Last year, EA's Battlefield 1 received a ton of new expansions, including "They Shall Not Pass," "In the Name of the Tsar" and "Turning Tides." The new maps and story missions featured French and Russian battles, amphibious warfare and some of the most famous battles from WWI. Now that it's a new year, EA is teasing some new additions to the popular video game to come, including a Gallipoli trial (part of "Turning Tides") that will give owners of the base game a chance to try out the fronts from the expansions between January 16th and 22nd.
Another day, another retailer leak. This time it's Ubisoft's turn with rumors circulating that South Park: The Fractured but Whole might be getting a Nintendo Switch port.
Australian retailer Sanity posted a placeholder listing for South Park on Switch under its "coming soon" section along with a March 13 release date. All the typical retailer leak precautions are in play: It could be a mistake, the info could be wrong, and any and all details are subject to change. But these kind of things have a decent track record in recent years, so there's that too.
South Park on the go is an intriguing proposition, and Ubisoft hasn't been especially shy about supporting the Switch since its debut. There's Mario + Rabbids, some Just Dance titles, and a Rayman re-release. However, we are still waiting on that Steep port that supposedly isn't dead but could very well be dead. If this South Park thing comes to fruition, it might beat Steep to store shelves.
One of the primary challenges in porting a mouse and keyboard shooter over to consoles is finding a way to competently adapt the experience for controllers. In bringing PUBG to Xbox One, developer PUBG Corp opted to keep all features in the game at the cost of having a bloated controller scheme. Nearly every button has at least two features mapped to it, and it can feel convoluted at times.
In PUBG's fifth Xbox update, there's an alternate controller layout that has some subtle but important changes. The Type B preset allows users to aim through their sights by holding the left trigger. It's an important tweak in that it's a more normal action for players who are accustomed to other shooters. (The original preset zooms in by tapping the left trigger and then out by tapping it again.) Also added to Type B is the ability to use third-person aiming by holding left bumper.
There's not much else in this patch that changes anything too significantly. Pistols are grouped with melee weapons now, so players don't have to cycle through them while switching their big boy guns. Other than that, it's a constant emphasis on improving optimization and getting it to run at a more stable framerate.
Here are the full patch notes for PUBG on Xbox's fifth Preview update:
DICE is slicing off a piece of Battlefield 1's They Shall Not Pass DLC and setting it free. Beginning January 16, everyone will be able to play the once-premium nighttime map Prise de Tahure.
There's also a separate "Gallipoli Trial" running from Tuesday, January 16 to Monday, January 22 that provides Battlefield 1 players with access to a portion of the Turning Tides expansion and other DLC maps including those found in They Shall Not Pass and In the Name of the Tsar.
Basically, it's a way to get people reinvested in time for this month's new Turning Tides content: the Heligoland Bight and Zeebrugge maps, the British Empire Royal Marines, and the C-Class Airship.
I've been wanting to get back into Battlefield 1 to check out some of these maps but that's going to mean redownloading the not-exactly-small game which, in turn, will mean clearing out space on my PS4 and also making sure I don't slip past my data cap for the month. That's modern gaming for ya.
The Windjammers spiritual successor, Disc Jam, will be hitting the Nintendo Switch on February 8, 2018 for $14.99. If you like the look of the game, you can pre-order the title from the eShop right now! In a show of decency for storage solutions, the game will only occupy 1.1 GB on your console; fancy that!
Disc Jam also has online multiplayer, as well as local multiplayer for four players. The unique features of the Switch should make for some intense impromptu battles while waiting for food...or drinking...or whatever people do in public.
The new Hyundai Veloster just made its debut on the NAIAS 2018 show floor, but the first time we'll be able to drive one is in Forza Motorsport 7. Following a string of cars debuting in videogames (BMW M4 Coupe, Porsche 911 GT2 RS), the Veloster Turbo and Veloster N will come to Forza players tomorrow, well before the cars go on sale in Q2 2018. In real life, the refreshed three-door hatchback has a bit more power and a lower stance, while the new "N" performance version goes up to 275HP and adds track-tuned driving modes.
Former Team Meat alumni Ed McMillen has made a obscure comment that may reference the development of more DLC for his creepy 2011 video game The Binding of Isaac.
