The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will be the only playable game Nintendo has at E3 2016 and, according to reports, will give attendees between an hour to 90 minutes with the game.
Finder reports that Nintendo has informed press there will be two extended demos at its show floor booth, and is asking those at the show to set aside 90 minutes to complete it fully.
Nintendo Everything has confirmed there will be “two extended demos” that let players “step into the wilds of Hyrule and explore some of the grasslands, forests and mountains that they’ve been given mere glimpses of to date.”
For those not attending E3, Nintendo will also also be streaming gameplay from its booth, so you’ll be able to watch from home. Additionally, it is giving 500 dedicated fans the opportunity to get hands-on with the game in its New York store. For details on this, click here.
“A huge, seamlessly unfolding world is something that can’t be achieved if the hardware isn’t advanced enough,” he said. “Ever since we made the very first generation of Legend of Zelda games though, we’ve had as large a world as can be realized with the hardware, so you could say it was inevitable that we’ve now done the same with the new Wii U title.”
The game is also scheduled to be released on Nintendo’s next platform, codenamed the NX, though it has been confirmed that the company will be not discussing this version or the new hardware at E3.
Bethesda will be hosting a Fallout 4 livestream today showcasing mods running on the Xbox One. The event will begin at 1 PM PT/4 PM ET/8 PM GMT on its official Twitch channel.
In the video below Larry Hryb, Xbox’s director of programming, Hryb showcases some of the mods from “top creators” that will be available for the console.
These include Snap’n Build, which allows players to build more structures in their settlements, and an Alien Assault Rife, which is exactly what you might imagine it to be. Another highlighted mod allows players to craft night vision goggles.
These are all mods that were originally created for the PC version of the game and have been selected to make the jump to console. Although mods on PC have been available since Fallout 4’s launch in November 2015, Bethesda only recently added official support for them.
Rocket League developer Psyonix has revealed a new map it will be introducing to the Rocket Labs playlist. The map, called “Pillars.” will arrive in June and continues the virtual reality theme.
“The visual aesthetic for Pillars will continue its tipped hat towards virtual reality,” the studio said. “Only this time, with a gameplay emphasis on using multiple walls to your advantage.”
These two walls are the titular Pillars and effectively split the map into three lanes. Both goals will remain in the centre lane, however.
“Banking shots off the tall columns in the middle of the arena makes for some incredible moments and driving up the walls and flying down on the competition feels just right,” Psyonix added.
Pillars will be available in the Rocket Labs playlist for online and offline exhibition play. Rocket Labs made its debut in February, and was intended to give players a casual competitive environment and also allow “players to play prototype arena layouts.”
On May 24, Rocket League was updated to support cross-play between Xbox One and PC. This was “a historic moment in multiplayer gaming,” according to Psyonix, because Rocket League became the first Xbox One game to allow cross-play with PC.
Also in June, an update will add 27 new quick-chat phrases. Players will be able to customize what four statements they have access to after pressing any direction on the D-pad
Microsoft is designing an upgraded Xbox One console that is expected to be more powerful than both the PlayStation 4 and its all-but-confirmed successor, the PS4 Neo, according to a purported anonymous insider speaking to Polygon.
Specifically, the next Xbox (believed to be codenamed “Scorpio” but referred to internally as the Xbox One-Two) is targeted to run at 6 teraflops. If true, that represents more than a four-fold computational upgrade over the standard Xbox One. It would also mean the system is more than three times faster than the current PS4.
According to previous reports, the unannounced new PS4 (sometimes referred to as the PS4.5, or PS4K) will run just above 4.1 teraflops.
Should the growing number of Xbox Scorpio insider articles, many of which verify each other, turn out to be accurate, it would mean Microsoft could be on the cusp of overcoming a three-year hardware handicap against Sony’s trailblazing PS4. Sony has announced it has sold 40 million units of its system in about two and a half years.
However, computational performance only provides a narrow measure of a games console’s power, with memory bandwidth and speed, and even hard-drive read speeds, all being potential bottlenecks that determine a system’s overall “power.”
Microsoft has yet to respond to requests for comment.
It is expected that the Xbox One Scorpio will ship by the end of 2017. Whether it will be announced at E3 2016 will be a key question, and is apparently still under deliberation. Microsoft’s decision with regards to this is complicated further because it is also reportedly set to announce another, streamlined Xbox One system, said to be the smallest Xbox ever produced.
