream, which brought word of another Metroid game that's on the way, this one for 3DS.
When a Mario and Rabbids crossover game for Nintendo Switch leaked last month, I didn't think much of it. It looked pretty absurd, from the selfie-taking Rabbid dressed as Peach to Mario wielding a massive gun. But when Ubisoft and Nintendo showed gameplay of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle for the first time at Ubisoft's press conference, I was intrigued. And after I went hands-on with a short demo for the game, I realized that Kingdom Battle might actually turn out to be a really great turn-based strategy game.
This is not a watered-down XCOM; in spite of its cute art style and the inclusion of Rabbids, Kingdom Battle has a surprising amount of depth. Its battle mechanics are way more like XCOM than I expected, and fights challenge you to keep track of your team members and all of the enemies on a battlefield.
When you enter a battle, you're greeted by a field filled with walls and obstacles. Much like in XCOM, managing your team members and making sure they're in cover at all times is of vital importance. Several times during my demo, I positioned one of my characters dangerously out in the open in order to take a clear shot at an enemy. And every time I did, the opposing Rabbids took advantage of this and easily did a lot of damage.
But you have a huge range of motion in battle to help you flank enemies. Characters are able to move around about a quarter of the battlefield during a turn, and this can be extended even further by being catapulted into the air by one of your teammates. This emphasis on mobility caused me to play aggressively; instead of sitting back and waiting patiently for the perfect time to strike, I knew that the enemies could just as easily flank me. As a result, I made sure to move as far and as deliberately as possible with every character on every turn to be able to both attack and return to cover somewhere on the battlefield.
Although I only saw a few of these battlefields, they got progressively more complicated as I went through the demo. The earliest one was a straightforward arena with only a few walls scattered across it. The final map, however, had a large range of different environmental features. A handful of blocks would either explode or send a large ball careening across the level if you shot them; pipes let you or enemies traverse across the level further than you otherwise could; and two raised platforms housed Rabbids that would take potshots at your characters from their vantage point.
On this last battlefield, I also faced down what is one of the stranger bosses ever to appear in a Nintendo game: a Piranha Plant-Rabbid hybrid that could shoot fireballs and move across a huge swath of the battlefield. Alongside this hybrid creature, four Rabbids provided support. It was an intense battle in which I was forced to sacrifice two of my three characters to beat the Piranha Plant. My Luigi-outfitted Rabbid, with his special ability that creates a resistance to most attacks for a turn, was able to outlast the boss.
This battle only lasted about six or seven minutes, but it was involved and exciting. It was certainly not an easy battle to complete, and I had to use every special ability and aggressively attack at every chance I had to defeat the boss. It felt like a faster but no less high-stakes XCOM battle. This comparison extends even down to an overwatch-like ability that the characters have: at one point, as a Rabbid ran across his sightline, Mario sniped it automatically even though it wasn't my turn.
And these fights are only one part of the game. Outside of battle, you explore a world with Mario and his Rabbid companions that looks similar to the vibrant, lively world of Super Mario 64 or other 3D Mario games. It will seem extremely familiar to Mario fans, except for the addition of Rabbids roaming around it. At one point during my demo, I even had to complete an environmental puzzle and find eight red coins. Collecting all of the coins unlocked a chest which contained a new, more powerful weapon for Mario. Finding better gear is essential, as you'll encounter stronger enemies and more difficult battlegrounds.
Although I only got to use Mario and the Luigi and Peach Rabbids, the game's stage demo made it look like there'll be other Mario characters and Rabbids to play with. In addition, at the end of my demo, a short cinematic teased that Bowser Jr. will be an enemy you'll have to confront.
As I completed the final fight with the Piranha Plant, I remained pleasantly surprised at the game that Kingdom Battle is shaping up to be. A Mario and Rabbids crossover seems like a bizarre idea on face, but Ubisoft has--at least at this early stage--put together a title that's both entertaining and involved, an XCOM-like Mario game that you can take on the go. That's enough to get me excited, and to keep me looking forward to seeing more of the game when it launches on August 29.
Following the Xbox One X announcement at Microsoft's E3 2017 briefing this week, the company has now posted a cool video in which an engineer puts the system together piece by piece. Watch the video below to see Major Nelson and Xbox Hardware GM Leo Del Castillo assemble the console, starting with the chip at the heart of it at all, before moving on to things like the motherboard, voltage regulators, the power supply, the hard drive, and more.
