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THE BIG STUFF:

Microsoft Apologizes for Confusion Over 1080p/60fps Witcher 3 Footage on Xbox Channel: On Wednesday, Microsoft posted a new Witcher 3 gameplay video to its YouTube Xbox channel that ran at 1080p/60fps. But fans quickly pointed out that the Xbox One version of the game only supports 900p/30fps, meaning the video posted to the channel was actually from the PC version. Whoops! Microsoft later apologized, saying it never meant to misrepresent the game or cause confusion.

Xbox Sales Fall in Latest Quarter, But Minecraft and Xbox Live are Bright Spots: Microsoft reported earnings for its latest quarter on Thursday–and the Xbox news was both bad and good. On the one hand, Xbox sales fell year-over-year, while on the other, Minecraft helped first-party revenue rise and Xbox Live added more users and generated more overall revenue. Read the full report here.

The Biggest Destiny House of Wolves Changes (So Far): During a special Twitch livestream this week, Bungie shared the first details about House of Wolves, including information about one of its new social space, called The Reef. Check out this post for a rundown of all the key takeaways.

THE OTHER STUFF:

This Witcher cosplay is absolutely amazing. It really is. Well done, sir. Check out all the images on developer CD Projekt Red’s Facebook page here.

A new Nancy Drew game, called Sea of Darkness, is currently in development. It’s the 32nd game in the series. Yes, the 32nd! Sea of Darkness is set in Iceland when Nancy finds herself in a “brand new mystery” to solve the mystery of a mission ship captain. The game launches May 19 for PC, published by Her Interactive.

Another Evolve eSports tournament is coming. 2K, Turtle Rock, and the ESL this week announced the Proving Grounds Tournament fr Evolve. The best teams from around the world will compete over the course of three months for a prize pool of $100,000. Get all the details here.

Call of Duty fans awaiting Sunday’s official Black Ops III reveal can enjoy double XP in Black Ops II all weekend long. Huzzah!

Crowdfunded documentary GameLoading: Rise of the Indies is now available on Steam or through the filmmakers” website. The movie promises an “intimate and honest” portrayal of the indie development scene, featuring commentary from developers like John Romero (Doom, Quake), Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable), Rami Ismail (studio Vlambeer), Zoe Quinn (Depression Quest), and others.

Looking for a new game to play on the go? This week, Major League Baseball released its arcade game, RBI Baseball 15, for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. You can buy the game today on iTunes for $5.

Big-time mobile game developer Kabam this week outlined a new business plan that will see the company re-focus its efforts on creating AAA mobile games, the likes of which can generated $1 billion per year. Read more about the “Fewer, Bigger, Bolder” plan here on Kabam’s website.

Watch this new Guitar Hero Live behind-the-scenes video to hear directly from developers at FreeStyleGames about the title’s new features like Guitar Hero TV and the new Guitar peripheral. Music game fans interested in the next evolution of Guitar Hero will probably want to watch this.

Not everyone is happy with the new Steam Workshop feature that lets people charge for mods. One person has now created a Change.org petition calling on Valve to remove the feature–and more than 50,000 people have signed the petition so far.

New DLC is now available for Ubisoft’s racing game, The Crew. The “Raid Car Pack” and the Raid Live Update are now available on all platforms. The Raid Car Pack is the last of four themed add-ons and comes with three new cars, official liveries, and new cosmetic parts, among other things. Read more about the DLC here at Ubisoft’s website.

Here’s a totally bonkers story for you to think about this weekend. Kotaku UK has dug into a wild theory about the doctor from the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trailer. As you’ll notice, the real world doctor Sergio Canavero looks just like the doctor from the game. There’s lots more to the story. Read the Kotaku story to go deep into the rabbit hole.

Turtle Rock has announced the next special weekend event for monster-hunting game Evolve that pits Hyde against Wraith. If Hyde achieves a higher winning percentage until Monday, April 27, then everyone who played during the weekend will get free DLC in the form of the Hyde Predator Skin. If Wraith comes out on top, the community will take home the Wraith Voodoo Skin. Read more about it here.

