Halo: Spartan Assault Now Available For Windows 8 in the US [For Verizon Customers]
343 Industries and Vanguard Games' top-down shooter Halo: Spartan Assault is now available to download for Windows 8 devices in North America (exclusively for Verizon Wireless customers for 30 days until August 16th [thanks Bofur26]).
You can grab the game for Windows 8 PCs, tablets and phones from today and experience Sarah Palmer's rise to Spartan legend via a combat simulation on the USNC Infinity.
The twin-stick shooter enables you to blast through 25 missions and features integration with Halo 4. Halo: Spartan Assault is out now for Verizon Wireless customers for $6.99. There's no word on release dates for other territories just yet.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 "Too Challenging" To Release on Current Consoles
It's been doing the rounds for the best part of four years now, but Beyond Good & Evil 2 talk refuses to go away, especially now that it's been confirmed as a title that will see release on next-gen consoles. According to the game's creator Michel Ancel, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is simply too big and "challenging" for current-gen hardware.
“I think we were doing something too big for this period,” Ancel told IGN. “Honestly, it was too challenging to put that on [current] consoles. I don’t say the consoles were not good enough, I don’t say the team was not good enough, but you have to scale what you want to do and the console itself. I think now with those new consoles arriving, yes, we want to try again making that game. I would say it’s surprising, as we want it to be. Not just a sequel, but something that really makes all the ideas that we had for the first one possible now with these consoles.”
It's not just size that's prevented Beyond Good & Evil 2 finding a home on current-generation platforms however, it's an added freedom to investigate the world your way. You'll be able to journey between cities and even planets, according to Ancel.
“More than ‘bigger,’ it’s the freedom we want to give to the player,” Ancel explained. “In this kind of game, while you’re investigating, you don’t want to investigate in a story that has been written by the developers. My feeling is that you want to investigate with your own way of investigating.
"I like the freedom of choosing your vehicles, flying away with the spaceship and all those things. It was in Beyond Good & Evil 1 but it was not as much as we wanted. I like the fact that if you want to fly from one city to another, one planet to another, it’s something that you should be able to do. That freedom and the world of Beyond Good & Evil is very challenging to do.”
For now, Ancel won't be drawn on a reveal date for Beyond Good & Evil 2, but the smart money is on something emerging after Rayman Legends ships later this year. Fingers crossed.
Halo 4 Global Championship Now Open for Registrations
Microsoft, 343 Industries and Virgin Gaming have today announced the Halo 4 Global Championship, the largest Halo 4 tournament ever, set to take place later this summer. Players will go head-to-head across multiple live events and five weeks of online competition to prove their Halo 4 skills to the world.
There's $500,000 in prizes at stake, with a grand prize of $200,000 to be won, so there's plenty to play for. Commencing at the Rooster Teeth Expo on July 5th, the Halo 4 Global Championship will continue on Xbox Live from July 15th with free-for-all matches over a series of rounds that will take into account average scores and elimination matches.
The finals will then take place in Seattle, WA in a two-day event that runs from August 31st to September 1st, with the winning Spartan scooping the $200K in prize money. To register to take part in the Halo 4 Global Championship, head over to the registration page over on Halo Waypoint. You'll get a 'sKills' t-shirt for you Xbox Live Avatar when you enter.
You'll also find all of the terms and conditions and further instructions on registering on the Halo Waypoint page. You must be over 18 to enter and you'll obviously need an Xbox Live Gold account to play online. The contest is void in "AZ, CT, MD, TN, QUEBEC and where prohibited by law."
Microsoft has today announced the first bunch of games to be discounted in its Ultimate Games Sale!