It is an incredibly fascinating and in-depth look at the guts of the Xbox One X, the likes of which we rarely get from big companies like Microsoft. The segment starts at around 2 hours and six minutes, and pressing play on the video should start it at the right moment.
The Xbox One X launches on November 7, priced at $500. The console plays all Xbox One games and work with controllers you already own. Regarding the price point, a number of analysts said this week that they believe $500 is too expensive.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will receive an update to provide support for Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro. A rep for developer CD Projekt Red confirmed this at E3 this week. "I can confirm that we are working both on Xbox One X and PS4 Pro patches for The Witcher 3," CD Projekt Red told Eurogamer. "No extra details at this moment. More info is coming."
In September last year, CD Projekt Red said it would not release a PS4 Pro patch for The Witcher 3. At the time, the Polish studio said it wanted to "fully focus" on Cyberpunk 2077 and Gwent, adding that patching the game for PS4 Pro would be "too much of a time and resource-consuming process." It appears the developer has now changed its mind.
It is no big surprise that CD Projekt Red wants to continue to support The Witcher 3. Last month during an earnings report, the studio revealed that the game sold better in Q1 2017 than it did the same period before, demonstrating the game's continued popularity.
It's a bit of an understatement to say that seeing Monster Hunter World's reveal was a surprise. During Sony's E3 presser, we caught a glimpse of the new adventure title in the Monster Hunter series, which is not only the first Monster Hunter on a PlayStation console in 11 years, but it also happens to be a bit of a departure from the standard MH gameplay. Its a more story-driven title with a focus on exploration and balancing single player and online co-op gameplay. This refocused take on the classic Monster Hunter setting will enable players to take their hunter and explore massive open areas to find new monsters, forge new gear, and take on the toughest challenges the new world has to offer.
While at the Capcom booth on the show floor at E3 2017, I got to see a rather extensive live demo of Monster Hunter World, and it's aiming to shake things up for the series. Though while die-hards fans will likely find the new premise and design of this title to be a bit of a departure from what they know, the developers have fleshed out this more adventuring take on the series to offer a more open world to explore with its own living and dynamic ecosystem to engage with.
Set in a newly discovered continent, hunters from all over make their way to the new land to work with a newly established science organization that aims to discover, track, and study the various new monsters that inhabit this vastly different ecosystem. Playing as a new hunter, you'll have to explore the continent and its various regions to see what this new land has to offer, and along the way you'll find new challenges and dangers that even seasoned hunters will have to train hard for. These regions are massive, and they feature no loading when traveling across the landscape. The setting also has a day and night cycle--which switches up monster behaviors.
Judging from the debut trailer alone, it's easy to tell that there have been a number of changes from past Monster Hunter conventions--such as the focus on more solo-oriented experiences, more traversal options, like the grappling hook, and some more action oriented gameplay. With that said, Monster Hunter World is still about finding resources and slaying tough beasts.
During the demo, we saw our hunter take on a quest solo to find samples of mucous from a new monster known as the Anjanath. A cross between a giant feathered lizard and a T-Rex--with some fire-breathing capabilities--the Anjanath is one of the apex predators in this region, and many of the smaller beasts avoid it. One interesting thing about this demo was that it showed off the dynamic AI present in the monsters. The developers refer to it as a living ecosystem, and monsters will react in real-time, either avoiding apex predators, or engaging with weaker or weakened monsters to find an easy kill. During one moment, the Anjanath was on the run after the hunter sprung some traps and weakened it, and the smaller monsters took the opportunity to jump in to try and finish it off, only for it the take them out swiftly.
Like in past games, hunters will have to utilize materials and other gadgets to stay ahead of the game. While in the field, the hunter can find material such as the new scout flies to track particular beasts. Over time, these scout flies will level up and become more useful in their tracking skills. In addition to new materials, the hunters now have new gear and gadgets to use. Much like the grappling hook, which allows for easy traversal and for staying on top of beasts that try to shake you off, ghillie suits are now a thing for the hunters. One suit allows the hunter to stay invisible from monsters, while another will create aggro from all large monsters in line of sight.
With the open space to move around in, the hunter has to become more versatile to adapt to the dangers of the continent. Scattered around the regions are safe huts, which allow players to stock on supplies and change their load outs, which is a first for the series, as past titles forced you to commit on your choices before you go on a mission. All 14 weapon types from across the series make a return, and customization will play a larger focus in Monster Hunter World. What I really appreciated was that there seemed to be a clearer indication of what gear types are effective, showing all the stats and buffs they offer players. There's much more clarity here, which I think many many fans will appreciate.
