BOSTON–At PAX East 2015 this weekend, developers behind Just Cause 3 explained why they have released plenty of screenshots for the open-world game, but no gameplay. Game director Roland Lesterlin said Avalanche doesn’t want to show gameplay until they are sure what fans see will blow them away.
“We wanted to do everything in the right way,” Lesterlin said, adding that Avalanche is currently putting the final touches and polish on gameplay.
“We’re all gamers, too,” he added. “We’ve spent many years working on this, pouring our heart and soul, and the first time you see it, we want you to say, ‘Wow, that’s awesome, we can’t wait for that.’”
Lesterlin went on to say Just Cause 3 publisher Square Enix has been supportive of Avalanche’s decision to keep gameplay under wraps so far.
Also during the Just Cause 3 PAX East panel, art director Zach Schlappi said early films from Transformers director Michael Bay inspired the art of the game. The first couple Transformers movies showed cars as gleamy and reflective, and Bay wasn’t afraid to use color and daylight to amplify the explosions and chaos.
“A lot of the same principles also could be in our world,” Schlappi said.
Lords of the Fallen, the Dark-souls style role-playing game from CI Games, added its first expansion this week. The Ancient Labyrinth DLC is available now across console and PC. Expect new enemies, weapons, rewards, and more in the content, said to span about 2 hours.
Social gaming giant Zynga, whose financial fortunes have lessened of late, has announced what sounds like an incredibly ambitious mobile game called Dawn of Titans. Created by NaturalMotion, which Zynga acquired last year, the game lets you control thousands of units. Check out a video [here] and read the first details here.
Paradox Interactive announced this week that Magicka 2 will be released for PC and PlayStation 4 on May 26, 2015. PC preorders are open now, while PS4 preorders should open soon. Magicka 2 will cost $15 on both PC and PS4 when released.
3D Realms is back. The company this week released a new trailer for Bombshell. Check it out here.
Former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling has offered a new statement on the fallout surrounding his failed video game company, 38 Studios. In an impassioned blog post, Schilling said: “I can assure you that when this settles itself you will see and hear things A) You never thought possible and B) That will make you understand from the 1st day I never even hinted at doing anything illegal or underhanded.” Read his full blog post here.
After a short, one-week delay, Activision and Sledgehammer Games have released Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s first expansion, Havoc, for PC. The DLC comes with new maps, weapons, and even a brand new Zombies mode starring John Malkovich and other celebs.
Infinite Crisis, the upcoming MOBA from Boston-based developer Turbine, will launch March 26 on Steam, the studio announced this week. The game is set in DC Comics’ iconic multiverse, featuring a range of famous heroes and villains.
Disney is celebrating three years of Marvel: Avengers Alliance by offering new story-based quests and more for the Facebook game. Anyone who plays the new “Taco Party” mission will be given a chance to unlock special anniversary armor, gain three gold, and earn a free comic code. The offer is good for a limited time only. See more here.
New DLC is now available for Sega’s acclaimed horror game Alien: Isolation. Grab the latest expansion, “The Trigger,” today on console and PC. The expansion tasks players to fight against the clock to survive on three new maps for the game’s Survivor mode. It’s included with the $30 Alien: Isolation DLC pass or you can buy it by itself for $8.
In addition to Xbox One, inXile’s role-playing game Wasteland 2 is now coming to PlayStation 4, it was announced this week during the Game Developers Conference. Both the Xbox One and PS4 editions will be released this summer. The game, originally funded through Kickstarter, is already available on PC.
Outspoken developer Jonathan Blow, who created Braid, has chimed in with another interesting quote. “All games are basically porn,” he says in this excellent new Vanity Fair story. Full disclosure, it was written by a former GameSpot editor.
DLC alert! Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios have announced the latest expansion for racing game Forza Horizon 2. Available now on Xbox One is the Rockstar Energy Car Pack, featuring a sweet of new rides. See all the cars here. The DLC is available now for $5.
Upcoming role-playing game Kingdom Come: Deliverance, whose main hook is that it doesn’t have any fantasy elements, continues to look stunning. Case in point: this video.
Former Call of Duty developer Robert Bowling has a new job. After his studio, Robotoki, closed down earlier this year, it was revealed this week that he’s now joined Humble Bundle as its vice president of creative. Read more about the news here.
Sunset Overdrive’s final piece of DLC has been revealed. Learn all about it in the latest episode of Sunset TV here.
After lackluster initial Xbox One sales in Japan, Microsoft has rolled out a series of new promotions to help get things going. Part of that, according to DualShockers, is discounted games, controllers, and more. Read more about it here.
A new study from The Open Gaming Alliance released this week predicted that the PC games industry will rise to new heights in the next few years. The study, conducted in association with DFC Intelligence, forecasts all major areas of the PC gaming industry to grow thru 2018. Preliminary estimates indicate that the PC industry will grow from $26 billion in 2014 to $35 billion by 2018.
Dell is continuing to offer a $25 gift card with the preorder of certain games, including Bloodborne and Mario Party 10.
GOG’s Double Insomnia sale is ongoing, discounting more than 150 games and offering select games free of charge for a limited time. Read about how it works here.
Below you’ll find the rest of today’s best deals divided by platform:
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot’s gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site. Got questions? Email news@gamespot.com or ask us in the comments!
The story of the original Final Fantasy and its name is well known: Hironobu Sakaguchi created the game and titled it as such because he planned to leave the games industry if it didn’t sell well. It did perform strongly, and Sakaguchi went on to make, well, quite a few follow-ups.
