The lineup of games coming to Xbox One in fall 2015 is so deep that Microsoft may need to shift some titles to 2016 so the games that are released during next year’s holiday season have a chance to breathe. That’s according to Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, who spoke about the congested release slate recently.
“Looking at production schedules and how things are lining up, next fall is just crazy,” Spencer said during the latest Major Nelson Radio podcast (via VideoGamer).
“I mean, this fall from a first-party/third-party standpoint is great. Next fall, I don’t… Honestly it’s not hype at all, I honestly don’t know that we can actually ship all the stuff that thinks it’s trying to ship next fall,” he added. “It just might be too crowded and we might purposely try to move some things out to spread it. You have to [give them some breathing room], you have to do that.”
“Honestly it’s not hype at all, I honestly don’t know that we can actually ship all the stuff that thinks it’s trying to ship next fall” — Phil Spencer
Microsoft has not revealed its official holiday 2015 release slate for Xbox One just yet, but we already know some of the game that are scheduled to be released then. Two first-party Xbox One games confirmed for holiday 2015 include Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Quantum Break is also scheduled for 2015, while Scalebound does not yet have a release date.
Also during the podcast, Spencer said games can thrive in release windows other than holiday. February/March and May can be successful months, he said, citing examples such as Red Dead Redemption (May 2010) and various God of War games.
“It’s nice as an industry that we don’t all have to get on top of each [other], just clobber ourselves and compete against one other, because there are enough hours in the year for a gamer to go play great games, but people want to play the things that are current,” Spencer said.
“And I think as publishers and first-parties have success at multiple points of the year it’s just a good thing for us,” he added. “Because having three/four great games ship all in the same week at the end of October, while maybe on some forecast somewhere it feels like that’s the right thing to do, just as an industry I think it’s much more healthy if we have more beats throughout the year where people can ship great games.”
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
If you’ve been following our Destiny coverage you may have noticed that some clever players have been able to access unfinished parts of the game that will officially released as DLC later. For example, one player managed to enter The Terminus, which we weren’t supposed to see until the release of The Dark Below, Destiny’s first piece of DLC.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Bungie president Harold Ryan explained that a bunch of this “shared-world” content was shipped on the disc specifically to limit the download sizes for people. “Both inside the US and all over the world, how much you download on your local home internet connection can be a problem, and even how much storage space it takes up on your console,” Ryan said. “So we share a lot of assets across all the activities in the game. When people get into areas that aren’t unlocked right now, they’re seeing pieces we built and shipped ahead of time, but they’re by no means the finished experiences or even the finished content.”
Ryan also said that most of content for The Dark Below, for example, was built over the last three months, long after the main game was done. Eris, a new character that will send you on missions in the DLC, her story, and various activities and bosses were all made and polished after the game shipped, ryan said.
Last week, Bungie announced that The Dark Below DLC will release on December 9, and will sell as a single download for $20. The DLC will add new weapons, new story missions, raise the level cap to 32, and much more, which you can read about in detail in here.
The first piece of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the Handsome Jack Doppelganger Pack, will add Handsome Jack, the villain from Borderlands 2, as a playable character, Gearbox and 2K Australia have announced.
Technically, you’re not playing as Handsome Jack himself, but his body double. As “Jack,” you’ll be able to summon multiple “Digi-Jacks” that will fight for you, and they can get special abilities depending on how you upgrade you skill tree. “Jack” can also shoot enemies with wrist lasers, get buffs every time he picks up money, and get special upgrades for using guns made by specific manufacturers.
Gearbox and 2K Australia say they’ve been working on DLC for the game since they completed the main game. The other three pieces of DLC included in the Season Pass are still in development, but the plan is to add another playable character, raise the level cap, and add a new campaign.
You can buy the DLC packs separately at $10 a piece, or get the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Season Pass, which will get you all the DLC as it’s released for $30 total.
The Handsome Jack Doppelganger Pack is coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 11.
More talk of resolution this week, as the PlayStation 4 version of Rockstar Games’ upcoming open-world action game Grand Theft Auto V will run at 1080p, according to a new report. The game’s 1080p visuals are described as “glimmering.” Find out for yourself when the game launches on November 18 for PS4, as well as Xbox One–PC version coming next year..
Very soon you’ll be able to get an Xbox One for $350. Ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, Microsoft this week announced a $50 price cut for the Xbox One. The price drop, effective November 2 (that’s tomorrow!), is good for all Xbox One systems, including the special-edition bundles that come with copies of Sunset Overdrive, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Assassin’s Creed Unity.
