Microsoft has released a new Xbox One system update. Normally, that’s an exciting event, as new features or functionality are delivered to the console. But this one is somewhat different.
The new Xbox One update out now does not introduce new features, but instead offers mysterious behind-the-scenes tweaks to “prepare for the future.”
Check out some tweets below about the new Xbox One update from Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb and Xbox partner director Mike Ybarra.
The timing of the update is potentially interesting, as E3–the biggest news event of the year for games–is right around the corner. We’ve already heard about a new, 1TB Xbox One model, but could a new dashboard update also be in the works?
We don’t know, but all will be revealed at Microsoft’s E3 briefing, which is scheduled for Monday, June 15, starting at 9:30 AM PDT / 12:30 PM EDT.
For those asking, we released a small update today. No features. Just behind the scenes stuff. #xbox
Microsoft has released a new Xbox One system update. Normally, that’s an exciting event, as new features or functionality are delivered to the console. But this one is somewhat different.
The new Xbox One update out now does not introduce new features, but instead offers mysterious behind-the-scenes tweaks to “prepare for the future.”
Check out some tweets below about the new Xbox One update from Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb and Xbox partner director Mike Ybarra.
The timing of the update is potentially interesting, as E3–the biggest news event of the year for games–is right around the corner. We’ve already heard about a new, 1TB Xbox One model, but could a new dashboard update also be in the works?
We don’t know, but all will be revealed at Microsoft’s E3 briefing, which is scheduled for Monday, June 15, starting at 9:30 AM PDT / 12:30 PM EDT.
For those asking, we released a small update today. No features. Just behind the scenes stuff. #xbox
German filmmaker Uwe Boll, perhaps best know by gamers for his various video game movie adaptations, is not a fan of crowdfunding. In an expletive-laden, NSFW video rant posted Sunday, Boll lashed out at platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter–and even George Clooney and Brad Pitt for some reason.
“That was my third campaign after Postal 2 failed…And now Kickstarter failed, too,” he starts off in the video, which of course is titled “F**k you all.”
“Basically my message is, ‘F**k yourself,’” he says.
Boll went on to use strong, controversial language (which we will not repeat here) about the people who run Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites. He said the folks at Kickstarter contacted him, asking if he would launch a crowdfunding effort for Rampage 3. But Boll seems to suggest that Kickstarter team was really more interested in collecting their fee.
“It’s all f**king bullsh**, and I will never do it in my life again,” Boll said. “For me, crowdfunding is absolutely dead. Goodbye. End. It looks like nobody gives a sh** about Rampage 3, so maybe I shouldn’t do it, then.”
“I have enough money to play golf ’till I’m dead.”
Boll went on to say that he didn’t expect to make any real money on Rampage 3; instead, he wanted to make it because he thought it was an “important” movie.
This rant was followed by another, wider (and again, very much NSFW) tirade where Boll attacks the Hollywood industry in general. He specifically cites his movie about the genocide in Darfur as not getting the attention it deserved. He goes on to claim that celebrities like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and George Clooney only do charity work when it benefits their own personal brands.
Despite Boll’s pessimism, Rampage 3 could still happen…maybe. The movie still has three more days to meet its €50,000 ($55,800) goal. At press time, funding stands at €22,757 ($25,400).
Ahead of Microsoft’s E3 briefing, which takes place one week from today, new screenshots and details for first-party racing game Forza Motorsport 6 have leaked.
Discovered by IGN, the official Japanese Xbox website posted–and then removed–some information about Forza 6. First up, the game will reportedly have a collection of over 450 cars. The game also pledges to deliver “breathtaking graphics,” with three new screenshots posted to the site.
The images show off Forza 6’s rain effects and nighttime driving, among other things. See them all at IGN.
What’s more, the leak says Forza 6 will offer two-player splitscreen, in addition to 24-player online races and Drivatar support. There are also 26 “world-famous” locations featured in the game, supposedly.
With just one week to go before Square Enix’s E3 briefing, the publisher is now starting to talk about what it will show during its presentation. It’s not much of a surprise, but Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will play a part in the event, as Square Enix will offer a first look at in-game footage, the company said on Twitter.
Runs on the Dawn Engine, which is Eidos Montreal’s proprietary game engine.
Will feature Direct X 12 support as well as AMD’s TressFX as a means to “not only raise the bar in game performance but bring unrivaled visual fidelity to the Deus Ex franchise.”
Takes place in 2029, and continues the story of Adam Jensen from Human Revolution.
Welcome back to GameSpot Q&A a weekly section where we ask our staff and readers an interesting discussion question about video games. Look at this as a forum where you and others can discuss and compare your opinions of this beloved hobby of ours. Let us know what your answer is to this week’s question in the comments below!
