As it has in the past, Microsoft will be conducting maintenance on Xbox Live in the early morning hours (US time) tomorrow. This will affect Xbox 360 games, including those being played on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.
Starting at 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM BST on June 20, Microsoft will perform "scheduled maintenance that will affect Xbox 360 titles and services." This won't impact Xbox One games, but any 360 games being played on the system through backwards compatibility may run into issues. Specifically, Microsoft says that "you may be disconnected from Xbox Live one or more times."
It's not the first instance of this type of maintenance, and it should be a fairly minor issue depending where in the world you are. It's slated to last for only two hours, ending at around 3 AM PT / 6 AM ET / 11 AM BST, barring any unexpected issues.
A number of details about this year's annual WWE game, WWE 2K18, have been revealed today. That includes the release date, special editions, and identity of the game's cover star: Seth Rollins. You can check out the cover below.
Rollins' selection seems notable given how relatively new to the company he is. Recent years have seen more firmly entrenched wrestlers grace the cover, including The Rock, Stone Cold, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena. Rollins will serve not just as the cover star, but also do whatever this line from a press release means: "Rollins will personify WWE 2K18's worldwide marketing campaign--Be Like No One--which invites players to explore Rollins' identity, as well as those of several other WWE Superstars, while learning more about the game."
WWE 2K18 launches on October 17 for PS4 and Xbox One. In addition to the standard version of the game, two special editions will be available. For now, WWE and 2K are only really talking about the Deluxe edition, which consists of a copy of the game with special packaging, the season pass, pre-order bonus digital content, and Collector's edition digital content. The specifics of those last three items will be revealed later this summer, along with the details of the Collector's edition.
Pre-ordering either the Deluxe or Collector's edition will get you access to the game four days earlier, starting on October 13. The Deluxe edition will be sold both physically and digitally, while the Collector's edition--whatever it may consist of--is physical-only.
The much-anticipated Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on September 24, 2017. The return of the classic sci-fi franchise to the small screen was announced via a short teaser on Twitter--check it out below:
The opening episode of the 15-part first season will premiere on CBS, with all subsequent ones appearing on its All Access digital subscription service. The first trailer for the show was released last month--you can watch it here.
Star Trek: Discovery is set 10 years before the events of the original '60s series. It stars Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), James Frain (True Blood), Anthony Rapp (Dazed & Confused), and Doug Jones (Hellboy).
Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote the first two films in the current rebooted movie series, is showrunner. He replaced Hannibal's Bryan Fuller, who stepped down last year to focus on his current hit show American Gods.
The show was originally set to premiere earlier this year, but it was subsequently delayed. A CBS representative said at the time: "It's more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn't beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows."
Disclosure: CBS is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS Corp.
Though it's not quite in time for a loving father's day gift, Dream Daddy is a wacky dating sim from Game Grumps. It's coming to PC through Steam on July 13.
You'll play as a lonely, single dad who just moved with his daughter to a new neighborhood in Maple Bay. To your surprise, every dad on your street is single and ready to mingle. Your heart will have to decide between seven different dads, like Mat, Craig, Hugo, Brian, Damien, or Joseph.
Customize your DILF, play through mini- and mirco-games along the way, and explore the multitude of endings with every smokin' daddy. Also, dad jokes for days. How many tickles does it take to tickle an octopus? Tentacles.
To make the journey even sweeter, the game will be voiced by the comedic game critics of Game Grumps and their friends. And all of that sweet, smooth daddy-coaxing writing is done by none other than Vernon Shaw and Leighton Gray.
Can't wait to schmooze your way into the arms of a dreamy daddy? Let us know how you feel in the comments below.
The Pixar sequel Cars 3 took the top slot at the US box office this weekend, with a solid gross of $53.5 million. DC's Wonder Woman continued its impressive run and took a comfortable second place in its third week.
Cars 3's weekend haul is below that of either of its predecessors, with 2006's Cars opening with $60.1 million, and 2011's Cars 2 making $66.1 million. However, as Box Office Mojo points out, the huge merchandising profit that the franchise makes for Disney means that this slightly lower take will be of little cause for concern.
Wonder Woman made $40.7 million, dropping only 29% from last week. That's the third smallest third week decline ever for a film with a budget of more than $100 million, and fourth-biggest third weekend for a superhero movie, behind The Avengers ($55 million), Spider-Man ($45 million), and The Dark Knight ($42 million).
Elsewhere in the chart, the hip-hop drama All Eyez on Me debuted with $27.05 million, while the critically maligned Tom Cruise thriller The Mummy dropped to fourth place. Rounding out the Top 5 was the British shark thriller 47 Meters Down, which was only projected to make $5 million, but instead earned more than double that amount.
Halo developer 343 Industries announced in advance of E3 that the "next major entry in the franchise" would not be at the show. Much to the disappointment of those still hoping for a surprise Halo 6 announcement, the game was indeed a no-show. And it sounds as if a reveal just isn't around the corner, either.
The latest blog post on the series' website confirms that the first official word about Halo 6--or whatever it might be called--is far from imminent. "For some people--like most who are still reading this blog--the Xbox media briefing was bandied about as much for what it didn't show, as what it did," it said. "Specifically, a new (or old-made-new) Halo title. For some folks, their despair stemmed from a lack of remastered fight-finishing. I know I know, we should have told you ahead of time to not expect anything like that.
