World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment’s free-to-play card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has reached a new player milestone. It was announced this week that the game has surpassed 50 million registered players, up from 40 million five months ago, in November 2015.
“Whispers of the Old Gods adds an exciting new set of creepy, corrupted cards to Hearthstone,” Blizzard cofounder and CEO Mike Morhaime said in a statement. “We can’t wait to see how creative players are with the ancient evil of the Old Gods in their hands.”
Hearthstone is no doubt a big hit, but Blizzard has not disclosed how much money the game is bringing in through its various microtransactions. Activision Blizzard may announce more details around Hearthstone’s business performance next week when it reports earnings for its latest quarter.
Have you check out the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion yet? Let us know in the comments below!
Scfi-fi fans came together this week for Alien Day, a worldwide celebration of the long-running film franchise. With the next movie in the series, Alien: Covenant, currently in production, a first official image has been released. It shows the insignia for the ship of the title, as displayed on a crew badge. Check it out below, via BMD:
Alien: Covenant is being directed by Ridley Scott, who helmed the original 1979 classic Alien, as well as Prometheus, the 2012 prequel. The cast includes Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, and Demian Bichir.
The film is currently shooting in New Zealand and Australia. Earlier this month, footage of a controlled explosion on a spaceship set was leaked–check that out here.
This week also saw Sigourney Weaver, star of the first three movies in the series, comment on the status of Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5. The District 9 director was set to helm the sequel for a 2017 release, but Scott’s decision to move ahead with Covenant has put that film on hold.
However, Weaver remains hopeful that the film would still happen. “It’s an amazing script,” she told a Q&A for the tech giant VMWare. “Neill and I are really excited about doing it. it’s just going to take a little bit longer to get out to you, but it’ll be worth the wait.”
Alien: Covenant is set for release on October 6, 2017.
Nintendo made some big announcements about the future of its smartphone game endeavors today. The company’s first smartphone app, Miitomo, continues to race up the charts. Nintendo announced on Twitter that the social networking app has now reached 10 million downloads, up from 3 million earlier this month. Additionally, the company says those users have created more than 20 million Miifotos.
This information was shared today alongside Nintendo’s latest earnings report. In its official announcement, Nintendo only said that Miitomo, which was released globally in March, “started off well.”
Nintendo has also confirmed its next smartphone games. Their official names have not been announced, but they will be based on the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises, Nintendo said on Twitter.
No further details about these projects have been announced.
Though 10 million is a big number for Miitomo, Nintendo has not shared any details on how much money the game is bringing in with its various microtransactions. Though the game is free, players can spend real-world money to speed up their progress in unlocking new items. This is a common practice for mobile games.
Further stories from Nintendo’s financial report can be found below.
Nintendo made some big announcements about the future of its smartphone game endeavors today.
The company’s first smartphone app, Miitomo, continues to race up the charts. Nintendo announced on Twitter that the social networking app has now reached 10 million downloads, up from 3 million earlier this month. Additionally, the company says those users have created more than 20 million Miifotos.
This information was shared today alongside Nintendo’s latest earnings report. In its official announcement, Nintendo only said that Miitomo, which was released globally in March, “started off well.”
Nintendo has also confirmed its next smartphone games. Their official names have not been announced, but they will be based on the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises, Nintendo said on Twitter.
No further details about these projects have been announced.
Though 10 million is a big number for Miitomo, Nintendo has not shared any details on how much money the game is bringing in with its various microtransactions. Though the game is free, players can spend real-world money to speed up their progress in unlocking new items. This is a common practice for mobile games.
Further stories from Nintendo’s financial report can be found below.
As part of its earnings report, Nintendo updated its lists of best-selling Wii U and 3DS games to reflect the additional copies sold during the latest quarter. On Wii U, Mario Kart 8 still leads the way, selling 7.5 million copies, while the best-selling Nintendo 3DS title is another non-surprise: Pokemon X/Y, at 14.7 million units.
You can see the complete best-selling charts below. Note that the figures include digital copies, as well as those sold through hardware bundles.
Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has confirmed development on a new property has begun at From Software, and the studio has no intention of following Dark Souls 3 up with another sequel.
Speaking in an interview with Taiwanese publication GGN Gamer, as translated by NeoGAF, Miyazaki said there will be “several” DLCs for Dark Souls 3, but these are likely to be the last crop of Souls content from the studio for the foreseeable future.
“There’s absolutely no plan right now for any sequels, spin-offs, or tie-ins,” he said. “But I can’t say for certain the possibility is 0% … What is certain for now is, to me personally Dark Souls is over. So rather than make another sequel, I think it’s time we take a step to a new direction.”
He added: “Development of a new IP has already begun.”
Asked about a potential remake of Demon’s Souls, the PlayStation 3-exclusive spiritual predecessor to Dark Souls, Miyazaki responded by affirming that his studio intends to move on.
“We want to try making new things,” he responded.
