Category: Gamespot

When The Last of Us launched back in 2013, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann established themselves as effectively the face of developer Naughty Dog. Together, they went on to lead development of Uncharted 4, further cementing their reputation as a directorial duo. But Straley left the studio after the game launched–and now we know why.

Appearing on Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast, Straley revealed that his departure was due to the stresses and pressure of Uncharted 4’s development. It was the first time that a project had felt more like an obligation to the team and company, rather than a passion project for himself.

“Uncharted 4 showed up and it was like, I guess there’s a difference between doing something for yourself which feels passionate–and I had my own theories that I was trying to expand upon between Uncharted 1, 2, and The Last of Us–and then Uncharted 4 became more like, ‘How do I do this for the team and for the company?’” he said.

Straley and Druckmann also had a relatively short timeframe to work on Uncharted 4, which further contributed to Straley’s feeling of burnout. They only had two years to work on the game; for comparison, their work on The Last of Us began in 2009, four years before its release.

“We needed to get the game out the door, and we needed it to be something good, so that it didn’t put a mark on the Naughty Dog name,” he said. “I felt like, I guess in hindsight I took on that role more for the team than for me personally… Two years to create that beast, that then became the hardest project [I had worked on].”

He explained that his break and later departure from the studio had “nothing to do with Naughty Dog, nothing to do with games.” Instead, his thought after Uncharted 4 launched was, “‘Oh my god, it’s time to take a break. It’s just time to step away.’”

Straley hasn’t announced what he’s working on, but he’s expressed excitement to continue the creative process. Neil Druckmann, meanwhile, remains at Naughty Dog and is leading up development on The Last of Us: Part II.

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Capcom’s final Monster Hunter World beta has gone live on PlayStation 4. The trial, as with previous Monster Hunter World betas, allows players to try the game for free before its final January 26 release date. However, despite the final game coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, this beta is–once again–only available on PS4.

The free beta is live now and runs until 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on January 21 (that’s 2 AM GMT / 12 PM AEST on January 22). If you’ve played one of the game’s other two betas, you can simply use the same client to play this one; those who haven’t played before will need to download the 5.5 GB client afresh.

Monster Hunter World’s first beta was conducted in early December, exclusively for PlayStation Plus subscribers on PS4. A second beta followed later in the month for all PS4 owners consisting of the same two areas and three monsters to hunt: the Great Jagras, Anjanath, and Barroth. All of that will be present in this final beta, but you’ll also get to square off against World’s flagship monster, the Nergigante.

Nergigante is an Elder Dragon and the monster featured on World’s box art. The full game also sees the return of several other Elder Dragons, as well as the introduction of some new ones, which are showcased in World’s new trailer.

Monster Hunter World launches for PS4 and Xbox One on January 26. It’s also headed to PC, with Capcom recently saying that version will arrive this fall. The PS4 version has gotten not only preferential treatment with betas, but it will also receive exclusive content themed around Horizon: Zero Dawn, and a special edition Monster Hunter PS4 Pro bundle is on the way. For more on the upcoming RPG, check out some of our Monster Hunter World gameplay.

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Hot on the heels of this month’s Batman movie Gotham by Gaslight, another animated DC feature is set to arrive later this year. This one focuses on the classic supervillain team Suicide Squad, and a first trailer for Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay has been released.

The movie features Mr Robot star Christian Slater as Deadshot, with voiceover veteran Tara Strong as Harley Quinn and Vanessa Williams as Amanda Waller. Check the trailer out below:

A synopsis has also been released. It reads: “Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay finds Amanda Waller’s top secret Task Force X–Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn and Copperhead–on a mission to retrieve a mystical object so powerful that they’re willing to risk their own lives to steal it. But the Suicide Squad isn’t the only group of villains seeking to possess the object. The race is on for the golden prize.. and, to stay alive, second place isn’t an option.”

Like Gotham by Gaslight and 2016’s animated Batman hit The Killing Joke, Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay will carry an R-rating. The film does not yet have a release date, but it is expected later in the year.

In terms of DC’s live-action movies, Suicide Squad 2 is to start production later this year. The movie will be directed by The Accountant‘s Gavin O’Connor. It has also been rumored that it might feature Ben Affleck’s final appearance as Batman.

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Bungie’s newest weekly blog post went up today. And while it is light on details about what’s coming next to Destiny 2, the studio did take time to address the feedback regarding the changes Bungie made to how Faction Rallies work in the game’s Season 2.