"Others were hoping for a tease of things farther off to come. While there's little to nothing that can be said on that front, it's been made clear that we won't be talking about Halo's next major title for quite some time. And no, that doesn't mean Gamescom. Or PAX. Trust us, when we're ready to begin pulling back that proverbial curtain, you'll know. It won't be soon."
Microsoft has said previously that a new Halo first-person shooter will not be out in 2017. The "little something" that 343 teased Halo fans could look forward to at E3 didn't show up at Microsoft's briefing. Instead, it was revealed later in the week as a new Halo Wars 2 expansion, Awakening the Nightmare, which adds multiplayer content and a new campaign where you get to play as the Banished. You can see its debut trailer above.
From the character models to the feel of the dribbling, almost everything feels quite far removed from FIFA 18 on PS4 and Xbox One. It's probably closest to FIFA 15 or 16's gameplay in its on-pitch action--a little quicker both to respond and to move--and given I wasn't a huge fan of FIFA 18 at preview stage, that's probably a good thing.
Other than that, it feels fairly feature-rich and as competent a FIFA port as you could realistically expect on Switch. Until you detach the Joy-Cons to play in multiplayer, that is.
For many FIFA players, the primary--if not only--reason to buy FIFA on Switch ahead of the full PS4, Xbox One, or PC versions would be to have the ability to play on the move with friends. But playing with just one Joy-Con each makes it far too difficult to enjoyably do so. Fewer buttons than a standard controller (you lose out on two triggers, a d-pad, and a stick) means less flexibility on the pitch. On the standard control scheme, no adaptations are made to the original controls, so instead of, say, assigning a heavy touch to a double flick of the left stick in lieu of the the absent right, there simply appears to be no way of performing a heavy touch. This also applies to skill moves, accurate changes of player while defending, changing tactics on-the-fly, finesse shots, driven passes, and all types of chipped kicks.
Taking away functionality depending on your controller setup is incredibly frustrating, so here's hoping EA can implement an elegant solution in time for launch on September 29, 2017.
While FIFA 18 feels a little dated, then, it is still a lot of fun. However, if you plan to play on-the-go-multiplayer--the port's primary advantage over the PS4 and Xbox One editions--it might be best not to switch flanks from console.
E3 is often where we get to see or hear about major games for the first time (this year featured Metroid Prime 4 and Anthem, for instance) or where we see more of a previously announced big-name game (like Super Mario Odyssey or God of War). But there's far more at E3 than just those huge games with major franchise or developer names attached to them. Many other games fly under the radar but are nonetheless well worth your attention. We've rounded up a small handful of these games for you below.
Semblance (PC)
Alex Newhouse | News Reporter
I'm always on board with a platformer that manages to find an innovative mechanic, since the platformer genre is so saturated with games. Semblance, a game that started as a South African developer's final university project, creates a world that's essentially made out of Play-Doh, and it lets you deform it to achieve your objectives.
Slamming into certain walls or floors compresses or warps them to allow you to reach higher places or avoid spikes and other obstacles. Further, even in my short E3 2017 demo, I was progressively introduced to more mechanics that involved this terrain deformation. At one point, using a certain device that resets deformation, I was able to create catapults to launch my character to high, hard-to-reach places. It also helps that it's a beautiful game, with a colorful, cartoony aesthetic that goes well with the Play-Doh world.
I hope that the final game makes good on the promise of this mechanic, because I had a great time with my short demo. It launches next year on PC; console releases have not been announced yet.
Kingsway (PC)
Chris Pereira | News Editor
The moment Kingsway begins, its novelty is apparent: It's an RPG in the mold of FTL that's played entirely through the guise of a classic, Windows 95-esque operating system. Quests are accessed through a desktop icon for your email, the overworld is navigated by clicking on the browser, your inventory is merely a folder, and so on. But what could have been a merely surface-level wrinkle to the traditional RPG formula is in fact a concept that pervades all aspects of the game. This includes more minor things: There is no music--that is, not without first opening a Winamp-esque program and hitting Play--and you can go into the system's settings to tweak your desktop wallpaper or an enable a mouse-trail effect.
But all of this also extends to the gameplay itself. Selecting a destination on the world map sends you on your journey, where you may randomly encounter enemies. These manifest themselves as pop-up windows that then move around the screen, making it challenging to select the button you want for Attacking, Defending, or other commands. The window's movement is dictated by the type of enemy you're facing, and other windows occasionally pop in and move across the screen (sometimes hiding under other windows) and have to be closed before they can poison or otherwise harm you. This all adds up to an experience that feels distinct in a sea of roguelikes, though your enjoyment to some extent may hinge on being old enough to remember the days of the spartan, utilitarian operating systems from the '90s.
Gorogoa (PC, mobile)
Miguel Concepcion | Editor
Gorogoa zeroes in on what makes visually intensive puzzle games so appealing. With every new batch of clues you're presented, you're temporarily left to ponder how these hints are connected. Yes, you'll be stumped, close to the edge of frustration, but the solutions are almost always a couple steps away. And it's these eureka moments that kept me going for as long as the demo allowed me at E3 2017.
