“We regret to inform you that we are not able to release the Batmobile Collector’s Edition of Batman: Arkham Knight due to unforeseen circumstances that greatly compromised the quality of this extremely limited run of product,” Rocksteady said in a statement.
“We are deeply apologetic for this unfortunate outcome.”
Refunds are available at the retailer where you preordered.
The marquee feature of the Arkham Knight Batmobile edition was supposed to be a transforming Batmobile statue. The statue was to be developed by TriForce. Presumably, the “unforeseen circumstances” regarding the “compromised quality” are related to the Batmobile toy.
Though the Batmobile edition has been scrapped, Rocksteady said it still plans to offer the New 52 skin pack, which comes with skins of Batman, Robin, and Nightwing, for free to everyone.
Destiny is getting a new expansion this fall called The Taken King. One of its biggest new features is a trio of subclasses being added to the game, and developer Bungie’s website has revealed some details on their new moves and skills.
Warlocks, Hunters, and Titans each have two subclasses which code for different elemental powers at the moment. These affect the way the character plays, from its grenade to its super move. Since each character only has two subclasses, they all are missing one elemental subclass. The Taken King completes this by adding a subclass of the missing elemental power to each character. The Warlocks get an Arc subclass, the Titans get a Solar moveset, and Hunters get a Void subclass.
The Warlock subclass focuses on using lightning to destructive effect. A trailer showed off a Warlock using a super move to cast lightning bolts from its hands. According to Bungie’s website, it is called the Stormcaller class.
Hunters, on the other hand, get some void moves in a subclass called Nightstalker. The reveal trailer showed a hunter ripping through several enemies with an ethereal bow, which is the Hunter’s new super move called the Shadowshot. The website’s description states, “All hunters master the frontier, but none claim territory quite like a Nightstalker.” This suggests that the subclass may also provide some boost toward speed or agility.
Finally, Titans will receive a subclass called Sunbreaker. It’s a Solar class that adds a ranged option to Titans’ arsenals. Not much is known about the operation of the Titans’ new super move, but it comes in the form of a massive hammer of fire that appears in the player’s hand.
Recently, publisher Activision announced that the Taken King will be bundled together with the base game in either the Legendary or Collector’s Editions. The latter includes several real-world items, such as a replica Strange Coin.
The new expansion was announced during Sony’s E3 2015 press conference. Check out the rest of the news from the conference here.
There’s a classic movie set-piece that you’ve no doubt seen many times before, in Lord of the Rings, in Game of Thrones, in countless films dating back decades, in martial arts flicks such as Enter the Dragon, and in modern blockbusters such as The Dark Knight Rises. That scene is a sprawling battle involving hundreds of fighters, and in a pocket of space within the masses, two prized combatants will lock eyes for the first time.
It’s when Batman finds Bane amid the sea of extras, and when a White Walker confronts Jon Snow at Hardhome. It’s when Bruce Lee meets Mr. Han, and when the Nazgul towers over Theoden in front of Eowyn, who is about to have her moment of triumph.
You’ve seen it many times before, but until now, never in a video game. For Honor, Ubisoft’s new multiplayer hack-and-slash title, will give you that glorious occasion in real-time, and the person you’re locking eyes with won’t be one of the dozens of AI grunts, but another player connected online, likely feeling the same way as you.
If there’s one reason to try this new game, currently in development at Ubisoft Montreal, is to savour this moment of drama for yourself.
Does the combat live up to the excitement? Not always. Sometimes you’re just banging swords in a button-mashing stalemate, while other times you’ll be in a Tekken-esque death-loop as your opponent slashes you mercilessly. On other occasions, you’ll be engaged in a gripping swordfight, as masses of fighters surround you.
Here’s how to compete: Movement is left-stick, while the right-stick is used to determine your sword stance. In a manner not too dissimilar to Nidhogg, players have three fighting stances; sword-left, sword-right, and sword-up. If defending an attack, you’ll need to match your opponent’s stance, and if attacking, you’ll need to do the opposite. It’s a deadly game of rock-paper-scissors, then; something that’s so easy to understand and perform that the strategy is really all about what’s happening in your head and your foe’s.
A fast, light slash is R1, with a slower haymaker assigned to R2. To mix things up just slightly, double-tapping Square/X will make your character use his or her fists to momentarily stun their opponent.
Click on the thumbnails below to view in full-screen.
