Even though the HBO series Entourage was certainly popular while it was on, I’m actually not sure if it’s as big in the United Kingdom as it was in the United States. Judging by this latest trailer from across the pond for the film adaptation of the show business series, I’m betting it’s not, because Piers Morgan does a quick introduction as to who Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his crew are before we get into their usual shenanigans. There’s not much new footage we have seen in the other trailers, but the list of cameos at the end is slightly different, pointing to some names that British fans will be interested in instead. Watch! ›››
Briefly: While we still don’t know if Idris Elba will be taking the villain role in Star Trek 3, the sci-fi sequel has just gained another cool cast member instead. Deadline reports Sofia Boutella, the literally sharp assassin from this year’s fun spy action adventure Kingsman: The Secret Service, is taking a lead role in Star Trek 3, scripted by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, directed by Justin Lin and set to arrive July 8th, 2016. But much like everything else about the film, details on her character are being kept under wraps. She could make a great addition to the Enterprise, or she could be a killer secondary villain. Either option works. ›››
Are you ready for the next big thing in movie theater technology?! Dolby is hoping you’re ready! AMC and Dolby have announced an exciting new partnership for their “premium cinema offering” that’s part of the AMC Prime experience. The new “experience” is being called Dolby Cinema, and it will feature the latest in cinema technology including Dolby Atmos sound, Dolby Vision laser projection, and rumble seats synced to the movie (oh boy). Prime is an already-existing premium offering found at some AMC theatres featuring “power reclining seats with seat transducers” in addition to the best sound/projection they can install. To top it off, they’re partnering with Dolby to make it better, and it’s expanding to four locations this summer. ›››
There’s no doubt that Furious 7 was a hit around the world last weekend, and it’s likely to take the top box office spot again this weekend too. And that means director James Wan is now a hot commodity in Hollywood, and now THR reports Warner Bros. is eager to snag him from Universal and get him behind the camera for Aquaman. There’s no offer on the table yet, but Wan is the studio’s top choice to direct the first big screen iteration of the aquatic superhero, and they’re already had some early talks about the project. However, Universal holds an option to bring Wan back to direct Fast & Furious 8 if they were so inclined. ›››
Call of Duty: Black Ops III Officially Confirmed for This Year: It’s finally official. Activision announced this week that, as it was rumored, Treyarch is in fact working on the next Black Ops game. It launches this fall, and more details are coming on Sunday, April 26.
Watch Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s First Trailer: Square Enix this week announced a brand-new Deus Ex game and it looks pretty excellent, at least according to its first (CG) trailer. Watch it above. Mankind Divided, which doesn’t yet have any kind of a release date, is in development for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
How to Buy an Xbox One for $225: GameStop has rolled out a really good deal if you’re looking for a new Xbox One. Now through April 25, shoppers who trade in a PlayStation 3 (120 GB or greater) or an Xbox 360 (250 GB or greater) will receive $125 worth of in-store credit when applied toward the purchase of a new Xbox One. That means you can get a new Xbox One for just $225. Nice!
THE OTHER STUFF:
Develop has an excellent feature on the effect development on the canceled action game Prey 2 had on its developer, Human Head Studios, and what’s next for the company. Read the excellent story here.
Have you ever wanted to own a life-size Dark Souls II statue? It’s OK, you can admit it. Now you can have one in your home, provided you win this special GameStop contest. Check out this post for a full set of instructions on how to enter–and hopefully win!
In response to a 12-year-old girl’s op-ed about the relatively small number of female characters in video games today, Temple Run developer Imangi Studios has announced that it will release a free female runner for Temple Run 2. Read the full story here.
Retailer Best Buy is opening hundreds stores at midnight next week to sell copies of highly anticipated fighting game Mortal Kombat X as soon as possible. More than 360 stores will open (or stay open, depending on the time zones) to sell the game. Here’s a nice chart, courtesy of Best Buy, that explains exactly when the game will go on sale depending on where you live.