Gorogoa's playing field is a 2-by-2 set of gorgeously illustrated tiles, constantly evolving as you solve each puzzle. It often feels like an evolution of hidden-object games where the screen changes as you slowly make progress. Deciphering the clues is a two-step process: you search for solutions hiding in plain sight in both the drawings' foregrounds and backgrounds while also figuring out how the characters and objects in the tiles might hint at possible answers and how they relate to their surroundings. Gorogoa's depth shines during the myriad moments when you have to do more than click on objects to advance through the game. Sometimes you have to zoom in on a tile or slide tiles on top of each another to make progress.
Along with the dopamine-hitting satisfaction of solving puzzles, Gorogoa's story--told through the visuals that morph as tile images change--is both intriguing and thought-provoking. One section plays out innocently enough: by sliding specific tiles on top of other tiles, you're helping a boy traverse his urban surroundings while he holds a bowl intended to carry objects. Yet it doesn't take long to discover that the setting isn't as idyllic as it seems. With the movement of each tile, Gorogoa's visual exposition reveals a darker side to its story, a side that I am eager to learn more about.
Seven: The Days Long Gone (PC)
Aiden Strawhun | Weekend News Editor
I'm generally not a fan of isometric titles. They just don't grab me in the way that really intense RPGs or obscenely weird Japanese games do. Seven: The Days Long Gone changed that just a bit. It's set in the post-apocalyptic world of the Vetrall Empire. You'll play as a thief who is possessed by an ancient daemon and trying to escape the prison island of Peh. Around you are two warring factions, the biomancers and the technomagi, and plenty of corruption to be stopped. As with many RPGs, the fate of the world is in your hands.
Where it separates itself is in its gameplay: take the free-running movement of Assassin's Creed and throw it into an isometric RPG like Diablo. It feels both familiar and new with this kind of gameplay, as it provides expertly designed layered level designs that coax you into exploring more. The art, the universe, and the music set the scene incredibly well, and it's definitely a game to get lost in. It's also by a handful of former Witcher developers, so if there's one thing you can count on, it's a phenomenally cohesive world.
The Artful Escape (Xbox One, PC)
Alex Newhouse
My personal award for the game with the most style goes to The Artful Escape, which was unveiled at the Microsoft press conference. It's an utterly gorgeous game, with a beautiful art style suffused with neon accents. Oh, your character is also a badass guitarist who shreds his way through levels.
It has the most novel double-jump mechanic I've seen in quite some time; you can tap the A button to shred on your guitar, which slows your descent and lets you float, thus covering more distance than otherwise. And the one "enemy" I encountered tasked me with matching colors in a Simon Says-like way. But, in keeping with the aesthetic, every button press sends the character into an incredible guitar solo. It's awesome, and I'm completely enraptured by the style of it all.
I'm not completely convinced that the game will be deep enough to be fun to play; I'll have to see a lot more than just the 15-minute demo I played. But not much is cooler than a game with a guitar-wielding adventurer who rocks his way through levels. The Artful Escape an Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive, and there's no release date yet.
Songbringer (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Chris Pereira
Songbringer mixes the classic isometric Zelda formula with procedural generation. While I can't speak to what other possible world configurations might play like, the one I did check out provided me with a glimpse of an interesting, sci-fi world that felt more open-ended than I anticipated. Songbringer provides you with freedom to (mostly) go wherever you want, and the way in which any playthrough might unfold can be radically different, as items are obtainable in any order and dungeons can be tackled in the sequence you choose.
And while the world is procedurally generated, this is done by first inputting a six-letter seed. This means you can share the seed you use with a friend, allowing you to share the same experience or compete to finish the game first. Much of the game's appeal appears to lie in repeated playthroughs to see how differently things can go. But even my brief time with the game showed that a single run may take you through a visually impressive world filled with exploration, puzzles, and secrets.
Starlink: Battle For Atlus (PS4, Xbox One, Switch)
Oscar Dayus | Staff Writer
If I were eight years old again, I think I would love Starlink. Its swapping and changing of spaceship parts and guns and shields and heroes would've thrilled young me, a boy who grew up playing with toy rockets and cars whenever he wasn't playing video games.
As a toys-to-life game, its hook is simple. Plugged into your controller is a physical space fighter vehicle, on which you can attach modifications like different weapons, wing types, and playable character figurines. Switching these in and out is reflected immediately in-game, where you'll see your gatling gun disappear and your flamethrower appear in its place, for example. The tactile nature and immediate feedback this offers is satisfying--so it's a shame the game it's wrapped in is so generic. Then again, if eight-year-old me was ploughing a fighter ship into space, I don't think I'd care whether or not the stars looked distinct.
Strange Brigade (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Eddie Makuch | Associate Editor, Australia
The next game from Sniper Elite and Zombie Army Trilogy developer Rebellion Developments, Strange Brigade is weird and wonderful. Set in the 1930s around Egypt, the shooter supports 1-4 players working together to fight off hordes of enemies, including fantastical ones like mummies. You start by choosing one of four characters, and each has its own unique set of weapons and attributes. Putting a team together that makes the most of each player's abilities adds an element of strategy.
You progress through areas of bright, colorful, and varied environments as you take down minion enemies before the big bosses come out. Even with a team of four, you will be greatly outnumbered by enemies, so you need to make use of environmental elements such as traps. You trigger the traps by shooting orbs near them, and some of the traps include Indiana Jones-style spikes that shoot out of the floor and flames that cook your foes to a crisp.