Rumours regarding Sony’s PS4 Neo, which first surfaced in March during the Game Developers Conference, are believed to have acted as a catalyst to accelerate Microsoft’s work on an upgraded system.
Universal Compatibility
Further within the Polygon report, the publication claims that “universal compatibility” will be a core principle for the Xbox One range, meaning that the new system will support all previously released Xbox One games.
A crucial, unanswered question is whether the original Xbox Ones will support games designed with Scorpio in mind.
Another major issue, one which also applies to Sony and its PS4K model, is how the games development community adapts to the additional task of developing for both old and new platforms.
Meanwhile, both the Xbox One Slim and the Xbox One-Two will arrive amid a wider plan at Microsoft to unite its console and PC division.
As reported previously reported, Microsoft is looking into a more standardised convergence between Windows 10’s gaming platform and the Xbox One, where key games will ship for both platforms simultaneously going forwards.
Phil Spencer has previously talked down suggestions that Microsoft is working on a console upgrade, though the rumour originated from his own comments at a press conference.
“People have asked me before, are we going to do another console, and I say I fully expect that we will,” he said. “And people say well, why do you say fully expect? Why don’t you just say yes? I’m in a job right now–I make decisions based on what’s today; I can’t always predict the future. But if you think about the strategy we’re on, the strategy is a long-term vision that includes multiple hardware generations on both console, and frankly PC.
“I’ve said the ‘end of a generation’ and this step-function that happens is not something I embrace. I think it’s something we can do better at. I see it in music, I see it in books, I see it in movies. When I buy digital content, that digital content stays with me and I’m able to use it when I got out and get new devices.”
PlayStation 4‘s sales have now surpassed the 40 million milestone, Sony has announced. The figure represents units sold to consumers globally, as opposed to shipped to retailers.
“We are truly grateful for the enormous support from our fans and partners across the globe, which helped us achieve this significant milestone in such a short span of time,” said PlayStation chief executive Andrew House.
“We will strive to deliver even more exciting gaming experiences to our users, further driving the momentum and accelerating the expansion of the PS4 platform and its business this fiscal year by offering an unparalleled lineup of games, bringing our virtual reality system, PlayStation VR, to market and providing ground-breaking features and network services.”
In the 2015 holiday period, Sony sold 5.7 million units of the PS4, bringing its sales tally to 35.9 million units globally by January. This means that, in the five months following, Sony has sold more than five million more consoles.
In a financial report detailed on May 24, Sony forecasted it will 20 million PS4s in its current financial year, which ends on March 31. This would bring global lifetime sales of the PS4 to 60 million.
In terms of game sales, Sony said “software sales also remain strong, with more than 270 million” titles sold through retail and digital downloads as of May 22.
It is looking increasingly unlikely that True Detective will be back for another season. The police drama’s first season won huge acclaim for HBO in 2014, but last year’s season two was considered a great disappointment. It has now been reported that the cable network may not move forward with season three.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO’s new head of programming Casey Bloys is favouring a brand new show from creator Nic Pizzolatto over another round of True Detective. Pizzolatto has a development deal with HBO, which runs until late-2018.
In January, Bloys’s predecessor Michael Lombardo took the unusual step of speaking publicly about season two’s failings. “When we tell somebody to hit an air date as opposed to allowing the writing to find its own natural resting place, when it’s ready, when it’s baked–we’ve failed,” he told The Frame. “I take the blame. I became too much of a network executive. We had huge success. ‘Gee, I’d love to repeat that next year.’
“Well, you know what? I set [Pizzolatto] up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver. That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore.”
Season one of True Detective starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and was entirely directed by Cary Fukunaga, who won an Emmy for his work.
The second season featured Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams, and even at its viewer peak, fell short of what season one had achieved. The final episode was watched by an audience of 2.73 million in April, a 22% drop from the season one finale the previous year.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed Microsoft’s Xbox E3 2016 press conference will be 90-minutes long, which is about the same length as its briefings in previous years.
It has also been reported that Microsoft will separately announce new streaming hardware at E3. These will function much like Google’s Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire Stick, allowing users to stream content and play “lightweight” games.
Further reports have suggested Microsoft is also working on a more significant iteration of the Xbox One, which will increase its capabilities by four times its current power. This version of the Xbox One, it is believed, won’t be shown until 2017.
[Update] TechRadar has said “two independent sources” have also verified the delay. They did not, however, confirm the extent of the delay.
No Man’s Sky now won’t come out until July or August at the earliest, according to the report.
