Category: Gamespot

Batman: Return to Arkham has been listed by the Italian arm of video game retailer GameStop. The listing states the title will feature the first two game’s in Rocksteady’s series, along with all DLC for both.

Although neither developer Rocksteady nor publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have officially announced a Batman: Arkham Collection, this is the third instance of it being listed by a retailer, giving further credibility to its existence.

On April 18, a GameStop employee leaked images of an unannounced “Batman HD Collection.” The collection was also mentioned prior to this, on March 23. These also stated the package would include the first two games with all the DLC.

Both games in the series will also reportedly have “updated visuals” that have been “optimized” for PS4 and Xbox One, according to the leaks.

The first two Batman Arkham games gained near-unanimous praise from critics. GameSpot’s Arkham Asylum review said:”everything about this game–the impressive visuals, stirring soundtrack, superb voice acting, fiendish puzzles, hard-hitting combat–feels like it has been lovingly crafted by a development team that’s both knowledgeable and passionate about the source material.”

Arkham City was also rated highly: “From the speedy exhilaration of soaring high above the streets to the atmospheric thrill of discovering long-forgotten secrets in the tunnels below Gotham, this is an unforgettable adventure that will keep you coming back to the cape and cowl long after you’ve seen the credits roll.”

The latest Batman console game was Batman: Arkham Knight, which came out in June 2015 and has reportedly sold 5 million copies. It was also developed by Rocksteady, and is apparently the last Batman game the UK studio plans to make for the foreseeable future.

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Right on schedule, the open beta for World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment’s shooter Overwatch is now available across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

You can grab the beta client right now through these links: PS4, Xbox One, PC. The beta was made available earlier this week to people who had preordered the game.

The Overwatch beta includes the following content:

• All 21 heroes
• Quick Play, Play vs. AI, Custom Game, and Weekly Brawl modes
• Tutorial, Practice Range, and Practive vs. AI
• 12 maps and 4 multiplayer modes
  • Assault: Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya Industries
  • Escort: Dorado, Route 66, and Watchpoint: Gibraltar
  • Assault/Escort Hybrid: Hollywood, King’s Row, and Numbani
  • Control: Ilios, Lijiang Tower, and Nepal

In terms of size, the PC beta is about 6.5 GB, while console players can expect an 11 GB download. You can see full installation instructions for the Overwatch beta here on the game’s website.

Another thing to note is that an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required for Xbox One, but PlayStation Plus is not needed (though it will be come launch). Also, progress will not carry forward from the beta to the full game.

For more on the Overwatch beta, including a list of supported languages and PC system requirements, head to the game’s website.

Overwatch, Blizzard’s first new franchise in 18 years, arrives in full on May 24. In other recent news, Blizzard has confirmed there won’t be a competitive play mode available at launch and explained why.

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Universal’s upcoming classic monster movie universe is continuing to pull in some big names. Tom Cruise is currently filming The Mummy, and in February it was reported that Johnny Depp was being lined up for The Invisible Man. Now it has been reported that Russell Crowe could be joining the franchise.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crowe is in talks to appear with Cruise in The Mummy as the tormented Dr Jekyll. Although these discussions are for him to appear in this first film in the franchise, THR notes that Crowe might reprise the role in a future film of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The studio has previously considered Tom Hardy and Javier Bardem for the part.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Universal is planning a monster movie every year until at least 2019. The Mummy is set for release in June 2017, with two more as-yet-untitled films scheduled for April 2018 and February 2019.

Last month images of Cruise on the London set of The Mummy were leaked. Alex Kurtzman, co-writer of first two Star Trek movies in the current reboot series, is directing.

Kurtzman was hired by Universal in 2014 to develop the new interconnected franchise–other key monsters that are expected to be brought back include The Wolfman, Van Helsing, Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Frankenstein.

According to Variety, while Cruise isn’t on board as a producer of The Mummy, he is expected to play a major role in the development of the series.

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The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from May 10, publisher Nicalis has announced. Afterbirth is an expansion for the game that introduces a number of new features to the roguelike dungeon crawler.

Among these are two new characters–Lillith and Keeper–10 additional challenges, nine new transformations, co-operative battles, and fresh achievements. The full list of extra content in the expansion can be found here.

The console release was originally announced on April 1, leading many to believe it was an April Fool’s joke. On top of the Xbox One and PS4 releases, the expansion is also in development for Wii U and the New Nintendo 3DS. A release date for these versions has not yet been specified.

Binding of Isaac was first released in 2011 and has a large, passionate following. Afterbirth is the most recent expansion for it, but second version of this called Afterbirth† is also in development.

An iOS release of The Binding of Isaac was rejected by Apple due to its themes, which are religious and depict violence and abuse towards children.

In The Binding of Isaac players control a child who must escape his mother, who is out to kill him after the voice of God commands he be sacrificed. The game’s religious themes have been the subject of controversy.

Nintendo initially blocked The Binding of Isaac from launching for the 3DS due to its “questionable religious content.” However, it later overcame its issues with the game and it was released in 2014, uncensored, on Wii U and 3DS.

The Binding of Isaac developer Edmund McMillen has revealed a new game called The Legend of Bum-Bo, which is being developed with fellow collaborators James Id and Ridiculon.

The game is described as a “turn-based puzzle RPG type thingy that’s randomly generated,” but further details on gameplay have not been provided.

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No Call of Duty game ever has been as value-rich as Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, according to Call of Duty executive vice president Robert Kostich. He told Forbes that, when factoring in the game itself and the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare remaster, the complete package is “unprecedented” when it comes to value.

“From an overall offering, an overall value proposition, I think what we’re giving to the community this year is frankly unprecedented in Call of Duty history,” he said.