Key to Strange Brigade's combat is your super-ability, which comes in the form of an amulet. You can activate this by filling up a meter, which only rises when you're attacking enemies. So you must continually engage in combat, so hanging back and taking it easy won't work. This makes for fast and frenetic gameplay. I played local co-op with another GameSpot editor and teamwork was absolutely a part of our success.
We only played a couple of matches, but we tried all the characters, and also got a glimpse of Strange Brigade's light puzzle-solving elements, too. Also of note is the game's delightful over-the-top tone that reminds you Strange Brigade never takes itself too seriously--and that's great. Strange Brigade is "coming soon" to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
When it was announced in 2015 that Sony and Marvel had signed to a deal to allow Spider-Man to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony already had several Spider-Man spinoffs in development. The first of these will be next year's Venom, and fans have been wondering if the movie will be part of the MCU. It now seems that even those involved with the films can't agree on this.
Firstly, Marvel boss Kevin Feige recently stated that Venom would not be part of the MCU. In an interview with French movie site Allo Cine, he said (via CBM): "For now, there is no plan for Venom in the MCU. It's a Sony project."
While this might be disappointing for fans, it's not surprising that Marvel doesn't want to confuse its very tightly-controlled universe by having other studios produce movies set within it.
However, a subsequent joint interview with both Feige and former Sony boss and Homecoming co-producer Amy Pascal tells another story. Pascal states that Venom is indeed part of the same world as Homecoming--to Feige's apparent surprise. Check out the clip below, via @tomhupdates:
[BREAKING NEWS] Amy Pascal confirm Black Cat and Vanom movie will pass in the same universe of "Spider-Man: Homecoming pic.twitter.com/qfAKOulqwE
Venom begins production later this year and will star Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock. In Marvel's comic books, Brock is a photographer and rival to Peter Parker, who becomes a host for the parasite Venom and sets about to destroy him. It will be directed by Ruben Fleischer, who previously helmed the horror comedy Zombieland.
Spider-Man: Homecoming, meanwhile, hits theaters on July 7--check out the latest trailer here. Star Tom Holland last week revealed that Homecoming would be the first part of a trilogy. "There is still a lot of room for Peter Parker and Spider-Man, especially, to grow in the next two movies," he said. "He's definitely not the finished article by the end of Homecoming and I really look forward to exploring the different ways he can grow up. It's going to be an exciting couple of movies."
Intel's 7th generation of high-end desktop processors (HEDT), known as the Basin Falls platform, is set to compete with AMD's Ryzen CPUs and upcoming Threadripper platform. These new Intel CPUs opt for a new socket and chipset--socket LGA 2066 on motherboards with X299 chipsets. As AMD looks to release several SKUs of Threadripper on top of the abundance of cost-effective Ryzen CPUs, Intel is coming out with a total of nine SKUs for its new platform; five under the Core i9 family, three as Core i7, and one as Core i5, which range from quad-core to 18-core multithreaded CPUs. All these new Intel CPUs are also branded as the X-series.
We were able to get our hands on the Core i9-7900X--the 10-core 20-thread Skylake-X CPU--for evaluation. It's priced at $1000, which is about $700 cheaper than Intel's previous 10-core 20-thread offering in the Core i7-6950X. As you can tell, HEDTs don't come cheap since they're meant to perform high level operations like video encoding and image rendering, even several of these operations at the same time. They're not intended for gaming alone and are frequently targeted at "prosumers" who typically stream, game, and produce video content often simultaneously.
The following chart outlines all the known specifications of Intel's new CPUs:
Intel 7th-Generation Basin Falls CPU Line
CPU Name
Threads / Cores
Base Clock (GHz)
Boost Clock (GHz)
L3 Cache
TDP
Price
Core i9-7980XE
18 / 36
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
$1999
Core i9-7960X
16 / 32
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
$1699
Core i9-7940X
14 / 28
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
$1399
Core i9-7920X
12 / 24
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
$1199
Core i9-7900X
10 / 20
3.3
4.3 (4.5)
13.75 MB
140W
$999
Core i7-7820X
8 / 16
3.6
4.3 (4.5)
11 MB
140W
$599
Core i7-7800X
6 / 12
3.5
4.0
8.25 MB
140W
$389
Core i7-7740X
4 / 8
4.3
4.5
8 MB
112W
$339
Core i5-7640X
4 / 4
4.0
4.2
6 MB
112W
$242
An additional detail to note is that the i9-7900X, i7-7820X, and i7-7800X CPUs all support quad-channel memory. The i7-7740 and i5-7640X Kaby Lake-X CPUs only support dual-channel memory, however.
Pre-orders are now open for the i9-7900X down to the i5-7640X, which are all set to release on June 26. The rest of the Core-i9 CPUs, which don't have final specifications, are slated to release sometime later this year.
Technical Details
Though i9-7900X's cores have a stock clock speed of 3.3 GHz, it can reach up to 4.3 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 2.0 and 4.5 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 3.0. With these technologies, the two best performing cores will receive the biggest boost while the more taxing workloads can be directed to those cores. Each CPU in the X-series comes unlocked which means you won't be bound by boost clocks and can overclock to your heart's desire, given the right cooling and voltage circumstances.