12:01 a.m. April 14 in the Eastern time zone
11:01 p.m. April 13 in the Central time zone
10:01 p.m. April 13 in the Mountain time zone
9:01 p.m. April 13 in the Pacific time zone
Smosh Games has posted its latest “Honest” trailer, this one for BioShock. Not much else to say here–check out the video below and let us know what you think.
The latest Final Fantasy mobile game, Record Keeper, has now been downloaded 1 million times, Square Enix announced this week. The game, developed by DeNA and Square Enix, was released on March 26. To celebrate the milestone, all players will be given one Mythril as a daily bonus. This special offer will starts this Saturday, April 11, and runs through April 16.
Nazi zombies will make a comeback in upcoming shooter Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. That’s according to this new Vine teaser video from Bethesda. Watch it below. The game arrives in May for console and PC.
Sad news for Smash Bros. designer Masahiro Sakurai. In the latest issue of Famitsu, Sakurai reveals that he’s still suffering from an arm injury that he’s had for years now. Read more about it here. Get better soon!
Bloodborne is a difficult game, you know this. But you aren’t the only one struggling. Now you can watch Sony Korea executive Shiro Kawauchi play and die…over and over and over again.
DLC alert! Bohemia Interactive has released the Marksmen DLC for military game Arma 3, introducing seven new weapons, two scopes, remote laser-designators, ghillie suits, firing drills, and the new Marksmen showcase scenario. Accompanying the paid DLC is a free update for the overall game, which adds new weapon resting and deployment features, along with sound enhancements and new multiplayer mode. Get all the news about the Marksmen DLC at the Arma website.
Square Enix this week announced an all-new Deus Ex game called Mankind Divided. You can read lots more about it and see the first images courtesy of Game Informer‘s excellent cover story, available now through the magazine’s May issue. You can buy the issue right here.
I can’t be the only total Halo nerd out there, can I? I doubt it. If you’re also a big fan of the series and the lore, you’ll probably enjoy this latest Cannon Fodder blog post from 343 Industries. “What are the origins of the stone structures seen on Installation 05”? Read this post to find out the answer to that question and many, many others.
Activision has released a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Gold Edition. It retails for $60 and comes with the main game, the Havoc DLC, and the Atlas Gorge map. You can also buy all that content for the same exact price if purchased separately–$40 for the game (on Amazon), $15 for the Havoc expansion, and $5 for the Atlas Gorge map.
It may be nearly five years old, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. Check out this hilariously unfortunate Halo: Reach betrayal. It boggles the mind!
DICE is building an all-new Battlefield 4 map and the developer needs your help to make it happen. The studio has rolled out yet another survey asking fans what they want to see from the map. You can fill out the survey here.
Here is the first footage of Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune’s next game–Mighty No. 9–running on Xbox One. What do you think? Let us know!
New Metal Gear Solid action figures are coming by way of Square Enix. The new toys are due for release later this year, starting at ¥9,800 (about $82 USD). Check out all the images of the new Metal Gear Solid toys over at ToyArk.
A new Digi-Capital study released this week predicts that the augmented/virtual reality market will reach $150 billion by 2020. The report, called “Augmented/Virtual Reality Report 2015,” gives the upper hand to augmented reality, saying the revenue split will be $120 billion for AR and $30 billion for VR.
eSports giant Major League Gaming (MLG) is doing pretty well. The company announced this week that its MLG.TV network has seen viewership increase by a massive 253 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, total revenue is up 482 percent. You can see more impressive stats at MLG’s website.
Check out this fan-made live-action Uncharted 4 video that shows what A Thief’s End might look like from a first-person perspective. Very interesting!
Xenoblade Chronicles eD launches today on Nintendo 3DS XL (the first game that requires Nintendo’s new handheld to run), and we were able to send a few questions over to the game’s developers in Japan. Check out the Q&A below that covers Xenoblade’s original launch on Wii, what it took to bring the game to a portable device, and a few details about the upcoming Wii U-exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Answers were provided by Testuya Takahashi (the head of developer Monolith Soft), representatives from Monster Games (the company that worked on the 3DS port), and representatives from Nintendo SPD (an internal Nintendo developer that is lending support to Monolith).
