Hello everybody and welcome yet again to your weekly update on everything you missed while you were out doing whatever the hell normal people do when they leave the house. This week was all about the Xbox One, so I’ll make sure you’re up to date with all the rumour, speculation and “gaming is ruined” laments running uncontrollably around the internet, as well as a bit of gaming news, a big crop of new videos and a few other things in between. Dive in after the jump.
Destiny is the new first-person shooter and “next big thing” from Bungie – the blokes behind Microsoft’s biggest franchise Halo. They’ve moved on from Microsoft and have shacked up with Activision.
Destiny’s marketing campaign is about to kick into high gear. The game is due on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. With E3 right around the corner, where gameplay footage will be shown off for the first time during Sony’s press conference, it seems like a good time to start releasing flashy trailers.
This trailer, entitled “The Law of the Jungle”, is a mix of live-action acting and very pretty CG. There’s something very intriguing about this game; an online single-player, open world, science fiction, first person shooter? Sounds great. Trailer after the jump.
And before you’re all, like, “Omg, I’m totally getting that”, it costs £125,000 – or just over R1.8 million – so you might have to ask your significant other first. And sell your house. And maybe one or two organs. I mean, really, what’s the point of that completely superfluous kidney or lung when you could own a car like this? Priorities, people.
The one-of-a-kind Grid 2: Mono Edition also comes with a PlayStation 3 and some custom-fitted racing gear, so that’s some real value for money right there and I’m sure your local bank manager will agree.
But seriously, this is game special editions jumping the shark. In a high performance vehicle. Like, “LOOK AT ME, I’M GOING ZERO TO FIFTEEN HUNDRED THOUSAND IN TWO SECONDS OVER THIS SHARK!”
What’s next? A spaceship with the next Mass Effect? I’m holding thumbs over here.
Source: Eurogamer
You know you’ve really buggered up a console reveal when, less than a week after the event, you still have rumours cropping up about the myriad unanswered questions. In this case, we’re all still waiting for Microsoft to give a final answer regarding trading games and the second-hand games market. You know the rumours, we know the rumours, and you can bet you sweet ass that Microsoft knows the rumours. So why haven’t they said anything other than their normal PR schlock?
MCVUK has learnt from retail sources that Microsoft has essentially flattened the second-hand games market. They’ve done this by making sure that the benefit to retail stores like Gamestop and our own BT Games is minimal. If the financial benefit is minimal to the retailer, then why should they bother?
Don’t forget that this is still rumour as it’s based off MCVUK’s own sources. Nothing from Microsoft has been confirmed. That being said, this sounds like an entirely feasible model for Microsoft and publishers; it’s also incredibly clever.
Iconic games company Atari is selling a bunch of its assets, including two truly iconic PC gaming franchises: RollerCoaster Tycoon and Total Annihilation.
The assets will be up for auction in July, after Atari failed to find a successful bidder that would pay the minimum of $22.2 million to buy it out.
I don’t know about you guys, but for just over R2 million, the rights to the Total Annihilation franchise sounds like a steal to me, but then again, I am a raging Total Annihilation fanboy. The roughly R33 million price tag for RollerCoaster Tycoon is more in line with what one might expect to pay for a high-profile franchise. On top of that, Atari is selling Test Drive for $1.5 million (R14.25 million).
The last we heard from RollerCoaster Tycoon creator Chris Sawyer was that he was suing Atari for not paying him certain royalties. The case was settled out of court. Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor is now working over at World of Tanks creator Wargaming.net.
And not just any PCs, mind you, but the “highest-end” PCs you can buy. Brb, getting my asbestos gear and popcorn.
You guys! You guys! Now, I don’t want everyone getting too excited, but in case you haven’t inferred from the very, very obvious headline, the German branch of Amazon.com has listed Mirror’s Edge 2 for pre-order. Did you hear that? That was the sound of a bajillion fans squeeing in unison.
In the past, Germany’s Amazon has been pretty good at outing games before they’re announced. They were responsible for revealing that Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Premium Edition a few days before Bethesda planned supposed to do the same. They’ve also just outed a possible PC version of GTA V, but that one is still up for debate.
Naturally, EA’s Department of Buzzkilling has responded to the listing with the following statement: “We appreciate fan enthusiasm for Mirror’s Edge, especially fans throughout the retail channel. This is not official EA material. We have nothing to announce at this time.” Yeah, whatever Mr. Buzzkillington; just shut up. E3 is right around the corner and what with all this new console hardware flying around, it just seems about the right time for EA to unveil Mirror’s Edge 2 and simultaneously “win” E3 in the process.