As the hunter catches up to the Anjanath, the hunter climbs on top of it and hits it multiple times. During this section, we got to see the expanded combat gameplay, which feels far more dynamic. Just as the hunter chopped off its tail, which could be harvested for materials, the infamous Rathalos, a famous Monster Hunter beast, swoops in hoping to steal the kill. The Anjanath and the flying beast head off into a tense battle, sending the hunter flying in the chaos. This is another example of the dynamic world which reacts in real-time, which will make exploring the space interesting, as opposed to the more static placements of monsters in the last games.
Eventually, the Anjanath--despite being on its last legs--forces the Rathalos to flee. Just then, the hunter swoops in to deal several shots from the bow gun's new ammo-types, such as the short-range Wyvern Ammo, which delivers the final blow against the beast. After its defeat, the hunter harvests the remains, completing the quest. It was a really exciting mission to watch unfold, and it was impressive to see just how dynamic the space of the world is. I got some strong Dragon's Dogma vibes -- a game that focused a lot on verticality in epic fights -- and that sort of style is used really well here.
Monster Hunter World will no doubt be a departure for the series, which will likely ruffle the feathers of fans. At its core, it's still very much a Monster Hunter game, but now decontextualized to focus more on exploration in a far more open and lived-in space. With no loading screens and online drop-in and drop-out play, there are a lot of improvements from past titles present in Capcom's new take on Monster Hunter, while still retaining much of the tried and true resource-gathering and hunting gameplay. I'm impressed with how it managed to transition to open spaces, and it'll be exciting to see the sort of adventures that will come from these new locales in the Monster Hunter universe.
For more information on Monster Hunter World, which is set for an Early 2018 release, check back with us at GameSpot and our E3 hub page.
Microsoft officially revealed the Xbox One X at E3 this week, providing a name and details for the improved Xbox One formerly known as Project Scorpio. It's more powerful than PS4 Pro, but game companies now find themselves in a position where they have to decide how to approach the improvements that are offered on Xbox One X as compared with PS4 Pro. We learned this week that Destiny 2 will run at 30 FPS on Xbox One X, just as it will on PS4 Pro. But it's unclear if that framerate is the result of hardware restrictions or because Sony, through its partnership with Activision, would not allow the game to run better on rival hardware.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer joined GameSpot today on our E3 live show to discuss this and much more. Regarding the potential for games' technical performance to be held back due to such arrangement, he noted that he was not aware of that specifically happening, but he did say he thinks it would be bad for the industry.
"I'm gonna struggle to not get myself in trouble on this one," he said. "I'll just say: I don't know anything about other development deals. You mentioned some things around clauses and stuff that I don't know anything about. But if anybody was to do a deal to hold back technical innovation on a video game anywhere else, that doesn't feel good for the industry to me."
Spencer went on to contrast the approach of securing exclusive content with the way Microsoft now operates. "I've said I'm not one who's a fan of going out and doing deals so that a certain skin isn't playable on another platform or a different Strike," he said. "And people will come and say, 'Hey, you guys did that first with Call of Duty way back in the day.' I wasn't in this position when that happened. That's not me ducking responsibility for it, but I didn't make that call.
"But the deals that we do now--and you saw our third-party relationships on stage with Shadow of War, with Assassin's [Creed], you're not going to hear them say anything about there's a certain character that's not playable. And I never go into a situation where I say, 'You can't do something that's possible on another platform' in order to benefit. I haven't seen those deals. If that started to happen in the industry, I don't think that's a great thing. I don't know that it has happened."
Spencer also made it clear he views Xbox One X and what it's capable of as being on a different level than the consoles currently on the market. "I know right now, the technical capability on Xbox One X is beyond… I look at [PS4] Pro, [PS4] Slim, [Xbox One] S as kind of in one category, and then you've got a box, as you said, that can natively do a lot more. Whether developers choose to use the horsepower for framerate, resolution, or just techniques within the frame. I'm not going to dictate that. I've heard this: 'Hey, you should force all games to [run at] 60 [frames per second] or something.' I've never thought forcing the creative process is a way to get great games."
You can watch our full interview with Spencer in the video at the top of this article. He also discussed console wars, Xbox backwards compatibility, and more. For more on what Microsoft had to share this week, check out our roundup of all the Microsoft press conference news.