The grim-but-gripping roguelike shooter is a gift that keeps on giving, maintaining a steady flow of sales, and retaining relevance, some seven years after its original launch on PC. The has been achieved through the game's 2014 reinvention as The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, multiple ports to nearly all platforms, and a dedicated, passionate fanbase.
McMillen had previously gone on record as stating that there would be no more content for the apocalyptic dungeon crawler but, in a recent online Q&A, after saying there were currently no plans for a sequel, took part in this suspiciously obscure exchange:
Q. "Is this really the end of Isaac? No more DLC?"
A. "I did say many times this was going to be the last Isaac DLC... and at the time I strongly believed it. but there seems to be something pretty cool on the horizon, it's creeping up slowly... it's familiar but a bit different and it's being held up by a group of people… when I squint I think I can make out a… oh sorry I gotta go, there is someone watching me in my space ship."
A confirmation of anything? Of course not, but it is at least enough to give some form of hope for any fan who is wishing for Isaac's suffering to continue. As to what this new content may be, if indeed it is anything at all, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Forza Motorsport 7 might've been an impressive-looking showcase title for Xbox One X at launch, but I get the feeling that plenty of folks would just as well stick with 2016's Forza Horizon 3 if given the choice. Today, the game has added native 4K support for Xbox One X players in a free update.
Along with 4K, there are "a number of graphical improvements to the game, such as increased shadow resolution, improved visual effects, and increased LOD and draw distances," as detailed on the Xbox Wire and explored more in-depth in this Digital Foundry analysis. And there's still HDR support.
Perhaps best of all, the update doesn't bloat the file size too much. It's around 670 MB.
[Ed. Note: We do awards a bit different at Flixist. Most of our writers do not get early screenings or award screeners of movies, which means it isn't easy to see some of the films that only get limited releases in December for many of us. As such we wait a few weeks into January so that we can see everything before we choose our favorites, and then vote in February for the site's awards.]
2017 was a pretty good year for movies. Not so much for the industry as a whole, as sexual misconduct allegations tore Hollywood down (not a bad thing), but in terms of movies we landed some pretty amazing stuff. Personally, I didn't see as many movies as I usually do as the first quarter of the year was spent taking care of some health issues in my family, but eventually I did get to see everything I think I needed to (even if my indie film viewing was less than usual).
As such, I am now ready to proclaim my favorite films of 2017, which in turn should be your favorite films because my opinion is always the right one. I don't choose all of these because they're the best film ever, but for varying reasons they stuck with me. Maybe they surprised me or maybe one aspect stood out above all the rest. Whatever the case these are my personal faves. Enjoy!
Last week, we told you that Assassin's Creed Origins -- already a sprawling game -- is getting even bigger with the addition of a new area that accompanies the Hidden Ones add-on. Here's a small correction to that: There are actually two new areas. Don't let anyone tell you Origins is trying to go small.
In a forum post from Ubisoft, the developer outlines everything that's associated with the January 16 1.2.0 patch. Most notable is that this update preps the game for the upcoming Hidden Ones DLC. In doing so, it adds the Sinai and Valley of the Kings regions. It also brings a new quest called "Incoming Threat" that's supposed to serve as an introduction to the expansion. The update weighs in at 3GB on PS4 and Xbox One, 2.6GB on UPlay and 1.2GB on Steam.
Even though this is the patch that's mostly catered to The Hidden Ones, we still don't actually know when the add-on is scheduled to arrive. Ubisoft is still sitting on the nebulous time frame of sometime in January. However, the achievement list has been found already. That combined with the update means it's probably right around the corner.
This patch is more than just preparation, though. Ubisoft gave 60-some bullet points of changes that are being made throughout all aspects of Origins. Here are all of them:
Hey Destructoid fans, it's almost time for a new video game documentary from your friends at Gameumentary. Maybe you forgot because it's been a while, but Destructoid's parent company, Enthusiast Gaming, helped fund our Kickstarter campaign so that we could bring documentaries exclusively to Destructoid.
Gameumentary's next documentary covers the story of a studio you may or may not have heard of yet, but they're working on something that could change the game for streamers.
In October 2017 we made our way out to sunny South San Francisco to cover the story of Outpost Games, a game studio founded by the former creative director of Dead Space 2, Wright Bagwell.