GameSpot: The original Xenoblade Chronicles took a long time to come out in the West. Did Monolith originally intend to release the game worldwide, or was this going to be a Japan-only game?
Takahashi: This is just my personal point of view, but I think it’s pretty difficult to think about markets or potential acceptance levels in a nation outside your own, with different people, different cultures and different histories — someplace you’ve never even lived in. Even if you try to consider it, it’s a matter of fact that you won’t be able to understand all of the factors completely, and if you provide a game based on that kind of armchair thinking, you’ll always wind up off the mark.
However, we are also all human beings, all living creatures, and we must all have some common points of contact or things we can all empathize with. Thus, from the time we worked on the Japanese version, we planned out the game’s specs with the idea that it would be sold overseas, picking up those common points one at a time so we could reply to the demand.
What is it that you think made Xenoblade Chronicles such a critical and commercial success here in the US?
Takahashi: I think it all comes down to “empathy.” As I wrote above, it may not be impossible for Japanese people to understand what people in the West feel and like, but it does take a fair amount of time. Empathy, however, is something we can all recognize. Those of us in Japan can be moved by, and can empathize with, things like Hollywood films, dramas and novels written by Western authors. I personally love the TV dramas I watched as a kid, like Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Starsky & Hutch; I looked forward to seeing them broadcast every week.
Even if we remastered it for Wii U, my concern was that people like that would still avoid playing it.
The things that we’re moved by, the points that we can empathize with, are the same. So we decided it’d be fine if we just made something we could honestly be moved by and find fun; there was no need to fiddle around too much thinking about what we would need to achieve success outside Japan. That was a philosophy we took pains not to stray from as we proceeded with development.
Nintendo SPD: Xenoblade Chronicles features a ton of depth and volume, something that earned it a lot of high praise from the people who played the Wii release. I think a lot of people began to take an interest in this game after hearing all of that praise, too. However, it’s not unheard of for this game to take around 100 hours just to complete it normally, so even if people take an interest, I think some of them would give up the idea of playing it, thinking to themselves: “No way do I have the free time to sit in front of a TV and play this game for 100 hours.”
Even if we remastered it for Wii U, my concern was that people like that would still avoid playing it. Remaking it for a portable system, however, will let them play it whenever they like, at home or outside, and we thought that would lead to more people trying it out. We considered making it for the original Nintendo 3DS at first, but if we wanted to achieve nearly the same quality as you saw on the original Wii version, the New Nintendo 3DS XL became all but required.
Would it have been possible to run this on the regular 3DS? If no, what did the New 3DS open up?
Monster Games: We initially tried to get the game to run on the regular Nintendo 3DS system. After months of work, we realized that the game was too big and would perform too slowly. At this point we learned about New Nintendo 3DS XL hardware and were excited to learn about the faster CPU and extra RAM. This immediately made the project seem possible, so we continued working on the conversion.
The team had to rebuild all the graphical assets while making sure it still looked as good as the original game.
Even with the system’s extra capabilities, it was still a challenging project and we spent many months working on optimizations. Given how hard it was to convert the game for New Nintendo 3DS XL hardware, we can easily imagine that the port to the regular Nintendo 3DS hardware would have ended up far from the quality game play that the original Wii version had even if we had given it our all.
Were there any particular technological or UI hurdles to bringing the game to 3DS?
Monster Games: The biggest technical hurdle when porting between Wii and New Nintendo 3DS XL is that the two systems have very different capabilities. All these differences kept the project from being a simple port. Every part of the game had to be reworked to account for the capabilities of New Nintendo 3DS XL hardware. For example, New Nintendo 3DS XL has a different GPU architecture, so none of the art assets could be directly used. The team had to rebuild all the graphical assets while making sure it still looked as good as the original game. Each world was carefully optimized by the art staff and we needed to invent new techniques to render the large scenes where the player can see far into the distance. It wasn’t until late in the project that we finally were able to make sure the frame rate was good everywhere.
