Category: Gamespot

Whether you’re a fan of Destiny or not, there’s one thing we can all appreciate together: a kooky Japanese advert. And boy, the commercial Sony is using to promote The Taken King in Japan is quite something.

We won’t spoil it for you, but it’s pretty much everything you could want from an advert for a game in which Power Rangers hop around space shooting aliens and hoarding guns. It’s over-the-top, intense, and completely ridiculous in all the best ways.

If anything, it may have actually rekindled that Guardian pride more effectively than Bungie and Activision’s extended “Become Legend” campaign. Note to all publishers: if you want us to get excited about your game, let Japan make your adverts.

Check it out below.

If you’d like to see some more insane Japanese gaming adverts, we’d recommend the God Hand’s supermarket slapping, Metal Gear Solid 5’s box wedding, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s music video.

On September 8, Bungie released a substantial new Destiny update that makes sweeping changes to the shooter ahead of The Taken King’s release.

The Taken King launches on September 15, and will usher in plethora of changes to the Destiny formula. Along with numerous other changes, the Light level system has been scrapped, replaced by more traditional experience-based progression. Additionally, the quest and bounty systems in the game are also getting a big overhaul.

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Microsoft has announced it is no longer taking new subscriptions or membership renewals for the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) program, which will undergo a “sunsetting process” and be phased out.

The program, which predates ID@Xbox, allowed developers to create and self-publish indie games on Xbox 360, but is being shuttered as “more than 1,000 developers with kits in hand [are] working on the next generation of games for Xbox One and Windows 10.”

According to Microsoft, it is no longer accepting subscriptions and membership renewals. The company has said it will support in-development projects up until September 9, 2016, at which point the indie games store will be closed.

All creators with a valid subscription will receive a lifetime WIndows Developer account as of today for free. After September 9, 2016, Microsoft will “pay out all money earned by developers.”

Microsoft also addressed the existing library of indie games: “Of course, players will still be able to re-download games they own and continue to play games they own.”

“XBLIG is where many great developers got their start, and “diversity” doesn’t even begin to describe the incredible variety of games that creators made on XBLIG. So seeing the end come into view is definitely bittersweet,” said Chris Charla, head of the ID@Xbox program.

“As I look back, I feel the vision of the original creators of the program has been completely proven out by subsequent events. Games are a hugely important art form and the torch of democratizing game development has been carried on with amazing tools such as Unity, GameMaker, and Unreal Engine.”

Although the XBLIG program was a popular avenue for indie developers to take when publishing on Xbox 360, the momentum dropped off following the launch of the Xbox One.

The new ID@Xbox is considered to be the program’s spiritual successor, and allows any and all developers to sign up and develop games using publicly available engines such as Unity.

“Creators have more platforms they can ship on today than ever before, and more and better tools to help them every day – and our priority is ensuring that we give independent developers the support they need to take the next step with us towards the future of gaming,” Charla added.

At E3 2015, Microsoft expanded its indie scope by introducing an early access program. Xbox Game Preview functions very much like the Steam Early Access programme, but instead of buying an unfinished product up-front, Xbox One owners will be able to play a trial, then decide if they want to commit.

Microsoft said a select number of games will join the program over the year, with titles including Shelter and DayZ on the way. It launched with Elite: Dangerous, which will exit the program and have a full Xbox One release on October 6.

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CD Projekt Red has announced exactly how much money it spent to make the celebrated open-world role-playing game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Speaking during CD Projekt Red’s latest financial briefing, the English translation of which was published today, CEO Adam Kicinski revealed the game’s total budget–including development and marketing costs–as 306 million złoty or about $81 million USD.

By comparison, Star Wars: The Old Republic–a MMO–reportedly cost $200 million to develop. Meanwhile, Rockstar Games supposedly spent $265 million to develop and market Grand Theft Auto V. These figures, however, are unconfirmed, while The Witcher 3’s budget number comes directly from the source.

Also during his presentation, Kicinski says CD Projekt Red conducted 40 different marketing campaigns in parallel for The Witcher 3. He described this as a “daunting task,” noting that the region-specific marketing campaigns were accompanied by a global campaign, too.

Kicinski also revealed that The Witcher 3 was developed over the course of 3.5 years by a team of professionals that “know how to develop games efficiently.” A total of 240 in-house staff worked on The Witcher 3 (most were Polish, but a “considerable” number were foreigners), while 1,500 people in all around the world were involved in the game’s production.

In addition, Kicinski points out that The Witcher 3 was localized in 15 different language versions, seven of which had full voice acting. A total of 500 voice actors worked on the game across its various versions.

Overall, Kicinski described The Witcher 3 as a “good investment,” pointing out that the game sold 6 million copies in six weeks. For CD Projekt Red’s latest financial period, the company made a net profit of 236 million złoty ($62.5 million), most of which came from The Witcher 3.