However, Miyazaki also said that he may allow developers at his studio to make a new Souls game in the future.
“If a From Software developer come to me five years from now and [begged], ‘Please let me make another Dark Souls,’ then I will not rule out the possibility to let my subordinates start a new project.”
Miyazaki’s desire to move away from Souls games casts some doubts on whether a sequel to From Software and Sony’s Bloodborne, could be made. The PlayStation 4-exclusive was launched to critical acclaim and has performed well, making it an ideal candidate for a follow-up. Bloodborne was not, however, discussed in the interview.
A sequel to mech combat game, Armored Core, on the other hand, was something Miyazaki said he personally wants to do, having previously been involved in the creation of three games in the series.
Prior to the release of Dark Souls 3, Miyazaki echoed similar sentiments. In an interview with GameSpot he said he feels it’d wouldn’t be the right to continue indefinitely creating Souls and Bloodborne games.
“I’m considering Dark Souls 3 to be the big closure on the series,” he said. “From Software and myself together want to aggressively make new things in the future.”
The first post-launch DLC pack for Dark Souls 3 will launch this fall. Previous leaks suggested things like new maps, bosses, enemies, and additional weapon and armor sets will be added to the game through DLC.
Uncharted 4‘s release date was broken in the UK because copies of the game were stolen in transit, according to a Sony executive.
On Tuesday, reports emerged showing that copies of the highly anticipated PlayStation 4 game were being traded in the UK some two weeks before its official release.
Explaining the broken street date, PlayStation games development director Shuhei Yoshida said in a blog post that “a number of copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End were stolen while in transit.”
He said Sony was working with the police as part of a criminal investigation, and also warned fans that the broken release date may result in the proliferation of story spoilers online.
“As with most Naughty Dog games, the unfolding story is such an integral part of the experience and for this reason we wanted to warn you to beware of the potential for spoilers [that may be] posted by people with access to stolen copies of the game,” Yoshida said.
“We know that very many of you have been looking forward with great anticipation and excitement to the latest masterpiece from Naughty Dog. From what I have played of Nathan Drake’s latest adventure, I can tell you that it is very much worth the wait.”
In a statement to investors on Wednesday, Nintendo confirmed that The Legend of Zelda is in co-development for both Wii U and NX, with its release date delayed to 2017.
However, Nintendo has suggested that the Zelda game showcased at E3 will be the Wii U version.
The corporation said: “Nintendo changes its approach to the show every year. This June, Nintendo will focus its attentions on the upcoming game in The Legend of Zelda series. The Wii U version of the game will be playable for the first time on the E3 show floor, and it will be the only playable game Nintendo presents at the show, in order to provide attendees a complete immersion.”
It added: “NX will not make an appearance at the upcoming E3 video game trade show in Los Angeles in June and will be unveiled later this year.”
The crowdfunding campaign for an officially licensed Dark Souls board game continues to soar. After reaching its target figure of £50,000/$72,000 in just three minutes, the Kickstarter now stands at a whopping £1.55 million/$2.2 million–and there are still 20 days to go before the effort wraps up on May 16.
Dark Souls – The Board Game, as it’s being called, is a tabletop game designed for 1-4 players. It’s set in the Dark Souls universe and is made by Steamforged Games in partnership with Bandai Namco.
Here is the game’s official description:
“Players choose from a number of core character classes and explore dangerous locations full of monsters, treasures, and deadly boss fights. Designed specifically for the Dark Souls universe and introducing a number of innovative gameplay mechanics, with world-class miniatures faithful to the rich universe, this game delivers an experience that captures the very essence of the original video games.”
Having now eclipsed £1.55 million/$2.2 million, the stretch goal for a “Crimson Set” has been unlocked. You can see a work-in-progress version of this in the image below. Should the campaign reach £1.6 million/$2.3 million, the developers will add a new “Dark Set” player character to the game, which you can see here.
It appears that retailers in the United Kingdom have broken the street date for highly anticipated PlayStation 4 game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Copies of the game have started to show up in the wild two weeks before its scheduled release on May 10, according to reports that emerged recently.
VideoGamer.com spoke with a person who purchased A Thief’s End from a CEX store this week, informing the site he intended to buy a camera lens, but noticed the game was on sale and picked up a copy. He says he’s played the first two chapters of the campaign and the game is “running fine.”
A Thief’s End’s multiplayer mode is not yet available, according to this person, while Trophies aren’t synching and the full Tropy list is not available. Additionally, a Day One code for extra multiplayer DLC isn’t working right now. None of this is surprising, given the game’s release is still weeks away.
One possible explanation for why the retailer sold the game so early is that April 26 was A Thief’s End’s release date before the game was delayed to May 10. It could be that this delay was never updated in the store’s release date database, though this is not confirmed.
Given that copies of A Thief’s End are starting to show up, it’s possible gameplay footage and story details will be posted online. If you’re worried about spoilers, and it sounds like A Thief’s End will have a dramatic ending given the subtitle, be careful out there.