Regarding the UI design, our big challenge was to maintain the look and feel of the original game, while taking advantage of the dual screens. There are hundreds of screens in the game and the design had to work for many languages. The design team spent over a month mocking up various UI designs until we got one that seemed to work well. Once we converted the screens to run on New Nintendo 3DS XL, we brushed up the artwork to fit the small screens and fine-tuned the placement of the elements. Given the number of screens and languages, this process took a long time and we were working on improving and fine-tuning details all the way to the end of the project.
Without revealing any spoilers, what can fans of Xenoblade Chronicles look forward to when the franchise comes to Wii U? Will it feel familiar for returning fans, or will it be a departure from what was put together in Chronicles?
Takahashi: I think Xenoblade Chronicles X will have a different play feel from the first Xenoblade Chronicles game. Xenoblade Chronicles is a pretty linear game, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is non-linear, and I think a lot of the gameplay will depend on that.
Xenoblade Chronicles’ core thrust is centered around its story, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is shaping up to be a game with more focus placed on action elements that take advantage of the open world instead of the story aspects. However, both games will retain a common feel based on the core elements that serve as the foundation for the series. It may feel different to play, but it’ll provide a new way of having fun within the same Xenoblade series.
Last Wednesday, NME Esports earned first place in the League of Legends North America Challenger Playoffs, officially obtaining their spot in the LCS and replacing Coast.
I sat down with Otter moments after their victory to discuss his path to pro, what fans can expect from the team, and more.
GameSpot: How would you describe your journey getting into the LCS? You’ve been trying this for a long time now.
Otter: Alright, well—it was probably the most excruciating thing just because…it’s one of those things where everything has to be “right.” Like, every situation has to just work out correctly for you to win the game or win the series. It’s really, really hard. For someone that’s like me—I’m a person that wasn’t really happy. If there’s one thing wrong with the team, it kills me inside until it gets fixed and a lot of teams are completely complacent with how they’re doing. Sure, they want to get better but they don’t actually strive to get better. They just kind of play. They just keep playing, so it’s just like—with that alone, it was hard for me to find a team that I actually was able to stick with and play with. So it’s pretty hard.
Were there moments where you said to yourself, “I didn’t make it into the LCS yet. How much longer do I want to commit to this?”
Yeah, this was a hundred percent my last time. If I didn’t make it this time with this team, I would not have continued. I would’ve been done because I’ve already had two decently close opportunities that fell through or maybe I wasn’t good enough. And it’s heart breaking every time it happens.
There are a lot of people who are counting out the challenger teams and saying, “anybody who comes out of that scene right now is just going to be another Coast.” How do you expect NME is going to do? Is there a chance you might end up being Coast 2.0?
I mean, there’s always a chance that any team will be Coast 2.0. But I feel like we’re a team that adapts really well. We adapt really well to the meta and to what our opponents are playing so I think when we’re in the LCS and when we start scrimming other LCS teams more regularly, I think we’ll fit right in.
What are your expectations for this coming split? Do you see your team contending for a spot at Worlds?
Nah, I don’t see us contending for a World’s spot, but I am hoping for at least playoffs.
How do you think you’ll stack up against the other AD carries? AD carry—and maybe mid—might be the role that creates the most conversation in North America. There are a lot of big names there. How do you think you’ll do?
I think I’ll just be a middle of the pack AD. Yeah, just middle of the pack.
Why is that?
I can do everything that they do, but there’s a few things that I can’t do. I need to think about this more specifically, I guess. For me, I guess I’m an open book that can play anything. So any time there’ll be a meta shift and there’ll be different picks coming in for ADCs, I’m able to adjust to it really well. I feel like a lot of ADCs aren’t really like that. You’ll see that a couple of them can only play a handful of ADCs, or even just one champion in that role. I’m not going to say who, but in that sense, I’m already better than some of the players.
It’s so much less interesting if you don’t say who.
Yeah, I’m not going to though.
Could you say a team?
(laughs) No. No, no, no. That would just give it away and I don’t want to do that.
What is it like being on NME from a team perspective? People can see what it’s like in the game and on the Rift—but what’s it like hanging out behind the scenes with these guys? Are you all colleagues? Does it feel like a family? What’s the atmosphere like?