It is a rather very generous bunch of savings with some brilliant discounts on some very good games. The full list is as follows:
Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway - £4.49
Far Cry Instincts Predator - £4.49
Crysis - £4.49
Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 - £4.49
WWE 13 - £11.99
Mass Effect - £4.49
Prey - £2.69
Bulletstorm - £4.49
Perfect Dark Zero - £11.99
Dragon Age Origins - £4.49
Divinity II - £29.99
Assassins Creed 3 - £8.99
Borderlands 2 - £8.99
Far Cry 3 - £8.99
Max Payne 3 - £8.99
So folks, time to use, or free up some space on your hard drives. The best deals are easily Assassins Creed 3 and Far Cry 3, you can't even find those games for that price second hand.
This deal is also available in the states obviously, the link to the discounts you guys get is here.
There will be more games to follow in the next week or so. I'd suggest getting them asap cos I don't see this sale going on for long.
Review: The Last Of Us - Survival Never Felt So Important
From the moment your epic journey begins, you become attached to and invested in the lives of Joel and Ellie. The emotional intensity displayed at the very start, is a theme which remains constant throughout. Set in a dystopian world with a premise not dissimilar to ‘The Road’, The Last of Us is an immersive voyage through a post apocalyptic land of peril. Set 20 years after the Cordyceps virus (which is a real virus by the way) wiped out 90% of civilization, the small scrap of humanity which remains must do everything they can to protect themselves not only from the infected, but from each other.
You play as Joel, a grizzled veteran of survival who, after a little back story, gets tasked with transporting a 14 year old girl called Ellie to a resistance group known as The Fireflies. The relationship between the two forms the crux of the games enthralling story. The partnership is forced at first, but over time and through shared struggles, the bond tightens. Joel’s toughened exterior is born of necessity, but also as a product of a haunted past. Ellie on the other hand is a precocious teenager, who knows the world only as it is today. Her fascination with the past is shown through curious interactions with her surroundings, and casual conversations she has with Joel about how things used to be.
The setting is beautifully realised thanks to the talented team at Naughty Dog. The lighting effects, flora and fauna, water and weather effects really bring the relatively abandoned world to life. There are several ‘slow pan’ moments as you take in the view, and realise just how much of the city you still have to traverse before you reach your next destination. The fact that your attention gets directed towards your goal at regular intervals, gives you a real sense that you’re making progress, and is a nice touch.
In fact, TLoU is full of nice touches, and I think it’s all the little things added together that make this the great experience that it is. The way the cockroaches on the walls scatter when you shine the torch on them. The way your torch starts to flicker out, but you can bring it back to life with a quick shake of the controller. The way Ellie quietly talks to herself and hums a tune every now and then. I know these are only small things and we’ve seen several of them before, but a game’s worth is equal to the sum of all its parts... and this has a lot of good parts.
The cutscenes shine with customary Naughty Dog polish. The high level of motion capture, subtle eye movement and emotion portrayed through facial animations, makes for engaging viewing. The voice acting is also top notch, headed by two of the gaming industry’s current crop of voice talent. Couple this with seamless transitions back to the action, and it really hammers home that ‘interactive movie’ feel.
Sneaking plays an important role, because ammo and supplies are scarce. Joel also has a special hearing ability, which enables you to sense nearby foes through sound. If you can creep around and take down enemies silently by strangulation, you can save precious bullets. However it does take time to perform this manoeuvre, so it’s not applicable for all situations. The way your victims, particularly the human ones, flail their arms about trying to grasp you as you squeeze the life out of them, adds a certain realistic impact to what you’re doing. But just remember; it’s kill or be killed. It’s as simple as that.
You find various materials in your travels that you can use to craft things like health packs, shivs, Molotov cocktails etc. You can only carry a certain amount of resources, and a certain amount of items, so you need to carefully consider what you craft, what you use and when. The usual assortment of collectibles are available to discover as well. Training manuals will improve the effectiveness of certain items, while notes will often tell stories of the previous occupants. It’s quite interesting to walk into a room where something clearly went down, and then find out what happened through reading the last words of the actual person who experienced the horror first hand.