Bungie started off by acknowledging that a bug in the previous iteration of Faction Rallies that allowed players to, in some circumstances, earn tokens faster than they should have been able to. Destiny 2’s December 12 update added Faction token rewards to a system that, in turn, locked some users out of picking up Lost Sector rewards. Bungie is going to change things up again, in part because this solution was “too disruptive.”

“We have heard player feedback that this solution was too disruptive,” Bungie said. “We’re looking at a change that won’t make players feel forced to run to and from a single chest for hours while also not placing a hard stop on enjoying Lost Sectors. We want to ensure that every time you open a chest there is loot inside.”

More details on Bungie’s new plans to address this will be announced before the next Faction Rallies event kicks off.

Also in the blog post, Bungie addressed the situation surrounding decrypting Faction Engrams to earn Season 2 weapons. Bungie owned up to not being transparent enough about it plans because the reality is that Season 2 weapons will be available over time, not all at once.

“It was not made clear beforehand that the new Season 2 weapons would be added throughout the events of the Season rather than all at once in the beginning,” Bungie said. “This was on us. No excuses. We will be remedying this lapse in communication next week with details on what you should expect when the next Iron Banner rolls out in Season 2.”

You can read the full Bungie blog post here.

Faction Rally is the first big event of the year for Destiny 2, with the first Iron Banner of Season 2 set to arrive on January 30. That’s also when we’ll see the release of Masterwork armor, with numerous other additions and changes–including those to Eververse and quality-of-life improvements–still to come.

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A new trailer for the crowdfunded comedy sequel Super Troopers 2 has landed. This trailer is the best so far at setting up the absurd story for the sequel where main characters Mac, Thorny, Foster, Rabbit, and Farva travel to Canada to join the Mounties.

Things get weird very quickly. Check out the trailer embedded above to get an idea for what to expect from the wacky sequel.

Super Troopers 2 is scheduled for release on the appropriate date of April 20, 2018. The movie was successfully crowdfunded through Indiegogo, where it raised over $4.6 million. It was written by the five members of comedy troupe Broken Lizard–Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanke–who also star in the movie, with Chandrasekhar directing.

Other members of the cast include Brian Cox, Linda Carter, Rob Lowe, and Fred Savage.

The original Super Troopers was released in 2002, making $23 million at the box office against a reported budget of only $3 million.

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The NPD Group today released its much-anticipated reports covering December 2017 and the full-year 2017 for video game sales–hardware and software– in the United States. Starting with game sales, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game of the year. NBA 2K18, Destiny 2 (PC sales not included), Madden NFL 18, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (digital sales not included) rounded out the top five. You can see the full Top 10 list below.

For December 2017 alone, Call of Duty: WWII led the way as the best-selling title of the month, followed by Star Wars: Battlefront II, Super Mario Odyssey, NBA 2K18, and Mario Kart 8 in that order. Notably, PUBG also made it into the chart, landing at No. 7. December 2017 marked the eighth year running that a Call of Duty game was No. 1 in December.

For December alone, total spending covering games, hardware, and accessories rose 10 percent to $3.3 billion. For the full year, total spending across all sectors reached $14.6 billion, representing an 11 percent increase compared to the year prior.

Game sales specifically in December amounted to $1.3 billion, up 1 percent, while full-year spending on games rose 4 percent to $6.7 billion. In terms of the total number of packaged video games sold at retail this year, this figure rose from 271 packaged releases in 2016 to 314 in 2017; this represents a 16 percent increase.

The genre that showed the greatest growth of all major genres in 2017 was Racing, which saw sales of its titles jump by 68 percent compared to 2016. The Shooter category, however, drove the most revenue, which makes sense with Call of Duty and Battlefront II on top of the charts.

In terms of hardware, the Nintendo Switch sold the most units in December, but the PlayStation 4 sold the most for all of 2017. In December, spending on hardware rose 27 percent to $1.3 billion, and for the full year, total spend on hardware jumped by an impressive 28 percent, to $4.7 billion.

The NPD Group noted that the PS4 and Xbox One, combined, are on a “record-setting [sales] pace.” This is notable given that, before they launched, some questioned if traditional video game consoles were still viable. Clearly, they are.

“Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent,” the NPD Group said.

And as Nintendo announced already, the Nintendo Switch sold more consoles in the US over its first 10 months than any platform from any other company in history. December was a strong month for the 3DS, too, reaching the highest since December 2014.

Finally, the Accessories category saw flat sales for December 2017 of $735 million compared to the same month a year ago. For the full year, Accessories sales rose 2 percent to $3.2 billion. For December 2017 and the full year, Sony’s black DualShock 4 controller was the top-selling accessory.