Developer Bluehole has talked a lot this week about its plans for its popular multiplayer game, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Now we know what might be its most ambitious plan for the game: it's currently working on a zombies mode--and players will control the zombies.
On Twitter, the developer teased the new mode with a short trailer, which you can see below. From this short look, it seems like it'll be a pretty great addition to the game. Battlegrounds' high-stakes, slower-paced gameplay make it perfect for adding hordes of zombies and forcing players to work together to survive.
— PLAY BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBATTLEGROUNDS) June 13, 2017
As Bluehole's community manager announced on Twitter, the zombies will be player-controlled. Since Battlegrounds' matches contain 100 players, this makes gameplay sense. I always loved Halo's Infection, and I imagine that Battlegrounds' mode will play somewhat similarly.
From this first glimpse, this is a great way for the game to differentiate itself from other survival zombies games, most notably DayZ and H1Z1. Battlegrounds already wears its influence from those games on its sleeves, so it'll be interesting to see how it builds on those earlier games.
The mode's still a ways away from release, however, as Bluehole remains focused on improving optimization first and foremost. Moreover, this will not affect the main game, but rather it'll be an additional mode. The developer hasn't stated a release date yet.
Metal Gear Survive, the next instalment in the legendary stealth-action series, won't be released until next year. Konami has reportedly confirmed the game won't make its original 2017 release window because the team needs more time to polish the game, the developer has told Polygon.
Konami says the release of the game will be "pushed back a few months" and players should expect it in early 2018. Metal Gear Survive is a spinoff set in the same universe as Metal Gear Solid V and takes place after the events of Ground Zeroes, featuring single-player and multiplayers modes, where players must work together and battle deadly zombies.
GameSpot has reached out to Konami for more details, and we'll report back as soon as we get more information. Metal Gear Survive is being demoed at E3, and you can follow our full coverage of the game here. To catch up on everything that was announced during E3's press conferences, you can check out our roundup of all the announcements. And keep an eye on our hub for more news, videos, and impressions from E3 2017.
We have a total of three (3) prize packs. One (1) winner will be announced each day from our live stage show on June 13, 14, and 15 at approximately 6pm PT. If you enter for a chance to win on Tuesday and don't win, you'll automatically be entered again on Wednesday and Thursday. This giveaway is open to United States residents only.
Games of Thrones returns next month for its seventh--and penultimate--season. We've already a teaser and some images, and now a new batch of pictures have been revealed by Entertainment Weekly.
Check them out in the gallery below--be warned though, there are potential spoilers ahead.
The images include a first look at the return of Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) and The Hound (Rory McCann), riding through the snow. There are also more shots of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington), plus Cersei and Jaime Lannister (Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
However, HBO boss Casey Bloys subsequently clarified this statement, and explained that fans shouldn't expect several new shows.
"I want to put the prequels in context. I wanted to make sure fans know this is a really embryonic process," he told EW. "I haven't even seen outlines. In the press at large, everybody said, 'there are four spinoffs' and they assume that means each one is happening and we're going to have a new Game Of Thrones show per quarter. That's not what's going on.
"The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it. Also, this is a long-term plan. Our No. 1 goal is the seventh season this summer and getting the eighth season written and aired."
Following his appearance in last summer's Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man returns to screens next month in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Now star Tom Holland has revealed that it will be the first part of a trilogy of movies.
When the interviewer questioned Holland's reference to "the next two movies", Holland confirmed that there would be a trilogy: "There will be a Spider-Man 2 and 3. Yeah, well now you know. Sorry Marvel. Whoops!"
While it isn't surprising that Marvel want to make more Spider-Man films, there is an added legal complication. Sony owns the movie rights to the character, and in 2015 agreed a deal to allow Marvel to use Spidey in its Cinematic Universe.
However, comments earlier this year from former Sony exec Amy Pascal suggest that the deal only covers one more standalone Spider-Man film. In addition, Sony have set a 2018 release date for the Spider-Man spinoff Venom, although Homecoming director Jon Watts has stated that Venomis not connected to the MCU.
Spider-Man: Homecoming opens on July 7 and also stars Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr, Marisa Tomei, and Donald Glover. A new trailer was released last week--check it out here.
Speaking to Eurogamer, PlayStation executive Jim Ryan said, "It's certainly not a profound philosophical stance we have against this," adding that Sony is "always" interested in talking with companies about things like this.