There’s a small array of weapons available, which can be upgraded at workbenches by recovering parts and tools. Joel himself can even be upgraded by finding pills, giving boosts to max health, hearing distance, crafting and healing time etc. These can be particularly useful, as saving time to heal yourself in a tight situation can be the difference between life and death. There aren’t enough pills or parts to fully upgrade on the first playthrough, so it adds an element of careful strategy when deciding what you want, nay need, to improve.
There are basically 2 types of enemies, humans and infected, and they each require their own unique tactics to take out. Humans will take cover, flank you, throw Molotov’s to flush you out, and generally think more about what they’re doing. The infected however, will simply rush you, often in groups, with complete disregard for anything other than taking you down. It can be quite terrifying when surrounded by these creatures, with no time to heal, and no safe haven to take a breath in. Often times, your only option is to run! There’s a really immersive sense of survival which truly makes you fear for your life, and there’s a lot more at stake than that...
The Last of Us takes it to another level when it comes to gaming experiences. It raises your expectations of everything you play afterwards. Some games have the graphics, some have the story, some have the gameplay and some have immersion. This has them all. There’s really no one area that lets it down, it’s quality from start to finish. If you’ve ever watched ‘The Road’ and wanted to be Viggo Mortensen (although I don’t know why you would?), this is a must play. So if you’re looking for a game, that’s the ultimate in survival, pick up The Last of Us, it simply has no rival.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Preview – Setting Sail For Next-Gen
We've been wondering why Ubisoft has decided to trace the lineage of Assassin's Creed III's Connor back to his grandfather Edward Kenway for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, over branching out to another time period. History is the developer's playground, and periods like feudal Japan, medieval England and countless others could have played host to Assassin's Creed IV's story, but we're starting to understand why that's not the case. Oh, and incidentally, Edward is a rubbish name for an assassin.
Black Flag's tale of pirates is one grounded firmly in history, so there's no parrots on shoulders, no walking the plank and none of the other cliches that have come to be associated with pirates in movies, books and TV. Assassin's Creed IV is also ludicrously vast, and as our first look at the game for next-gen consoles shows, it's all completely seamless, enabling you to explore the Caribbean and the surrounding areas on a hunt for treasure and adventure.
Hanging at a tavern outside, amid people dancing and having a knees-up, Edward uses eagle vision and spies the Thomson brothers joining in on the festivities, until our hooded pirate assassin friend smashes one them into the bar. Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you. Eat bar, Thomson! One down, the other to go, Thomson number two makes a break for it, running to his galleon at the docks. Sure, Edward could gun Thomson two down in cold blood with his flintlock pistol, but instead he gives chase in his own ship, the Jackdaw. All of this happens completely seamlessly with no loading whatsoever, and as Edward climbs aboard his ship, his crew snap into action. “Ahoy, captain!”
Aboard the Jackdaw, Edward can use his spyglass to see what cargo other vessels are carrying, and he can board the ships and plunder their bounty. Accruing resources from pillaged ships will enable Eddie to apply upgrades and customisation options to the Jackdaw, making it your own. Chasing down Thomson's galleon, Edward orders his crew to bombard the ship with cannon fire, smashing the masts to splinters, being careful to preserve the hull (each ship now has a health bar, so you can damage it just enough without sinking it) and the precious cargo. Rocking up aside the ship, you can launch grappling hooks to tether the two ships together, priming it for boarding.
Leaping across with your crew, Edward can protect his shipmates from snipers on high, before fighting off Thomson's soldiers and ultimately stabbing up the fat-faced, rosy-cheeked Thomson himself. Contract completed, it's time to salvage the rewards inside the ship's hull and either execute or recruit the surviving crew. Obviously, recruiting more shipmates to come aboard the Jackdaw is the savvy choice. You can manage your ship via the companion tablet app, engaging in the fleet mini-game for cargo and upgrades.
At this point, our Ubi rep shows us Assassin's Creed IV's full map, and it's far and away the largest AC open-world we've ever seen. It dwarves ACIII by some margin, but it's rich with detail and activity, and this next-gen build seems stable and glitch-free. We're not sure how the current-gen version of the game will measure up, but there's no shortage of ambition on show here, even if Ubisoft has committed Assassin's Creed to a yearly launch cycle.
