Category: Gamespot

The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Online developer Turbine has cut a number of positions as it transitions to become more of a free-to-play, mobile development studio.

As a result of this shift, Turbine is “eliminating some positions,” Turbine’s parent company, Warner Bros., said in a statement to Kotaku.

The layoffs will not affect the day-to-day for The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, however. Those games will “continue to operate as they do now.”

“Re-focusing and reducing the studio size was a difficult decision for the company, and we are grateful to all of the Turbine staff for their considerable contributions,” the statement added.

A specific number of layoffs was not mentioned, but Kotaku characterized the cuts as “significant.”

This is just the latest round of layoffs at Turbine, as the developer also cut jobs in 2014, as well as in the years prior.

Last summer, Turbine shut down its DC Comics MOBA Infinite Crisis. Two of the developer’s upcoming games including mobile titles such as Batman: Arkham Underworld and Game of Thrones: Conquest.

Powered by WPeMatico

Famous game developer Richard Garriott, who created the iconic Ultima series and also went to space, is now selling his own blood on eBay.

Garriott had his blood drawn during a livestream yesterday to promote his new RPG, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. If you’re up for it, skip to around 19 minutes to see it happen (via Kotaku UK).

Garriott then handed over his blood to artist Steve Burdniak, who built six reliquaries containing his blood, along with executive producer Starr “Darkstarr” Long’s. These are now on sale on eBay for $5,000 each.

“The Lord British Blood Reliquary is a beautiful and unique piece of art made of bakelite, copper, nails, glass, and mirrored glass that can be hung on your wall,” reads the item’s description.

Its dimensions are 4.75″ x 9″ x 1.” Here is what it looks like:

For $5,000, you get a lot more than blood. Also included is Episode 1 of the game itself, a number of digital items including a /bloodrain emote (see the full list here), as well as the opportunity to visit the Portalarium offices in Austin, Texas (travel costs not included).

Go to eBay to learn more about this.

Shroud of the Avatar was revealed in March 2013. Garriott and his team successfully funded the game on Kickstarter, while the developer continues to accept pledges on its website.

Powered by WPeMatico

Nine months after release, Halo 5: Guardians continues to grow its playerbase and topple franchise records.

343 Industries community manager “Brav” wrote on Reddit (via NeoGAF), that the Xbox One shooter had the highest number of monthly active players for a Halo game since 2007’s Halo 3. More impressive, this was achieved before Halo 5’s week-long promotion where it was free.

Speaking about the number of Halo 5 players who joined during the free period (June 29-July 6), Brav didn’t share a specific number, but said “you’d be pleasantly surprised.”

Another standout statistic is that Halo 5’s playerbase has actually grown in recent months. For example, June’s player figures are higher than May’s.

“As you can imagine, this is pretty darn exciting to see,” he said.

Brav did not share any specific numbers about anything because he said he’d “have to get approval from the powers that be.” But things are going well, it seems. “You should rest assured that together, we’re quite a strong army,” he said.

One element that might have contributed to Halo 5’s enduring success is 343’s free DLC campaign. Instead of selling extra maps, as it did with Halo 4 and Halo 3, the developer gave away all extra content. 343 released eight free expansions, the most recent of which was June’s Warzone Firefight, which is believed to be the game’s final free add-on.

Last year, Microsoft said it was starting to plan Halo 6, though the game has not yet been officially announced. The next major Halo game is 2017’s Halo Wars 2.

Powered by WPeMatico

Following season 6’s controversial season finale, The Walking Dead returns to screens this fall. It has been reported that four cast members have been made season regulars.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Tom Payne, Austin Amelio, and Xander Berkeley will all play major roles in the seventh season of the hit zombie drama. Morgan’s promotion is no surprise–his arrival as the villainous Negan at the end of the season 6 had been anticipated for many months, and Negan is one of the most popular characters in the long-running comic book on which the show is based.

Payne portrays the bearded kung-fu-kicking good guy Jesus, while Amelio plays Dwight, part of Negan’s evil gang, known as the Saviors. Berkeley’s character of Gregory is more ambiguous–he’s the leader of the Hilltop Colony, who have made deals with both the Saviors and the show’s band of heroes.

Another character who is expected to be added to the cast is the eccentric Ezekiel, a major protagonist from the comic book. His casting is yet to be revealed, and it is unknown if he will be accompanied by his pet tiger Shiva.

Season 7 of The Walking Dead premieres in October. In May, star Norman Reedus said that the show would open with some truly dramatic action. “Trust me. I think probably the planet is going to explode,” he told EW. “That’s my feeling. It’s so good. Every time we go on a promotional tour talking about what’s going to come, we all say ‘Oh my God, it’s amazing. I can’t wait for you to see it.’”