On Tuesday, Sony released the PlayStation 4’s long-awaited and feature-rich 2.0 Update, codenamed Masamune. Among the long list of new features introduced in the update is Share Play, which lets you virtually play couch co-op with a friend. Read more about how it works here.
The Other Stuff (Stories We Like, But Didn’t Cover With a Standalone Post):
Lego Minifigures Online developer Funcom announced this week that it is teaming with huge online retailer Amazon to offer the upcoming MMO for Fire TV and various Fire tablets. The game, which is already available on PC, will come to Amazon’s devices by the end of the year.
What does Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock’s upcoming 4v1 shooter Evolve look like on Xbox One? I’m glad you asked, because the studio this week released the first footage of the game running on Xbox One–and it does not disappoint. Watch it right now. We sat down with the studio to learn all about the game, which you can play today on Xbox One, PS4, and PC through an alpha.
Minecraft developer Mojang this week confirmed that the final version of its upcoming PC collectible card game, Scrolls, will launch sometime in November. The game was previously in beta, and had been for many months. The November release date comes with the standard game development warning, however. “We’re not going to release it until it’s ready, if you know what I mean,” Mojang’s Owen Hill said.
And now for something completely different. Bayonetta director Hideki KamiyavisitedValve’s headquarters in Seattle recently, and he even posted a picture to prove it. WHAT CAN IT MEAN? The only logical conclusion to reach is that Kamiya is working on Half-Life 3this has nothing to do with Half-Life 3.
Have you been waiting to play BioShock Infinite? If so, next week might be the time to jump in. 2K Games announced this week that BioShock: The Complete Edition will be released on November 4 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It includes the main game and all of its DLC for $40.
Are you hungry for cake? Now you probably are. In celebration of the PlayStation Access YouTube channel reaching 300,000 subscribers, someone (presumably Sony’s head chef) baked the team a cake modeled after the PlayStation 4 and DualShock 4 controller. It was a chocolate cake, a moist chocolate cake, according to Sony’s Hollie Bennett. In this case, despite what you may have heard, the cake is not in fact a lie.
Retailer Best Buy has announced midnight launch plans for next week’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and they are quite extensive. Best Buy, like other retailers, will sell the game at exactly 12:01 AM Eastern at its stores across the US (more than 800 in all) on November 3. November 3 because that’s the day the Day Zero edition goes on sale. Best Buy has also announced that, similar to Walmart, you will not need to have previously preordered Advanced Warfare to buy the game at midnight. Woo hoo!
This War of Mine, the game from a team of Polish developers that aims to show the other side of war, got a release date and a new trailer this week. The game will launch on November 14 through Steam and Games Republic for $20, and you can see a new trailer below. If you’re not familiar with the game, here’s a primer. You do not play as a soldier like in Call of Duty or Battlefield, but rather you control a group of civilians trying to survive a city under fire. You struggle with food and medicine, and you’re in constant danger. “The game provides an experience of war seen from an entirely new angle,” its developer 11 bit studios writes.
A new study from the folks at SuperData reveals some gender trends about gaming. Via Joystiq, the report showed that men play more MMOs and FPS games, while women–on average–generally gravitate toward mobile games and RPGs. Does this match up with your own personal experiences?
Rugby 2015, the debut of the franchise for current-generation consoles, has been delayed. The game was previously expected to launch by the end of the year, but that is no longer the case, as developer HB Studios announced this week that the game is now coming in 2015. No reason for the delay was announced. When it is released, Rugby 2015 will be available for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and PC.
Tough times ahead for Call of Duty, as one analyst believes the series has peaked, and Advanced Warfare will sell 40 percent fewer copies than Ghosts and a whopping 70 percent fewer copies than Black Ops II. Analysts are not always right, however. We’ll find out soon enough, as Advanced Warfare launches next week. Are you buying a copy this year?
Heads up, retro game fans. Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner announced this week that he has donated a collection of design notes, drawings, correspondence, business records, and software related to his best-known works (Karateka, Prince of Persia, and The Last Express) to The Strong museum in Rochester, New York. The works will be available to researchers at the The Strong’s research library, and also to the public in future exhibits.
Video game charity Extra Lifeannounced this week that it has now raised $5.4 million thanks to the coordinated, worldwide efforts of recent charity live-stream marathons. GameSpot played 100 games in 100 hours to raise money, and lots of other sites and studios held campaigns, too. Donations continue to pour in, Extra Life says, and you can do your part until December 31.