Still at the helm of the Jackdaw, Edward sails onwards to a small island, where he finds the corpse of an unfortunate pirate marooned there, with small crabs feeding on it. Clutching a treasure map depicting a Mayan ruin, there's loot to be reaped. You can view the sketched treasure map through the mobile app too, so there's no need to constantly consult menus if you have a tablet device to hand. The map leads us to a place known as Misteriosa, where the Spanish have set up camp.
In Black Flag you'll not only find yourself rubbing shoulders with notorious pirates like Blackbeard and Calico Jack, but you might also find yourself caught between English and Spanish forces fighting, and like any good pirate this can be exploited and used to your advantage. Lead a chasing Spanish ship into an English armada or vice-versa for example, and you can watch as they decimate one another, leaving you free to take the spoils once the fracas has died down. Emergent encounters like these can happen randomly at any time.
During the journey to the island, we see a white whale (you can share whale locations with friends via the app) and as Edward dives off the boat into the Misteriosa island lagoon, dolphins swim in the deep waters. It's simply glorious. Prior to all of this, Edward sails the ship through a violent storm, where a water spout and lightning spectacularly blasts a ship to smithereens in front of us. Sailing into the comparative serenity of the Misteriosa bay, the towering Mayan ruin looms into view. Edward sets about isolating the Spanish captain, sniping him with a poison dart from his blowpipe. The captain goes berserk, slicing up his allies, leaving the way clear for Edward to climb the huge vine-covered structure.
Climbing through trees, hiding in the bushes and foliage, and ascending the creeping vines as lizards dart around, the jungle surrounding the ruin is teeming with life. You can almost feel the tropical Caribbean heat as Edward scales the white bricks, finding a collectible Animus fragment along the way. We don't currently know what these will do, but we imagine they'll form some sort of intriguing secret once you've located them all.
Inside the temple, Edward spots two Spanish guards holding two pirates hostage. Stealthily scurrying up one of the temple's ruined columns, he swoops from the air for a double execution, freeing the pirates who can then be added to the Jackdaw's swelling ranks.
At the temple's summit, the view is incredible, stretching all the way to the horizon. Finding the treasure's location near an ornate fountain and pool, Edward digs for his prize and uncovers a chest, housing a blueprint for heavy cannon shots that can be added to the Jackdaw, and a whole lot of gold. The journey turned out to be totally worthwhile, and the Misteriosa temple also becomes a new fast travel point. In such a vast world, you'll need plenty of these.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag looks set to make good on Ubisoft's promise to take the series to another level of seamless open-world freedom, and this next-gen version of the game is truly impressive. For us, Assassin's Creed II remains the series' pinnacle, but based on this latest up-close and personal run through, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag might not be too far behind as far as moving the series forward is concerned. Hopefully, it's a pirate's life for us, if this is indicative of what's to come. Arr.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is out for Xbox 360 on October 29th, 2013 in North America and November 1st, 2013 in Europe and on Xbox One around the console's launch.
It seems that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon has become something of a success for Ubisoft, with the insane 80s inspired spin-off managing to reach 500,000 copies sold across all formats in less than two months, while also helping to boost sales of the full version of Far Cry 3.
Speaking to GI.biz, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said he was "very happy" with the performance of both Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, each of which have enjoyed success as digital download titles based upon Ubisoft's existing retail brands.
The success of Blood Dragon and Gunslinger means that Ubisoft will be looking to explore the formula further in the future with other brand extensions touted as downloadable offerings. Sequels to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and CoJ: Gunslinger could possibly see the light of day too, thanks to the sales figures.
