Blizzard has released new gameplay videos for its upcoming team-based shooter Overwatch.
Unlike previously released footage, the four new gameplay videos show unedited matches running at 1080p 60 frames per second.
Each of the videos focuses on a specific character. The first, Hanzo, is a Japanese mercenary and assassin that wields a bow and arrow. The second character, McCree is a wild west bounty hunter and outlaw that uses a revolver. Mercy, a guardian angel, functions as the games medic class, while Zenyatta is a mysterious cybernetic monk.
Take an in-depth look at them in the videos below.
Overwatch is Blizzard’s first new franchise in 17 years, with development on the PC title being led by Jeff Kaplan, a former World of Warcraft game director.
Blizzard has described Overwatch as a “pick-up-and-play” FPS that throws players together and makes them battle in futuristic maps in places such as London and Egypt. The company’s overall goal with the game is to bring the developer’s “easy-to-learn, hard-to-master” mantra to the FPS space.
“With every new Blizzard game, we look at our favorite aspects of a genre and put our own spin on things,” Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said when Overwatch was first announced.
“Our goal withOverwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that’s more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love.”
Square Enix’s version of Thor comes with the the Norse god of thunder’s trademark hammer (of course), as well as a lightning effect and a plastic cape.
Also included are some interchangeable parts, including various hands and even a second face that depicts a much angrier Thor. There’s also a figure stand.
According to Toy Ark, which obtained the photos in the gallery below, the Play Arts Variant Thor will launch in September. The figure will be priced at ¥14,800 (about $122).
For more on Square Enix’s re-imagining of other popular media franchises, check out the stories below.
Following the introduction of 60fps video playback last year, YouTube on Thursday announced a new update that will let people conduct 60fps livestreams. The one catch, at least for now, is that the higher frame rate is only supported as part of an early preview for HTML5-compatible browsers.
“When you start a live stream on YouTube at 60fps, we’ll transcode your stream into 720p60 and 1080p60, which means silky smooth playback for gaming and other fast-action videos,” YouTube explained in a statement. “We’ll also make your stream available in 30fps on devices where high frame rate viewing is not yet available, while we work to expand support in the coming weeks.”
YouTube said it appreciates that better frame rate is a key concern for video game streams. As such, the Google-owned video giant has worked with game capture technology companies like Elgato and XSplit for new version of their capture technology. The new versions of Elgato Game Capture, XSplit Broadcaster, and XSplit Gamecaster are available now, YouTube said.
What’s more, YouTube pointed out that any app using the site’s new livestreaming API can mark their stream to run at 60fps.
In addition, YouTube has rolled out what it called another highly requested feature for livestreaming: HTML5 playback.
“As of this week, YouTube live streams will use an HTML5 player in supported browsers,” YouTube said. “And because our HTML5 player supports variable speed playback, you can skip backward in a stream while it’s live and watch at 1.5x or 2x speed to catch back up.”
The introduction of 60fps livestreaming, and more announcements to come later, are part of YouTube’s effort to go head-to-head with Twitch. According to a report from March, “Gaming and eSports in particular are going to be a big driving force for the new-look YouTube Live.”
Developer CD Projekt Red has responded to concerns that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s graphics were “downgraded” throughout the course of development. In a interview with Eurogamer, key developers from the Polish studio frankly acknowledge that the visuals for the final game–released this week to high praise–don’t exactly match a video shown during the VGX awards show two years ago. They also explain why.
First, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwinski stressed that developing The Witcher 3 for consoles did not hold back the PC edition.
“If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is,”Iwinski said. “We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world.”
“Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else–they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game.”
Asked specifically why The Witcher 3’s graphics might have looked better in the VGX video (below), Iwinski explained that this footage–captured on PC–was derived from a “vertical slice” of the game. This demo was built specifically to run in as high fidelity as possible. It didn’t have the game’s full open world to contend with, and that helped boost the visuals.
“This is the nature of games development,” he admitted.
Iwinski went on to suggest that, “Maybe we shouldn’t have shown that [trailer], I don’t know.” But he also stresses that CD Projekt Red never set out to mislead anyone with the footage.
“It’s not a lie or a bad will,” he said. “We don’t agree there is a downgrade but it’s our opinion, and gamers’ feeling can be different. If they made their purchasing decision based on the 2013 materials, I’m deeply sorry for that, and we are discussing how we can make it up to them because that’s not fair.”
Iwinski and the rest of the CD Projekt Red team have been personally affected by the graphics fallout.