Quite a few key staff members from the Visceral Games crew now work at Outpost Games by the way. We reminisced about Dead Space with them here.
Outpost is working on a game called SOS which is a battle royale-like title, but with a twist. The game treats players as performers using a new platform called Hero. Each match is played live and while the game is being played, it's also streamed through the platform to viewers who can rate how someone is performing using different reactions and as a group even influence who gets off the island by voting on what is provided by supply drops.
The game sort of plays out like an episode of survivor, with an introductory sequence that showcases players' reputations based on their performance. For example, two players might play in the same game and team up. At some point, one of the players decide to betray their teammate and kill them. If these two players end up in another match together, which does happen quite often, the game will actually show in the intro sequence that player X betrayed player Y.
SOS is heavily reliant on players communicating and interacting with one another, and from my personal time with the alpha build of the game, I was surprised to see just how easy and fun it was to get into. The staff at Outpost Games even told us stories about players who took on a completely false personality just to trick players in helping them get off the island!
Here's a video from Game Society that shows some gameplay from an earlier build of the game back in June. It's a bit hard to explain how SOS works without sounding like an advert, so apologies for that.
We chose to tell the story of Outpost Games because we've done retrospective documentaries, and have more to do, but we also wanted to share with you a story about developers who are right in the middle of development and working to build something more than just a game, but an innovation in the industry.
We hope you'll tune-in to their ongoing story when we release the full documentary next Tuesday, January 23rd. Funnily enough, and I promise this was completely unplanned, SOS launches into Early Access on the 23rd of January as well.
For now, enjoy the trailer! If you'd like to stay up to date with everything Gameumentary is doing documentary-wise, feel free to follow us on Twitter.
There were many amazing runs on last week's Awesome Games Done Quick charity event, including a wild dash through Resident Evil 7 and the always-impressive Super Monkey Ball run. But for many, the highlight was Zallard1's dual-ruining of Nintendo classics Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and its SNES sequel, Super Punch-Out!!
With a splitted SNES controller attached to both consoles, Zallard1 used amazing timing, smart use of the Start button, and time allowed by cutscenes to essentially play, and defeat, both boxing titles simultaneously. This not only required some frame-perfect pausing and strike-buffering, but also the ability to shift fight patterns on the fly (as the Punch-Out!! titles are basically pattern-memorisation games).
I was impressed enough at how Zallard1 just breezed through SPO!!, incidentally one of my favourite SNES titles, but to complete both games and micro-manage his offensive and defensive game on the fly was mind-boggling. I don't think I've even beaten Super Macho Man yet! You can check out the crazy two-game fisticuffs below. All of the week's runs can be found at the AGDQ Reddit page.
Chariot is a platforming adventure game with local co-op and you know what that means: it's destined for Nintendo Switch eventually. As it turns out, the title is coming to Switch this year as Super Chariot.
I feel like more enhanced-for-Switch ports could stand to have "Super" in their names.
Chariot is playable alone or with a friend and in the latter case, there's co-op support whether you're playing the Switch in handheld or docked mode. As for the packed-in DLC, it's another playable character (the shopkeeper) and new items. "Walk on ice, light up the darkness, go swimming in lava, freeze the world in place, teleport the Chariot through time and space, and much more."
This has slipped through the cracks for me a few times now, including as recently as last month when I tried to find another co-op game and ended up getting Human: Fall Flat instead. One of these days.
For more on Chariot, check Brett's review. He definitely did not force me to link to his article and I am definitely not acting under duress or chuckling nervously about my predicament.
Retail chain GameStop have announced that the company had a very successful December, with sales up 10.6% on the previous year, resulting in a year-on-year increase of $2.77 billion.
Speaking to gameindustry.biz, GameStop interim CEO Dan DeMatteo cited the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X as having a large hand in bringing the dollars in. "We are pleased with our sales performance during the important holiday period, driven by strength in the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X, and a solid increase in our collectibles business," said DeMatteo. "Our results demonstrate our customers' enthusiastic response to new products and our ability to execute on strategically targeted promotions."
New console hardware specifically increased by some 38%, while gaming-related merchandise, such as clothing, wallets and soulless wide-headed figurines, increased by 19% to a huge $211 million.