Given that 2016’s Call of Duty is coming from Infinity Ward, the creators of the Modern Warfare series, the timing is “perfect” to release the Call of Duty 4 remaster, Kostich said.

“We thought it would be a perfect opportunity to celebrate Call of Duty and the community, where we’re going and where we’ve been and bring it together in one package.”

Given that Call of Duty 4’s remaster, called Modern Warfare Remastered, is not being sold by itself, it is not so easy to know the true value of the overall package. The only way to get Modern Warfare Remastered is to buy one of Infinite Warfare’s premium versions, which start at $80 and scale up to $120.

This is $20 above the cost of the standard Infinite Warfare edition, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Modern Warfare Remastered would sell for $20 if it was offered on its own.

In other news about Modern Warfare Remastered, Activision has confirmed two more of the game’s 10 “fan-favorite” multiplayer maps. Check out this story to learn more about them.

Infinite Warfare launches on November 4 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It is not coming to last-generation consoles, Activision has suggested.

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Modern Warfare Remastered, the new version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, will include 10 multiplayer maps from the 2007 original. Three of these–Crash, Backlot, and Crossfire–were announced earlier this week. Now, two more have been revealed as part of a new Forbes story.

The two new ones are Bog and Overgrown, according to the report. Activision says all of Modern Warfare Remastered’s 10 maps are “fan-favorites,” and indeed, the five announced so far fit that description. Activision will announce the remaining five maps in the time ahead.

In other news about Modern Warfare Remastered, a newly released graphics comparison video shows off how much the visuals have improved.

Also in the interview, Call of Duty executive Robert Kostich said he is not concerned about the possibility that people may play Modern Warfare Remastered more then Infinite Warfare.

“We’re thrilled they’re going to be playing a lot of Call of Dutythis year,” he said.

Infinity Ward studio head Dave Stohl said the two games each have their own unique appeal.

“If you think about it, basically they scratch two different itches,” Stohl said. “You’re gonna scratch the kind of more nostalgia Modern Warfare itch with the remaster, but all the kinda cool new stuff in Infinite Warfare is really exciting too. Obviously the Infinite Warfare experience is big with all the new bells and whistles, but it’ll be fun to go back to Modern Warfare multiplayer as well.”

Infinite Warfare launches on November 4 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The only way to get Modern Warfare Remastered is to buy one of the premium versions of Infinite Warfare, which start at $80 and run up to $120.

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Universal may not have any superhero properties, but this hasn’t stopped the studio from developing its own money-spinning blockbuster franchises. The reboot of The Mummy, which stars Tom Cruise, will kick off a classic monster universe in 2017, and now a new film has been added to the release slate.

As reported by Collider, the currently-untitled film is set for a February 15, 2019 release. With The Mummy due in June 2017 and a second monster movie scheduled for April 2018, this guarantees a new film in the ongoing series for at least the next three years.

The Mummy is currently in production, and last month images of Cruise on the London set were leaked. Alex Kurtzman, co-writer of first two Star Trek movies in the current reboot series, is directing. Kurtzman was hired by Universal in 2014 to develop the new interconnected franchise.

In February it was reported that Johnny Depp will star in The Invisible Man for the studio. It has not been confirmed whether this movie will be the second in the series. Other key monsters that are expected to be brought back include The Wolfman, Van Helsing, Dracula, and Frankenstein.

According to Variety, while Cruise isn’t on board as a producer of The Mummy, he is expected to play a major role in the development of the series.

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Today, May 4, is Star Wars Day. Electronic Arts is celebrating the occasion with a number of bonuses for its catalog of Star Wars games, one of which is free credits for DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront.

As announced previously, all you have to do is log into the game anytime today and you will receive an allotment of 4,444 credits. A new Hutt Contract is also available; this is a new feature announced in March that gives players the chance to pay credits and then complete bounties to earn rewards. In this case, spending between 3500 and 8000 credits unlocks new bounties that will let you get your hands on the Bacta Bomb Star Card. This gives a health boost to you and your teammates.

Additionally, EA is offering free access to Battlefront on PC in the form of a four-hour trial. You’ll be able to grab the game from Origin beginning at 11 AM PST and try it out, but you won’t have access to any of the DLC that’s currently available.

In other news about Battlefront, DICE has deployed the game’s latest update; the full patch notes can be seen here.

Outside of Battlefront, there are bonuses and new content available for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. You can check out this post for a full roundup of EA’s Star Wars Day plans.

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Valve has updated its Steam platform so that user reviews “better describe the current customer experience in games.” In a post on the Steam website, Valve admitted that “it isn’t always easy to tell what the current experience is like in a game months after release” using user reviews, and outlined measures it is taking to address this issue.

Steam will now list the most recently posted reviews more prominently by default, which Valve hopes will “show a more current idea of what it’s like to play the game now.”

Another problem Valve highlighted with the old system was that the “review scores that appear at the top of a product page didn’t always reflect the dynamic nature of the game.”

To remedy this a “Recent review score” has been added. It calculates the positive percentage of reviews within the past 30 days, provided there are enough reviews posted within that period and the game has been available on Steam for at least 45 days.

Other changes include a summary tab on each customer review section to highlight the most recent helpful reviews, a new checkbox for when writing reviews to disclose whether the game was received for free, and the ability to see all review regardless of language.

For more on the changes, along with further explanations of Valve’s reasoning, check out the full blog post here.

Further Reading

• Valve Makes It Easier to Change Your Steam Controller’s Design
• Here’s Why Valve Won’t Put Ads on Steam
• You Can Finally Delete Your Steam Games Permanently

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