Monthly Archives: November 2015
EA Is Building an ‘Assassin’s Creed-Style’ Game
Electronic Arts is working on its own "Assassin's Creed-style" game with ex-Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond.
Addressing yesterday's UBS Global Technology Conference, EA's CFO Blake Jorgensen has confirmed that the developer was looking to expand its reach, as it had "never really operated" in action-oriented, open-world, singleplayer games.
"We've never really operated in the largest genre of gaming, and that's the action genre," said Jorgensen. "That's the Assassin's Creed-style games; more open-world, more single-play versus multiplayer. It's not been an area that we've operated in."
"We recently hired Jade Raymond, who was behind the Assassin's Creed franchise for Ubisoft and she will be building an action genre for us through a studio we're building out in Montreal right now. So a lot of excitement around the action genre."
Danny Boyle Says He Might Direct 28 Months Later
Danny Boyle has been talking about 28 Months Later, the proposed horror sequel that screenwriter Alex Garland first told us about back in January.
Boyle directed the original 28 Days Later, but only executive produced 28 Weeks Later, with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo helming the well-received follow-up.
But Boyle told us that he’d return to the director’s chair if the film is sufficiently different to what’s gone before.
“I love doing stuff that is ‘How are you going to direct that? How would you do that?’ It’s like this project – it’s like the Steve Jobs. You go ‘How are you going to do that?’ That’s a wonderful place to start off. The worst place is when you know how to do it. Or you think you do. Because actually you don’t. The audience spot that quite quickly – they’re weird, and rightfully so, they’re righteous judges of us. They go ‘Oh, he’s done that before – that’s crap.’ I’ve learnt that. So if it’s something that I’ve felt that about, then I’d have no hesitation.”
Valkyria: Azure Revolution, Valkyria Chronicles Remaster Announced
A new game in the Valkyria series titled Valkyria: Azure Revolution will be coming to PS4 next year, along with a remaster of Valkyria Chronicles.
According to Famitsu and Hachima Kikou (thanks for the translation, Gematsu) the Valkyria Chronicles Remaster will be available in Japan on February 10. Meanwhile, Valkyria: Azure Revolution will be developed by Media Vision and will be available in Japan in "winter 2016." We don't have details of a western release yet.
UK Deals: Call of Duty: Black Ops III under £35
Fallout 4 on PC is £27.03 on CDKeys when you Facebook Like for 5% off.
Fallout 4 is receiving critical acclaim throughout the industry. IGN has scored it "Amazing" with a 9.5/10 rating. Order via Amazon and get it for next day delivery.
- Fallout 4 (PS4) - £34.99 on SimplyGames
Here’s EA’s Fix For Star Wars Battlefront PS4 UE Errors
Electronic Arts has acknowledged an issue for Star Wars Battlefront players attempting to play via codes they have purchased with their PlayStation 4 Deluxe or Ultimate Editions.
We're aware that some users are having trouble accessing Star Wars Battlefront. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) November 17, 2015
"Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe and Ultimate Edition players on PlayStation 4 receive an error reading 'To use this application, you must update it. To check the download status of the update file, select
Button Remapping Rolls Out to Standard Xbox One Controllers
Button remapping support is now available for standard Xbox One controllers, Microsoft announced today, as a recent addition to the New Xbox One Experience.
Xbox One users with first-party wireless and third-party wired controllers can directly apply their own custom mapping via the Xbox Accessories App. Controller remapping can also be accessed through Kinect and Devices or Ease of access under Settings.
According to the Major Nelson blog, standard controller users can swap button pairs: “For example, if you choose to map LB to X, then X is automatically mapped to LB. This maintains that all buttons are always mapped on a standard controller. You can do multiple button swaps in sequence to move button commands to where you want them to be on the controller.”
Here’s What Fallout 3 Could Have Been
Before it found a home at Bethesda, Fallout 3 was under the guiding hand of Interplay, and as many fans know it was destined to be a very, very different game.
At a recent presentation at NYU Game Center's Practice 2015 conference (as reported by Polygon), designer Chris Avellone went into some depth on Interplay's Fallout 3, then code-named Fallout 3: Van Buren.
Van Buren was originally conceived as a cinematic, turn-based game, which made it a good fit for a pen-and-paper RPG play-test. During the presentation, Avellone revealed that Van Buren's companions would have been capable of independent decision-making which would "affect the other inhabitants of the in-game world", and players would eventually see the ramifications of their companion's decisions as they progressed through the game. He also revealed that your protagonist would be an accused criminal, travelling with a "group" of companions.
First Need for Speed Update Will Address Rubber-Band AI, Add Neons
Need for Speed developer Ghost Games has confirmed what players can expect from the game’s first update, which is due before the end of November, via a new post on the Need for Speed website.
One of the most significant tweaks will address Need for Speed’s imperfect catch-up AI, which Ghost Games’ Ben Walke noted was “one of the big talking points” following the game’s release earlier this month.
Other fixes will include new wrap editor features, rear-view mirror functionality, a first look at neons, a REP increase from 50 to 60, and Ken Block’s ‘Hoonicorn’ and Shinichi Morohoshi’s custom Diablo gifted upon completion of their respective narrative threads.
MST3K Kickstarter Meets Goal
The Kickstarter for the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000 has reached its goal of $2 million USD, and it still has 25 days left in its fundraising campaign.
On November 10, show co-creator Joel Hodgson announced the MST3K Kickstarter and its initial goal of $2 million. That amount was earmarked for 3 all-new, feature length episodes of the show.
Stretch goals include more episodes, with the $5.5 million goal meaning Hodgson and his crew can put out 12 totally new episodes of the greatest movie-riffing, sci-fi prop-comedy show to ever have existed.
Hodgson, whose affable, sleepy charm drove the show through the Mitchell episode, took to Twitter to thank the show's backers, saying "I knew it was coming, but I still can’t believe it. Thanks to 18,328 of you, MST3K lives again."
Microtransaction System Returns to Forza Motorsport 6
Forza’s microtransaction-based ‘Token’ system has been introduced in Forza Motorsport 6 and players will be able to purchase and use tokens to acquire in-game items like cars and Mod packs, explains Turn 10’s Brian Ekberg.
Prices range from 100 tokens for USD$1 to USD$100 for 20,000 tokens.
Forza’s Token system is a secondary currency that was first introduced in Forza Motorsport 4 but is only useful to players who want to buy certain cars for their career garage immediately rather than earn and generate their in-game credits via normal play.
Traditional players who are only interested in building their in-game bank balance by racing (and do not want to see the token feature in any of Forza 6’s menus) will have the option to disable this feature from appearing by turning tokens off in the HUD options.