Source: Shacknews
One of the exciting parts about getting a new generation of consoles is that developers get to dazzle us with new gaming engines powering their games. One of the biggest gaming franchises on the planet, Call of Duty, has been running on the same Infinity Ward Engine (IW Engine) for years now. To put it in perspective, the IW Engine is basically a modified id Tech 3 engine, which first made an appearance in 1999’s Quake III Arena.
When Activision Publishing’s CEO Eric Hirshberg hopped on stage during the Xbox One reveal event, he showed off Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Ghosts for the first time. Much of his preamble leading to the reveal trailer was peppered with the phrase “entirely new”, including his mention of the game being “built on our new, next-gen Call of Duty engine”. This prompted speculation as to what the new engine was called and for how long it’s been in development.
Infinity Ward has since come forward to say that actually it’s not a new engine, but rather another modified iteration of the IW Engine. “When we’re talking about a new engine,” Infinity Ward’s animation lead Zach Volker said, “we’re talking about upgrading significant systems within that engine. We’re not talking about throwing it all away and saying we’re starting from the ground up.”
UPDATE: Megarom has confirmed both editions for South Africa. The Special Edition will set you back R899.00 while the larger Collector’s Edition will sell for R1, 699.00.
ORIGINAL STORY: Rockstar Games’ Twitter account has just unveiled two editions for upcoming GTA V: a Special Edition and a larger Collector’s Edition. Both editions are already available for pre-order in certain territories, but the South African region on Rockstar’s official pre-order page is yet to be updated. We’ve requested more information from local distributor Megarom.
The Special Edition of the game comes in the traditional SteelBook case and packs a number of digital goodies for use in-game. Things like bonus character outfits, extra tattoos, Stunt Plane Trials and additional weapons are detailed. Additionally, the Special Edition will come with a Special Ability Boost: each of the three protagonists has a special ability that can be activated once the ability bar is full – the Special Ability Boost fills the bar 25% faster. It’s not cheating; it’s a Special Edition perk! This edition of the game also comes with a blueprint map of the city and surrounding areas.
The Collector’s Edition comes in a nice large box containing everything in the Special Edition. You also get a Los Santos branded cap as well as a lockable safety deposit bag branded with GTA V and Rockstar logos. Hit the jump for full descriptions.
Hours before the Xbox One (or Xbone as it’s being lovingly/jokingly/begrudgingly referred to at the moment) was revealed, Tarryn and I were gushing about how great the imminent announcement of Alan Wake 2 was going to be. We were holding thumbs for the long overdue sequel to be an Xbox One launch title, so when Remedy came up on screen during the reveal event, it felt like everything was falling into place. And then they announced a new IP instead, Quantum Break.
At the moment, very little is known about Quantum Break so it’s hard to be excited about anything aside from the fact that it’s a new Remedy game. Obviouly, the slight disappointment that I felt (and no doubt Tarryn did as well) was felt by loads of other people across the Internet. Remedy is aware of it as well, and that’s why their creative director, Sam Lake, has put together a really nice video message for Alan Wake fans.
The bottom line is this: the eponymous Alan Wake will return at some point, but that point is not now. It’s really all about money and finding somebody willing to back a sequel that’s good enough for fans and good enough for the franchise. From the sound of things, that’s proven to be a tough job for Remedy.
Microsoft’s recently announced Xbox One console is a bit of a strange one. On the one hand, it seamlessly captures the experience of an all-in-one home theatre device, merging TV *cough* American TV *cough* with gaming and other apps and functionality you’ve come to know and love from the existing Xbox Dashboard. But in the bid to have every console ship with Kinect and in order to extract as much profit from the device as possible, Microsoft has dumbed down the hardware somewhat. Still interested? Hit the jump for more info with high-resolution pictures taken by Wired.
If you’ve only just arrived from an alternate reality or an alien planet or something, last night Microsoft yanked the Shroud of Rumours, Speculation, and Totally Made-Up Stuff +5 from its next-gen console, the Xbox One, and showed it off to the world for the very first time. Not that it’s put a stop to the rumours, speculation, and totally made-up stuff, so for your convenience, I’ve cross-checked all the important information once, twice, and three hundred times to make sure everything here is absolutely 100% guaranteed accurate and true-fact, or at least until it’s not. I mean, the bombs could drop tomorrow and we’d all be forced into underground bunkers forever.