In other charity-related news, video game retailer GameStop announced this week that it has renewed its partnership with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for its annual “Thanks and Giving” campaign. What this means for you is that when you shop at GameStop this holiday, you’ll have a chance to donate to St. Jude at the point of purchase. Last year, GameStop raised more than $1 million through the initiative, and it is aiming higher this year. As a thank you to customers who decide to donate, GameStop will give you a 10 percent off coupon you can use the next time you buy a used game at the retailer.
Fueled by the massive success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, the free-to-play game based on the celebrity, publisher Glu Mobilehit a record for single-quarter revenue for the latest period. Oh, the power of celebrity! It’s only a matter of time before other celebrities follow suit, I’d have to imagine.
In other Kim Kardashian news, Zynga founder Mark Pincus snapped a stealthy selfie with Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, during a World Series game last week. He also took a photo of West, Kardashian, and Barry Bonds. Just incredible. Go Giants!
That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend!
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Valkyria Chronicles, an early PlayStation 3-exclusive tactical role-playing game, is coming to PC on November 11, publisher Sega has announced.
In addition to the original game, the PC version is also bundled with all of its DLC. It includes the Hard EX Mode, which offers harder versions of skirmish and main game missions, Challenge of the Edy Detachment, which offers six challenge missions, and two side story campaigns: Edy’s Mission “Enter the Edy Detachment,” and Selvaria’s Mission “Behind Her Blue Flame.”
Valkyria Chronicles, in case you haven’t played it, is set in a world loosely inspired by 1930s Europe, and puts you in command of the Federation’s 7th Platoon, a small force trying to repel an invasion as part of a larger war.
Back in 2008, when Valkyria Chronicles was first released, GameSpot gave the game an 8.5/10 for its exceptionally beautiful visual design and unique combination of turn-based strategy and third-person movement. You can read GameSpot’s full review here.
Valkyria Chronicles will cost $18, and will release via digital retailers like Steam.
With games like Kim Kardashian: Hollywood set to make $200 million this year alone, there’s no denying that mobile games are a huge business. However, Nintendo doesn’t think smartphones are about to replace dedicated game devices.
“It seems that the market status of video games for dedicated platforms is increasingly being reported as pessimistic in contrast with the popularity of smartphones,” Nintendo president president Satoru Iwata said at the company’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing. But Iwata presented Nintendo sales numbers that contradict that pessimism, showing that dedicated video game platform still have “ample business opportunities.”
For example, he said that Nintendo expects that four of its 3DS games will sell at least two million copies each in a short period of time. The first of these, Yo-Kai Watch, which was released in Japan only in July, has already sold 2.8 million copies. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, released in September, has sold 1.88 million units so far, and is bound to cross the two million mark soon. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, released in Japan in October, exceeded two million already as well. Nintendo is also confident that Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS sales indicate that Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will sell two million copies shortly after their November 21 launch date as well.
“It is true that the sales of video games have been globally polarized between huge hits and ones that do not sell well, but I would like you to know that some blockbusters have consecutively emerged in the field of dedicated video game platforms,” Iwata said.
The New Nintendo 3DS, which is slated to come to the West sometime in 2015, will be region-locked, though Iwata recently said that the policy is not set-in-stone.
Major League Gaming today announced a partnership with ESPN to bring a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to X Games Aspen in January 2015. This is the first time competitive gaming will make an appearance at X Games Aspen, though MLG had previously partnered with ESPN for an esports tournament at the first-ever X Games Austin earlier this year.
The Global Offensive tournament will take place in Aspen, Colorado January 23-25, 2015. You can watch the action through MLG.tv, while highlights will appear on ESPN and ABC, as well as through X Games digital and social platforms.
MLG says the top eight Global Offensive teams from across North America and Europe will compete during the X Games Aspen tournament. Winners will receive medals, just like athletes competing in winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling.
If you want to catch the Global Offensive action in-person at X Games Aspen, MLG will sell premium passes through its website. These passes include reserved seating, a behind-the-scenes tour of the grounds, and a gift bag stuffed with MLG merchandise. Pricing was not disclosed, though you can find out more about these passes at MLG’s website.
The announcement of the Global Offensive tournament at X Games Aspen today comes not long after ESPN president John Skipper made some dismissive comments about esports.
“It’s not a sport–it’s a competition. Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition,” Skipper said in September. “Mostly, I’m interested in doing real sports.”
With just days to go before BlizzCon 2014 begins on Friday, some of World of Warcraft and Diablo developer Blizzard Entertainment’s surprises may have been revealed thanks to the discovery of a pair of trademarks.
PCGamesN reports that Blizzard Entertainment recently filed a trademark for something called “Eye of Azshara.” As the site points out, Azshara is known from Warcraft lore as the “elven queen who used the Well of Eternity to summon Sargeras and the Burning Legion to Azeroth.”
