A new Tony Hawk game is coming to consoles in 2015, the pro skateboarder himself revealed via Twitter yesterday.
“I’m currently working with Activision on a console game for 2015 (along with a new mobile game),” Hawk said. “I think fans of THPS series will be hyped.”
Hawk also said that the mobile game that was announced earlier this year, Tony Hawk’s Shred Session, “has been put on hold indefinitely.” An Activision representative later confirmed Hawk’s statements with Polygon.
In May, Hawk participated in a Reddit AMA, where he said “There is a CHANCE of something in the future for newer consoles.”
We don’t know who’s developing the new console game yet, but we know it won’t be the developer that made the series famous, Neversoft, which Activision shut down as a separate entity and merged with Call of Duty studio Infinity Ward in July.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, a downloadable, HD re-release of content from the first two Pro Skater games, was released in 2012. At the time, developer Robomodo’s CEO, Josh Tsui, suggested something bigger could eventually be made, saying, “The prospect of a fuller game is definitely on the table — it’s just a matter of when and how.”
Yesterday, Blizzard shared the first image of actor Dominic Cooper (Captain America, Need for Speed) as King Llane, the leader of the Alliance city of Stormwind and his character in the upcoming Warcraft movie. Now, we have a longer list of other characters that’ll appear in the film and the actors that will portray them.
On the Alliance side, we already knew that Travis Fimmel (Vikings) had a role, but now we know that he’ll play the protagonist for the Alliance, Lothar, a war hero who sacrifices everything to save Azeroth.
Ben Foster (The Messenger, Lone Survivor) will play Medivh, who in the games’ fiction opens the Dark Portal, allowing the Burning Legion into Azeroth.
Ben Schnetzer (The Book Thief) will play Khadgar, a young mage and, in the games, Medivh’s apprentice.
Ruth Negga (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will play Lady Taria, the Queen of Stormwind.
Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) will play Garona, an orc who will have to decide where he loyalty lies.
Toby Kebbel (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) will play the protagonist of the Horde’s side, Durotan, the orc Chieftain of the the Frostwolf clan.
Rob Kazinsky (True Blood) will play Orgrim, Durotan’s right hand.
Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers, The Shawshank Redemption) will play Blackhand, the Horde’s greatest Warchief.
Daniel Wu (Europa Report) will play Gul’Dan, an orcish shaman and the first orcish warlock in the games’ fiction.
During a special presentation at Blizzcon, Warcraft Director Duncan Jones said the movie will feature a lot of special effects he described as “Avatar and Lord of the Rings at the same time.”
Warcraft will release in theaters in 3D on March 11, 2016.
On Tuesday, Rockstar Games confirmed earlier rumors and officially announced that Grand Theft Auto V is getting a first-person mode. The mode, which will be available at the press of a button, will be available only on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions of the game. My oh my does it look impressive (see the screenshot above), and I cannot wait to try it out come November 18.
Just two months after Destiny’s release in September, publisher Activision announced on Tuesday that Bungie has already begun work on the “next full game” in the series. Unfortunately, no further details were shared, but a sequel is not much of a surprise, given the fact that Activision and Bungie’s contract spans an entire decade. Don’t expect the new game anytime soon, however, as Bungie hasn’t even released either of Destiny’s two DLC packs yet.
The Other Stuff (Stories We Like, But Didn’t Cover With a Standalone Post):
Think you’re good at Battlefield developer DICE’s 2008 free-running game Mirror’s Edge? You might be, but you’re probably not better than Twitch user Requiem720, who this week posted what is believed to be a new world record speed run. Requiem720 finished the game in 36:41, or 34:11 without loading screens. It’s darn impressive to watch–see the whole thing here.
1993’s Super Mario Bros. movie was universally panned, and now we might know why. Nintendo Life did a fascinating, in-depth interview with co-director Rocky Morton about the movie this week, and among other news nuggets revealed in it, is the fact that the movie underwent a last-minute re-write. “It got rewritten about two or three weeks before principal production, so by the time the script came in we were ready to shoot,” he explained in the fascinating interview. Read the full interview here.
Switching gears, here’s a story that will likely make you uber-jealous. Chinese gamer Wei “CaoMei” Han-Dong recently announced his retirement from professional League of Legends competition to stream games full-time. He’s now making an annual salary of over $800,000. Smart move, I’d say! The move is a welcome change for Han-Dong, who, as a pro League of Legends player, often only got around four hours of sleep per night, he says.