So why is there no cross-play between PS4 and Xbox One yet? Ryan said, "Unfortunately, it's a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders, and I'm not going to get into the detail of that on this particular instance."
Ryan went on to suggest that Sony is concerned about what could go wrong when allowing its own players, some of which could be children, to connect to a network outside of its own.
"We've got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft--the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it's all ages but it's also very young," he said. "We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it's something we have to think about very carefully."
Microsoft's Dave McCarthy told GameSpot at E3 this week that the company has had discussions with Sony about cross-play, but Sony is "not quite there yet."
"My hope is that they join the party as well because I think it's an awesome thing to do for gamers," he said.
Crackdown 3 will leverage the power of the Xbox One X in a number of ways, according to Microsoft. Speaking to GameSpot today at E3, executive producer Peter Connelly said the game will run better on the super-powerful console, delivering longer draw distances and an overall better level of detail.
"Crackdown 3 will play better on Xbox One X and feature increased level of detail at greater distances with crisper, higher texture fidelity in immersive, true 4K, HDR, wide color gamut, and spatial audio, Dolby Atmos," Connelly explained.
The developers also told us that Crackdown 3 was designed from the start to be an Xbox Play Anywhere title, so they always wanted to make sure that the features between Xbox One and PC were "roughly comparable."
Also in our interview, developers said Crackdown 3's map is about 2.5 times the size of the original game's playable space. They also clarified that Crackdown 3's heavily touted use of Microsoft's Azure cloud servers is for the head-to-head multiplayer, while the campaign and co-op campaign do not leverage that technology.
Crackdown 3 launches alongside the Xbox One X on November, and it also plays on Xbox One. All Xbox One games are playable on Xbox One X. GameSpot saw a new demo of the game today and it definitely still resembles its predecessors, featuring stylized visuals and incredibly over-the-top gameplay where you can throw cars and jump higher than any human could.
The city where Crackdown 3 is set sits atop a volcano, and the the thermal energy from it is an important resource in the game, developers say, though it's not exactly clear why at this point. Here are some other things we learned from our Crackdown 3 demo today:
There is Black Hole Gun that sucks everything toward it, destroying everything. Some of the developers think the weapon is overpowered.
The map shows the entire city, highlighting areas that you have uncovered. Once you eliminate all hostiles, the map shows it as being controlled by you.
Overtaking enemy camps gives you access to their weapons. For example, after taking an enemy camp outfitted with a turret, it becomes yours, targeting enemies for you.
The developers stress that "all games are different" because Crackdown 3 responds to how you play and the choices you make.
Terry Crews is actually in Crackdown 3 and you can play as him.
We asked if a beta is still planned for Crackdown 3, but the developers said they could not answer that.
Shown off during the Microsoft E3 Press Conference, Undead Labs revealed new footage of the follow up to its original 2013 release State of Decay. In the sequel, State of Decay 2, players will find themselves in the shoes of a randomly generated survivor and must navigate the landscape of the zombie apocalypse while engaging with the undead, coordinating with survivors, and making hard choices in order to survive and live another day.
During a special behind-closed-doors session with the game, founder of Undead Labs, Jeff Strain, gave us a detailed look at State of Decay 2, and how his team is bringing the number one requested feature from fans, online co-op, into the game, which will dramatically alter the fundamentals and coordination with survivors. Set 15 months after the events of the first game, the world hasn't gotten much better, and things will soon become even more complicated.
At the beginning of the game, players will pick their character from an assortment of randomly created individuals. Much like the last game, characters have unique skills and traits that they're best at, and in State of Decay 2, they made the characters far more diverse. For instance, the skills system from the last game has been greatly expanded, offering more options and avenues for role-playing. Players good at scavenging will have a better time finding useful materials in the field, and in addition to new skills, players can upgrade these abilities to acquire brand new perks which significantly expand their more useful skills.
For the most part, the general gameplay loop of State of Decay 2 remains similar to the original game. Players must fortify a stronghold, find new survivors to help with expanding and strengthening their home--which includes growing food, gearing up, and having security to guard against random zombie attacks--and also going out on missions to find supplies, new survivors, and new strongholds to expand the network of safe spaces around the world. Speaking of which, the game space is now three times bigger than the previous game, which will certainly make traversal and exploration a larger focus for SOD2.