This week’s question is:
What game series do you wish a specific developer/team could work on?
Our favorite games are our favorite for a reason, a great development put together something memorable. But just like movies in a series will get different directors and a long-running book series might have multiple authors, what if a new studio could work on your favorite franchise? Whether it’s mashing up genres in exciting ways or just breathing new life into a series we already love to explore, here are the game series and developers that we think would go together like peanut butter and chocolate.
Bethesda Meets Vampires | Zorine Te
I would love to see Bethesda Game Studios revive the Vampire games from the World of Darkness universe–particularly in the style of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. That universe is incredibly rich with lore, and in the right hands the story and gameplay could be incredibly brilliant. Bethesda has experience in marrying narrative with gameplay in a style I’m quite fond of, so I think that studio would be best suited to it. Please, give me another Vampire: The Masquerade Game!
Streets of Rage by Rocksteady | Rob Crossley
Streets of Rage 2 is still, hands-down, the greatest scrolling beat ’em up of all time. Everything the game attempted was a triumph–the thugs, the music, the motorbikes, the insanely hard elevator levels, the buff Muay Thai mini-bosses, the metal pipes, the fire-breathing fat guys; everything. And while SEGA has attempted twice before to build a modern reboot of the 16-Bit classic, the original’s magic seems lost when converted into 3D. Who could solve such a conundrum? Look no further than Batman Arkham developer Rocksteady, which has singlehandedly changed the rules of how combat works in 3D.
Naughty Dog Does James Bond | Eddie Makuch
I would really like to see Naughty Dog work on a James Bond game. Uncharted has proven that the developer clearly has the chops to pull off a high-octane action adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously. That’s essentially the Bond formula. Plus, Sony Pictures is behind the Bond movies and Sony also owns Naughty Dog.
Up Plus Insomniac | Mary Kish
I think Insomniac Games should make a platform game series similar to Spyro, but focused on Dug the dog from the movie Up. It would be adorable.
Arkane and the Thief | Daniel Hindes
I would like to see Dishonored developer Arkane make a Thief game. The developer has consistently proven they know how to create an engaging, first-person stealth/combat game, but I’d love to see what they could do if they were focusing on stealth specifically, as in the Thief series.
Metro: Last Light Dev and Half-Life | Kevin VanOrd
I would love to see what Metro 2033/Last Light developer 4A Games would do with a Half-Life game. Half-Life 2 is already immersed in a Ukrainian/Eastern-European milieu that recalls the post-Chernobyl dereliction and reticence of the region, and depicts an excellent futuristic version of Soviet propaganda materials and policies. 4A works with the same kinds of themes, and is already doing God’s work in the single-player shooter realm. If we gave them the keys to the Half-Life kingdom, perhaps Half-Life 3 would actually be made…and be outstanding.
Nintendo and Metroid | Peter Brown
I would love to see Nintendo make a new Metroid game. I get it, this is a chance for me to come up with a dream team scenario, but the only game I really want to see announced in the near future is Metroid, and I only want it to come from a studio underneath the Nintendo umbrella. Come on E3, don’t disappoint me! [Editor’s Note: Since Peter didn’t follow the rules, I’m going to choose a developer for him…HAL Labratories (the Kirby team), would make a super cute, “chibi” version of Samus and Metroid. The plot would focus on winning a competitive eating contest set on the Planet Zebes. You’re welcome, Peter! — JH]
Firaxis and Front Mission | Edmond Tran
I want a team at Firaxis, led by Jake Solomon, to take the reins of a new Front Mission. Front Mission 3 is one the greatest turn-based strategy games ever made. It had a gripping political thriller narrative, deep tactical battles, and you could punch dudes in a big robot suit. The series crashed and burned through the 00’s, but after a masterful XCOM reboot, Firaxis can easily bring Front Mission back to its former glory. Do it, Square Enix!
Bioware and Battlestar | Lucy James
I’d love for BioWare to tackle Battlestar Galactica. I mean, it would be kind of similar (okay, VERY similar) to Mass Effect, but Battlestar is so full of politics, intrigue, romance and action that I think it’d make a killer third-person title. Also, dogfighting in space.
Firaxis in Star Control | Ty Root
Easy. I’d love Firaxis to take on the Star Control series, even though I know Stardock supposedly has the rights to the Toys 4 Bob/Accolade classic (and is potentially going to bring back the series in 2017).
Machine Games Meets Mass Effect | Chris Watters
I want a first-person shooter in the Mass Effect universe designed by those aces at MachineGames. The Swedes behind the excellent action and warm characterization in Wolfenstein: The New Order would capitalize on the rich fiction to build intriguing relationships and create a shooter with soul (that also kicks a lot of ass).