It sounds like PlayStation 4 racing game Driveclub is getting new tracks set in Japan. That’s according to a recent presentation for the game, where Evolution Studios–maybe accidentally–revealed Japan as one of the locations for future DLC. Whoops! In other Driveclub news, the game’s widespread and significant server issues are showing no signs of ending, with the free PlayStation Plus version of the game now officially on-hold indefinitely.
More video game industry executive shuffling this week, as social gaming giant Kabam announced on Monday that it has hired former Electronic Arts veteran Nick Earl to become its president of Global Studios. Earl will manage development of all of Kabam’s games, including those developed internally and through partnerships with Hollywood studios. Earl, a 20-year video game industry veteran, previously worked at EA as president of EA Mobile.
The PlayStation 4 is now the fastest-selling console in Australia of all-time, according to data released this week by the NPD Group (via IGN). As you might expect, the research group’s data also showed that the PS4 holds the title of the top-selling current-generation console in country, outperforming the Xbox One and Wii U.
The Xbox One is getting another high-profile app, as RealNetworks announced this week that its cloud-powered service RealPlayer Cloud will be available “soon” for Xbox One. Once it arrives, you’ll be able to watch your own personal videos on your TV. You’ll also be able to upload videos captured on Xbox One to your RealPlayer Cloud account.
The 88th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade later this month will feature not only a Pikachu balloon, but also one for Activision’s Skylanders series. Tune in Thanksgiving morning and you’ll see the character Eruptor flying high above New York City streets and avenues. To create Eruptor’s fire-like physique, artists used more than 40 gallons of fluorescent paint and five barrels of glitter, Activision said in a statement.
DRM-free digital distribution platform GOG announced this week that it has launched a French version of the website. It’s all part of a “long-term plan to make its services more accessible to non-English speaking customers all over the world. As part of the announcement, GOG is discounting 30+ French games as part of the weekend-long “Vive la France!” promotion–check out all the deals here.
Sony on Tuesday announced that it will serve as a partner for NBA Cares Hoops for Troops, a project led by the NBA, its teams, and players to support active members of the US Armed Forces and their families. As part of the campaign, the NBA and PlayStation (in association with the USO) will host Hoops for Troops service projects throughout the NBA season at military bases around the country. They will provide PS4 systems to soliders and install basketball hoops at the bases. Right on!
Remember that game Doodle Jump? The one you devoted way too much of your life to a few years ago? It’s still around, and this week, developer Lima Sky announced a partnership with Warner Bros. and DC to create Doodle Jump DC Super Heroes. It’s described as a “whimsical mashup” of Doodle Jump and DC, featuring the classic “jump ’em up” gameplay infused with Batman and other classic, well-known super heroes including Superman and Wonder Woman, as well as their nemeses. It’s out now for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Prepare yourself for even more Destiny products. Insight Editions announced this week that it had reached an agreement with developer Bungie to launch a new product line based on the shooter franchise, which we recently learned is getting a sequel. The new product line, which will start hitting shelves this month, will include things like a poster collection ($25/November 4); Hardcover blank journal ($18.95/November 18); and The Art of Destiny book ($45/November 25).
The latest creation from the epic folks at MAN AT ARMS is the Iron Helmet from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I don’t even know what else to say here–the amazing video you see above speaks for itself. Man, that’s awesome.
Ahead of the game’s release on November 13, Konami this week announced the artists who will appear on the soundtrack for professional soccer game Pro Evolution Soccer 2015. The soundtrack features songs from chart-topping artists such as Bastille, Avicii, Calvin Harris, Cold War Kids, American Authors, Imagine Dragons, Linkin Park, and Wilkinson. Nice!
Sega is remastering a bunch of games for 3DS, the company announced this week. The releases kick off in early 2015 with After Burner II, with more games to follow on a monthly basis. Other games being remastered for 3DS include 3D Fantasty Zone, 3D OutRun, 3D Fantasy Zone II, and 3D Thunder Blade. All games will sell for $5.99/€4.99/£4.49 and will be available to download from the eShop for 3DS.
Japanese game developer gumi, Inc. announced this week that it has opened a new office in Canada–which it is calling gumi Canada. The studio will focus on creating mobile games tailor-made for the North American market. The company also has announced that it has brought on former Capcom senior producer Chris Rowe to work as the company’s executive producer.