Sakaguchi was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at this week’s Game Developers Choice Awards. To celebrate the occasion, Mega64 put together a hilarious video recapping how Square may have gotten him to make so many Final Fantasy games despite his dream of becoming a hip-hop artist. You can watch it above.
Update: A Sony spokesperson told GameSpot, “The next PS4 system software update will be released soon, and its features are currently being processed for quality assurance. We will have more information on the update to share shortly.”
Original Story: The long-awaited PlayStation 4 suspend/resume feature is currently being beta tested by PlayStation fans, according to images that have been published online.
A Sony email posted on Imgur (via NeoGAF) reveals the company’s new beta testing program for PS4 system updates. Invites are being sent out to PlayStation MVPs.
Unlike Microsoft’s Xbox preview program, participants in Sony’s beta have to agree to a confidentiality agreement that prevents them from sharing details of the test. Of course, that hasn’t proven effective, as images of the first update in the test–the 2.50 firmware–have been posted on Twitter.
Photo credit: @Heleius
The primary feature in the update is the ability to put your system into Rest mode without having to close out of any game or app you have open. “The system can now enter rest mode without closing any applications,” read the update notes. “You can adjust this setting in [Power Save Settings] > [Set Functions Available in Rest Mode].” This is something that can be done on Xbox One, allowing you to play a game, put the system into standby, and then immediately pick up where you left off next time you’re on the console.
This functionality was discussed way back in February 2013, when the PS4 was first announced. Sony has repeatedly said it’s still committed to delivering the feature, but had not offered any timeline for when it would do so.
New accessibility options, such as options for zooming and reassigning button assignments, are also a part of the 2.50 beta. Other additions include the ability to delete Trophy entries for games where you have not unlocked any, and 60fps support for Share Play, according to Twitter user Wario64.
GameSpot has contacted Sony to find out more about the beta program. We’ll report back with anything we learn.
Continuing the trend of providing great gaming experiences all year long and not limiting big releases to just the fall, February had a lot of strong contenders for game of the month. Grow Home was a beautiful platforming adventure with wide open spaces to explore. The Multiplayer #IDARB provided a ridiculous level of character customization and a way to play co-op with friends whether they were fighting against you or affecting your game through social media.
But the titles that ate up the most of our collective office time were Evolve and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. While both games involved partnering up with a group of like-minded gamers and taking down oversized monsters, that’s about where the similarities ended. Evolve had a great pedigree, coming from the team behind Left 4 Dead. The different classes were distinct and memorable, while providing unique ways to approach each of the game’s nightmarish beasts. And the chance to play as the monster and compete either with or against your friends was an exciting evolution of the group vs. group dynamic from L4D.
But MH4U came out on top in the end. As a series, Monster Hunter has had a long history of incredible success in Japan, but none of the games have ever caught on in the West with similar fervor. MH4U still has the most potential to change that trend. Getting to the good stuff (i.e. hunting big monsters on your own), and understanding how all the game’s different system’s work together is now a streamlined process with easy-to-understand tutorials and early quests that involve a lot more than just looking for mushrooms.
More importantly, you’re no longer limited to local multiplayer for hunting with a group. You can still group up with people sitting around you, but the 3DS version also opens up the ability for online co-op. And even if you don’t have a full group of real-life players, you can bring along up to two customizable Palico companions to fight with you.
That’s not even touching on the MH4U’s wonderfully pun-filled localization, the newly added jump functionality, the ability to mount monsters, and the robust array of customizable armor and weapons that are the series’ hallmark.
February had two great ways to hunt Monsters with your friends, but Monster Hunter’s customization options and hundreds of hours of content make it the game that you won’t be playing just for the month, you’re going to play it all year.
Ahead of their release next week, Rockstar has further detailed the online heists mode coming to Grand Theft Auto V.
As previously announced, each four-man group that attempts a heist will need to designate one player as a leader. This player will need to be at least rank 12, own a high-end apartment (one that’s equipped with the all-important planning board), and have the necessary cash to pay the upfront setup costs.
The leader will have the power to designate roles for all four players at different points. These might include serving as lookouts or bodyguards for someone buying information, or it could involve piloting a helicopter versus infiltrating some kind of building.
One important aspect of choosing a leader is that heist progress is only saved with that person. In other words, you’ll want someone reliable in that role.
Each of the five heists has what’s called an Elite Challenge. This is meant to be extremely difficult, but completing one “will yield a substantial cash bonus.” for the heist.
Unlike Elite Challenges, which can be completed repeatedly, Special Heist Completion bonuses are one-time-only achievements that reward you with bonus in-game cash.
The four special bonuses are as follows:
First Time: Completing each Heist Finale for the first time, will net you a bonus cash reward
All In Order Challenge: Complete all Heists in order, including Setups, to receive a $1,000,000 cash bonus
Loyalty Challenge: Complete all Heists, including Setups, with the same team of players to receive an additional $1,000,000 bonus
Criminal Mastermind Challenge: Complete all Heists, in order, with the same group of players, without losing any lives, to receive a massive $10,000,000 bonus
Rockstar suggests that players communicate with others using headsets, and that they ensure they have the proper gear. Special equipment will be provided as necessary, but coming equipped with suppressed weapons and RPGs is recommended, and having four-door vehicles with armor should prove useful.
“Have you ever tried VR porn?” Vander Caballero asked me. The video game developer was trying to convince me of VR’s potential to revolutionize intimacy. “Do you want to try it right now?”
At this year’s PAX East, there’s no problem at all with getting a bunch of Spartans together to have a good time. Maybe it’ll happen on the Xbox One eventually .