“We don’t feel good about it,” Iwinski said. “And I treat it very personally.” CD Projekt Red marketing manager Michal Platkow-Gilewski added: “The whole team was touched by this.”
Finally, CD Projekt Red says there is a major patch coming soon to The Witcher 3 that should offer a series of graphical improvements. For the PC edition specifically, another new patch will allow players to edit .ini files. This should let players tweak their visual settings even more than they already can.
Following a swathe of recent bans, Daybreak Game Company, developer of online zombie survival title H1Z1, has decided to give cheaters a second chance, provided they release a public YouTube apology.
Daybreak president John Smedley took to Twitter to tell players e-mailing him that they’d have to publicly put their tail between their legs to have their bans lifted.
Dear Cheaters who got banned. Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you. However.. You’re doing it wrong
Naturally, YouTube apology videos cannot be marked as private and Smedley has asked that they be address to the rest of the H1Z1 playerbase instead of its developer.
“Although you hurt our business, this is about [fellow players] not us,” he said.
Thus far, Smedley has retweeted three apology videos and confirmed these three players’ bans have been lifted.
“So far we’ve unbanned three people out of 30k we’ve now banned. One of which is probably about to get re-banned for taking his video private,” Smedley said on Reddit.
“I want to make sure it’s clear there are consequences for cheating. You don’t just get to make a video and get unbanned. This is a very limited time thing to try and raise awareness of what’s actually going on,” he added.
“You may say ‘hey there clearly aren’t consequences if you are unbanning people’. Let’s get back to the part where I said we’ve unbanned three people. If these videos go far and wide and it elevates the importance of getting rid of the cheaters in PC gaming, I feel it’s an excellent trade.”
For those who enjoy a little schadenfreude, you can watch the three apologies below.
Among the most popular H1Z1 hacks was ESP, a cheat that allows users to see the location of other players, ammo, and weapons.
In February, Sony Online Entertainment was bought out by an investment management firm based in New York called Columbus Nova. SOE, now operating as Daybreak Game Company, looks after Planetside 2, H1Z1, and DC Universe Online.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released a new live-action trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight showing a number of average Joes in situations that compel them to become the Batman.
To be clear, there’s zero gameplay in here, but it’s a cool trailer nonetheless, partially thanks to the use of Nine Inch Nails’ The Wretched.
An Amazon listing for two versions of Batman: Arkham Knight was recently spotted. The first is just the standard version of the game, while the second is called the Comic Bundle, and features an in-game skin (“Batman First Appearance”), along with an exclusive, 25th anniversary version of an Grant Morrison’s acclaimed graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
At the time of writing, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night director Koji Igarashi’s crowdfunded spiritual successor has raised $2.5 million and, in its latest project update, beta access was announced.
Although there wasn’t much in the way of details, the Kickstarter page states that eligible backers will be able to “play early builds of the game,” as well as “help the development team squash bugs,” and “provide valuable feedback.”
“All $60+ digital and physical PC copies will be eligible for the beta,” reads the update, “but the beta version will only run on Windows.”
Igarashi is opting not to rely wholly on a traditional publishing deal for the project, instead taking to Kickstarter to get the game off the ground. Part of the funds required to develop the game had already been raised, so the Kickstarter campaign was aimed at generating awareness, as well as increase the overall product budget, and to release physical Xbox One and PS4 discs as backer rewards.
Igarashi is serving as Ritual of the Night’s director/producer. Castlevania series composer Michiru Yamane is returning to work on the game’s music. Development duties are being handled by Inti Creates, the Japanese studio behind Mega Man 9 and Mighty No. 9.
An expansion to PlayStation 4-exclusive role-playing game Bloodborne has been confirmed by Sony. The president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s World Wide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, posted the announcement on Twitter today.
Yoshida also confirmed that more information on the expansion would be released “later this year.” GameSpot has reached out to Sony for comment and will update this story as more details become available.
The 2016 Warcraft movie might feature a reference to one of gaming’s most iconic memes: Leeroy Jenkins.
Book of Eli writer Gary Whitta, who wrote a draft of the Warcraft movie, shared a snippet of his draft on Twitter. As you could have probably guessed, “Private Jenkins” is a little too eager to charge into battle.
Leeroy Jenkins was actually in my original draft of the Warcraft movie. And yes, he ran into battle too early. pic.twitter.com/G8bO4KmU6j
Eurogamer points out that the Warcraft movie script has gone through numerous drafts, so it’s possible this sequence has been changed or possibly removed altogether.
The Leeroy Jenkins meme recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The meme has been referenced on popular shows like Jeopardy and How I Met Your Mother, among others.
