Hitman 2 is on the brink of release, but it looks like Warner Bros has bigger plans for Agent 47. According to two new ratings spotted on PEGI’s website, Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution will be making their way to PS4.
Blood Money is regarded as one of the best games in the series to this day, although the most recent entry gives it some stiff competition. Absolution isn’t quite so fondly remembered, despite doing rather well critically. As for the PS4 ratings, there’s no indication of when the games will be coming. It’s possible that these games tie into the publisher’s plans for Hitman 2, so we’ll probably hear more about these re-releases soon.
You can’t call yourself a multiplayer shooter unless you have a battle royale mode these days, and so free-to-play PlayStation 4 title Warface has launched its own. The mode supports a 32 players per match, and you’ve just got to give the accompanying trailer a watch, if only for the music. Incredible.
Have you given Warface a shot? Get your teenage angst on in the comments section below.
For those of you still hooked on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and its trio of multiplayer flavours, Activision has a way for you to stay in the game. A free companion app has just been released for both iOS and Android, and it allows you to keep tabs on all sorts of bits and pieces from the main game.
Using the app, you’ll be able to create and manage squads with other players, and completing objectives will net you in-game rewards. You can also manage your loadouts, and get a rundown on how your friends are doing in Black Ops 4. There’s also a breakdown of your own performance that provides tips and gameplay analysis to help you improve. A news feed will keep you up to date on in-game events, patch notes, and more.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one week old today, which means that by this point, many of you will have no doubt sunk a lot of hours into the open world adventure. But has Red Dead Redemption 2 lived up to the hype? Does it deserve all those 10/10 review scores? Let’s find out.
Grab your explosive rubber ducks, as it’s almost time for Hitman 2. The sequel to the brilliant Hitman is looking just as good and absolutely packed to the gills with things to do. Ahead of the game’s launch on 13th November, a new trailer has been released, and it stars Sean Bean once again. Of course, he dies thanks to a poisoned drink, which is kinda perfect.
The trailer doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know, but it’s worth a watch if you’re excited for Agent 47’s latest excursion. Will you be getting Hitman 2? Put on your best disguise in the comments below.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).
Red Dead Online is set to kick off in the coming weeks. But with such a massive open-world to explore in Red Dead Redemption 2‘s single-player story, why should you be excited about the game’s online mode?
Rockstar’s open-world Western game, a prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, was released to wide critical acclaim and is basically all anyone in our office – or yours, probably – has been talking about for weeks.
While you might expect an online mode to be live from the game’s launch, it makes sense for Rockstar to want you to focus on the main story – and boy is there a lot of it – before waltzing into a less narrative-driven multiplayer experience.
Rockstar has proved itself at converting a massive single-player game into a lively online experience, as shown in the launch of GTA Online in 2013, which has become almost as massive a phenomenon as the mainline GTA V game it spun off from.
So what can you expect from Red Dead Online, and when does the beta actually launch?
Cut to the chase
What is it? The online component of Rockstar’s open-world Western
What can I play it on? PS4 or Xbox One
When can I play it? The beta launches in November, with the full release likely in 2019
Red Dead Online beta access
Yes, Rockstar are easing in with a beta – the company warns to expect “turbulence” at launch while optimizes the gameplay – but it’s a public beta, and we’re going to get our first good look at what this means very soon.
The Red Dead Online beta is set to launch sometime in November, and anyone with a PS4 or Xbox One copy of the game will be able to access it.
This is likely to lead to a full launch shortly after. That may mean it comes in December, or we may have to wait until early 2019 to play the full online game.
Red Dead Online multiplayer
So what will Red Dead Redemption 2 Online look like?
An official announcement for the online service read: “Using the gameplay of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 as a foundation, Red Dead Online will be ready to be explored alone or with friends, and will also feature constant updates and adjustments to grow and evolve this experience for all players.”
There’s not much else to go on, other than the online mode from Rockstar’s other massive open-world property. If it’s anything like GTA Online, we’re going to see targeted quests and missions in an alternative game world, with freer customization and actions without the same long-term narrative consequences.
