Category: Gamespot

When Microsoft announced Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox-exclusive last summer, some fans scratched their heads and wondered: Why? After all, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was released across Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC. Now, developer Crystal Dynamics boss Darrell Gallagher has expanded on the nature of the deal, what it means for the game, and more.

Speaking with Game Informer, Gallagher says the relationship didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it’s “been a long partnership” that actually began, in a way, back in 2008 when Crystal Dynamics brought Tomb Raider Underworld to the Xbox 360 with some exclusive DLC.

This was followed up with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2013, which was released first on Xbox 360 through Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion. As a result of these previous working relationships, the Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox exclusivity deal represents a “natural evolution on where we started,” Gallagher said.

Microsoft will publish Rise of the Tomb Raider and handle marketing and distribution. Overall, Microsoft working on the project helps Crystal Dynamics “achieve what we want with Rise of the Tomb Raider; to deliver the best game that we can,” Gallagher said.

The interviewer went on to ask Gallagher if he thought that Crystal Dynamics’ partnership with Microsoft was so deep that Rise of the Tomb Raider could not exist without it. Gallagher said he doesn’t think that’s the case.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “If you look at Tomb Raider, it’s been around for 20 years, so I do think that Tomb Raider would still be around [without Microsoft].”

Gallagher explained that partnering up with Microsoft helps boost the profile of the Tomb Raider franchise to new heights.

“What we look at is how do we bring the best version of Tomb Raider to market? How do we actually make it as prominent as it can be? And there’s no doubt that having a first-party in Xbox, alongside, saying, ‘We want to help you make this great, we want to push this and get behind it, and love it in the same way as you guys do,’ there’s only benefits that can come from that,” he said.

The deal also means Crystal Dynamics can tap into Microsoft’s hardware-specific expertise to help with the development of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gallagher said. From the start, Microsoft employees have shown initiative to help Crystal Dynamics with the project, asking things like “How can we help?” and “What do you need?,” Gallagher said.

“It’s been a great partnership so far,” he added.

Also in the interview, Gallagher reiterated that Rise of the Tomb Raider could come to PlayStation consoles sometime in the future. This is not too surprising because, after all, we know that Microsoft’s exclusivity deal for the game has a duration, and it’s not forever.

“We’re focusing on Xbox One and Xbox 360 here at Crystal, and that’s what we’re focused on right now,” he said. “And anything beyond? We’ll come back to at a later date.”

Finally, Gallagher confirmed that the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot has now sold 7.5 million copies.

For more on Rise of the Tomb Raider, check out some newly discovered screenshots below. Rise of the Tomb Raider launches this holiday for Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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New doubts have been cast over the free PlayStation Plus edition of Driveclub after the head of PlayStation Europe was unable to answer questions on whether the game would still materialise.

Jim Ryan, who manages SCEE, was asked in an interview with Metro whether the release of the free version–which was first promised in June 2013–was still part of Sony’s plans.

“That’s still being looked at,” he replied.

When asked whether the free version would ever ship, Ryan replied: “I can’t say anything at this stage.” GameSpot has contacted Sony for further clarification.

At E3 2013, months ahead of the release of the PlayStation 4, Sony made a pledge that PlayStation Plus subscribers would be given a free abridged version of Driveclub as a reward for their membership.

But the matter was complicated on several occasions, first in October 2013 when the racing sim was delayed just weeks ahead of its launch. It was delayed again in early 2014, and when finally released in October 2014, it launched with major server issues that knocked its network infrastructure offline.

During the disaster launch, a decision was made at Sony to postpone the free version in order to prevent the online problems worsening.

Months of waiting followed while fans hoped that the free version would still ship. Then, in early February this year, a representative for the game’s developer, Evolution Studios, told a fan that the build “still needs a lot of work“.

In his interview with Metro, Ryan wanted to explain that Sony had worked intensely to salvage Driveclub’s disastrous online launch.

“Everybody in this building [Sony Europe HQ in London] and in the development community was absolutely distraught… I don’t think anybody should labour under the opinion that there was any feeling of insouciance or anybody being relaxed about that being the case.

“People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.”

Jim Ryan on the Driveclub launch

“People were working 24/7, and that’s an expression that’s lightly used but people were working 24/7 trying to fix this.

“Now, should the game have worked at launch? Of course. Should people pay £50 for something and expect it to work? Of course.

“I think one thing that the industry appears to have misjudged in the generational transition–where there’s a lot spoken about moving to a more straightforward PC architecture that should make it easy for developers to come to terms with next gen and all of that–is I think the massively enhanced online ambitions a lot of developers and publishers have identified as one of the opportunists of next gen, appear to have been way more technically challenging than anyone realised.”

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Developer Team Ninja has issued warnings via Twitter for a game-breaking bug in the recently released Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. The bug in question occurs in Tutorial Mode Lesson 40.8 and 40.9, where it freezes the game and corrupts save data.

The issue affects the German, Spanish, French, and Italian versions of the game. The Japanese, English, traditional Chinese, and Korean versions of the game remain unaffected. The developer apologised and stated that it was trying to “fix it ASAP.”

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round was released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in North America on February 17, and Europe on February 20. The PC version was delayed to March 30, but won’t include online multiplayer at launch. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round.

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Dragon Ball XenoVerse kaioken attacks on to multiple platforms at Australian retailers this week. The game will launch on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on February 26. A PC version will be released on February 27.