In practice–at least at first–it’s all about that first shot, of which the victor gains the momentum and can start slashing away as the loser scrambles to defend. To help just a little, players can roll away, but what’s more common is that losing players will abscond at any chance they can get, with those in pursuit running at exactly the same speed. So sometimes you go from an epic, filmic encounter straight into a Benny Hill chase scene.
That’s probably unfair; it doesn’t happen too often, although when it does you’ll notice.
In the demo shown to GameSpot, two teams of four competed in a standard-yet-well-arranged castle courtyard, with three small zones to capture. Two of those are captured as soon as players walk into them, and of course are disputed if two players from opposite teams are occupying it.
The third zone, in the centre of the courtyard, is more interesting; Endless waves of AI drones representing both teams flood into the battlezone and collide against each other. Left to their own devices, no AI team will have the edge, which is why players need to jump in and cut the numbers down.
This part of the game will be deeply satisfying, especially for those who like Dynasty Warriors or Streets of Rage Players will balletically cut through waves of AI grunts and feel like a super-charged Jon Snow in the process. It’s here, in this wonderful moment where everything becomes so easy if only for a brief second, that you’ll like eyes with someone amid the crowd.
For Honor is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC in 2016.
During Sony’s E3 2015 press conference, Destiny’s newest expansion was revealed. Titled the Taken King, it has all sorts of new content. When it releases, there will be three expansions to Destiny, so publisher Activision has announced an edition of the game that bundles together all of the content released.
The Taken King Legendary Edition comes with the first two expansions and the new Taken King expansion coming out in September.
The Taken King Collector’s Edition is a GameStop exclusive and comes with some extras in addition to the DLC. It includes:
A steelbook case.
A Treasure Island book with letter from Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard in Destiny’s Tower social space.
Cayde-6’s journal with notes and drawings.
A “collection of relics and artifacts.”
A replica Strange Coin, one of the currencies in the game.
A weapon schematic.
Early access to an auto rifle, a pulse rifle, and a sidearm.
Three guardian class items with XP bonuses.
Three emotes.
Three armor shaders.
The Taken King includes new subclasses, a new raid, and several strikes and story missions. You can check out the rest of the news from Sony’s press conference right here.
The “Elite” pad, which comes with swappable components, will launch in October for $150, a Microsoft representative confirmed to GameSpot this evening.
Set of 6 thumbsticks: standard (2), tall (2), and domed (2)
Set of 2 D-pads: faceted and standard
USB cable
AA batteries
Quick Setup Guide and Product Manual
Microsoft will also offer an app that allows controller owners to adjust the trigger minimum and maximum values, thumbstick sensitivity, and button assignments, among other things. In short, you can assign any of the controller’s 14 different inputs to the ABXY buttons, paddles, D-pad, triggers, and thumbstick clicks.
You can then save your custom controller profiles (as many as you’d like) to the app; two profiles can be loaded onto the controller, and you can switch between them with a new Profile Switch system.
For a closer look at the Xbox Elite controller, check out the video and image gallery below.
E3 press conferences are typically about the spectacle of lots of different games, lots of trailers, and just a tease of gameplay. Bethesda threw all that out the window with its debut 2015 presentation; the publisher closed out its show with over half an hour focused exclusively on the highly anticipated Fallout 4.
In case you missed any of the game’s numerous reveals, here’s a round-up of the biggest Fallout stories from Bethesda’s E3 2015 conference.
Free-to-play mobile games don’t typically draw a lot of positive attention from hardcore gamers, but there was a lot of positive buzz around Fallout Shelter. It’s out now on iOS; and Android version is due “sometime later.”
Bethesda’s first ever pre-E3 press conference made the usually quiet Sunday before E3 a noisy and jam-packed one, with plenty of reveals, rumors, and news spilling out during the day. From Gears of War leaks to various tidbits revealed at the Nintendo World Championships, and all the way up to a hugely successful inaugural Bethesda press conference, there was plenty to digest–and E3 hasn’t officially started yet!
For as much as Fallout 4 looks like a thoroughly well-crafted world (and with a more impressive color range than the brown and grays of Fallout 3), Bethesda is giving players the tools to further personalize their post-apocalyptic survival experience.
In practice, that means building a home through a deep multi-phase process that involves collecting resources to craft practical parts. From the foundation to the house’s frame, to reinforcing it with corrugated metal, Fallout 4 will turn its players into amateur architects and interior designers.