Playing with friends or matchmaking with strangers is a given, though we could see servers restricting player numbers below GTA Online’s 30 for a more curated feel.
We imagine the game will stay comparatively grounded, and not veer too much from the central game experience. We can envisage saloons where you play poker and start fights with other players, and we can see quickly descend into bottle-over-the-head chaos.
The option of challenging players to quick-fire duels, or pulling heists and train robberies with your posse – with new missions like these added with regular updates – is likely to form a big part of the appeal too.
Red Dead Online: what we want to see
Character customization
Red Dead Redemption 2’s protagonist Arthur Morgan already allows an immense level of detail in how he dresses and styles his appearance. Opening up a character creation tool for the online mode seems like a natural step, meaning you can make a cowboy avatar that truly feels like you. The option to play as a woman seems like a no-brainer, too.
All the minigames
We definitely hope the minigames will be playable online with your friends – card games, knife games, drinking games, and all that other wholesome fun you cowboys get up to.
One of the things we love about Read Dead Redemption 2 is the thoughtful pace – so we’re hoping the online mode doesn’t go too octane for the rustic cowboy setting. We want to take a slow trot to the saloon before beating our friends at poker, or lying in the undergrowth while we wait to rob an incoming train – not a 6v6 deathmatch on flaming ponies.
Maybe some zombies though
Okay, as much as we love the core Read Dead experience, the last game’s Undead Nightmare DLC was a fantastic adventure in its own right, raising the dead in what felt like a serious Western blended with a camp horror movie. It was too good an experiment not to resurrect this time around – we hope.
Cross-platform play
We haven’t seen cross-platform play for a Rockstar game before, though the CEO Strauss Zelnick has been open about his desire to overcome traditional console distinctions for online play.
We’d love to see PS4 and Xbox One owners play out in the wild west together, though Sony have also proven themselves a stickler on this point in the past – even if it eventually succumbed to pressure on Fortnite cross-platform play.
Some further evidence of a potential Zelda mobile title – as well as a Donkey Kong game – has surfaced via Destructoid in the form of a pair of trademark filings. Specifically, Japanese Nintendo has trademarked the phrases “Spirit Tracks” and “Mario vs Donkey Kong”.
While trademark filings aren’t hard evidence of an impending mobile release, they were filed under the category of “program for home video game machine, downloadable video game program, and program for smartphones”, which bodes well.
We have seen some console games in recent years launch with companion apps for mobile, so it may be a case of one, or both, of these titles landing in some way on the Nintendo Switch or 3DS systems and receiving such an app.
In fact, it could result in any combination of releases on Nintendo’s current systems, as the category in which it’s filed under is broad enough to avoid specifics, but here’s to hoping we’ll get some more mobile action from Nintendo.
Spirit Tracks was a Legend of Zelda title that released on the Nintendo DS and heavily relied on the use of its stylus as an input device – re-arranging puzzles, wielding special weapons, and so on – all of which could be mechanics that translate well to the touchscreen interface of a smartphone.
Similarly, the Mario vs Donkey Kong series largely revolves around puzzles and platforming and could well be remade for mobile. While this would be the mobile debut for Donkey Kong, Mario has already made quite the splash with Super Mario Run.
Let us find you the cheapest Xbox Live Gold deals for 12-month memberships right here with our price comparison technology that searches through loads of retailers to bring you the best price whatever region you’re in.
After all we’re confident we can beat those auto-renew Xbox Live Gold prices of $60 in the US, £40 in UK or $79.95 in Australia. We see prices cheaper than this throughout the year and we’re in the best place to spot any discounts.
So as you’re probably all too aware, as with past consoles in the Xbox lineup, the Xbox One also requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription in order to play games online. It’s not all bad though, as Microsoft took a note from Sony’s similar PlayStation Plus offering and now gives out free games each month to members. You currently get two for the Xbox One and two Xbox 360 games to play on the old console or your Xbox One via its backwards-compatible feature.
