BioWare Reveals New Project, Anthem
During EA’s EA Play conference today, BioWare revealed its newest game: Anthem.
Details were slim, but a teaser shown during the conference included the line, “the wall protects us from what lies beyond.”
According to the teaser, details are set to be revealed at Microsoft’s E3 conference, which will take place tomorrow at 2:00 PM Pacific Time. Watch the trailer below:
BioWare has been teasing its new project since E3 2014, when it teased “a completely new IP” in production at BioWare Edmonton, describing it as “a world that “feels real, and is alive alive and is constantly changing.”
Need for Speed Payback Looks Like The Fast and Furious Game I Always Wanted
EA showed off a new gameplay demo of Need for Speed Payback during its E3-adjacent EA Play showcase, giving off serious The Fast and the Furious vibes as part of the reveal.
In the gameplay preview, EA demoed a Need for Speed Payback mission called "Highway Heist," which showcased the player driver chasing down a truck along a desert highway. After knocking out other drivers pursuing them, the player caught up to the truck, as Jess, riding along in the car, jumped onto the truck. Though the truck was already damaged, she hopped inside the main cabin of the truck and drove a high-end car out the back, planning to escape before a helicopter comes to confront her.
The heist sequence failed to include an absurd number of harpoons, but the entire mission feels reminiscent of more than a few notable moments from the blockbuster Universal Pictures Fast and Furious franchise. The truck heist harkens back all the way to the original The Fast and the Furious, as Dom, Letty, and their crew robbed a truck full of DVD players in the franchise's opening sequence, as well as the subsequent heists in that first film. The Payback demo also blended elements from the train robbery sequence in Fast Five, as Dom, Brian, Mia, and their friend Vince are involved with the stealing of three cars.
A Way Out Is Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Dev’s New Game
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons creator Josef Fares revealed his new game A Way Out today during EA Play.
A Way Out is a co-op adventure game due out in early 2018. Published by EA, the game is the first project from Hazelight Studios and centers around two inmates, Leo and Vincent, as they attempt to break out of prison.
The game was actually teased way back in 2014 as part of the announcement of Hazelight’s formation.
Fares’ previous game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, was released in 2013 and used the novel concept of controlling two characters with a single controller. For more, read our Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons review.
First Details on Battlefield 1: In the Name of the Tsar DLC
At EA Play today, EA shared the first details on Battlefield 1’s upcoming expansion, In the Name of the Tsar, which is available as part of Battlefield 1's Premium Pass.
In the Name of the Tsar will include six new maps as well as new vehicles, a new mode called Supply Drop, and 11 new weapons. You’ll play as the Russian Army, including the Women’s Battalion of Death, which is the first time in series history that will offer a playable female character.
EA also announced monthly updates for Battlefield 1 including new maps and events. Two additional maps will launch this summer. Premium Pass owners will have two additional maps from They Shall Not Pass coming: Nivelle Nights in June, and Prise de Tahure in July, both of which feature night maps.
Madden NFL 18 Offers New Longshot Campaign Mode
At EA Play today, EA revealed a new campaign mode for Madden NFL 18 called Longshot.
Taking cues from shows like Friday Night Lights, the mode follows a young football player as he rises through the ranks, and stars Moonlight and Luke Cage actor Mahershala Ali. On Twitter, Scott Porter, who played Jason Street in Friday Night Lights, confirmed that he will also appear in Longshot.
Madden NFL 18 is the first in the series to use EA’s ubiquitous Frostbite engine and will launch on August 25. This year, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the cover athlete. Madden NFL 18 is available for pre-order.
Adam West Remembered
Actors and filmmakers who worked with (or were fans of) Adam West have taken to social media to remember the late Batman star, who died on Friday at the age of 88 after a battle with leukemia.
Burt Ward, who starred alongside West's Batman as Robin in the 1960s Batman TV series, shared a few words about West. "I am devastated at the loss of one my very dearest friends. Adam and I had a special friendship for more than 50 years," Ward said in a statement. "This is a terribly unexpected loss of my lifelong friend. I will forever miss him. There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films. In my eyes, there was only one real Batman that is and always will be Adam West. He was truly the Bright Night."
Project Scorpio: All Rumors, News, Trailers
Microsoft is gearing up to release the most powerful video game console ever made. This massive overhaul of the Xbox One hardware is code-named Project Scorpio, and it’s due out holiday 2017. Below you’ll find everything you need to know about this major console refresh.
The first hint we got that a new Xbox One console was in the works came in May 2016, when a reporter at Kotaku revealed that Microsoft was planning to unveil two new Xbox One consoles at E3 2016. One was the Xbox One S, which came out later that year. The other was Project Scorpio, a much more powerful version of Xbox One. Naturally, our Xbox podcast Unlocked had plenty to say about it.
Adam West, TV’s Batman, Dies
Actor Adam West, the star on the classic 1960s Batman TV series, died Friday at the age of 88 after a brief battle with leukemia.
“Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans' lives. He was and always will be our hero,” his family said in a statement.
The kitschy, lighthearted 1966-68 Batman television series became a pop culture phenomenon and cemented the Caped Crusader's campy image for a generation until darker comic book and movie interpretations came along.
Monster Hunter: World Trademark Filed by Capcom
Capcom has filed a trademark for Monster Hunter: World.
The trademark, which surfaced on NeoGAF, was filed in the United States on June 5.
While a game from Capcom bearing this title has yet to be announced, it's possible Monster Hunter: World could end up being the localized name of Monster Hunter XX, which was announced for Nintendo Switch in Japan last month. After all, the prior entry, dubbed Monster Hunter X in Japan, was rebranded Monster Hunter Generations in the west. Of course, it could also be the name of an entirely new Monster Hunter game.
Orange is the New Black: Season 5 Spoiler Discussion Page
If you haven't finished all 13 new episodes of Orange is the New Black, then you should probably turn back. This piece, specifically, contains spoilers about the ending and other parts of the story. To read my non-spoilery review of Orange is the New Black: Season 5, head here.
I assume that most of us knew, while watching Season 5, that things wouldn't end well for the inmates. Not just because people from both inside and outside the prison kept reiterating this particular idea, that things would go sideways, but also because it's not the nature of the show to give its characters that big a win. And so because we knew a storm was coming, it was hard to engage in most of the comedy that the season tried to deliver on its way toward the finish.