The 7900X is built with the 14nm FinFET manufacturing process technology, which is currently the most advanced for the desktop processor market. It also sports the new Skylake-X microarchitecture, which handles more instructions per clock than previous geneations. It also trades L3 cache size for a larger, more efficient mid-level cache (MLC) compared to the last-generation Broadwell-E architecture. The 7900X supports 44 PCI-e 3.0 lanes, most of the Skylake-X CPUs so far.
Methodology
We're in the midst of benchmarking this CPU and we'll be comparing it to Intel's previous 10-core 20-thread offering in the Core i7-6950X Broadwell-E CPU. As for an AMD comparison, the 8-core 16-thread Ryzen 7 1800X is most powerful from CPU currently on the market to compete against Intel since Threadripper isn't out yet. Take note that the R7 1800X is half the retail price ($500) of the i9-7900X ($1000).
We're equipped with Gigabyte X299 Gaming 9 motherboard, which received a BIOS update on June 16 to help optimize the performance of turbo boost technology. Our X299 system features 16GB of Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR4-2666 RAM in dual-channel, and all systems use the Nvidia GTX 1080 reference graphics card to help keep specs consistent across systems.
Performance
Cinebench R15
Cinebench R15 is a 3D image rendering benchmark that really makes the most of CPU cores, and for now, these results give small taste of the Core i9-7900X's capabilities. It shows to be about 15.9% faster over the 6950X when we ran the multi-core test, and about 12.5% faster using the single-core test. In this regard, Skylake-X proves to be a substantial improvement over the previous Broadwell-E architecture. The 7900X is also faster than the R7 1800X by about 33.2% in the multi-core run and 17.4% faster in the single-core run. It shouldn't be a surprise since the 1800X is an 8-core 16-thread CPU at half the price.
We look forward to analyzing more results as we complete our testing of the Core i9-7900X, which will include the following benchmarks:
POV-RAY 3.7
Blender
GeekBench 3.0
PC Mark 8
3D Mark 11
X264
Star Swarm Stress Test
Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Bioshock Infinite
Full Review Forthcoming
There are plenty of benchmarks to perform and results to analyze in order to properly evaluate this new processor. So, we will be bringing out our full review of the Core i9-7900X later this week. Stay tuned.
David Cage's latest game, Detroit: Become Human, was shown off for the first time in over a year at E3 2017. Sony's E3 2017 press conference gave us another look at Detroit's futuristic world in which Androids serve humanity, only to rise up and resist upon gaining sentience. Detroit's story touches on suppression, terrorism, slavery, and exploitation--serious, real-world issues that are rarely discussed in the bright lights of the video game world.
At E3, we got the chance to speak to Cage about these issues, and how they affected his thoughts while writing and developing Detroit. We also spoke about storytelling in games, about he wants the player to be the co-star, co-writer, and co-director, and about creating content most people will never see. Take a look at our full chat below.
GameSpot: How do your decisions in Detroit affect its story on a grander scale, rather than just on a moment-to-moment basis? Are your choices mere illusions or can you actually change the whole direction of the story? How much power do you have to shape the story into separate arcs?
David Cage: So that was a very important thing for us when we started working on this, was to say, "We don't want to do smoke and mirrors with this, we want to go the hard way." Let's create assets that maybe 10% of people will see. And let's embrace this idea that usually you reject because we're not going to create scenes for the 10% of people who make that choice. But we said, "We should," because that's the heart, the DNA of the experience that we wanted to create. So the tree structure is very complex: in each scene, in each arc, we added another layer of complexity which is that the arc of one character--we have three playable characters--can have an impact on the arcs of the other characters. So you can imagine the complexity of the tree structure.
There are entire branches you may never see. There are some scenes that you may see or miss or you may see differently. There are some characters that you may see only once or become your friend and accompany you until the end. And of course the three characters can die, which won't lead to a 'game over' situation, the game will carry on with the remaining characters. I won't tell you that you can tell any story and that there are a zillion stories that you can tell, there is a narrative space that we create, that the player can really travel a lot within this narrative space and tell their own version of the story. And for us the goal is that two players comparing their story playing Detroit will realize how different they are. They may talk about things that the other doesn't even know what they're talking about.
If I wanted to see everything in Detroit, how many times would I need to play it through?
That's gonna take you a while. Honestly, it's impossible for us to say how many versions of the story there are because it really depends what you take into account and the tree structures are so complex that I don't really have an answer. But it's not this kind of game where you get three different endings and that's it--there are many paths, many ways of playing the story, of traveling through this tree structure, leading to many different endings, but the goal for us was to give the feeling to the player that they are in control of their destiny, that they are telling their own story. The co-writer, the co-director, the co-actor. I created the space, but they decide what they want to do in it.
What does Detroit offer people who loved your past games, such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, and how does it grab people who didn't like your past games so much?
Detroit is a very special game for us, it's probably everything I learnt in 20 years doing this job into one game. So I hope it's going to be the essence of what I learned, and I hope it's going to be a good thing. The reaction here at E3 has been pretty insane, seeing how excited the fans are, so all the people who love my work will find what they love: emotion in games, the strong narrative and the branching narrative and all this stuff, it's all there, just on a bigger scale. More spectacular, more branching, more everything.
It's all there, just on a bigger scale. More spectacular, more branching, more everything.