You don’t get as many free games as Sony’s PS Plus service, but Microsoft’s Xbox Live service is generally seen as the more stable and reliable network of the two – although Sony’s PSN has been fine of late. You’ll also get Xbox One Gold member-exclusive discounts in the many sales on the Xbox Live store.
The cheapest Xbox Live Gold deals
We generally find that CDKeys is one of the cheapest prices to buy a 12-month Xbox Live Gold deal, but technical gremlins sometimes mean the prices don’t show up in our comparison chart below. Feel free to check the following CDKeys links though, just to make sure you’re getting the best Xbox Live Gold deal. Prices are usually hovering around £32-£36 in the UK and $43-$48 in the USand$60-$65 in Australia.
If you’d prefer to go down the official route, you can buy directly from Microsoft’s website. There are discounts sometimes, but we generally find prices stick to the full RRP. If you’d like to take a look, that’d be $59.99 in the US or £39.99 in the UK or $79.95 in Australia.
You can also get a shorter three-month Xbox Live Gold subscription. However, we don’t think this represents as good value as the cost per month works out much higher. If you want to dip your toe into the world of online gaming though, this is a good place to start, and doesn’t commit you to a full year. It’s worth checking if you could get a free month-long trial directly from your Xbox menu first though.
What are the free Xbox Games with Gold this month?
We’ve got you covered. Each month we update the list of extensive freebies for the Xbox Live Games with Gold promotion. Why not bookmark the page below to make sure you never miss out?
Update: Have the announcements finally stopped? A Nintendo Direct on November 1 seemingly revealed the final two launch fighters – Street Fighter’s Ken and the Pokemon Incineroar – with promises that more new fighters would appear in paid DLC packs throughout 2019, and maybe even beyond.
We’ve run through everything else – including some limited edition bundles – in our news and rumors section below…
Nintendo scared us for a minute. After going one full year without hearing a peep about a new Super Smash Bros. game, we had almost given up hope.
And then, on that fateful Nintendo Direct, Nintendo dropped the news: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the next generation of the series that’s coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. Details were scant then, but we knew enough to get excited.
By now we know that it’s a honest-to-goodness new entry in the genre, not a remake or a port from the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS, and that it will include every fighter ever included in a Smash game – yes, even the third-party DLC characters from the last game.
In addition to the massive roster of returning characters, Nintendo surprised us with three new fighters exclusive to Ultimate that include Ridley, Inkling and Daisy, plus King K. Rool and Simon and Richter Belmont of Castlevania fame. Alongside the E3 reveal of the space pirate Ridley, there’s a lot of fan service going on, and we’re very here for it.
The latter is part of Super Smash Bros’ new Echo Fighter system wherein it takes a fighter from the roster – in this case Peach – and reworks their abilities for a different play-style. The result is a character that’s different, but familiar.
There will be new items and maps to go along with the characters, plus hundreds of mechanical tweaks that Series Director Masahiro Sakurai is overseeing personally.
Ultimate might seem a bit overzealous, but this is the closest we’re ever going to get to a complete collection and one that has some serious eSports potential.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The fifth entry in the vaunted Nintendo fighting game series
When can I play it? December 7, 2018
What can I play it on? Nintendo Switch
Super Smash Bros Ultimate – release date
Following the E3 2018 Nintendo Direct, we know Super Smash Bros will come out on December 7, 2018.
Not only is the base game available that day, but so is the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Switch bundle that includes a download code for game, the console, a customized docking station and a special controller – starting on November 2, 2018.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate – trailers
At E3 2018, a majority of the Nintendo Direct live stream was dedicated to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. At just over 25 minutes, this is a long reveal and you can watch it below:
Here’s the initial teaser from the March 2018 Nintendo Direct and it’s a good one. You can watch it below:
Every character that has ever appeared in Super Smash Bros is coming back to the Switch version. Every single one. Nintendo has so far announced over 60 characters including the return of Ice Climbers as a duo and Pichu from Super Smash Bros Melee. We’ll also see returning crossover characters like Sonic and Solid Snake.