You can watch CD Projekt Red’s full financial presentation below.

Next up for The Witcher 3 is the Hearts of Stone expansion, which launches on October 13. Looking beyond that, you shouldn’t expect The Witcher 4 anytime soon, as CD Projekt Red is instead going to focus on Cyberpunk 2077.

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NBA Live 16‘s new companion app, which includes functionality that lets you scan your face into the game, has been delayed. It was supposed to launch September 8, but it’s now facing a “short” delay as a result of unspecified problems during the submission process, EA Sports explains on Twitter.

A new release date for the NBA Live 16 companion app was not announced. EA Sports stresses that the app’s delay will in no way affect the scheduled release of the NBA Live 16 demo on September 15.

The demo lets you import face scans from the companion app. It also gives you a chance to test out the professional basketball game’s Tip-Off mode and its new Pro-Am offering. The free trial is available on both platforms, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, ahead of the game’s full release on September 29.

This isn’t the first time a professional basketball game has utilized face-scanning technology. Last year’s NBA 2K15 also let you do that–and some of the results were horrifying.

NBA Live 16’s use of face-scanning tech was announced during EA’s press conference at E3. During the show, EA brought out “Hoop Gawd,” who exclaimed, “Damn, that looks just like me!” after having his face scanned into the game.

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Dark Souls 3 will feature a number of familiar gameplay mechanics from previous entries in From Software acclaimed action RPG series, and new information on these has been released.

As detailed by GameInformer, the development team is cherry picking gameplay elements for the third game. Dark Souls 2′s ability to fast travel from the start of the game, for example, will be included. This is because director Hidetaka Miyazaki wants to ensure the experience is convenient.

Although it has not yet been decided if the Soul Vessel item will be in Dark Souls 3, there will be a respec function that allows players to redistribute Souls to rebuild their character.

Durability will return, but is being tuned to settle in a middle ground between the first two games.

“I personally think the weapons in Dark Souls 2 break a little to easily,” Miyazaki said. “This was implemented intending for the players to try out many types of weapons, but even so, I felt they broke too quickly. However, in Dark Souls 1, they didn’t break enough, and so I’m hoping to find a good balance for Dark Souls 3.”

Bloodborne‘s bell system won’t be used for Dark Souls 3. It will instead stick to standard Souls summoning procedure, which involves placing and finding summoning signs.

Hidden walls will once again be revealed when attacked instead of when the interaction button is pressed in front of them.

“This is due to my thinking behind this type of feature,” Miyazaki explained, “I like to have coincidences happen during battles, or accidental reveals due to swinging weapons around or randomly shooting arrows. I want to implement this sort of surprise discovery in a natural way when playing the game.”

Discussing magic abilities, Miyazaki said the usual set of spells will return, but the developer is making attempts to distinguish them from each other.

“We will make sure that they are not just the same type of spells with different attributes (i.e. Spear type, lightning type) but actually have specific characteristics that can enhance the players’ play styles and strategies,” Miyazaki explained.

“Players will be able to have more criteria to accurately choose the different types of spells to best fit their tactics and strategies. This is similar to the thinking behind the characterisation of each weapon and their specific battle arts.”

Finally, New Game+ will be similar to Dark Souls 2’s, which introduced new enemies, weapons, items, and remixed the location of all of these aspects.

Dark Souls 2’s Bonfire Asetics, which allowed players to turn an area into a New Game+-like version without completing the game once, will not be available.

Dark Souls III launches in early 2016 for Xbox One,PlayStation 4, and PC.

Miyazaki, who is also president of From Software, has said he’s hoping to launch “several new projects” at the studio, one of which could be a sci-fi game.

“As president of From Software, I am planning to launch several new projects,” he said. “I can’t quite specify exactly what they are. Those could be something sci-fi, but you’ll have to stay tuned for more about that in the future.”

Miyazaki has described the sequel as a “turning point in the series,” as well as his obligations to PS4-exclusive Bloodborne. Read GameSpot’s Dark Souls 3 interview to find out what he said.

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Press Play, the developer of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, recently asked its community to vote on what game the studio should work on next and the winning concept has been revealed.

The winner was “Project: Knoxville,” a third-person, multiplayer action game that “deals with fragile alliances and survival, in a game show setting.”

Players must work together and against each other to win a “sadistic game show.”

“All of the contestants can survive if they work together and don’t let greed or personal gain get the best of them,” the dev explains. “With this game, we aim to go further than anyone else when it comes to dynamic relationships and spectator interaction.”

The list of inspirations for Project: Knoxville include The Running Man and The Hunger Games.

“We miss games where cooperation and competitive gameplay is more dynamic and interesting,” it said, explaining the motivation behind the concept. “This [game] will combine high-tension action-gameplay with interesting strategic elements based on social interaction with other players.”