“A second source, who works at GameStop, said they received marketing materials today for No Man’s Sky with the original June 21 release date. However, stores were informed that the release date is no longer correct and that they should cover it up with a ‘Coming Soon’ label.”
You can see an image of this message here at Kotaku. Neither Sony nor Hello Games responded to Kotaku’s request for comment.
Officially, No Man’s Sky is due out for PS4 and PC on June 21 in North America, June 22 in Europe, and June 24 in the UK. We’ll update this post as new information becomes available.
How many more games might Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski makes before retiring?
He talked about his future plans in a new interview with IGN, saying he could make one or two more games after LawBreakers. However, he said that depends on how well the game does and what happens in his personal life.
“How long do you think you’ll keep making games?” he is asked. Bleszinski replies: “I’ve got at least one or two [more] in me.”
He went on to say that the number of additional games he makes may depend on whether or not he becomes a father.
“I’m pumping the brakes on that as long as I can because as much as I love kids…they’re a lot of work,” he said. “And I tell my wife, ‘What do we like right now? Video games, movies, travel, sleep, alcohol, nice dinners, time with friends.’ And from what I understand about having a child, it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do. But like I say, anything worth doing in life is work–it’s a lot of work, man.”
“You can’t predict what’s coming next in this industry a year or two out–you’re lucky if you can do six months” — Bleszinski
If LawBreakers does well, there might be more opportunities to explore additional games in that universe, he suggested. But Bleszinski doesn’t have a crystal ball that gives him any answers about what’s coming up next for video games.
“You can’t predict what’s coming next in this industry a year or two out–you’re lucky if you can do six months,” he said, adding that VR could change the world or it could flop.
Finally, Bleszinski said he is still energized by coming to work every day at Boss Key and building LawBreakers.
“I’m having too much fun [to retire],” he said. “I love pitching a weapon or a character and then seeing a sketch for it two days later. I want to see cosplayers with this game, I want to see tattoos, I want couples coming up to me telling me they met and fell in love online playing this game. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Ahead of the film’s release in June, reviews for Legendary’s upcoming Warcraft movie started to show up today–and not everyone enjoyed it. We’ve collected excerpts from some of the reviews here and will continue to update this post as new ones come online.
Warcraft was directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), who previously said he has plans for two further films. When the movie comes out in June, we’ll have a better idea of if the critical reviews have any impact on box office performance.
The film stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Robert Kazinsky, and Toby Kebbell. It hits theaters on June 10
Film: Warcraft
Distributor: Universal
Release Date: June 10
Rating: PG-13
Kotaku
“Rather than tapping into the goofy core that makes a game like World of Warcraft interesting, the Warcraft movie aims for grittiness, missing the mark quite a bit. It just doesn’t work. The lore is too campy. This is a world where a mage’s most popular spell transforms his enemies into sheep, yet Warcraft acts as if it’s a green-screen version of Game of Thrones. At my theater, the biggest laughs came not from the occasional bouts of slapstick comedy but from the miserable archmages of Dalaran, whose CGI-enhanced eyes look especially absurd when you’re supposed to take them seriously.” — Jason Schreier [Full review]
The Wrap
“Critics throw the term ‘soulless corporate filmmaking’ around with abandon, but movies like Warcraft really manage to redefine the term. A film adaptation of the hugely popular MMORPG (that’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) World of Warcraft, this latest video game adaptation ranks near the bottom of the deadly genre. Imagine Battlefield Earth without the verve, or the unintentional comedy, and you’ve got Warcraft.” — Alonso Duralde [Full review]
Variety
“Hollywood’s habit of turning hit video games into unwatchable movies continues unabated. The epic battle at the center of Warcraft isn’t the clash between humans and orcs. That’s just what takes up roughly two hours of screen time. The true conflict comes from filmmakers trying to tell a story with soul and struggling against the inherent ridiculousness of the commodity they’re working with. It shouldn’t take a mage to foresee that this pricey and preposterous adaptation of an online gaming phenomenon was preordained for artistic mediocrity.” — Geoff Berkshire [Full review]
The Hollywood Reporter
“If you haven’t already invested in the self-serious mythology, it can feel borderline camp, if not downright dull–or both, as when an uncredited Glenn Close intones platitudes from on high about darkness and light. Yet there’s no question that it’s a breakthrough in both storytelling and artistry for features based on video games. And compared with another medieval-ish tale, the soporific Hobbit trilogy, this international production is a fleet and nimble ride, likely to conquer overseas box offices and make a solid stand stateside.” — Sheri Linden [Full review]