The first new characters to be announced were the Inkling from the Splatoon series and space pirate Ridley from the Metroid series – the latter of which looks to be a very aerial-focused character with dive bomb moves.
Available as both a boy or girl character (with dozens of clothing and style choices), the Inkling’s attacks all revolve around the different weapons available in Splatoon, while inked opponents will take more damage from attacks. Users will also have to press the B button while their shield is up to reload their inking ammo.
A more recent Nintendo Direct also introduced Castlevania’s vampire hunter Simon Belmont, featuring his iconic whip and an exploding vial of holy water, with Alucard Son of Dracula featuring as an otherworldly assist trophy. We also caught a glimpse of the hulking crocodile villain King K. Rool from the original Donkey King Country games, and Isabelle from Animal Crossing.
There’ll be DLC
The most recent Nintendo Direct on November 1 added in Street Fighter’s Ken and the fire-fighting type Pokemon Incineroar as the final two fighters – rounding out the list to 74. But Nintendo also announced five pieces of DLC roughly planned for the next year, either $5.99 per pack or $24.99 (around £20 / AU$35) for the whole lot, each with a brand-new fighter with a bonus stage and additional music tracks.
Those who pre-order the game will even get the dastardly Pirahna Plant as another fighter sometime in the new year – see below – so it seems like there’s plenty surprises still to come.
The World of Light
We now have a lot more info on the game’s Adventure Mode, which will see you battling evil replicas of the roster’s other fighters to free them from a mysterious force.
The premise is that everyone on Earth has been removed from the physical world – except you, naturally – and has to have their spirits reunited in their bodies in a spiritual plane called ‘the world of light’. There was a sneaky hint of this in a Nintendo Direct over the summer, which saw a literal Grim Reaper ‘reap’ Luigi’s soul, but the game naturally avoids questions of actual mortality.
This ties in with a separate ‘Spirit Mode’, where you battle to free the spirits of other Nintendo or third-party characters, and then use them to enhance your own battle stats and sway the tide of battle in your favor. It shouldn’t change the core Smash experience too much, or replace the Assist Trophies, but will add another layer of tactics – and collectibles – to the game.
So many stages
Smash Bros Ultimate is set to almost double the number of stages seen in recent games. We’re being treated to a total 103 distinct stages, up from 56 from the Wii U game – with additional variations depending on how you want the environment to behave.
New stages include Dracula’s Castle from the Castlevania series, and even New Donk City Hall from Super Mario Odyssey – complete with the city’s singing band to underscore the action.
There’ll also be a new Stage Morph mode, which allows players to teleport their fighters to a new location halfway through a match.
New items, new looks, new Pokemon
It wouldn’t be Smash Bros without countless incremental changes – and this game sticks to the trend.
Some of the new items include a single-shot Banana Gun, a Death’s Scythe that does more damage to low-health fighters, and a Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom that temporarily reverses your enemy’s control system.
Knuckles, Shovel Knight, and the evil moon from Majora’s Mask will be joining the list of Assist Trophies – while the long-necked Alolan Exeggutor can now be summoned from a Pokeball to awkwardly split the battle stage in half, which we think is hysterical.
All the classic characters have also received overhauls to their look or moveset. Here are just a few of the new changes to veteran smashers:
Samus: New Dark Samus echo fighter, for being evil
Mario: Throwable Odyssey hat, added wedding and builder outfits
Ike: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn versions added with different voices
Pikachu: New female appearance with heart-shaped tail to choose from
Fox: Landmaster final smash has been replaced with a straight to the point attack
Falco: New final smash calls in a spaceship attack
Marth: Dancing blade is faster
Pac-Man: Faster overall thanks to a speed boost
Villager: Users can now choose from eight different characters
Compatible with the GameCube controller
In case you were curious, you will indeed be able to play the game with a GameCube controller. Nintendo has announced a special ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Limited Edition’ in Europe, which will include a copy of the game alongside a dedicated GameCube controller and adaptor – no doubt appeasing the nostalgia of those who grew up playing on the earlier Nintendo system, or who just want a more traditional controller layout.