During the presentation, our group of survivors traveled to an abandoned police station to acquire weapons. Inside, zombies were present. One of the players used a machete and his enhanced melee skills to make quick work of the undead, while another player--through co-op play--took all the supplies and loaded them up into the trunk of the car, which is also a new feature in State of Decay 2. While driving back, they came to find their base overrun by the undead and had to quickly use their new weapons to fight off the horde. During this fight, new zombie types quickly made an appearance. The Juggernaut, which was shown in the trailer, took out the entire group, but not before killing off some of the survivors.
The original title did a solid job of portraying an open, explorable setting in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, and State of Decay 2 is looking to keep that going here. I was impressed with how much of the core gameplay focused on resource management and base building was expanded, while retaining the focus on simple survivalism in the middle of the zombie plague. The online co-op--online only, no local play--should be a game changer for this title, especially when factoring in the tough choices and important decisions that have to be made when it comes to keeping your head above water.
With its release coming Spring 2018, this open-world zombie survival game is shaping up to be a more refined and developed take on a surprise hit that showed just how nerve-wracking and stressful it is to survive in a world full of zombies.
For more information on State of Decay 2, and other titles at E3 2017, check out our E3 hub for more updates on all the latest happening at the show.
Brutal Legend will eventually get a sequel, Tim Schafer of developer Double Fine said tonight during an appearance at E3 2017. Speaking alongside Brutal Legend voice actor Jack Black on the E3 Coliseum stage, Schafer said a sequel will happen when the time is right.
The very first question that came up in a Q&A session was about Brutal Legend 2. Someone in the audience screamed, "Brutal Legend 2," and Schafer apologized for giving the impression that his panel with Black tonight would lead to an announcement of the game.
That being said, Schafer did give fans some hope when he said, "Someday we'll make that game." He added that Brutal Legend 2 will be an "expensive" game to make.
The panel, titled "Jack Black in Conversation with Tim Schafer," was a free form back-and-forth discussion between the friends, and it was wonderful. The lengthy discussion between Schafer and Black touched on a number of different topics related to gaming and...other things. Hopefully the video is archived.
The E3 Coliseum event is operated by the ESA, the organization that runs E3 every year and represents the video game industry's interests in Washington, DC. For lots more on E3 2017, be sure to follow along with all of GameSpot's coverage.
Would you like to see Brutal Legend 2? Let us know in the comments below!
New details are out this E3 for two Yakuza games getting western releases. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will take players back to Tokyo's red-light district in the latest instalment in the popular franchise.
The stakes have never been higher for Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, after someone comes after his surrogate daughter. As you can see in the official English trailer above, Kiryu finds out she has an infant son who he must protect at any cost, even if it means "mercilessly bashing thugs with various street signs."
Meanwhile, anyone who wants to play the series from the beginning will get the chance with Yakuza Kiwami. Kiwami is a rebuilt-from-scratch HD remake of the original PS2 game Yakuza from 2005. On top of upgraded graphics, the remake includes an extra 30 minutes of cutscenes that add "all-new insight into the game's plot and [create] common threads with series prequel Yakuza 0." There are also new features, side quests, combat updates, and fully re-recorded Japanese dialogue. Check out the trailer below.
Yakuza Kiwami is due out August 29 and will cost $29.99 / £29.99 / €34.99, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will be released sometime in early 2018. Both games are coming to PlayStation 4, and Sega is demoing them at E3. You can follow our full coverage of Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami for the latest gameplay and release details.
E3 has only just officially wrapped up its first day, but the majority of this year's E3 announcements have already been made. The various companies hosting press conferences--Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Bethesda, Ubisoft, and EA--have already gotten theirs out of the way, leaving us with a few days on the show floor.
For the first time ever, E3 is open to the public this year, but the show otherwise seems to be largely the same as in the recent past. One notable difference is that things began earlier than usual--EA already held its EA Play press conference on Saturday, while Microsoft's Xbox press conference was a day earlier than usual. It might be too late to enjoy them live, but you can still re-experience them all with our liveblogs and various recaps. You can find all of this below.
When you start playing Skull and Bones, you're greeted with open seas, rolling waves, beautiful atolls... and about fifteen pirates and pirate hunters bearing down on you to rip your ship apart.
Skull and Bones is Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's naval combat spun out into its own game. It's been reworked and enhanced, and now you're not just sailing by yourself, but in a crew of five with the goal of taking down another team and escaping with loot. It's exciting, tense, and gorgeous, but a big question mark remains: can it successfully recapture Black Flag's feeling of freedom in a multiplayer format?
