Category: Gamespot

Developer Zenimax Online Studios has confirmed that disc-based copies of The Elder Scrolls Online for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will require users to register a unique code. Thus, people who buy a second-hand copy or rent the MMORPG will be locked out.

“You will need a unique game registration code in order to play the game, and used copies will not be eligible to receive a key if the code has already been redeemed,” a developer said in the game’s forums.

This is much the same way that it works on PC.

“The code included in the box is to activate your ESOTU account and the discs are for installation purposes,” Zenimax said. “If you own the disc but don’t have a key, you’ll be able to install the game and reach the login screen, but you won’t be able to log in and access the game without an active ESOTU account.”

Since The Elder Scrolls Online has not yet been released for consoles, it remains to be seen how rental companies like Gamefly and Red Box, along with retailers like GameStop and Best Buy, will handle this situation. You would hope they would alert shoppers to the game’s unique scenario.

We’ll have more information as it becomes available.

The Elder Scrolls Online was released in 2014 for PC, and launches for Xbox One and PS4 next month. In January, publisher Bethesda announced that the MMO was doing away with mandatory subscription fees. The game is not entirely free-to-play, as users still need to pay once to buy it, but the $15/month fee is no longer required. Alongside this announcement, Bethesda rebranded the game Tamriel Unlimited.

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Footage of what is believed to be Microsoft’s rumoured Gears of War remaster has appeared online.

Gameplay videos were originally posted on the XboxDVR website, which gathers clips recorded using the Xbox One’s integrated capture technology. However, these clips have since been removed.

Naturally, the footage has now appeared in alternative locations. You can watch two clips here and here. Additionally, images of the game have also popped up on NeoGAF, one of which you can see below.

When asked for a statement on this leak, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We have nothing to announce at this time.”

In April, reports suggested Microsoft was working on an HD remaster of the original Gears of War for Xbox One. Additional sources later said Gears of War on Xbox One features better lighting and improved texture quality.

Multiplayer reportedly runs at 60 frames per second and will feature new cinematics.

Although Microsoft has not yet officially announced the game, it has been reported that Splash Damage, the UK-based studio behind Brink and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, is development Gears of War HD remaster.

Microsoft acquired the Gears of War franchise from Epic Games last year, and tasked its newly established Black Tusk Studios to create a new entry in the action-shooter series for Xbox One. This project is believed to be a entirely new entry in the series.

Black Tusk producer Rod Fergusson previously teased that fans should tune in to E3 in June, suggesting the new Gears of War may appear during the show.

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Ubisoft may hold a beta for its upcoming online shooter The Division, according to comments from chief executive Yves Guillemot. Speaking during a recent earnings briefing about the game’s delay to 2016, Guillemot referenced alpha and beta periods for the game.

See his quote below with emphasis added.

“It’s an RPG, online game. So those games take more time to be completed,” Guillemot explained about the delay.

“We want to make sure we have enough feedback from consumers from alpha and betas to polish it as much as possible before the launch. So that it comes to the market with the best experience possible.”

That Ubisoft would offer an alpha/beta for The Division is not entirely unexpected. The company has a history of letting people play its games before release for the purposes of testing. What’s more, fans on Reddit earlier this year discovered references to an alpha on The Division’s website.

The Division was first scheduled to launch in 2014, a release window that an anonymous development source described as “laughable.” In May 2014, Ubisoft delayed The Division to 2015, while the latest delay to 2016 was announced yesterday as part of Ubisoft’s latest earnings report.

Revealed at E3 2013, The Division is a third-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic New York. Ubisoft has said the title will feature an “unprecedented level of realism.” Just last week, Ubisoft announced that a fourth studio had joined Ubisoft Massive to work on The Division.

For a closer look at The Division, which is in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, check out some images in the gallery below.

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With Valve’s Vive VR headset launching this fall and the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus devices coming in 2016, the virtual reality space is indeed heating up. One publisher excited about the technology is Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry company Ubisoft.

Chief executive Yves Guillemot said during an earnings call this week that Ubisoft is excited about VR and even has multiple games in development. But he also explained why the company is somewhat concerned.

“We believe a lot in virtual reality because we see that it’s really giving a chance for gamers to be more immersed in worlds and we are developing a certain number of games that are going to take advantage of these new possibilities,” Guillemot said.

“What we are doing is working on the different brands we have to see how we can take advantage of those new possibilities but in making sure also that we don’t suffer from what comes with it, which is the difficulty to play a long time with those games.”

Overall, however, Guillemot said Ubisoft is “very bullish” about the potential of VR.