It feels like we’re all really good friends. Everyone gets along really well. You would think that we wouldn’t because some people have completely different personalities but we get along really well. We’re definitely more than colleagues. It may sound a little weird, but yeah.
Out of all the guys on the team, who do you think is going to be become the fan favorite?
Probably Trashy. We’ll see if he’s more open. If he presents himself like how he actually is in real life, then I think he would be the fan favorite.
Why is that?
He’s really goofy. A really goofy troll. And he also sometimes doesn’t know his limits of his conversations because he’ll take things a little too far and I think people will like that. I think it’s pretty funny sometimes—other times it’s just like come on, man.
I was talking to Nien earlier and he has sort of a cult following and you seem to also have this cult following as well. Is there anything you’d like to say to the Otter fans out there?
Thanks for sticking around, everyone. I love you all. You’re the big reason why I was able to keep going. I don’t think I would’ve kept going if there weren’t people that were saying, “You can do it.” Thank you guys.
I know you haven’t seen the teams yet, but give me your predictions for your first week in the LCS—your first two games. What’ll be your score?
There’s also a new Humble Weekly Bundle featuring digital versions of tabletop games like Ticket to Ride and Catan. However, if you spend $32 more, you’ll get a physical Humble Tabletop Box that consists of playing cards, dice, and more.
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot’s gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
“DeNA Group is continually evaluating its game development operations to ensure that it’s structured in the best possible way to deliver high-quality mobile games to consumers worldwide,” DeNA said in a statement to GamesBeat. “As a part of this process, we have decided to reshape the structure of our North American studio operations along with a reduction in workforce. We appreciate their contributions to DeNA and are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them.”
The layoffs will, according to sources speaking with GamesBeat, result in the the publisher’s Vancouver office being shut down and employees being let go from DeNA West’s headquarters in San Francisco.
These moves come at what might appear to be an unusual time, both because of the Nintendo partnership–announced less than a month ago–and the apparent success of Final Fantasy Record Keeper, a new mobile game that DeNA said yesterday had already racked up over 1 million downloads.
DeNA insists that the moves are unrelated to both, saying, “The West will continue to be one of our core markets for our mobile gaming business, and this decision has no relation to our alliance with Nintendo or the popularity of Final Fantasy Record Keeper.”
As part of its partnership with Nintendo, DeNA acquired a 1.24 percent stake in Nintendo, with Nintendo buying 10 percent of DeNA. The deal will see DeNA help to develop mobile games using Nintendo’s IP, the first of which is expected out this year.
Click the image above to check out the full gallery.
We have a annual competition here at the CBS Interactive building around Easter that involves creating a diorama using Peeps, those sickly sweet, sugar-coated marshmallows that are only available this time year. For GameSpot’s entry in the company-wide contest, we went with a GTA V-inspired theme: Grand Theft Peep.
Judging for the contest won’t wrap until the end of the day, but we’re pretty sure we have the winning entry. A few highlights that you’ll find in the gallery below:
A flying* police helicopter
A Peep soliciting another Peep for “services”
A rampaging orange Peep (and the star of our diorama) in an epic standoff against the cops
Miniature bunny Peeps on all of the money
A slightly charred Peep hidden behind the burning wreckage of a car
*Note: Helicopter is not actually flying.
We’ll update you with whether we won the competition, or whether we destroyed the competition so completely that there are no longer any other departments left at CBSi except GameSpot.
This wasn’t the work of one-person, though. GameSpot staff who lent their talents to the project included: Mary Kish (the project’s creative lead), Rob Handlery (Lighting and Demolitions), Neha Tiwari (Costume Design), Synthia Weires (Key Grip), and me (Lead Peep Taster).
If we seem a bit pre-occupied with GTA at the moment, it’s probably because of the imminent release of the long-, long–delayed PC version of GTA 5. The game came out on Xbox 360 and PS3 back in September 2013, and it’s set to finally drop on PC next Tuesday. You can catch up on what’s being added to the game in this recent feature, though we hope this diorama will encourage Rockstar to include an unlockable Peep mode somewhere down the line.