[For] people who didn't like my games so much in the past, I think it's an interesting experience. We try to do things a little bit differently in Detroit. We have bigger areas. We have much more exploration. We probably found a better compromise between what players are used to and what we want to do. Let me give you a concrete example [of that].
We always try to have a sense of cinematography with our cameras. Not during cutscenes, but during gameplay sequences. Having the feeling that it's filmed by a director, even when you're in control of the character. It's great for people who like that, but for gamers, sometimes [they're] like, "Oh, I want to move my camera and I can't," so we've developed this system where if you don't touch the right stick, the camera is managed and you have a sense of cinematography, but at any point, once you just move the right stick and you control the camera and you can look around. It's these kinds of--not compromises, because I don't like this word--but these kinds of choices that we made in the design to make sure more people will want to play and enjoy the experience, because I think it's action-adventure, it's nothing else than that. It's also really funny to see how many QTEs there are these days in action games and if you look at the demo we presented, there are none. It's a trend. I think the industry makes a step in our direction. Maybe we make a step in the direction of the industry.
There's a lot of turmoil in the world right now, for example with the recent attacks in London and, before that, Paris. Has that changed your thoughts and your attitude about this game, given the scene you've shown off at E3 is, essentially, an attack?
Yeah, absolutely. The events in Paris happened while I was writing the script and it happened very close to the studio. We are very close to the Bataclan, very close to the supermarket that was attacked, and my kids, they were at school, very near the supermarket where this thing took place and they were locked in school, so I was at home, watching TV about what was going on, calling my kids, no answer, and you can imagine what goes through your mind when that happens.
I have one guy in my team who was in the Bataclan when it happened, so I was writing scenes and I'm very clear and very honest and very sincere and ... I was totally comfortable with the story I wanted to tell, because I think it's a very positive story in telling something very important and meaningful, but at the same time, I didn't want any ambiguity in my story.
There are a couple of scenes that I cut, because I felt [they] could be misinterpreted and could be understood in a way that wouldn't be right. I cut them away and it made me think about the story I was telling and how I was telling it and, at first, I was really scared, because I thought, "Wait a second, we're dealing with very sensitive issues here. This is so important and so serious for real people in the real world, how can we create a game that would even resonate with this kind of thing?"
Do we always have to talk about zombies and aliens and stuff, or can we talk also about the real things?
Your first reaction is to step back and way, "Whoah, what am I doing?" But then, the second reaction is to say, "Wait a second, that's important. That's meaningful." It's definitely sensitive and sensible. I'm going to need to be careful, but at the same time it's very interesting to be able to talk about such important things in the game. As long as you feel respectful and careful about what you're saying and how you say it, why wouldn't games be qualified to talk about real-world issues? Do we always have to talk about zombies and aliens and stuff, or can we talk also about the real things?
My take was this is a creative opportunity to see if a game can talk about these things or not, so don't see [the scene shown off on-stage] as, "Oh, this is the [entire] game." Each scene is different and the meaning is absolutely not binary. Don't take away from this scene that it's going to be, "[Do] you want to be violent or pacifist?" because that's not what the game is about. The game is much more complex than that and you show all the complexity and the repercussions of your choices, on opinion, on media, on your people, and being violent is not the wrong thing or the right thing. It's not about being right or wrong, it's really questioning what would you do if you had to fight for your rights and it's one of many questions in the game.
Do you think more games should tackle those sorts of issues in real-world politics?
I don't know. What I feel is that games are a respectable medium and that there is nothing they shouldn't talk about. It's a fantastic medium, because you put the player in the shoes of the character and you confront them in a very unique way, that is totally different from feelings, or TV series, or theater or literature, because you are in control. What I do with Detroit is ask the player questions. I don't give the answers. I don't say, "This is right, this is wrong, you should think this, you should think that." No. I just ask the question and I let the player answer by themselves and face the consequences of their choices in the story. This is what makes Detroit very unique and exciting to me.
What date are you targeting for release?
We've not announced a date, but it's going to be next year.
You might soon be able to catch legendary creatures in Pokemon Go. In the coming weeks, the mobile game will add a new Raid Battle feature that allows you to team up with friends to simultaneously fight powerful Pokemon at Gyms. Those that take part in raids frequently--and succeed more often than not--will be invited to enter exclusive Raids that "can" yield legendary Pokemon.
Up to 20 people can take part in Raids, though you'll only be able to play one per day before you have to pay up. After you defeat a Raid Pokemon, you'll get a chance to catch it, along with the reward of a Golden Raspberry.
Gyms themselves are getting revamped, meanwhile. Pokemon you leave in Gyms now need to be periodically revisited and fed berries by you or your teammates in order to keep their motivation up. Let their motivation fall to 0 and they'll return to you, leaving the Gym vulnerable to attack.
The Prestige system of Gyms has been scrapped, with all Gyms allowing a maximum of six defenders going forward, and you'll also earn bronze, silver, and gold badges at each Gym you fight at. These badges will give you greater and greater rewards with each rising tier. Lastly, every Pokemon Gym will also include a PokeStop, with the aim of evening the playing field for fans who might not have strong enough monsters to mount a challenge.
Developer Niantic said the update incorporating these changes will be rolling out in stages over the coming weeks. Regarding whether PvP battles and trading would be on the way soon, Niantic's senior product manager Tatsuo Nomura said:
"We're definitely looking into it. We're a small team, we're doing one thing at a time. Whether those will be our next thing or not, we still can't really talk about it."