There was, however, a drop in pre-owned game sales, which were down 8% on the previous year. Dan puts this down to a bigger consumer interest in 2017's plethora of new games and hardware. Also of note, GameStop's tech department, such as phones and tablets, suffered a 19% drop in overall sales.
Retail chain GameStop have announced that the company had a very successful December, with sales up 10.6% on the previous year, resulting in a year-on-year increase of $2.77 billion.
Speaking to gameindustry.biz, GameStop interim CEO Dan DeMatteo cited the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X as having a large hand in bringing the dollars in. "We are pleased with our sales performance during the important holiday period, driven by strength in the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X, and a solid increase in our collectibles business," said DeMatteo. "Our results demonstrate our customers' enthusiastic response to new products and our ability to execute on strategically targeted promotions."
New console hardware specifically increased by some 38%, while gaming-related merchandise, such as clothing, wallets and soulless wide-headed figurines, increased by 19% to a huge $211 million.
There was, however, a drop in pre-owned game sales, which were down 8% on the previous year. Dan puts this down to a bigger consumer interest in 2017's plethora of new games and hardware. Also of note, GameStop's tech department, such as phones and tablets, suffered a 19% drop in overall sales.
Stardew Valley is a real joyous game with the only lacking feature being the inability to share your land with friends. Creator Eric Barone has been diligently working on a patch to fix that issue and progress is moving smoothly. In some recent posts on Twitter, Barone clarified a few features that will be present when the update lands. He also noted that the new content update is completely finished and that all his attention is focused on getting the multiplayer patch out.
Nintendo is riding high lately thanks to the Switch, so much so that large and small developers alike are looking to follow suit and catch the momentum. This may also include the fine folks over at GalaxyTrail, who might be looking to bring Freedom Planet to the Switch (if a Facebook gag is anything to go by).
Over the weekend on their Facebook page, the developers teased the idea of Freedom Planet on the Switch with the cheeky and classic bit of placing a copy of the game on top of the system. After the large response from the post however, the developers followed up and clarified some things:
If you're keen on keeping up to date with the latest firmware, even if it's experimental and could screw with your system, you can do so now on PS4. Sony is opening up beta signups for system update 5.50, which are currently live right now in Japan and are expected to go live sometime this week for Europe and North America.
It's nice that there's an option to get early access, but it's kind of a pain compared to the easy to operate Xbox Insider Program. There, you just opt into "some," "all," or "no" updates, and it automatically takes care of everything. Microsoft is also generally more open about what firmware betas entail.
Sega have opened a countdown site teasing an upcoming announcement. The site features a huge ornate clock, ticking away, in a cloud-based atmosphere. The countdown is scheduled to end on January 19 at 15:00 JST.
There are some clues here: the sky setting, a regal throne and the way the clock doesn't follow the usual 12-hour standards. The site is also titled "Senki", or "War Record". The other interesting note is that, in the official announcement of the site going live, the category was listed as "Arcade Game".
I, for one, look forward to Virtua Fighter 6: Ornate Cloud Clock Remix being revealed this coming Friday.
I've spent countless hours watching Netflix on the PlayStation Vita, either at work on my breaks, or even out camping. As redundant as that may sound, watching shows on that gorgeous OLED screen, in the middle of the night, out in the woods, was a worthwhile experience.
Lately though, my Vita collects dust (in all the worst places) on my shelf. You'd think the Nintendo Switch would be the perfect replacement as a portable gaming and Netflix machine for one such as myself (especially given its hybrid nature and the potential of being able to enjoy Netflix both on the TV and on the go).
However, it would appear Netflix themselves don't entirely agree.
Yesterday, one Andrew Oliver pleaded to the Netflix customer service Twitter account that he needed Netflix on his Switch. But, sadly, Netflix shot his (and my) hopes down of that ever happening, for now, with “no plans” currently for Netflix appearing on the Switch.
I guess next time I go camping I'll have to clean the dust off my Vita. On the plus side, I'll just use both! At the same time!
Alan McDermott, Nigel Kershaw, and Stuart Trevor of Evolution Studios, the developer of the well-received MotorStorm series and the more tumultuous Driveclub, have formed Wushu Studios. The move comes after Evolution's full closure and absorption into Codemasters last year.