Oh my word. Here’s a video of Star Wars director JJ Abrams and Chewbacca doing the Twizzler challenge to raise money for Autism awareness.

Former CBS TV executive Nancy Tellem, who headed up Xbox Entertainment Studios before it closed down last year, has a new job. She’s joined media company Interlude as its executive chairman and chief media officer. Read more about her new role in this New York Times story.

Geralt isn’t the only playable character in CD Projekt Red’s upcoming role-playing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. There’s also a woman named Ciri–and now we know more about her role in the game by way of GameSpot’s new video series. Watch it below. The Ciri part is near the end.

EA Sports this week announced–and released–a free version of its console fighting game EA Sports UFC for mobile devices. The game promises “HD-quality” visuals, and more. It soft-launched in Canada, South Korea, Singapore, and Russia, and has already seen more than 2 million downloads. But it’s out now worldwide for iOS and Google Play.

EA’s popular free-to-play racing game Real Racing 3 has been updated to support the Apple Watch by way of a new Team Driver feature. Get all the details and download the game here.

The Evil Within‘s second of three planned expansions, The Consequence, launched this week for console and PC. A new trailer is also available, which you can watch here.

Check out this new video from EA and GameStop that goes behind the scenes and dives into the development of Star Wars: Battlefront. Hear directly from developers about how they worked with LucasFilm on the game and lots more. Battlefront launches November 17.

What’s former Microsoft boss Phil Harrison doing now that he’s left the Xbox giant? We now know. He’s launched a new start-up called Alloy Platform Industries. He even teases in a new interview with GamesIndustry International that he’s working with Microsoft on its secret, unannounced technology. Read more about it here in this great interview with GamesIndustry International.

According to emails leaked out of Sony Pictures, the film production giant is working with Nintendo to obtain the film rights for a Super Smash Bros. movie. Wow! Get the full story over at Ars Technica.

The next Halo 5: Guardians teaser has been posted to the Hunt the Truth viral marketing website. This one is particularly interesting, but we won’t spoil why that is. Listen to the podcast here and let us know what you think.

Have a great weekend!

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Additional marketing materials for Call of Duty: Black Ops III posted on Reddit (via CharlieIntel) reveal tons of new gameplay details covering the game’s campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies modes.

One of the main highlights is that Black Ops III’s campaign will reportedly support co-op for up to four players online, no doubt a nice addition for fans looking for a more social experience outside of multiplayer.

According to the leaked materials, the online co-op mode will use the same network infrastructure that supports Call of Duty’s online and Zombies modes.

Black Ops III’s campaign also aims to deliver “cinematic, arena-style play,” the leaked materials state. This mode has reportedly been “designed for co-op and replayability.” Another new campaign feature for Black Ops III is that all player characters are now fully customizable–this ranges from weapons and loadouts to abilities and outfits, according to the leak.

In terms of multiplayer, the leak references a “new momentum-based chain-movement system,” which should allow players to “fluidly move through the environment with finesse, using controlled thrust jumps, slides, and mantling abilities in a multitude of combinations.” At the same time, players will have “complete control” over their weapons at every step, the leak says.

The materials go on to state that Black Ops III’s multiplayer maps have been designed “from the ground up” to support this new movement system. Another new feature for Black Ops III’s multiplayer mode is the introduction of a new “Specialist” character system–though further details were not provided.

Finally, the leaked Black Ops III promotional materials reveal that the game will have a Zombies mode (Treyarch created Call of Duty Zombies, after all) that will offer an “all-new horror story.” This is described as a “full-game experience with its own distinct storyline.” Black Ops III’s Zombies mode will also reportedly feature a full XP-based progression system and more that will make it the “most immersive and ambitious Call of Duty Zombies to date.”

According to a separate leak earlier today, Black Ops III will launch on November 6. Anyone who preorders the game at GameStop–and possibly other retailers–will gain entry to a pre-release beta that will be held on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Activision plans to formally reveal Black Ops III with a new trailer this coming Sunday, April 26.

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