The US version will instead pack in a Switch Pro Controller with a special Smash Bros design, with a black steelbook case for the game cartridge.
Masahiro Sakurai is on board
The series creator of Super Smash Bros, Masahiro Sakurai, confirmed back in March that he was working on the newly announced Nintendo Switch title.
Sakurai said in a tweet (via Siliconera) that he’s been “quietly working on it day after day”, asking for fans to “please wait until we can reveal its content, or until the time of its release!!”
Sakurai’s involvement is unsurprising, but promising given that he’s been involved with every other Super Smash Bros release.
A port or something more?
There was much debate about whether the new Super Smash Bros would be a wholly new game, or a ‘deluxe’ re-release of Super Smash Bros 4 (the one that appeared simultaneously on Wii U and 3DS in 2014).
The latter wouldn’t have been surprising, given that Nintendo had been porting a lot of games from the unloved Wii U console such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Pokkén Tournament onto the Switch, albeit as more fleshed-out or ‘definitive’ versions.
We now know Ultimate is a brand new entry of its own, while working to bring together everything – and everyone – we loved from the previous games. The new Switch console is the most powerful bit of hardware Nintendo has ever released, so we’re hugely excited to see what a dedicated Smash game can do on the console.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate – what other characters will appear?
As we mentioned, the previous entry in the series had 58 characters (including on-disc ones and DLC) and that’s been upped to 74.
A recent Super Smash Bros Ultimate leak suggested the remaining fighters may include Shadow the Hedgehog and Street Fighter’s Ken, as well as Rare’s beloved Banjo-Kazooie, and even Geno (Geno!) from the little-known Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Aside from Ken, however, none of these have been confirmed – though the news of DLC packs down the line are keeping open a lot of other possibilities.
We could see some off-the-wall additions as well. Could Skyrim’s arrival on Nintendo Switch mean we’ll see the classic look of the Dovahkiin in the new Smash Bros? Those dragon shouts would certainly come in useful.
Then again, now that we know Crash Bandicoot is coming to the console we’d love to see him appear in game. His wild spin is made for Smash Bros and we can see a TNT-themed special move. And we certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rabbid rabbits after the success of their joint venture with Mario in 2017.
Naturally fans have characters they’d love to see appear in the game. One character who’s been a top request for years now is Dragon Ball Z’s Goku and demands are making the rounds again. This time, however, Funimation is in on the act and the company has even sent a tweet to Nintendo asking when Goku will make his debut.
Another character request is a more recent one but we love it just as much – LaboMan. Inspired by the small cardboard man who appeared in the trailer for the upcoming Nintendo Labo accessory, Javed L Sterritt designed LaboMan and animated him for a Smash Bros appearance. His main move would be to sling the Joy-Con on his back at enemies but he’ll also be able to transform into the Labo piano for a super smash. LaboMan would be a different addition to the roster but an adorable and on-brand one to be sure.
Will there be eSports?
eSports is an ever-growing field and Super Smash Bros would certainly be an excellent title for Nintendo to make a splash. The series has a hardline community following, and the videos of fans screaming at the game’s announcement make it clear there would be an audience for competitive play. It’d also be a great way to show what Nintendo’s full online service can do when it launches in September.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate has now announced its full roster of 74 launch fighters
More significantly, Japan has started to reduce the regulations around paid tournaments which has stopped eSports flourishing in the country so it’s possible that Nintendo may warm to this kind of play.
Nintendo has already been running tournaments at hands-on demos, with a conciliatory air to the eSports scene. Historically its been rather cautious when it comes to eSports, but times are rapidly changing and online streaming is becoming intricately tied with a game’s success – just look at PUBG, Fortnite and Sea of Thieves.
With Nintendo already Super Smash Bros is looking likely to be the title that will see Nintendo to start taking the genre more seriously.