Powered by WPeMatico

Ubisoft’s has said its upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie won’t make a lot of money, but its aim is not for the film to be lucrative. Speaking to MCV, Ubisoft’s European boss, Alain Corre, said the movie’s intended purpose is instead to raise awareness of the franchise.

“We are not going to earn a lot of money from it,” he said. “It is a lot more a marketing thing. It’s also good for the image of the brand.”

“Although we will make some money, it’s not the purpose of this movie. The purpose is to bring Assassin’s Creed to more people,” he added.

“We have our core fans, but what we would like is to put this franchise in front of a lot more people who, maybe, will then pick up future Assassin’s Creed games.”

Ubisoft previously said it believes Assassin’s Creed will break the history of mediocre video game to movie adaptations.

Assassin’s Creed opens on December 21, a week after Star Wars spinoff Rogue One comes out. It is just the start of Ubisoft’s plans to leverage video game properties for cinema.

Ubisoft has established an internal film division, Ubisoft Motion Pictures, to develop films alongside Hollywood production companies. It apparently was quite involved in the production of Assassin’s Creed to ensure it was staying true to the game franchise.

In addition to Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft and Fox reportedly have plans for two Assassin’s Creed sequels. On top of those, Splinter Cell and The Division will also be making the jump to the big screen.

Powered by WPeMatico

Spider-Man: Homecoming is now several weeks into production, and is set to hit theaters in one year’s time. To celebrate, star Tom Holland has published a cool new selfie on Instragam. Check it out below:

This is the latest of several new behind-the-scenes images that have been revealed over the past few weeks. Last week, the first images of Holland in costume were leaked, while an earlier batch showed the star alongside co-star Zendaya.

Spider-man: Homecoming is directed by Jon Watts. A variety of cast members have been added over the past few weeks, including Donald Glover (Community), Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation), Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys), and Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey). Marisa Tomei will reprise her Captain America: Civil War role as Aunt May, while Robert Downey Jr is expected to make an appearance.

In May, it was reported that Michael Keaton would play a villainous role. Keaton was originally rumoured to be joining the cast earlier this year, but initial talks stalled. As THR notes, Marvel looked at other actors before returning to Keaton.

Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters on July 7, 2017.

Powered by WPeMatico

The 2002 original Splinter Cell game will be completely free next week on Ubisoft’s Uplay PC store, the company has announced. According to VideoGamer.com, the game will be able to download for free starting on Wednesday, July 13.

It will be available for free for 30 days, and after you’ve download it, it’s yours forever. All you have to do to claim your game is head over to the Ubi 30 page and click “Get the Game Now.” You’ll need to sign into Uplay to add the game to your library.

The giveaway is part of Ubisoft’s 30th anniversary festivities. The current free game is Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. More free games will be available every month this year. Ubisoft is also giving away DLC for The Division as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations.

Splinter Cell, the first game in what would become a series, launched in 2002 for PC and Xbox, before coming to PS2 and GameCube later. 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist is the latest entry in the series.

A Splinter Cell movie starring The Dark Knight Rises and The Revenant‘s Tom Hardy is also on the way, directed by Bourne veteran Doug Liman.

Powered by WPeMatico

Square Enix Montreal, the developer behind games like Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go, and Deus Ex Go, has released a video that parodies the recently launched Pokemon Go.

The video shows legendary Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum clearing Pikachu off the board. Snorlax can be seen on the board as well. Take a look:

This isn’t the first time Square Enix Montreal has responded to Pokemon Go with something silly. When Pokemon Go was announced last year, Square Enix Montreal revealed a fake Lara Croft Go expansion called Lara Croft Go Red. “Gotta catch em relics,” the studio said about it.

In case you missed the accompanying image, here it is again:

Pokemon Go is out now in the US and is coming to Europe and Canada soon. It challenges players to catch, train, and battle with Pokemon in the real world via location information in their mobile devices. Junichi Masuda, who the veteran Game Freak designer, is working on the game with The Pokemon Company and developer Niantic.

For lots more on Pokemon Go, check out GameSpot’s roundup of everything you need to know.

Powered by WPeMatico

Amazon is currently offering one of the best deals we have ever seen on the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray package. You can now get the bundle for $27 as part of a Deal of the Day offer for today, July 7. It normally goes for around $75.

Included in the bundle are the extended versions of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King. In addition to the films, there are hours and hours of bonus features and behind-the-scenes footage that reveal how the movie was made.

It’s really a great package and well worth it for fans of the movie series.

The deal expires at 11:59 PM PT tonight. You can order the package here; there is free, two-day shipping if you have an Amazon Prime membership.

Powered by WPeMatico