“We think it’s going to bring more players to the universe of Ubisoft video games and we are going to come with our brands,” he explained. “We’ll have a few titles coming in the first year and we’ll have regular games coming following that.”

Though we now have release windows for the three major VR headsets (Vive VR this fall, Oculus in Q1 2016, and Morpheus in the first half of 2016), pricing information is being kept under lock and key. For its part, Oculus VR executive Nate Mitchell explained last week that the Rift will cost more than $200 but less than $1000.

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As suspected, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Activision’s upcoming skateboarding game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 will not have “seamless online multiplayer.”

The publisher confirmed the news to VideoGamer on Wednesday.

The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game–which are priced at $60 compared to $40 for the last-gen versions–use the “seamless online multiplayer” feature to allow players to jump in and out of online sessions with friends and other players.

There are both competitive and cooperative aspects to multiplayer, including the ability to complete missions and level up the character you use online and offline.

It was suspected that the last-generation versions of Pro Skater 5 wouldn’t have the online mode last week, when numerous retailer listings showed “seamless online multiplayer” as a feature only for the Xbox One and PS4 versions.

Activision did not offer any kind of explanation regarding why the previous-generation versions of Pro Skater 5 don’t include the online mode. It also remains to be seen if there will be any further differences between the current- and last-gen versions outside of, presumably, the visuals.

Pro Skater 5 is being developed by Robomodo, the developer of Tony Hawk Ride, Shred, and Pro Skater HD, as well as Disruptive Games. The game will launch this year, but a release date has yet to be announced; Activision says that will be “shared in the upcoming weeks.”

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Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End developer Naughty Dog has discussed the improvements made to its facial animation systems since Uncharted 3 and The Last of Us, saying that face models now animate with “between 300 and 500 bones.”

In an interview with GamesTM , writer Josh Scherr contextualised the improvements by comparing them to previous Uncharted games and The Last of Us, which he said used “about 90 and 100 ‘bones’ in their faces.”

“We’ve completely revamped our facial animation systems,” he said. “Think about that, how detailed Joel and Elli’s pained facial expressions were, how well the game captured the respective actors … Now, the faces have anywhere between 300 and 500 bones.”

“[This] lets us emote more, with all the ‘bones’ we can put onto [faces] – you pan round the camera to look at Nate’s face when he’s climbing and you see him grimacing and all this kind of stuff … we’re pushing detail on a macro and micro level that I think people are really going to respond to,” added lead designer Ricky Cambier.

Unlike previous Naughty Dog titles, for which “some of the animations might have been sample at 10 or 15 frames per second to save memory,” which code would then interpolate to run at 30 frames per second in-game, the new tech can “afford to record [animations] at 30 frames per second so that [they] look that much smoother.”

Speaking about the visual fidelity of other PS4 exclusives, Cambier said Killzone: Shadow Fall was “pretty damn impressive looking for a launch title,” while The Order: 1886 is “one of the best looking games [he’s] seen on any system ever,” but says developers are still in early days with Sony’s latest console.

“If you look at the first Uncharted and how that looked versus how The Last of Us looked … I have difficulty fathoming that we’ll have that kind of graphical leap in the next several years. The reality is, we probably will as we learn the systems better, so it’s all up from here, and that’s exciting.”

Naughty Dog has said it is targeting 60fps for Uncharted 4, but the studio won’t push the PlayStation 4 game that far if it compromises the overall experience. According to director Bruce Straley, the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Gameplay Demo was locked at 30fps, though the game is now achieving a higher frame rate.

In March, Sony delayed the Uncharted 4 release date until Spring 2016. Take a look below for a gallery of up-close shots of Uncharted 4’s characters.

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Nintendo has release a selection of new screenshots for its upcoming Wii U platformer Yoshi’s Woolly World and, predictably, they’re adorable.

The screenshots show the unbearably cute Nintendo character adventuring in a colourful knitted world. Take a look below.

Considered by many as a spiritual sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Mario’s little green companion will once again be able to swallow enemies. However, instead of just producing eggs to throw, Yoshi produces little balls of yarn which have a number of platforming applications.

Nintendo has announced a series of new Amiibo for Yoshi’s Woolly World. Three figures, all which have the knitted look, will be available, each spawning a second Yoshi when used on the Wii U’s NFC reader. The Yoshi Amiibo will be available in green, blue, and pink.

Nintendo is expected to announce its plans for E3 2015 today at 9 AM PDT / 12 Noon EDT. The company has already said it won’t be talking about NX, smartphone games, or its quality of life experiences at E3.

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