Gameplay will take place in action-oriented rounds that last between 10 and 20 minutes, “not unlike Left 4 Dead and Counter-Strike.” It will have a “rich meta-game where players have a set of ‘contestants’ to choose from before sending one into the arena. These contestants will be highly customisable and upgradable.”

The game’s website features a list of features. Take a look at them below.

• Dynamic relationships: This is a very unique feature that enables players to make alliances and friends easily while keeping the players immersed in the game world. The approach is to make the game characters intelligent and context-aware while at the same time making the players able to influence them. This is designed to work without voice-chat.
• Spectator interaction: As in any good game show, we want the audience to be able to influence the game in as many interesting ways as possible. Ranging from ideas such as sponsoring, betting (with in-game currency of course), and large-scale events.
• Dynamic and diverse game show arenas: The game show setting means everything from arenas to game show rules can and will be changed over time to be optimized for the best possible entertainment for both the players and the spectators.
• Afterlife mechanic: This feature ensures an interesting game after your contestant dies as well as a deeper consideration of your actions. When people die, they will be able influence the game for the remaining players. An example could be to spawn a wolf next to the person who killed you. In this way, you can get back at those who wronged you and help your friends out.
• Intense high-stakes combat: Fighting is intuitive and skill-based. The scenarios are filled with dangerous creatures and fighting is necessary to survive. Weapons are sparse, but can be found scattered around the scenarios. The desperate fight for survival will often result in contestants fighting each other. Fights will be gritty and swift and almost always conclude with the death of either a contestant or a creature.
• Upgrade system: Our ambition is to build a rich meta-game around upgrading the contestant characters. Players need to care about their contestants and contestants that are doing well should build up their fame and reputation.

Press Play has said it will continue to include the community in the development process of Project: Knoxville. Early versions of the game will be released for fans to try, and people will get to take part in meetings and project reviews remotely through Skype.

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The quests featured in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s upcoming Hearts of Stone paid expansion are playable to everyone, but are designed for people at level 30 or above. Community manager Marcin Momot says to a fan on Twitter, “You can play it after/during the main story. The HoS quests will be level 30+ though.”

For dedicated Witcher 3 players running through the newly released New Game Plus, Momot also confirms that “quests in HoS will scale up for NG+, yes.”

CD Projekt Red announced Hearts of Stone, and another expansion called Blood and Wine, back in April 2015 before The Witcher 3 was even released. A character from the first Witcher may appear in Hearts of Stone, but CD Projekt Red hasn’t shed much more light on the story or included content.

That could change soon, however, as Momot also teases that “there will be some good news coming later today.” We’ll have that information to you as soon as it becomes available.

Hearts of Stone, which CD Projekt Red says is “almost ready,” should introduce about 10 hours of gameplay. More specifically, the content sees players venturing into an area called “No Man’s Land” and another location called Oxenfurt. Here, players will take on a quest from the “mysterious Man of Glass.”

“Caught in a thick tangle of deceit, Geralt will need all his cunning and strength to solve the mystery and emerge unscathed,” CD Projekt Red said about the content.

Looking beyond Hearts of Stone, CD Projekt Red will release The Witcher 3’s second paid expansion, Blood and Wine, before April 2016. The expansions will be sold together through the $25 Witcher 3 Expansion Pass, though individual pricing has not been announced.

In other recent news about The Witcher 3, the celebrated open-world RPG has now sold more than 6 million copies.

Via: VG247

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A demo for FIFA 16, the latest entry in EA Sports’ professional soccer series, is now available to download on Xbox One and Xbox 360. It’s coming later today, September 8, to PC, while the PlayStation versions will presumably follow tomorrow, September 9, when the PlayStation Store updates.

As announced previously, the FIFA 16 demo lets you try out the standard Kick-Off mode, as well as FIFA Ultimate Team Draft, FIFA Trainer, and new skill games. Featured in the demo are 10 high-profile teams, as well as two women’s teams–including the World Cup-winning US Women’s National Team. Note that the two women’s teams–US and Germany–can only compete against each other in the demo.

The men’s clubs available in the FIFA 16 demo are:

• FC Barcelona
• Borussia Dortmund
• Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Chelsea FC
• Inter Milan
• Manchester City
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Real Madrid C.F.
• River Plate
• Seattle Sounders

There are three available stadiums in the FIFA 16 demo: Borussia-Park, CenturyLink Field, and Santiago Bernabeu.

Click through the links below to download the FIFA 16 demo; we’ll add PC and PlayStation links when they become available.

• Xbox One (4.46 GB)
• Xbox 360 (1.6 GB)

The FIFA 16 release date is set for September 22 across all platforms. Competitor PES 2016, a demo for which is available now, arrives a week earlier, on September 15.

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