Monthly Archives: February 2017
PlayStation Plus Open Multiplayer Event Kicks off Next Week
Sony will be opening up online multiplayer for non-PS Plus subscribers from February 22 until February 26.
However, this only applies to multiplayer. The other benefits of a PS Plus subscription - such as this month's free games for subscribers or Store discounts - are not included.
The news follows a similar event currently taking place on Xbox One, where Xbox Live Silver users can play online from February 16 to February 19 without any barriers, and take Rocket League and NBA 2K17 for a test drive as part of a limited time free trial.
If you’re already a PS Plus subscriber, this month’s subscriber games are LittleBigPlanet 3, Not a Hero , Starwhal, Anna: Extended Edition, Ninja Senki DX, and TorqueL.
First Google Indie Games Contest Winner Announced
Google has announced that fantasy game Reigns has won its inaugural indie games contest.
The "Tinder-style fantasy title" (via GamesIndustry.biz) topped 20 other finalists to secure prizes that include a YouTube influencer campaign worth €50,000, an Android Developer Story documentary about the development of the game, tickets for GDC and Google I/O, one month's premium placement on Google Play, and a Pixel C tablet.
As Reigns also secured the Unity prize, developer Nerial also secured two tickets to a Unite event and a 12-month subscription to Unity Pro.
Press and public were invited to play 20 games from finalists who'd been selected from over a 1000 submissions from 12 countries around the world, and then vote for their favourites.
The “Jedi” in Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s Title Is Plural
There's been some debate as to whether the "Jedi" in Star Wars: The Last Jedi's title is a singular or plural use (not least because if it was the former, one of our heroes would likely have to die in Episode VIII). It seems we now have an answer, through an unexpected source - the other words in the title.
In German, the words for "The Last" help denote whether the "Jedi" is being used as a singular or plural. As pointed out by IGN Germany, the newly revealed German title - "Die Letzten Jedi" - uses the plural version, meaning it references multiple Jedi (if it was a single Jedi, it would be "Der Letzte Jedi").
Hearthstone Will Release Three Expansions This Year
As the Year of the Kraken comes to a close, Hearthstone is gearing up for 2017's Year of the Mammoth by announcing a new way of releasing expansions.
Instead of alternating between the cycle of Expansions (card packs) followed by Adventures (player vs CPU with an overarching theme), Blizzard now plans to release three expansions at specific times of the year: ~130 cards at the start of the year, ~130 in the middle, then another ~130 towards the end of the year. The reason for the change, as detailed over on the Hearthstone blog, is down to storytelling.
“At their core, Adventures paint colorful and thematic stories about the Hearthstone universe,” writes Blizzard. “Imagine being able to learn about the history and lore behind each of our sets inside the game in a similar way!
UK Daily Deals: Nintendo Switch With The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
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The First Nintendo Switch Bundle Includes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
GAME are the first retailer to release a Nintendo Switch Bundle. Luckily it includes The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is arguably the most anticipated game for the Switch; "the open world Zelda we've always wanted" (read our preview on Breath of the Wild here).
Ubisoft Shares Details of Watch Dog 2’s Next DLC
Ubisoft has shared details of the next Watch Dogs 2 DLC pack, Human Conditions.
The downloadable content pack - which will release on February 21 on PlayStation 4, and March 23 on PC and Xbox One - promises to be "a meaty one", adding "three new multi-mission Operations to the story and giving Marcus Holloway and his DedSec crew new villains to hunt".
According to a teaser video, as well as new missions the DLC brings "substantial story-arcs" that give Marcus a fresh selection of challenges and enemies, with "never seen before" areas.
"We’ve plowed through two of the new Operations, and they’re pretty substantial, with new areas to explore and unique challenges to face," writes Mikel Reparaz, editor on the Ubisoft blog.
Into the Badlands: Two New Season 2 Trailers
With Into the Badlands returning for its second season on Sunday, March 19th, AMC has released two new trailers for what's sure to be an action-packed and thrilling 10-episode spring run.
Here you'll see Daniel Wu's Sunny and Emily Beecham's The Widow, each with their own trailer, training for the fight of their lives, plotting revenge, and ready to take down anyone who stands in their respective paths.
In Into the Badlands: Season 2, Sunny is determined to fight his way back into the Badlands to find his family or die trying. Meanwhile, The Widow continues to consolidate power against the other Barons, while a dark and mysterious threat prepares to exact revenge on them all.
Nintendo Switch Operating System Details Leak
A new YouTube video showcases more of the Nintendo Switch's user interface, including its menus, the process for creating a new system user, and more.
A video uploaded by hiphoptherobot posted to NeoGAF apparently reveals the Switch from its start-up out of the box through the process of creating an account on the system and scanning through the system's settings.
Among the notable aspects of the video is the system's revealed internal storage space, which is listed as only 25.9 GB. Nintendo has previously said the system will have 32 GB of internal memory — though Nintendo has said the Switch will support up to 2TB Micro SDXC cards — so this video could be an indication of the amount of space the operating system takes up in the system.
Mattel Reveals New Line of Halo Toys
A new line of Halo toys based on the franchise, including its newest entry, Halo Wars 2, will be released by Mattel later this year.
IGN can exclusively debut a first look at Mattel's new Halo toys, coming out in the fall of 2017, which will be showcased at next week's New York Toy Fair. Check out the toys below:
Mattel's 6-inch Halo figures will each cost $19.99, featuring UNSC Spartans and Covenant operatives with up to 30 points of articulations. Each of the figures includes mix-and-match armor sets and one or two weapons. Each also comes with an extra figure piece that, when all collected, form an Imperial Grunt.
Resident Evil 7 Was the Best-Selling Game of January 2017
Capcom's Resident Evil 7 Biohazard was the top-selling game in the US for the month of January, according to The NPD Group.
The best-selling console was once again PlayStation 4, with the top-selling PS4 SKU remaining the Uncharted 4 500GB bundle. Interestingly, NPD said the third best selling console for the month was the NES Classic.
The release of Resident Evil 7 helped push overall sales numbers up for the month, 14% higher than last January. However, hardware spending saw a "19 percent decline versus January 2016," down to $127 million.
According to NPD, the last time Capcom had a game come out at the top of the month's sales was 2009's Resident Evil 5.
Grand Theft Auto V continues to be a dominant force and a huge driver of revenue for Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive. The game was the third-best selling for January 2016. Grand Theft Auto V has now sold 75 million copies since its 2013 release.