Both Blood Dragon and Gunslinger are available on the Xbox Live Arcade and PSN
Halo 4's Monday Update Brings new maps, Hivemind and Lockdown Modes
This coming Monday will bring a new update to Halo 4 that will include the new Hivemind game type, in which the Flood can kill players in two hits rather than one, removing Armour Abilities and giving you the MA5D Assault Rifle with which to fight.
You can play Hivemind on four community Forge maps, namely Payload by Narb Guy, Drillsite by Pa!nts, Temple by Mr Pokephile and Repression by Auxi Klutch. This can all be downloaded via Halo Waypoint's File Browser now if Monday seems like it's just too far away.
Team Objective is also being replaced by Big Team Skirmish, an 8 versus 8 playlist separate from Big Team Infinity Slayer that features the following game types:
Big Team CTF - Longbow, Ragnarok, Complex
Big Team King of the Hill - Exile, Longbow
Big Team Regicide - Complex, Settler
Score to win: 100
Capture Points: 0
Standard Capture Time: 1
Fortified Capture Time: 5
Fortify Points: 0
Fortify Time: 15
Resupply Points: 10
Resupply Frequency: 25
Last Stand: False
And finally, Mini Slayer in the Action Sack playlist will also be updated with a new map named Napoleon, a fast-paced map that features a "blocked-off section of Complex’s central cliff-side base and provides compact, arena-esque chaos to tickle your Mini Slayer fancy."
Plenty to look forward to in Halo 4's War Games multiplayer on Monday then. Huzzah.
Microsoft Partners With Unity For Windows 8 and Xbox One Support
Unity has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to extend free platform support for Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Xbox One, meaning that it will be even easier for developers to bring games, entertainment and apps to Microsoft platforms.
Unity will also develop tools for Xbox One that will include support for next-gen features like enhanced Kinect gestures and recognition functionality, multiplayer matchmaking, SmartGlass stuff and the ubiquitous 'power of the cloud' that everyone keeps harping on about.
"The continued collaboration between Unity and Microsoft will make Microsoft's gaming ecosystem more accessible to nearly 2 million passionate developers in the Unity community."
It's hoped that the Microsoft and Unity partnership will help "democratise game development and provide opportunity for all developers," according to Unity Technologies CEO, David Helgason. "Our collaboration will help further these goals by empowering our community to create games across Microsoft’s powerful platforms."
With Microsoft also confirming the scrapping of update charges for developers, it looks like Microsoft platforms should continue to be a hotbed of creativity and that. This is good.
Microsoft “Institutionally Incompetent," Has “Fucked Up” Processes, Says Skulls of the Shogun Dev
Borut Pfeifer, who worked alongside 17-Bit Studios to deliver Microsoft-exclusive Skulls of the Shogun, has come out against the platform holder.
In an no-holds-barred interview, Pfeifer accused Microsoft of being “institutionally incompetent" and suggested that the outfit is too stupid to be evil, citing late payments and “fucked up” processes.
Pfeifer says he "knew we were kind of making a deal with the devil," when setting up the deal to bring Skulls of the Shogun to XBLA, Windows 8 and Windows Phone. But the cash advantages of the deal were too much to resist.
"We felt like we knew what we were getting into even though it would take a long time to negotiate," he said. "We had something that they wanted, so we thought we'd take advantage of that.
"We were launching on three new pieces of the Microsoft ecosystem - their new Async and sort of social multiplayer services, we were launching on Windows 8 and we were launching on the ARM tablets [Surface]. Those were new, and we didn't get them until very late. So all the certification and process issues, we didn't just have them, or even maybe three times the amount, it was an exponential kind of thing.
“You would have issues on one platform which would actually contradict processes or requirements on another platform. We tried to get the different groups on the same page, to tell them that 'this needs to be the same', just to make things better for the next people who had to face it, but yeah, we ran into exponential difficulties on the process side."
Beyond this, Pfeifer also says Microsoft was late paying the independant studio.
"We thought 'well, it's Microsoft, they have bankroll, they can afford this stuff,'" he said. "But because of their processes seeming so fucked up, they couldn't actually do that. Even though they were partially funding the game to completion, we had to take a loan to cover the fact that they hadn't yet paid us what they were supposed to."