It's impossible to talk about Skull and Bones without comparing it to Black Flag; even on its stage show, Ubisoft said that it's based heavily on the popular naval combat of the fourth Assassin's Creed game. Going hands-on with Skull and Bones, I easily saw the parallels. The controls are all the same, and there are a lot of visual similarities, down to the display icons when you're lining up a cannon shot. Even the scenery evokes the vivid tropics of Assassin's Creed IV.
But Skull and Bones' multiplayer moves away from the heart of the Black Flag naval system. No longer is the game about exploring the Caribbean in a pirate ship; now the core gameplay involves piloting that ship through shifting wind and narrow straits in order to take on other ships and collect loot. In other words, the focus of Skull and Bones rests on how you sail, whereas Black Flag emphasized where you sail.
The sailing mechanics in Skull and Bones are involved and require concentration. The direction of the wind has a significant effect on you. If you sail with the wind, you'll be going at a nice clip of around ten knots; if you choose to go straight into it, you'll be reduced to only about two or three. Although I didn't have a chance to try it out, I would guess that tacking into the wind--moving back and forth perpendicular to its direction--is a better way to sail upwind.
As a result of this, ships feel weightier and harder to move than they did in Black Flag. From my experience, this change was for better and for worse. It made for more strategic and more interesting moment-to-moment navigation, but it also became frustrating as I attempted to regroup with teammates and struggled to slowly make my way over to them. I also slammed into islands and outcroppings when I let my ship drift while I focused on fighting.
But even while navigation was occasionally a challenge, fighting other ships felt immensely satisfying. You have an arsenal of weapons at your disposal, depending on which class of ship you pick. One has shorter-range, more powerful cannons and a battering ram; another has medium-range cannons; the last is a sniper and has a long-range mortar. They all have special abilities, too, like the ability to lock an enemy ship in place for a few seconds.
In my demo, my favorite moment came when I pursued an enemy ship with a bunch of coins in its hold. I had weakened it before, and I tried my best to get as much speed as possible with the wind in my sails. I moved close enough, turned, and launched a broadside cannon volley against the pirate. Rows of cannons ripped into it, shooting again and again for about thirty seconds. It was a massive attack, and it felt powerful and impactful. It's something that I have rarely felt in shooters before, a power behind the assault that only a warship with dozens of cannons can provide.
As my demo wrapped up with the enemy team just barely outstripping my team in the race to the escape point, I felt exhilarated--but I also felt like a big part of the game was lacking. The world is beautiful, with breaking waves that wash over the sides of your beautifully detailed ship, islands ringed with coral reefs, and jagged rock outcroppings. But I don't want to simply fight against other ships in this lush world. I want to explore it, find new trade routes, and simply inhabit the world with my ship with moments of peace in between battles. Ubisoft has hinted that the game will be playable solo and that there's an open world beyond the 5v5 multiplayer modes, but details are scarce. Hopefully, we will learn more in the coming months about how Skull and Bones will recapture the joy of being an explorer as well as a pirate.
During Sony's E3 2017 press conference, we were treated to a brand new trailer for God of War. In this new look at the game, we caught glimpses of the Kratos' adventure through the lands and myths of Norse mythology. In his travels, he'll come across a variety of allies and monsters in this new region of the world, and along the way, he'll bond with his son, who seems to possess some strange powers of his own to keep up with the older and more grizzled God of War.
At its heart, God of War's story is about a father learning to bond with his son, who is still very much naive in the ways of the world. And with his past coming to catch up with him, he'll have to learn to balance his anger and rage, with fulfilling the duties of a father. During a private chat with creative director Cory Barlog--and creative director for God of War II-- he spoke a lot about the changes this game has compared to the others, and how his own personal experiences with becoming a father have changed his outlook on what God of War is, and what it can be.
GameSpot: One of the most interesting things about this game, compared to this others, is that it feels far more mature and somewhat subdued in its presentation. Not as a criticism, but rather the overall vibe and tone of the story and violence feels a lot more controlled. The other games were pretty cartoonish in their violence, while this game is not as bloody or gory, but is still brutal with its action and overall action. What the thought process behind changing up the approach to action?
It's interesting that this game is very personal for me. Very, deeply personal.
Cory Barlog: That's spot on, actually. Me and the team, when we were younger--when we made them--and now all of us are older, we've got families, we've seen life, and it's now through a different lens. 'Mature' works on two fronts, right? The maturity of its handling of mature subjects like violence, death, and loss--but we're handling it in a different way. I don't think I would go back and change any of the things that I have done, like adding flashlights to the soldiers hands, everything really has been measured by my present view on life. And wanting to make something that really means more to me.
