Monthly Archives: June 2016
Blizzard Accidentally Made Its Overwatch Animation Anticlimactic
There's something iffy about Blizzard's latest Overwatch animation video, tucked away in some odd Japanese calligraphy.
Read literally, a scroll Hanzo kneels in front of says "dragon head, snake tail," which makes sense given some of the iconography in the trailer.
However, according to Afternoon News (thanks Kotaku), Japanese speakers don't read the four Kanji characters on the scroll literally, as Blizzard had perhaps intended. Instead, they form an idiom meaning "anticlimax."
Even a system as basic as Google translate will tell you these four characters mean "anticlimax" when put together. So this is either an unfortunate oversight, or a Japanese speaking member of the Overwatch team has just pulled off the Mother of all practical jokes.
Fan-made Star Wars Battlefront 3 Remake Approved for Steam
Fans have been working on a remake of the unreleased Star Wars Battlefront III, and it looks like it's going to be released on Steam.
According to Eurogamer, Valve has approved the Frontwire Studios developed game, which has been renamed as Star Wars: Galaxy in Turmoil.
Battlefront 3 was originally in development at Free Radical Design around 2008, but the relationship between the developer and publisher LucasArts broke down.
Galaxy in Turmoil will be released for free, but it remains to be seen whether Disney will have anything to say about Frontwire using the Star Wars name.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Announced
Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, an HD remaster of Final Fantasy XII coming to PlayStation 4 in 2017.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will include the Zodiac job system, which was previously not available in the West. It will also offer a new trial mode, allowing players to “take on monsters and enemies in up to 100 successive battles.”
Aside from newly remastered character models and cutscenes, The Zodiac Age will include “newly recorded background music,” as well as the option to switch between the original soundtrack and the remastered soundtrack.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will be playable at E3, so keep an eye out for impressions right here on IGN next week.
Xbox One Getting Cortana Voice Commands and More
Microsoft has announced plans to release a pair of updates that will bring a host of new features to Xbox One owners, including support for Cortana voice commands.
This week, Xbox Preview members will be able to check out the update, which will also be making its way to the Xbox app on Windows 10 "in the coming weeks." The array of new features will be rolled out in waves and serve to "bring together more people and more games across devices through Xbox Live."
The first of Microsoft's two updates will bring with it Cortana voice commands for Xbox One users, which will work with both Kinect and headsets. Xbox One's Game Collection is also getting an interface update, making it easier and faster to locate and launch games within your library. Facebook Friend Finder is also coming to Xbox One users, as well as improved sharing for screenshots, achievements and recorded clips.
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Telltale’s Batman, TWD: Season 3 Release Windows Revealed
Batman: A Telltale Game Series will make its debut very soon, as the studio has announced its upcoming adventure series will premiere this summer.
In a post on Twitter, Telltale Games Head of Creative Communications Job Stauffer announced the release window for the first episode of the new Batman series and narrowed down the launch window for the third season of The Walking Dead, which will debut this fall.
'BATMAN - The Telltale Series' will premiere this summer@TheWalkingDead's 3rd season will premiere this fall#E32016 begins in 1 week ;)
What Infinity Ward Can Learn from the Missteps of Ghosts
It’s Infinity Ward’s turn to release a Call of Duty (CoD) game this year; the first for the dev in the series' newish three-year development cycle. The rotating roster means that it’s following Treyarch’s Black Ops III, which in turn followed Sledgehammer Games’ Advanced Warfare from 2014. The trick, though, is that Infinity Ward’s last game was Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Ghosts wasn’t particularly well received by fans and the fact that Infinity Ward’s latest CoD game has the ‘Infinite Warfare’ subtitle and not ‘Ghosts II’ is a telling sign that Activision is keen to distance itself from the lacklustre reception of the developer’s last Call of Duty game. While it’s a good idea to start fresh, instead of attempting to convince jaded fans that the Ghosts sub-series really could have legs, there are some key learnings Infinity Ward can take from its last divisive CoD game that could help ensure Infinite Warfare hits the ground running.
Game of Thrones Actor Previews Blackfish’s Mission
Full spoilers for Game of Thrones through Sunday's episode, "The Broken Man," continue below.
The Blackfish is back on Game of Thrones!
After Sansa Stark heard that her great uncle Brynden Tully was rallying the Tully troops at Riverrun, fans have been hoping that Clive Russell's character would pop back up on Game of Thrones. That finally came to pass in "The Broken Man," the first appearance of the Blackfish since his well-timed bathroom break at the Red Wedding in Season 3.
I spoke with Russell about his return to Game of Thrones and what the Blackfish's motivations are after so much time has passed. He talks about his character's Red Wedding "survivor's guilt," as well as his big conflict over whether to support Sansa and the Starks.
Rise of Iron Trademarked by Bungie
A trademark filing for Rise of Iron has surfaced, seemingly confirming Bungie's next Destiny expansion.
The application—which was filed by Bungie on May 31—is for use in video game software, among other multimedia categories. The full listing is available on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
Bungie has not confirmed the expansion, despite Rise of Iron's title art having leaked in May. The DLC is expected to be "fallen-themed" and "larger than both year one DLC packs." This information is in line with Activision's plans to release a "large new expansion" for Destiny in 2016.
Person of Interest: Amy Acker on Root’s Journey
Warning: Spoilers for Person of Interest up through Episode 100, "The Day the World Went Away."
At the Dallas Comic-Con Fan Expo, Person of Interest star Amy Acker took the stage, in the wake of the show's big 100th episode, for a Q&A session with fans where she spoke about her role as Root and what to expect from the series for the final remaining episodes.
"The last three episodes are really really good," Acker said. "And I will say that I cried on the 100th episode when I was leaving the cast and crew and was like 'I'm never going to see you guys again.' And then when I was back the next week? It was a little awkward. Is that a spoiler? I don't know. They have shown some previews for the next three episodes and you do see me in the flesh so..."