Category: Gamespot

Fixes for the problematic PC version of Batman: Arkham Knight will not be available until September of 2015, according to Australian retailer EB Games.

Citing internal documents sent to EB Games stores, Kotaku Australia reports the game’s publisher, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, has indicated updates for the game will be released in Spring, which–in Australia–is September at the earliest.

“As previously advised, we have stopped sales of Batman: Arkham Knight PC while Warner and Rocksteady work on addressing performance issues with the game,” the document allegedly says.

“The latest information from Warner is that the updates won’t be available until Spring. Due to this we have made the difficult decision to recall all PC stock from stores to return to the vendor until an acceptable solution is released.”

Neither Warner Bros. nor principal developer Rocksteady Studios has officially stated a specific date for when it plans to released updates for Arkham Knight on PC yet.

It is common for publishers to provide retailers with placeholder dates or rough estimates for upcoming releases. It may be that a similar approach is being taken for the re-issue of Arkham Knight. GameSpot has contacted Warner Bros. for a statement on the matter.

Following its release, the PC version of Rocksteady’s third–and supposedly final–entry in the Batman: Arkham series was revealed to be carrying significant technical issues ranging from sporadic freezes and frame-rate stutters to audio glitches and texture degradation.

After a high-profile backlash from PC players, Warner Bros. announced its decision to remove the game from Steam and store shelves. Developer Rocksteady released a statement saying it was also working on remedying the port’s problems.

Alleged internal sources have claimed that Warner Bros. knew about the PC version’s problems “for months,” but dedicated resources to helping Rocksteady finish the console version, instead of the team working on the PC port. These claims have not been verified.

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BioWare has released a free version of its role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition on PC.

Available now publisher Electronic Arts’ Origin platform is a free trial that lets you play the open-world RPG’s single-player campaign for a period of six hours.

If after the six hours are up you decide to buy the full game, your progress will thankfully carry forward.

Multiplayer, however, is “unlimited,” according to the product page. Free trial players can also download Inquisition’s free multiplayer packs and even play with people who own the paid game.

Head to Inquisition’s Origin page here to get started.

Looking ahead, BioWare has teased that even more single-player DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition may be in the works–but not for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This hasn’t been announced yet, but BioWare continuing to support the commercially successful game wouldn’t be a very surprising development.

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Gearbox Software is getting started on an all-new Duke Nukem game that the developer thinks has the potential to turn heads when it is finally released. The developer’s president and CEO, Randy Pitchford, announced today that Gearbox–which owns the Duke Nukem franchise–has done early concept work for a follow-up to 2011’s critically panned Duke Nukem Forever.

“I did not acquire the franchise merely so we could all experience Duke Nukem Forever. That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance,” Pitchford said during his keynote address at the Develop conference today, as reported by IGN. “That said, I liked that game. I got to see it from a slightly different perspective and it was marvelous to me.”

Pitchford went on to tease that Gearbox has “done some concept development [for a new Duke Nukem game],” but warned fans that this game might not come soon and Gearbox may not even develop it.

“Gearbox is very busy,” Pitchford said. “I think the faster way is that a correct developer can become interested and we can work with them. I think it’s a challenging problem. But, I’ll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there’s no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look.”

Texas-based Gearbox is currently working on the MOBA-like console and PC shooter Battleborn, as well as a third Borderlands game and possibly even a new Brothers in Arms. Pitchford did not name any studio candidates to develop a new Duke Nukem if indeed Gearbox decides to hand it off to an outside team.

As for why Gearbox is thinking about reviving Duke Nukem, Pitchford went on to say that the Duke Nukem brand is popular with the mainstream audience, probably more than Borderlands. But for Duke Nukem Forever, many only cared about the game because of its 14-year development schedule, he said.

This isn’t the first time the topic of reviving the foul-mouthed action hero has come up. Following the game’s release in 2011, the CEO of the game’s parent publisher Take-Two Interactive teased, “You will see future Duke [intellectual property] coming from this company.”

In his 3.5/10 Duke Nukem Forever review, GameSpot critic Kevin VanOrd wrote about the game, “The bland and ugly Duke Nukem Forever turns a famous gaming icon into an embarrassment.”

What would you like to see from a new Duke Nukem? Let us know in the comments below.

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For the first time since its release in May, Sony is discounting the price of the standalone version of The Last of Us: Left Behind. You can buy the game today for $5, a healthy 50 percent markdown from its normal price. This price applies to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions.

There is no word on how long the deal will last, so if you’re interested, you may want to act quickly. What’s more, you don’t need a PlayStation Plus membership to enjoy the savings.

Head to the PlayStation Store website here to queue up your download.

Left Behind is a prequel to The Last of Us that follows Ellie and her friend Riley. They sneak out of their boarding school and journey through an abandoned, post-apocalyptic mall.

“Left Behind is an excellent addition that gives further insight into the chilling world of The Last of Us and its most interesting character,” reviewer Tom McShea wrote in his review.

Left Behind represents the first single-player DLC developer Naughty Dog has ever created. For more, read our Left Behind review here.

In addition, Sony has announced that the Abandoned Territories Map Pack, the Reclaimed Territories Map Pack, and the Double Map Pack are now available for the PS3 edition of The Last of Us for free. These map packs were included with the PS4 version of The Last of Us when it launched last summer.

In other news about The Last of Us, the game’s key designers recently recalled how they thought the post-apocalyptic game was going to fail and destroy the image of Naughty Dog.

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The New Horizons space probe which recently completed a flyby of Pluto and beamed new images of the planet back to Earth is being guided by the same CPU which powered the original PlayStation console. As reported by The Verge, the probe contains a MIPS R3000 CPU, repurposed to “fire thrusters, monitor sensors, and transmit data.”

The same CPU was used in the original PlayStation console, which was first released in 1994 and ran at 33.8688MHz. It was implemented by NASA scientists in the New Horizons Space Probe, which was launched in 2006 and has travelled more than three billion miles in its journey.

According to The Verge, NASA has always preferred hardware that has been “tried-and-tested” over newer technology, which may be riskier to use. Reliability is prioritised over power, which is why a 12-year-old CPU was used, with a few tweaks made to help with surviving in space.

Various gaming hardware have been employed by NASA in its past projects, including use of the Kinect and Oculus Rift to control a robotic arm in real time. NASA has also revealed plans to use Microsoft’s Hololens augmented reality headset in the International Space Station, where it will provide support and guidance for day-to-day actions.

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Gravity are currently leading the standings at first place, looking to continue their winning streak and go on to take the first seed for World Championships.

Meanwhile, Team Impulse has been on a roll, going 2-0 for a second week in a row. Their current record seems like a similar reiteration of their Spring Split, breaking even each week before picking up the pace right before playoffs.

At the same time, Counter Logic Gaming also looks like they’ve snapped out of their slump this weekend. But the question is: Will they be able to find their footing during playoffs? Or are they doomed to falter once again, when it matters the most? Will Doublelift spend another World Championship watching from the analyst desk?

And lastly, crowd favorites Team SoloMid have been in a recent slump, losing both their games this week to Team 8 and Team Liquid. With team synergy issues plaguing them, they fall to third place. They look to return to form and fight for their spot at the top of the standings.

Here are the current standings:

Photos by Jeremy Wackman.

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