Could Eye of Azshara be the next World of Warcraft expansion? An announcement at BlizzCon–before the Warlords of Draenor expansion is even released–would seem unlikely. At the same time, however, Blizzard hasn’t shied away from saying it’s already planning World of Warcraft expansions beyond Warlords of Draenor.
Another possibility is that Eye of Azshara is the name for an upcoming expansion for Blizzard’s free-to-play collectible card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
In other Blizzard trademark news, the company also recently filed a trademark for something called “Overwatch.” According to its official description, this trademark covers all manner of printed material, including strategy guides, comic books, and novels. It also covers clothing and toys, but not video games.
BlizzCon kicks off on Friday, November 7 and runs through November 8. GameSpot will be on the ground at the show bringing you all the news as it happens. Be sure to keep checking back on Friday and throughout the weekend for news from the show.
ot a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Some fans were surprised earlier this year when BioWare announced that Dragon Age: Inquisition would include a franchise-first multiplayer mode. The decision to add multiplayer to the mix wasn’t a last-minute choice, however, BioWare says in a new interview, revealing that the game actually began its life as a multiplayer-only experience.
“Weirdly, we actually had a project code-named Blackfoot which was the first game we had that was looking at Frostbite,” Inquisition executive producer Mark Darrah told GamesIndustry International. “It was a Dragon Age game, multiplayer only, that was in development before Dragon Age II came out. That became the core of what became Dragon Age Inquisition, the techlines, more than any of the development, so we’ve actually been looking at [multiplayer] a long time.”
Darrah went on to say that the multiplayer is actually at the heart of many role-playing experiences.
“It’s sitting at a table with your friends and playing a pen and paper experience,” he said. “It’s been a single-player experience on computers for a long time, but Baldur’s Gate had multiplayer co-op through the story. This is an attempt to get that feeling back, something you can do, get a fantasy experience, but much more bite-size.”
“Skyrim changed the landscape for role-playing games completely” – Mark Darrah
Inquisition’s multiplayer mode is limited to a separate co-op experience that does not tie into the main game in any way. You can read more about Inquisition’s multiplayer component here.
Also in the interview, Darrah spoke about the impact that the massive success of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which has sold more than 20 million copies, had on the RPG genre overall.
“Skyrim changed the landscape for role-playing games completely,” he said. “Now the expectations of your other fans, they’re changing too. People age, they typically have less time for games, so it changes their expectations in terms of gameplay segments. It also results in some nostalgia. so they may become even more firm in their attachment to previous features. Now suddenly you have 15 million people that have basically had the first RPG they’ve ever played as Skyrim. They have totally different expectations of what storytelling is, what exploration is, and I think exploration is really where we’ve seen the biggest change.”
Darrah said one reason RPGs are growing in popularity of late is due to the power of new consoles to create bigger, more fleshed out worlds.
“The hardware has brought back the ability to do big again and I think that’s what’s bringing role-playing games back to the forefront,” he said. “What we’ve traditionally seen is that as a console generation turns over the dominant genre has changed. Shooters weren’t the dominant genre a generation ago, it was racing games. If you go back before that, to the PlayStation 1 era, it was actually role-playing games. I think that’s what we may be seeing here. I don’t know that role-playing games will be necessarily dominant but I do think we may see open-world exploration games being the dominant genre of this generation.”
“We see purchase intent well above last year and we see engagement with the brand in social media channels all being markedly up, so I’m still optimistic,” Hirshberg told GamesIndustry International.
Hirshberg also pointed out that many analyst sales estimates for Advanced Warfare were based on preorders for physical versions of the game. Due to the growing popularity of digitally delivered content, measuring pre-release purchase intent using preorders of physical games alone might not be the best way to go about it, Hirshberg said.
“Preorders are a good barometer for day one, but I don’t think they reflect the overall demand for the product,” he explained. “[They] don’t represent what they used to–because of the move to digital and all the ways people can buy the game.”
Also in the interview, Hirshberg revealed the message he gave to Advanced Warfare developer Sledgehammer Games at the onset of development. In short, he wanted the team to take risks and push things forward. “Our brief to them was: Go further than you think we want you to go. Make us nervous in a good way–and come back with new ideas and new experiences … and they did,” Hirshberg said.
Finally, Hirshberg addressed Sledgehammer’s canceled third-person Call of Duty game, which was in development under the codename Fog of War. Though there are no plans to bring this game back to life, Hirshberg said it’s a title that “I want to play some day.”
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