It's interesting that this game is very personal for me. Very, deeply personal. And it's weird to say that a God of War game is personal for me, but honestly personal stories can come in so many different forms. It's a very fascinating thing.
GS: What's interesting about this game is that for the first time, you have a side-character with you for much of the game. Because of this, you can't necessarily do all the familiar God of War antics like from the last game. With that in mind, did that set up make you all re-examine the more traditional God of War set pieces?
It's not so much just the set-pieces--I think it was just that we looked at each aspect of the game. For one, to determine what we were really interested in doing, 'and that was really cool, but not really what we want to do'. But as Kratos evolves and grows and matures, we want a lot of the aspects to grow with him, we don't want to change the DNA too much of what this game is really about, and what makes it special. But I think there's this fantastic element of the kid almost representing a bit of the player.
But when I look at my own life, like I use these moments in my life as reference events, such as going on an amazing rollercoaster for the first time with your dad. That is amazing, it is absolutely ridiculous, and it's scary--your heart beating a mile a minute--but after it's over, that sort of elation of having this shared experience[...]And obviously it's all transposed, like the first time we fought a giant creature together, like each time it's a first milestone in their life.
GS: An interesting thing we saw from the world itself, particularly from both the E3 2016 and 2017 trailers, was that the world feels much more open and interconnected. Can you describe what the general layout of the space of the world is like? Compared to the older games, which were far more linear, there seems to be elements of freedom in movement and exploration--and going back to this being a shared adventure with a father and his son--with curiosity and discovery being a big part of the game--is this title more about exploring at your leisure compared to other games?
It is a very wide, super wide, linear game in the sense that it follows a specific and straight story. But we are really letting the player do their own thing and explore the space. If they see something in the distance, we'll let them go to it. To have that feeling of discovery is important in this game. I don't want to make an open world game, not because I don't like them--they're fantastic--but all the other things that accompany the expectations of an open world game was not something I wanted here. I want players to feel rewarded for being curious and seeing an entire level that wasn't shown or made clear to players, yet they found it on their own.
That sort of loop is something I wanted for players to have is the feeling of "I found this, I'm gonna cherish it", compared to standard generic quests like fetching mail or something. So much about this game is about the sense of wonder, that every time I went to the movies as a kid to see these amazing movies as a kid. The feeling of being transported to another world were you're suddenly handling a bullwhip just like Indiana Jones or fly a starship in Star Wars--to me, this game is the fulfillment of every fantasy I've had as a kid. And being able to fully immerse myself in it and explore it.
In the press kit Ubisoft provided to GameSpot, there's an image of a wall of hieroglyphics that also appeared in the publisher's press conference. It seems like simply a logo image on face, but Ismail told GameSpot today that the hieroglyphics actually convey a message.
"It's not just a setting for us, we take pride in representing things properly in a game form," he said. "So there are a lot of references to actual historic stuff. You know, the hieroglyphs, it's not just art on a wall; they actually say stuff. You know that giant mural behind me yesterday when I was doing the conference? There's a meaning there."
Unfortunately, and despite my best efforts--that is, spending too much time perusing the Wikipedia page on hieroglyphics--I haven't been able to translate it yet. No one else at GameSpot is well-versed in hieroglyphics, so we've decided to post about it and let the public take a crack at it. You can see the image at the bottom of this article.
Another gameplay video has dropped for Dragon Ball FighterZ, and it's doing justice to the anime series' epic battles. The video continues the fight between Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta and their opponents Cell, Majin Buu, and Frieza. The game was officially revealed at Microsoft's E3 press conference on Sunday, and the first full gameplay trailer dropped yesterday. Now, you can watch the second gameplay video above.
This latest video shows off a lot more energy attacks, showcasing just how big and destructive you can get in the game. The game is played 3v3, and players can tap their characters in and out of battle easily. In this video, we get to see a tandem Kamehameha energy attack with Super Saiyan Goku and Gohan. At another point, Vegeta performs a cut-scene style energy attack that fills up the whole screen.
We also get to better see just how powerful Cell, Majin Buu, and Frieza are. If you plan to play as the series' traditional heroes, it looks like you're in for a real fight. Check out the first gameplay trailer below for more examples of the game's hand-to-hand combat.
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