It’s not Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but a new guitar game is now available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the form of Rocksmith 2014, which was released on Tuesday. In case you’re new to the Rocksmith series, unlike Rock Band or Guitar Hero, in this game you can plug in a real guitar to use. The game comes with 50 songs right out of the gate, while Ubisoft also this week announced plans for a Jimi Hendrix pack in December that includes some of his biggest hits–Purple Haze, Foxey Lady, and The Wind Cries Mary are all there, don’t worry.
Here’s some good news for people who use Valve’s Source Engine modding applications such as Source Filmmaker and Garry’s Mod. 3D character creation and animation company Mixamo this week announced the release of a new download feature that will allow anyone creating a 3D character using the Fuse software and animating it using Animations to import their characters directly into Source Filmmaker and Garry’s Mod. “As far we know, we’re the first-ever 3D modeling and animation service to do so,” Mixamo CEO Stefano Corazza said.
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Earlier today, during the game’s reveal, Blizzard senior vice president of story and franchise development Chris Metzen had said that Overwatch shares a “spiritual continuity,” but that they are “pretty different.” He also described Titan as “kooky and ambitious.”
During a press conference for Overwatch later that same day, Metzen elaborated on those comments further. After answering a question about the connection between Titan and Overwatch, Metzen replied, “I’m not going to get into what [Titan] was going to be or what we wanted it to be. I can tell you what it was, in a way, it was frustrating. It was a big, giant idea; it was almost like six video games in one. It was the most ambitious game ever. It was fun to try to tackle it, and boy did we tackle it. We wrestled with it for a long time. And it sucked; we couldn’t figure it out. It makes you just [clenches his fist], we couldn’t crack it.
“Imagine this amazing team just frustrated. ‘Why can’t we do this?’ It’s trying to fret a chord and write the song. ‘We can’t write the song, why can’t it just sound awesome?’ Can’t find the harmony, whatever. And when we decided to go another way, like Jeff was saying, we’ve got this hook, ‘Why aren’t we doing that? We love that.’ And we decided to do it and, suddenly, ‘Boom!’ The music just exploded. And we started looking at [Overwatch] for what it was, and it unleashed this tidal wave of passion and certainty and distilled, clear ideas. And this world idea. It was just this monstrous thing of energy.
“It’s been the funnest year, getting our feet back under us, getting our surety back. That magnetic north thing, we found it again, and it feels good. It was part of that emotionality on the stage this morning. To some degree, we needed to get it back, and we found it. And I hope the people look at Overwatch as a very clever game. But I’ll tell you, under the hood, we needed this, just as developers to feel that lightning coursing through it again.”
With November dominated by the likes of Call Of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, it falls to October to give us some lesser known–or at least less commercially colossal–gaming gems. Sure enough, this October was thick with new releases, including the likes of Lords of the Fallen, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and the excellent NBA 2K15. The Xbox One in particular, seemingly shy of worthwhile exclusives, was gifted not one, not two, but three great games.
Forza Horizon 2 continued the series’ run of shiny 60fps visuals married to a compelling collection of meticulously modelled cars and tracks; Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved reminded us that yes, there are some great uses for Kinect outside of system voice commands; and Sunset Overdrive surprised everyone by being so gosh darn fun.
But October also saw the release of a game that will long be remembered as an absolute classic, the kind of the game that’s worth splurging on a new system for. Platinum Games’ Bayonetta 2 took everything that was great about its predecessor, gave it a colourful lick of paint, and then upped the crazy to wonderful new heights. Few games are as madcap from the outset as Bayonetta 2. Within moments of hitting start you’re hurtling towards the earth atop a crumbling slab of building fighting glittering golden angels, and then minutes later you’re on a jet fighter firing guns from your feet and laying bloody waste to horse-riding jousters with wings.
The action rarely lets up, each boss battle and set piece escalating towards a climax of epic proportions, all backed by a control system and feel that sets the benchmark for action-game combat. Finish Bayonetta 2 and you’ll want to play through it again, increasing the difficulty to master each of every one of Bayonetta’s gruesome, yet elegant combos, and to unlock some of the wonderful Nintendo easter eggs.
Bayonetta 2 is a game that must be experienced, and even if you have to beg, steal, or borrow to get a Wii U to play it on, trust me: it’s more than worth it.
I know what you’re thinking: “Sure, I’m an average guy/gal that’s excited for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii, but I’m far too old and mature to be cluttering up my pristine pad with plastic frivolities.” This would be the wrong way to think about Nintendo’s NFC-enabled Amiibo toys for Super Smash Bros. When you first lay your eyes on Pikchu’s rose-cheeked face, and admire his perfectly zig-zagged tail, your heart will melt, your wallet will open, and you’ll wonder why you ever doubted the power of a two-inch-tall Nintendo toy.