"When people call Microsoft 'evil', while I don't want to defend them, it's kind of an undeserved compliment. To be evil, you have to have vision, you have to have communication, execution... None of those are traits are things that I would ascribe to Microsoft Studios.
"They came across as though they were institutionally incompetent. I think they're not really set up to be a decent publisher. I do feel slightly bad saying that, because there were people there who worked hard on our behalf, but at the same time there are systemic problems with the way that division is setup and run."
In terms of developer relations it’s been a poor few weeks for Microsoft. The platform holder has always endured a less than stellar reputation regarding its policies, but the announcement that self-publishing will not be allowed on Xbox One has led many, including Fez II developer Phil Fish and DayZ creator Dean Hall, to announce that they’re steering clear of the platform.
The Xbox One will launch in North America on November 27th, if an Amazon listing is to be believed.
The online retailer has updated its website to reveal the date, as well as special editions of the console’s line-up of launch titles.
Microsoft has yet to reveal the launch date of the Xbox One, instead pointing to a vague “November” release.
If the listing, as well as a similar retailer reveal for the PS4, is to be believed, then Microsoft’s next-gen console will arrive two weeks after Sony’s.
In addition to this, Amazon is also listing a number of Day One Editions of its launch line-up games, including Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Kinect Sports Rivals and Ryse: Son of Rome.
Each of these Day One Editions come with special box art and bonus in-game content, at no extra cost.
The Day One branding falls in line with the Day One Edition of the Xbox One itself, which comes with a special engraved controller and an achievement.
When it launches, the Xbox One will cost $499 in North America, €499 in Europe, and £429 in the UK.
Europe: Vita Mega Pack Offers 10 Games And An 8GB Memory Card For A Bargain Price
Sony has announced the Vita 'Mega Pack', a collection of ten digital games and an 8GB memory card.
It’s a strong list of games too, including LittleBigPlanet, WipeOut 2048, MotorStorm RC and The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character.
Available in Europe and the UK from June 21st, the Vita Mega Pack costs just £34.99 / €39.99, which is a steal for what you’re getting.
Vita Mega Pack games:
LittleBigPlanet PS Vita
WipeOut 2048
MotorStorm RC
Little Deviants
Frobisher Says! (with Fun Pack DLC)
Ecolibrium (with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum game packs)
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Lemmings
Hungry Giraffe
The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character
The Mega Pack will also be available in some territories as part of a new Wi-Fi PS Vita hardware bundle, priced at €249.99 (RRP). Release dates for this pack vary slightly across Europe:
Bethesda has explained its silence regarding Prey 2, saying that the game is currently “simply not good enough.”
Speaking to IGN, Bethesda's VP of PR Pete Hines said that the shooter sequel in development at Human Head just wasn’t up to scratch.
“We spent years and millions of dollars and a ton of effort trying to help Human Head make a great Prey 2 game,” he said. “What we said the last time was that it’s not up to our quality standards."
“It’s simply not good enough. We’re not going to just proceed blindly with something that isn’t good enough. We’ve been very specific about why, and we’ve been very specific about the whats.
“When that gets addressed and changed or whatever, at that point we can give an update. But nobody’s disappointment is greater than ours. We spent a lot of time and money and effort trying to make this thing happen and support folks, but at the same time, you just can’t keep throwing money at it and saying, ‘sure, it’ll eventually work.’
Hines also responded to the various leaks regarding Prey 2, suggesting that previous details contained within reports may have been inaccurate.
“I think all of the stuff that you’ve heard at this point has been from one side of this, and it’s been somebody putting spin on it, like, ‘here’s what happened.’ No, that’s your version of what you think happened. I haven’t heard from anybody yet that actually sat in the room.