Right now, the outfit is pretty mum on what they're working on as they're "not quite ready to talk about it" just yet, but we have a few details. It's a "brand new sci-fi IP" for one, and they're in the prototype stage with Unreal Engine 4 at the helm. The studio currently employs 11 people and "is expanding" over time.
It was sad to see Evolution, like many other racing studios before it, fall under the wake of a giant publisher. Let's see what they got!
We are on the precipice of Street Fighter V's relaunch, under its Arcade Edition banner. For many players, it is the opportunity for a fresh start, putting behind them the losses of yesterday and beginning a whole new journey for online glory.
If, as part of this fresh start, you wish to change your online I.D, then that will be possible too. It does, however come at a price, specifically $9.99 in real life cash or 200,000 Itchy & Scratchy money, the equivalent of two DLC characters.
In a way, I can see why they would do this. Besides the money they will assuredly rake in - Xbox 360 proving that, for many gamers, cash is no deterrent to changing your moniker - there also needs to be some form of barrier to prevent constant renaming, perhaps in an effort to disguise bad behaviour. It's worth noting that your old name will still be visible on your profile and, obviously, your Win/Loss record and all other details will carry over into the newly-named account.
Of course, it goes without saying that Capcom will be bagging themselves a tenner every time someone goes through digital deed poll, which obviously isn't any boggle for them, So, if you believe its finally time to change that "ScoobyPoo2016" I.D, like lasering away a tattoo of a former lover, now you can.
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition lands on PC and PS4 in North America on January 16. The PS4 physical and digital release is now delayed in Europe until January 19. But existing SFV owners will be able to download the expansion on the 16th.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sure opened at the right time, huh? It's positive word of mouth and the complete lack of competition anywhere else has propelled it into a stellar box office. It pulled way ahead again this weekend, and doesn't really look like it's going to slow down any time soon. All the new releases this week didn't do so well, though people did head out as award contenders opened wider.
Is there really anything anyone is looking forward to before Black Panther in February. There's still a few Oscar contenders that need to go wide, but aside from that it's a ghost town of epic proportions. I mean this might be one of the worst Januaries we've seen in years. There's usually some bad franchise or something that at least gives you a little kick of fun, but nothing this year.
If I may make a recommendation. Watch the first Paddington on Netflix and then go see Paddington 2. The films are beyond charming, fun, and just the right level of blissful escape that kids movies should be. You won't be sorry.
In 2009, Sega released one of the best third-party games on the Nintendo Wii when House of the Dead: Overkill made its way to stores that February. It was one of two zombie killing games to hit the console that day, and while I do enjoy myself a Onechanbara slash-and-dash fest, Overkill was just too good to not dominate my Wii over the next two weeks. Hell, I went out and bought a gun-shaped accessory just for that game.
In 2011, Overkill was ported to the PS3 and that was it for the mainline games in the series. Sure, there were typing spin-offs and a darts game apparently, but nothing new on the continuing adventures of whoever the hell is still alive. I think Kate Green and Agent G are still breathing. Anyway, all that changes in just a few days.
House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn will make its arcade debut on January 19 at the Sega Akihabara Building 3. According to Famitsu, Scarlet Dawn was developed using the Unreal 4 engine, so its porting possibilities seem really good if Sega should want to go down that route in the future. The two-player arcade cabinet will feature a few gimmicks including an air cannon and vibrating seat.
This weekend saw Bandai Namco launch the open beta for upcoming fighter Dragon Ball FighterZ, allowing eager fans to get stuck into the anime tag-team action.
Unfortunately, as is often the case with huge player influx, there were some solid connection problems, resulting in many people struggling to engage with opponents, leading to lengthy waits between fights, (if any fights at all), and a lot of frustration on the part of excited participants.
Bandai Namco are aware of the issue, commenting on the situation on their official Facebook page. The studio apologised for the issues players are having but admitted there was no simple fix that could rectify the situation. They also conceded that if they were not able to get the situation stabilised in a reasonable time-frame, then they may push back the beta's scheduled end time of 11:59PT today.
When all is said and done this is, unfortunately, the whole point of running an online beta test. Hopefully Bandai Namco can get the situation under control ahead of Dragon Ball FighterZ's official launch, January 26, on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Post-CES, it's back to business as usual at Engadget, but not before delivering some of our final reports and interviews from a very busy show. Oh, and even a new wearable -- if nothing from Vegas caught your eye.