But don’t take my word for it; all 12 of Nintendo’s Amiibo characters–which can be used to store a character’s progress, and have it instantly appear in a Smash Bros. match when placed on the gamepad–have landed in the GameSpot office, and have been unboxed and photographed for your personal perusal. So click on the photos below and join me in wondering what’s up with Samus’ gangster lean, why Animal Crossing Villager is a thing, and just what on earth Yoshi is supposed to be looking at. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the new Gamecube controller and Wii U adaptor looks like, we’ve got you covered there too.
Amiibos cost $12.99 each, and are set to launch alongside Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Wii on November 21. The new Gamecube controller costs $29.99, while the adaptor runs for $19.99.
Today during the opening ceremony of Blizzcon 2014, Blizzard Entertainment announced that a new expansion for free-to-play card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be released next month. Here’s a sneak peak at 30 new cards from the upcoming set of 120.
Share Play is one of the most exciting features included with the recently release PS4 2.0 update. It allows two PS4 owners to play the same single copy of a game over the Internet. The console owner is designated the host, and is able to stream gameplay to another, guest console. This person can even give up controls to the guest, essentially allowing the guest to play for free.
Sessions of Share Play are limited to 60 minutes, though the host is able to reset the feature at the conclusion of each period, able to effectively loop it indefinitely if they want.
For its part, Activision says its engineers didn’t have access to Share Play before it was released last week, so the company was unable to “evaluate it to see how it will impact the experience across all modes of play.” Looking ahead, Activision did not rule out allowing Share Play for games such as Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: Ghosts in the future.
The 14 games that block PS4 Share Play are listed below.
Since Share Play is such a new feature, it’s possible that publishers are still coming to grips with how to best go about implementing it for their games. As Eurogamer points out, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was blocked from Share Play before PS4 update 2.01, but now it does support the service. It’s also possible that publishers do not want guests to experience their games with worse visuals and frame rate, and are blocking Share Play for that reason.
GameSpot will continue to monitor this story as it develops. In the meantime, if you notice any other PS4 titles not working with Share Play, send us an email through the address below.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Polish developer CI Games on Friday announced that its Dark Souls-like role-playing game Lords of the Fallen is now profitable, also revealing the game’s first DLC: Ancient Labyrinth.
The DLC, which will be released this winter across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, will place emphasis on puzzle-solving and exploration, as well as new enemy encounters, according to IGN. Ancient Labyrinth also brings a new zone to Lords of the Fallen, called The Library, and a magical boss called Lord, whose powers are constantly changing throughout battle.
Also included with Ancient Labyrinth is a “demon-focused quest,” as well as fresh side quests and NPCs. Brand new weapons and armor, and a “new puzzle-based mechanic,” are also included.
A report from Eurogamer Poland states that Ancient Labyrinth will feature around 2.5 hours of content, and that the new location is “set in a giant maze full of skeletons.”
Eurogamer‘s report also reveals that Lords of the Fallen has now sold 200,000 copies of a total of 700,000 shipped to retailers. The game had a budget of around 42 million Polish zloty (about $12.4 million), which would be recouped if the game shipped 500,000 copies, a number it has exceeded.
Film studio Lionsgate and game developer Kabam today announced the release of The Hunger Games: Panem Rising, a role-playing card game based on upcoming movie, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. The mobile game is available today for iOS and Android devices for free.
Panem Rising was developed by Kabam’s studio in Beijing, and is described as an “action-packed role-playing card mobile game.” The game takes place in the nation of Panem, and you’ll play as a leader of the resistance, recruiting a team to help series hero Katniss Everdeen overcome the Capitol forces.
Well-known characters such as Katniss, Gale, and Peeta (among others; see above) can be recruited into your ranks, and they each have their own unique traits and special abilities. Once you form a team, you’ll be able to give your recruits special items discovered throughout the world of Panem.
“As one of the most popular film franchises in history, Kabam knew we had to deliver an experience that not only dived deep into The Hunger Games universe but was also fun to play,” Kabam Beijing Studio co-founder Mike Li said in a statement. “From exploring Districts to recruiting and collecting fan-favorite characters from all three films such as Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, fans will appreciate The Hunger Games: Panem Rising’s authenticity and enjoy the strategic gameplay.”
This is not Kabam’s first licensed game, as the studio also created various mobile and PC titles based on The Hobbit. For more on Panem Rising, check out a gallery of images below.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 comes to theaters on November 21.
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