Author: dpugh007

2K revealed the PC system requirements for BioShock: The Collection on Steam today–you can see them in full at the bottom of the article. Additionally, the publisher detailed upgrade instructions for players who bought the Games for Windows Live versions of the first two games.

If you own BioShock and/or BioShock 2 on Steam, then you’ll receive the remastered versions upon their release. However, things get a little more complicated for those with Games for Windows Live copies. For the original BioShock, you’ll need to submit a ticket to 2K Support with a scan of the original receipt, a confirmation email, or some other way to prove your purchase.

Getting the remastered version of BioShock 2, on the other hand, is much simpler: just enter your Games for Windows Live key into Steam, and the game will be added to your library.

If you want to play the original version of either game, then there’s good news. Both the remastered and original will be in your library; the single Steam listing for each game also includes both versions. BioShock Infinite is not included in the remasters on PC “because it already meets current-gen console standards and runs smoothly on high visual settings.”

BioShock: The Collection releases for PS4 and Xbox One on September 13, while the Steam versions will go live on September 15 at 3 PM PT.

Total Storage Space:

• BioShock: 25 GB
• BioShock 2: 25 GB
• BioShock Infinite: 20 GB
• Total for all three games: 70 GB

Minimum System Specs:

• OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
• Processor: Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHZ
• Memory: 4 GB
• GPU: DirectX11 Compatible, AMD Radeon HD 7770 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 560

Recommended System Specs:

• OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
• Processor: 3 GHz Quad-Core
• Memory: 8 GB
• Video Card: 2 GB ATI Radeon HD 7970, 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 or better

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Persona 5 may be months away from launch in the West, but it’s just days away in Japan. As such, Japanese PlayStation Store listings are now live for the PS4 and PS3 versions with screenshots of each, giving us a good look at how the two compare.

Until now, we’d only seen the PS4 version; game companies typically show off the best-looking versions of their games until late in the pre-release cycle. That can result in disappointment for those playing on older hardware, but it may not be the case here.

At least based on the three screenshots from each version we have, Persona 5 looks good even on the 10-year-old PS3. Take a look at the comparison shots above and below to see the differences; the PS4 version is on the left in each. You can see the PlayStation Store listings (via DualShockers) for PS4 and PS3 here and here.

Video and hands-on impressions of the PS3 version may reveal the gap is larger than the screenshots suggest–the frame rate and load times could be worse, visual effects may be reduced, or–gasp—those beautiful menus might not be quite so slick. But based on what we can see here, playing the PS3 version of Persona 5 may not be as unfortunate as some perhaps expected.

Persona 5 launches in Japan on September 15. It’s due out in North America and Europe on February 14.

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Among the new features in Destiny‘s upcoming Rise of Iron expansion is an item-customization option called Ornaments. Despite sounding like something that hangs off of your weapon or armor, Ornaments are essentially new skins for items, and now Bungie is showing off what they look like on a selection of weapons.

The company began sharing images on Instagram today of the different looks that Ornaments make possible for some of Destiny’s new and existing Exotic weapons. Those posted so far include Telesto, Monte Carlo, Trespasser, Invective, and Khvostov, which is the starter weapon from the very beginning of Destiny that’s been turned into an Exotic for Rise of Iron.

We’ll continue to update this post as more images are shared. It sounds as if we’ll only be seeing Ornaments applied to weapons today, based on a tweet from the official Destiny account.

This week saw the release of update 2.4.0 for Destiny, which introduced a lot of weapon balance changes. It also includes much of the content that will be unlocked when Rise of Iron launches later this month, on September 20. You can, however, get your hands on one of Rise of Iron’s new Exotic weapons–the aforementioned Trespasser–right now.

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Some significant changes are coming to Hearthstone‘s Arena mode, beginning with the removal of several dozen cards.

In a blog post that deems Arena “a fun environment that could use some overall balance tuning,” game designer Dean Ayala explained what Blizzard sees as its problems and how it intends to begin resolving them.

“One goal we have for Arena is that we want it to feel meaningfully different from any other way you might play Hearthstone,” he said. “I think we’re hitting that goal now, but it’s important for us to keep that in mind when thinking about future changes. Variety among all game modes is important to us, but an equally important goal is to have a wide range of experiences within each game mode. This is an area where we feel Arena has some room for improvement.”

When starting out an Arena run, Blizzard doesn’t want you to pick your class based on what’s considered to be the most powerful one. Ayala admits Mage and Rogue have been among the most powerful, followed by Paladin, and then everything else in some order.

“So what are some ways we can address Arena balance?” Ayala continued. “Tools that we have available immediately involve removing cards from Arena completely–C’Thun-synergy cards and Purify are examples of this. We’d like to avoid removing strong spells and weapons from the Arena, because they add to a lot of the unpredictability and excitement surrounding the possibilities outside the current board state.

“We’d also like to avoid removing iconic cards, since they are generally versatile and familiar tools to veteran and new Arena players alike. Additionally, we can remove lower-performing cards in order to make room for a class’s more commonly utilized cards to show up more often in your Arena draft.”

This is the thought process Blizzard is bringing to the game with an upcoming patch, which will remove cards belonging to eight of the game’s nine classes (Paladin being the exception). You can find those at the bottom of this post; they include Priest’s Mind Blast, Hunter’s Starving Buzzard, and Mage’s Forgotten Torch.

Blizzard has further plans to continue improving Arena, but it doesn’t sound like those are coming just yet.

“We’re looking to develop additional solutions to balance Arena as well, such as the ability to adjust the rate that individual cards show up in your draft depending on a designer input value,” Ayala said. “If we pursue that route, there is still the matter of deciding on the best way to go about using that tool to achieve balance for each of the nine classes and still have Arena feel fun and different each run.

“Drafting by card rarity is another discussion that we’ve been hearing a lot. If it’s a matter of balance, we’re fairly confident the ability to adjust the ‘weights’ of cards available can solve that.”

Ayala said Blizzard will keep an eye on the changes it’s making in this update and wants fans to share their feedback with the company.

The cards being removed from Arena follow below.

Mage

• Forgotten Torch
• Snowchugger
• Faceless Summoner

Rogue

• Goblin Auto Barber
• Undercity Valiant

Paladin

• No changes

Shaman

• Vitality Totem
• Dust Devil
• Totemic Might
• Ancestral Healing
• Dunemaul Shaman
• Windspeaker

Warlock

• Anima Golem
• Sacrificial Pact
• Curse of Rafaam
• Sense Demons
• Void Crusher
• Reliquary Seeker
• Succubus

Druid

• Savagery
• Poison Seeds
• Soul of the Forest
• Mark of Nature
• Tree of Life
• Astral Communion

Warrior

• Warsong Commander
• Bolster
• Charge
• Bouncing Blade
• Axe Flinger
• Rampage
• Ogre Warmaul

Hunter

• Starving Buzzard
• Call Pet
• Timber Wolf
• Cobra Shot
• Lock and Load
• Dart Trap
• Snipe

Priest

• Mind Blast
• Shadowbomber
• Lightwell
• Power Word: Glory
• Confuse
• Convert
• Inner Fire

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