"We recently noticed that a few legendary Pokemon got into a few accounts when they shouldn't have," the company said at the time. "To preserve the game's integrity and as a measure of fairness, we have rectified the situation and revoked the legendary Pokemon from the Trainers' accounts."
Until now, no release window had ever been mentioned for the PS4 exclusive, and its E3 2017 story trailer also did not confirm a date, as some thought it might. However, Cage told GameSpot at E3 that "it's going to be next year."
Elsewhere in our interview, Cage discusses a bunch of different topics, from how he wants the player to be Detroit's co-writer, co-director, and co-star to how real-world issues, including terrorism, affected the game's story. Take a look at the full interview here. For our impressions of Become Human, check out our video roundup of the best PS4 games at Sony's booth.
The huge success of the X-men spinoff Deadpool was one of 2016's biggest box office surprises, and the sequel is due next year. Production has started on Deadpool 2, and star Ryan Reynolds marked the occasion by tweeting an image from the set, with a suitably vulgar caption. It shows the Merc with a Mouth posing in front of the X-Mansion--check it out below:
In related news, an adult animated Deadpool show is on the way. The currently untitled series will be overseen by Atlanta star and creator Donald Glover with his brother Stephen. The pair will both act as showrunners, producers, and writers. It is being developed for FXX, the sister channel to FX, and the 10-part first season will premiere next year.
Sony's open-world title Horizon Zero Dawn has finished top of the UK sales chart this week, meaning the game returns to No.1 for the first since its release in March. Nintendo's Switch exclusive Arms, meanwhile, debuts at No.2 for the week ending June 17. According to sales monitor Chart-Track, it was the fourth-biggest Switch game launch so far, behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, and 1-2-Switch.
Below that, Grand Theft Auto V continues to chart well at No.3, and Dirt 4 drops one place from No.3 to No.4 in its second week on sale. Wipeout: Omega Collection, which debuted at No.1 last week, falls to No.5.
Horizon Zero Dawn has sold well for Sony since its launch--the company recently revealed the game has sold through over 3.4 million units, up from 2.6 million units sold in its first two weeks.
New Horizon Zero Dawn DLC was revealed at E3 last week. The expansion, titled The Frozen Wilds, is scheduled to launch in 2017, though a specific release date was not announced. The first trailer was shown during Sony's E3 briefing, and you can watch it above.
You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
Transformers: The Last Knight hits theaters this week, and one more promo video has been released. It highlights the movie's IMAX 3D release, and sees director Michael Bay and his team get very excited about the size of the film on large format IMAX screens. Check it out below:
Bay has previously stated that this will be his last movie in the series, and now star Mark Wahlberg has revealed that he is also finished with the franchise. "This is the last one," he said, via Digital Spy. "This is the last Transformers. Michael Bay has vowed that this is it. So I get my life back."
The series is to continue however, with a Bumblebee spinoff film in the works. Last week it was reported that the movie would be set in 1980s, and will be aimed at a younger audience that the main films.
Transformers: The Last Knight also stars Isabela Moner, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, Stanley Tucci, and John Goodman. It is released on June 23, 2017.
The Smackdown brand-exclusive event Money in the Bank (MitB) is coming to PPV and the WWE Network today. This event features not one, but two Money in the Bank ladder matches.
MitB takes place at the the Scottrade Center in Saint Loius, Missouri. There are six matches on the card, one of which will take place on the Kickoff Show.
The biggest thing to check out on the show is the first-ever women's Money in the Bank match, featuring five Smackdown superstars. If you pay attention to the rumormill, there will supposedly be a surprise before the match begins.
Naomi (c) vs. Lana (For the Smackdown Women's Championship)
The Usos (c) vs. The New Day (For the Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
Tamina, Natalya, Charlotte, Carmella, and Becky Lynch (Money in the Bank match)
Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens (Money in the Bank match)
Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton (For the Heavyweight Championship)
The Kickoff Show starts on the WWE Network at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT today, June 18. It's followed by the Money in the Bank event itself at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on the WWE Network.
In case you're not caught up, don't worry; we put the final results in spoiler blocks.
Kickoff Show
The Hype Bros vs. The Colons
The Hype Bros win at 8:24.
Main Card
Tamina, Natalya, Charlotte, Carmella, and Becky Lynch (Money in the Bank match)
Carmella wins at 13:16 after James Ellsworth grabs the title for her.
The Usos (c) vs. The New Day
(For the Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
The New Day win by countout at 12:17. The Usos retain the titles.
Naomi (c) vs. Lana
(For the Smackdown Women's Championship)
Naomi wins by submission at 7:25.
Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton
(For the Heavyweight Championship)
Jinder Mahal pins Randy Orton at 20:57.
Breezango vs. The Ascension
This match was added mid-PPV.
Breezango wins by pin at 3:48.
Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Kevin Owens (Money in the Bank match)
During the week of E3, we saw the announcement of a brand new Tropico game coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. As the sixth entry of the series, Tropico aims to shake things up a bit by expanding the nation's reach, to go along with El Presidente's growing ambitions, and also bringing on a new developer and visual look to accompany its new vision. Though this series has been around for some time, it's hard to deny that this game, featuring a chauvinistic, egomaniacal ruler in public office, feels like a rather timely release. And given its obvious allusions to Trump-era antics, such as the modern era's focus on social media and outreach, it'll be interesting to see how much of El Presidente's mischief will feel too cartoonish, or a little too real. While on the show floor during E3, we got to see just what's in store for the next entry, and just how El Presidente's ambitions have grown since the last outing.