Xenoverse was originally scheduled to launch earlier, but according to publisher Bandai Namco the game was delayed to “ensure the highest possible gameplay experience” for players. Xenoverse is developed by Dimps, who also worked on the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai series and co-developed Street Fighter IV. Xenoverse will feature a custom character creator, with players able to choose from a variety of races including Saiyans, Namekians, Earthlings, and Majins.

The story in Xenoverse centres on that of a malevolent force who is messing with time, changing the outcome of events in the past. With the help of Trunks, the player must step into the series’ history and correct the timeline back to what it originally was.

If you prefer to go further back in time, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires will launch for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this week. The game will feature 83 warriors to choose from and new customisation options, should you want to create your own original warrior.

For those who haven’t picked up Dying Light digitally, the game is available at retailers this week. An open-world survival game, Dying Light contains elements of parkour and is set in a zombie-infested city. The game was praised in GameSpot’s review for its movement and combat, but criticized for poorly designed missions. For more details on games out this week, check the list below.

February 24, 2015

Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires (PS4, Xbox One)

February 25, 2015

Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late (PS3)

February 26, 2015

Dragon Ball XenoVerse (PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360)

February 27, 2015

Dying Light (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

European Ship Simulator (PC)

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The crowdfunding campaign for PC space sim Star Citizen has now reached $73 million, up by $1 million in a little over two weeks. If funding continues at this pace, the game could eventually raise $100 as its creator Chris Roberts’ hoped it will.

At the time of writing, funding stands at $73.4 million from more than 760,000 backers. Star Citizen is already the most successful crowdfunded project, of any kind, in history.

All additional funds raised for Star Citizen will towards expanding the scope of the game.

In other Star Citizen news, developer Cloud Imperium Games has recently detailed the game’s incredibly deep mining occupation, explaining how players will be able to make money by searching for and mining valuable materials in the deep reaches of space.

For more on Star Citizen and Roberts himself, check out part one and part two of GameSpot’s interview with the legendary designer.

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Sadly, so far all we have is this tiny picture of it, but a new, custom Battlefield Hardline-themed Xbox One has appeared on Microsoft’s website (via NeoGAF).

It looks like the “extremely rare” Xbox One will be available only through a sweepstakes in Microsoft’s Bing Rewards program. To enter, you’ll have to create an account if you don’t already have one, and spend points you earn by using Microsoft’s search engine to enter a chance to win.

The custom Xbox One comes with a copy of Battlefield Hardline, a 12-month EA Access subscription, and without a Kinect.

This sweepstakes ends on February 26 at 9:00 AM ET and winners will be announced on March 17. You can find out more about the sweepstakes and its official rules here.

Battlefield Hardline’s release date is March 17 in the US and March 20 in the UK on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

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Ex-Battlefield 3 lead designer David Goldfarb has said that the development process for big-budget games restricts creativity.

“I think the risk/reward for the companies that can spend the marketing money and that have big successful franchises, for them it’s still worth laying out that investment,” Goldfarb told Gameindustry.biz in an interview. “But for people who don’t have that kind of capital, you’re not really in a practical success loop. AAA is the equivalent of the One Percent right now. It comes with all these caveats. You can’t make the crazy stuff really.”

This isn’t the first time Goldfarb shared this opinion about AAA game development. Last summer, after leaving his position at Payday developer Overkill Software, Goldfarb said that he’s “abandoning AAA,” for the same reason.

Other notable developers have also criticized AAA development lately. Last year, creative director of Just Cause 3 developer Avalanche Studios said that AAA development is unhealthy and unprofitable. Even Metal Gear Solid developer Hideo Kojima shared Goldfarb’s sentiment last year, saying that it’s hard to maintain creative freedom when working on such a large scale.

“I do think there’s a spot between the $100-$200 million dollar AAA games and the $1 million indie games that is not being adequately explored,” Goldfarb said. “To me that’s a really rich field to plow and you can do awesome stuff there.”

Earlier this week, Goldfarb announced a new, Stockholm-based, four-person studio called The Outsiders. The company’s first project is an untitled role-playing game that is aiming to launch for PC and possibly other systems later.

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Blizzard recently previewed what we can expect to see in the next patch for Diablo III. With that update nearing release on public testing servers, the company is now getting out ahead of some discoveries players could make–namely, the addition of microtransactions for non-American and European regions.

Knowing that data mining invariably reveals features that are being worked on, Blizzard has published a list on its forums with some new features that are buried in the patch’s files. However, it makes it clear these new feature “will not apply to all regions,” meaning that microtransactions are something that are only intended for players in other markets.

The list of features that “will not apply” to the Americas or Europe:

• A new currency called “Platinum”
• Timed experience boosts
• New cosmetic items including wings, non-combat pets, and character portraits
• References to stash space and character slot expansions
• A new UI interface that references the above information

Thankfully, based on what Blizzard offers there, it doesn’t sound as if microtransactions would be tied to item drops in any way. Were they to be added, experience boosts, cosmetic changes, and additional stash space sound like relatively inoffensive ways of working in microtransactions, particularly to someone like me who can’t help but hoard items.

If the thought of microtransactions in the game does worry you–and considering how the auction house was handled prior to its shutdown, no one could blame you–there’s little reason to fret, at least right now. “We recognize that many players have expressed an interest in microtransactions being added to Diablo III,” Blizzard says. “While we may explore this model in some regions, we have no immediate plans to implement such purchases anytime soon for the Americas region.” A matching statement on the European forum says the same for that region.

As for what you can count on seeing in the upcoming 2.2.0 patch in the Americas and Europe, check out our full rundown.

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