Top 20 Best-Selling Games Of December 2017 (All Platforms)

1. Call of Duty: WWII
2. Star Wars: Battlefront II^
3. Super Mario Odyssey*
4. NBA 2K18
5. Mario Kart 8*
6. Madden NFL 18
7. PUBG^
8. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
9. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (no digital sales)
10. GTA V
11. FIFA 18^
12. Destiny 2^
13. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2
14. Splatoon 2^
15. Need for Speed: Payback^
16. Xenoblade Chronicles 2*
17. Just Dance 2018
18. The Sims 4^
19. Pokemon Ultra Sun*
20. Pokemon Ultra Moon*

Top 10 Best-Selling Xbox One Games Of December 2017

1. Call of Duty: WWII
2. PUBG
3. Star Wars: Battlefront II
4. NBA 2K18
5. Madden NFL 18
6. Assassin’s Creed Origins
7. GTA V
8. FIFA 18
9. Destiny 2
10. Forza Motorsport 7

Top 10 Best-Selling PS4 Games Of December 2017

1. Call of Duty: WWII
2. Star Wars: Battlefront II
3. NBA 2K18
4. Madden NFL 18
5. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
6. GTA V
7. FIFA 18
8. Need for Speed: Payback
9. Destiny 2
10. Horizon: Zero Dawn

Top 10 Best-Selling Nintendo Switch Games Of 2017

Digital sales excluded

1. Super Mario Odyssey
2. Mario Kart 8
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
4. Splatoon 2
5. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
6. Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
7. Pokken Tournament DX
8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
9. Arms
10. Just Dance 2018

Top 10 Best-Selling 3DS Games Of December 2017

Digital sales excluded

1. Pokemon Ultra Sun
2. Pokemon Ultra Moon
3. Minecraft
4. Mario Kart 7
5. Mario Party: The Top 100
6. Mario & Luigi Superstar Sage + Bowser’s Minions
7. Super Smash Bros.
8. Super Mario Maker
9. Miitopia
10. New Super Mario Brios. 2

Top 10 Best-Selling Games Of 2017 (All Platforms):

1. Call of Duty: WWII
2. NBA 2K18
3. Destiny 2^
4. Madden NFL 18
5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
6. Grand Theft Auto V
7. Ghost Recon: Wildlands
8. Star Wars: Battlefront II^
9. Super Mario Odyssey*
10. Mario Kart 8*

*Digital sales not included

^PC digital sales not included

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Metal Gear Survive, the upcoming spin-off episode of Metal Gear Solid V, has a free beta on coming to PS4 and Xbox One ahead of the game’s February 20 release date–and that beta’s already live for some. It’s available now on Xbox One, though it seems the PlayStation Store is being a little slow to update. We’ll update when the trial is available on PS4.

Survive’s beta will run from January 18-21 inclusive on both PS4 and Xbox One; publisher Konami says the beta will provide an opportunity “to jump into co-op mode to build, defend, and fight alongside friends online.”

Those who participate in the beta will receive bonus items in the full game. These include a FOXHOUND name plate, a Metal Gear REX head accessory, and a bandana. It’s unclear if there will be a way to unlock these without having played the beta, or if they’ll be available at all in the PC version, which isn’t receiving a beta.

Bear in mind the final game requires a constant internet connection and contains microtransactions, despite being a paid game with a single-player mode. Survive was originally due out in 2017, but it was delayed back at E3. It marks the first Metal Gear game to be released by Konami since Hideo Kojima, the series’ creator, parted ways with the studio. For more on the game, check out our breakdown of its class system or our preview impressions on whether Metal Gear Survive is any good.

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PlayStation 4‘s latest system software update is available to download now, but don’t expect it to do all that much. According to Sony, firmware update 5.05 “improves system performance.” The patch weighs in at around 375 MB, and it’s mandatory to install–just turn your PS4 on and the update should begin downloading automatically.

System performance is the subject of many PS4 updates, but an upcoming patch promises to be a little more substantial. Sony is currently taking registrations from players who want to beta test a “major” PS4 update in February, though we don’t currently know what will be included.

The most recent big PS4 patch was update 5.0. It included new features based around the console’s in-built streaming capabilities, as well as an enhanced Friends List, more versatile Quick Menu, and overhauled parental control features.

There’s no word yet on when we’ll be able to change our PSN usernames–a feature much-requested by the PlayStation community. However, Sony hinted at PSX that this capability may arrive within the year. In other PlayStation news, Sony recently revealed a new Monster Hunter World PS4 Pro special edition, while the glacier white PS4 Pro is finally coming to North America.

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