Much like its predecessors, Tropico 6 is set in the titular country of Tropico, where players will take on the role of El Presidente--an up and coming ruler with ambitions for his budding nation in the Caribbean sea. Of course, how you choose to rule the country is up to you, and over the course of four eras--colonial, wartime, cold war, and modern eras--your legacy will be determined by your actions. With your constituents ready to show their disapproval based on your decisions relating to improving the economy, infrastructure, and generally how you present yourself during speeches and public displays of power, El Presidente has many options at his disposal. Should the ruler go full-on dictator and rule with fear, become the true leader that the nation needs by respecting the people, or become a true politician and ride the fine line between both. In Tropico 6, El Presidente unfortunately calls the shots, and usually whatever he wants, he gets.
Referred to as a 'dictatorship simulator' by the developers at Limbic Entertainment, Tropico 6 keeps the series' traditions going by focusing on letting players build their nation up however they see fit. The El Presidente of Tropico 6, however, has far more ambitions plans in mind, and it'll take expanding beyond the singular island to accomplish them. For the first time, players will be able to build up bridges and other transportation connections to other islands around Tropico--which is now an archipelago--giving you more space and applications for your many resources. During our presentation, we saw El Presidente build a series of factories on another island, which allowed him to ferry workers from the core island. Once production went up, residential areas were needed, and along with that came entertainment, schools, and other places to keep the new island's people busy and happy. Managing morale is important in how you choose to operate in Tropico 6, regardless if you're a benevolent leader or chauvinistic dictator.
One thing the developers wanted to focus more on was variety. In terms of visuals, there are many variations to the topography of the Tropico archipelago, making each new campaign feel different and unique from one another. Moreover, players will be able to shift resources and move around installations--such as factories, plantations, and residential and commercial space--much easier this time around. With the focus on expanding the nation, there came the need to upgrade infrastructure gameplay, which is now a far bigger focus in Tropico 6. City management and general layout form a big part of the nation's identity, which also has an influence in general flow of the all important economy, but also how its citizens will be able to navigate around the archipelago.
Of course, defining your El Presidente is a big part of the experience in Tropico, and there's far more room for expressing their voice this time around. Over the course of the 15 story missions, which go across four unique eras with differing political and economic climates. For instance, campaign and state of the nation speeches now make a return, which allows players to select key points during their speeches when it comes to speaking to the populace, which will affect morale and present the ruler with key political opportunities. Moreover, El Presidente may even have an eye on building a singular installation--like even a wall, if you will--within the nation of Tropico, which can be a major talking point for your speeches, and even be used as an effective and iconic way to rally your base.
In order for the ruler of Tropico to stay on top--regardless if things are going the country's way--El Presidente must use Bold Actions to show off the nation's strength. Coming in a variety of forms, such as ordering key political actions, the ruler can order for heists to take place. In the new raid command--which opens up after completing specific story missions and scoring major resources--El Presidente can send strike teams to other countries and steal iconic landmarks and other resources from other countries. As you could see in the trailer, El Presidente decides to steal the Statue of Liberty and place it right in the land of Tropico. Of course, whether this will be seen as an ironic take on the concept of liberty, or just another wild and somewhat bizarre show strength from a maniac in public office depends entirely on the character you decide to go with. Each era of El Presidente's reign focuses on building or stealing a specific structure, and what you decide to build will forever shape Tropico's status on the world stage.
The presentation was largely brief, but we got the sense that Tropico 6 is a rather sizable upgrade over its predecessors. As far as city building games go, the Tropico series easily has the most character and style associated with it. With the Not-Cuba setting in full swing here, complete with a full-on Afro-cuban jazz soundtrack and new visuals powered by Unreal Engine 4, Tropico 6's style and presentation has never looked better. And with a strong focus on building up your own version of El Presidente, even letting you customize your own palace, it'll be interesting to see how the ruler of the country will change over the course of the game, especially with the present era being depicted for the first time. Will they be a sorely incompetent man obsessed with poll numbers and building stuff, or a reasonably qualified and respectful man just trying to do the best job he can. That's all up to you, but it'll surely be interesting and oddly satisfying to see play out.
For more info on Tropico 6 and other titles that were shown during E3 2017, be sure to visit our E3 hub page.
If you're looking for a late father's day gift that's friendly for the kiddos or just because, right now is the right time to grab it. This is one of the lowest prices we've seen on a new Xbox One S yet, so snag it before it sells out. Online consumer electronic store Newegg is running the sale. Did we mention there's free shipping too?
The $50 price cuts to the Xbox One consoles prior to the Xbox One X reveal just ended yesterday; this sale does not seem related.
The Xbox One S is the second iteration of the Xbox One console. It's 40 percent smaller, has 4K media output, and HDR gaming and movies. It's intended for the casual gamer who prefers a little more portability and finer details in their games than the original Xbox One could offer. Make sure to check out our review here.
The recently announced Xbox One X isn't for the average joe however; it's a beastly machine meant for the most hardcore of gamers. For more on that iteration of the Xbox One, head on over here.
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