A more personal experience than previous games, Fallout 4 pairs players with a trusty canine companion, and it just so happens that you can create a personal home for your dog.
Your home evolves into a homestead when you attract traders to exchange food, water, and even power generators. Generators begets terminals and laser turrets to the point that there was a sense of tower defense when protecting your settlement from raiders. Who needs human allies when you can create a periphery with deadly automated firearms?
“All this crafting makes for an immense time suck, but it’s a fitting match for this next expansive Fallout world.”
Speaking of weapons, customization has been taken to near Borderlands levels of gun variations. From barrels to stocks, beam splitters to focusers, there are over 50 base weapons and hundreds of modifications to suit your specific combat preferences. Want a mahogany bat with a dual saw blade at the end? You can, provided you have the right parts.
The same goes for the power armor, where legs, torso, and other body parts can be bought and fitted individually. All this crafting makes for an immense time suck, but it’s a fitting match for this next expansive Fallout world.
Today at Bethesda’s E3 2015 press conference, the company gave out limited-edition figurines to attendees and, somewhat expectedly, they’re already up on Ebay.
The figurines are from Doom, Fallout, and Dishonored, games that headlined the Bethesda’s press conference. And, within minutes of the close of the conference, the figures popped up on the online auction site.
A quick search reveals the set of three are available in the $300 price range. And, unsurprisingly, the extremely rare figures are selling almost instantly.
In addition to those given to attendees of its press conference, Bethesda had a few up for grabs during its subsequent Q&A livestream. We expect these will show up on eBay soon too.
If there was any lingering question about what Bethesda’s most important IP is, the publisher put that to rest in front of a sold-out Dolby Theatre auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday.
During a one-hour press conference that featured a robust slate of triple-A games that any publisher would envy, including DOOM and Dishonored 2, it was Fallout 4 that closed the curtain.
One key problem for Bethesda is that the inherent bliss of Fallout games–their wondrous sense of freedom to draw your own narrative path–is inevitably diminished when portrayed through cinematic and choreographed trailers. Which is why Todd Howard, the executive producer of the game, opened his demonstration with a long montage of concept art, as opposed to in-game footage. The promise is obvious; Bethesda wants you to understand how much of its world will be available when the final build ships. (The Fallout 4 release date is November 10, if you’re asking).
“This is a far more personal Fallout, with your hero given a voice, a dog to keep you company, and quite tragically, a wife and child to lose after the bomb lands.”
The company appears to still be a little shy about showing the world in forensic detail, however, with its gameplay demonstration frequently skipping between scenes, and jumping from first-person to third-person perspectives. A wise PR move, certainly, with the game’s graphics under scrutiny from some quarters, but not exactly an answer to those critics either.
Bethesda’s focus of the pitch was not graphical fidelity, of course, but scale and possibility. Howard referred to Fallout 4’s Boston wasteland as “an enormous, dynamic world, where you can create what you want, and do what you want.”
Driving the point home, he stated: “Player freedom remains our absolute number one goal.”
Predictable press conference hyperbole, you might have thought, until Howard listed a remarkable number of new options available to players. From wide-ranging apparel choices, to hundreds of possibilities to modify your weapons, Fallout 4 wants players to make more choices than ever. If you want, you could even build your own homes and buildings. You can find jetpacks, ride helicopters, and can even play 8-bit games on your new Pip-Boy.
It even comes with a Pip-Boy app for your Android or iOS smartphone–which Howard proudly proclaimed is “the best f**king second screen experience” out there. For those interested, here’s a closer look at the Pip-Boy app and the real-life Pip-Boy included in the Fallout 4 special edition.
Meanwhile, vast volumes of in-game audio have been recorded (apparently, a thousand names were recorded alone just so your child’s name can be uttered). Many of those recordings will not be heard, with the game utilising a Mass Effect-esque conversation tree system.
This is a natural evolution of Fallout 3, with every single element expanded upon, sometimes to an unbelievable degree. But it also appears to be a far more personal Fallout, with your hero given a voice, a dog to keep you company, and quite tragically, a wife and child to lose after the bomb lands
Fallout 4 has been in development for four years, and while some may lament the slightly awkward animations, you really can sense how much love and energy went into building this world. Boston is a vulgar wasteland, but it’s Bethesda’s vulgar wasteland, and there’s nothing half-hearted about it.