Splatoon is a wonderful spin on the multiplayer genre, but you’re not going to be able to play the Nintendo exclusive unless you have a Wii U. This Minecraft mod, however, is a pretty impressive imitation you can play on your PC.
Created by Minecraft Modder Sethbling (via Polygon), it follows Splatoon’s formula closely. Two teams of four players enter an arena and must paint as much of it as they can with their team’s color using a variety of ink-based weapons.
Just like Splatoon, the mod also lets players turn into squids on top of their team color to recharge their weapon and travel faster.
Splatoon launched exclusively for Wii U on May 28. For more, check out GameSpot’s review, which gave it a great score of 8/10 for proving that shooters don’t have to be violent to be engaging.
Last week Bethesda finally announced the hotly anticipated Fallout 4. The game’s official website only listed an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions, but just in case there was any confusion, the developer yesterday confirmed that there’s no chance the game is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“It is not coming to 360 and PS3, the stuff we’re doing will never work there,” Bethesda’s global community manager Matt Grandstaff said in a NeoGAF thread.
A shame if you don’t already own one of the new consoles, but probably a better choice for the game overall, as it’s now only limited by the power of the PS4 and Xbox One.
As previously indicated, Fallout 4 will take place in Boston. During the trailer we are briefly shown an area called “Scollay Square,” which is located in real-world Boston. The USS Constitution, which is docked in the city, Bunker Hill Monument, and the Massachusetts State House are also seen in the video.
Blizzard today announced a Diablo-focused event for Heroes of the Storm that will see a variety of new Diablo content come to the game over the course of several months, beginning with a new character and map.
Following the recent release of Johanna, who serves as HotS’ version of Diablo III‘s Crusader class, the Eternal Conflict event will add the Butcher, a boss from the first act of Diablo III. Whereas Johanna is a warrior class character who functions as a heavy-duty tank, the Butcher is a melee assassin. As he kills enemy minions and heroes, he’s able to collect bits of meat that each offer a one percent attack bonus (up to a total of 25 percent).
Perhaps most interesting among the Butcher’s abilities is his Butcher’s Brand, which allows him to mark a target and then heal for 75 percent of the damage dealt with basic attacks to that target. If you’ve marked an enemy hero, that figure goes up to a whopping 150 percent.
Whether or not the Butcher is of interest to you, there will be a new Diablo-themed battleground (the game’s parlance for maps) added called the Battlefield of Eternity. This, like all of the others in the game, has a unique hook: it’s a two-lane map with a large area in the middle. Each team will occasionally have a large minion, called an Immortal, that spawns here and begins to attack the enemy team’s.
Players will need to defend their Immortal and attack the enemy’s to ensure theirs survives the encounter. Once one of the two is defeated, the other Immortal will move into one of the lanes and begin pushing the enemy base.
A public test realm version of Battlefield of Eternity will go live on June 23 before launching in full on June 30, when the Eternal Conflict kicks off. The event will last for several months, bringing additional, unspecified Diablo content to the game.
While it doesn’t sound as if Blizzard plans on immediately jumping into another franchise-specific event like this right afterward, director Dustin Browder suggested to GameSpot that World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and even Overwatch could have similar HotS events in the future.
It’s been four months since we’ve wondered about the current state of EverQuest Next in our “Games Gone Missing – where are they now?” video feature. Yesterday, the game’s senior producer Terry “Fairan” Michaels gave us the latest update in a Producer’s Letter posted to Landmark‘s official site.
Landmark, a standalone game that lets players create their own buildings with a powerful creation tool, was always designed to test some systems that will be incorporated into EverQuest Next. Michaels said that after taking care of a recent character and claim wipe and issues associated with it, the team is shifting its focus to those features.
“As the team has wrapped up the various pieces related to the wipe and the bugs associated with it, we have been shifting our focus and resources over to work on the highest priority tasks and systems that will be used in EverQuest Next,” Michaels said. “While we do this, we’re working in areas with high amounts of creative risk. This means that while we know what we want to do, we know it will take an unknown amount of iteration, tweaking and sometimes drastic direction changes to get these in game and working the way they need to. Because of this, we simply cannot commit to any dates, because until we get much closer, even our best estimates are educated (but still fairly wild) guesses.”
Michaels guaranteed that Landmark will still get updates, but on a less regular scedule than players have been used to over the past year. He also clarified that though the team is shifting its focus to EverQuest Next, that doesn’t mean the game will be coming out this year.
Development on EverQuest Next and Landmark began under Sony Online Entertainment, but earlier this year the company announced that it was breaking away from Sony to operate as an independent company known as Daybreak Game Company.