“There are quite a few folks at Human Head that I really like. Chris Rhinehart is one of the nicest guys I have ever met in this industry. He’s somebody I would consider a friend. I love hanging out with him. This isn’t anything to do with anything personal. I love that guy. I like a lot of the folks up there. It just has to do more with what the product looks like and if it’s good enough.
“As we said in our last update, it’s not good enough. It’s not where it needs to be. When we have more info than that, we’ll let you know.”
Hines concluded by saying that the amount of discussion and interest surrounding the game does at least suggest that fans are excited about the prospect of Prey 2.
“It’s great that people have passion for something that we’ve talked about,” he said. “I understand that, in general, there’s a lot of cynicism about the developer versus the publisher. But sometimes you just have to step back and be practical about it. What is the chance that we have some amazing, unbelievable game and we’re just not talking about it for no reason? Zero. This is a business. We do have bills to pay and people to employ. They have families that they would like to provide for.
“You don’t just keep throwing money at something or going down a path that you’re not happy about. You have to make tough choices. Again, when we have more info on it, we’ll be happy to talk about it. That’s what I can say for now.”
It’s merely speculation and rumour at this point, but Hines’ words do support the recent suggestion that Human Head is no longer working on the game. He may not have said it outright, but last month’s story about Dishonored developer Arkane taking over the project may well turn out to be true.
Here’s an unexpected turn of events. Eidos Montreal has revealed that Thief is coming to PlayStation 3 as well as PlayStation 4.
Announced as a next-gen title, Thief will now be hitting current-gen systems at some point in 2014. The game’s senior producer Stephane Roy has confirmed that there will be no core gameplay differencesbetween the two versions of the sneaky steal-em-up. The only concession is a slight drop in the quality of the visuals. Good news!
You can see Roy discussing the news with Eidos-Montreal Community Manager Adam Badke in the video above.
Choose your difficulty: Fun, Challenging, Frustrating, RageQuit
Does playing on a harder difficulty mean a greater sense of achievement, or a stronger urge to go postal? Is it possible there’s a direct correlation between the scaling of the difficulty and your enjoyment? Whether it’s a shooter, RPG, beat em’ up or racer, the difficulty you choose can greatly affect how much fun you have when you play. Set it too easy, and you may wonder why you’re bothering to play the game at all. Set it too hard however, and it can be a groundhog day of repeating stages and being beaten and killed by the enemy time and time again.
There’s certainly something to be said for playing on a more user friendly difficulty. The pleasure you get destroying enemies with the greatest of ease, gives you that feeling of being a real badass… and isn’t that really what gaming is all about? I guess you could say it depends on the type of game you’re playing. The sentiment may ring true for shooters and action games, but what about other genres? For instance, I like driving games and I’ve got the full setup with a Logitech G25 and a racing frame (can you tell I like driving games?). So when I’m racing I like a good challenge and I generally turn off the assists and crank up the difficulty to the point where I have to be driving really well to get a good result. That way, if I finish poorly, it’s on me. No blaming the AI for a cheap headshot from 3 miles away. So I guess your skill level and the confidence you have playing your chosen title, factor in to how comfortable you are making the competition harder.
Borderlands is an interesting example. As you play and level up your character, the difficulty scales, and the enemies you encounter raise in level along with you. In a way, it’s kind of like a dynamic difficulty. You’ll come across bosses in certain areas which are much tougher than you, and you have the option to take them on as is for a much more dangerous fight, or retreat, do some easier missions, and come back when your level more closely matches theirs. You could say it’s a little bit ‘choose your own difficulty’. Usually there will be a variety of missions available to you, ranging from trivial, to hard, to impossible, so you can pick and choose as you please. I personally like this model as you’re not stuck with a decision you made before you even started playing the game. You have the ability to modify the challenge on the fly, and feel much more in control of your own destiny.
Sometimes it’s hard to strike the correct balance between fun and challenge. If you don’t care about earning trophies, then it’s much easier to change the difficulty as you go. But for those who do, and there are difficulty specific trophies available, it can be a frustrating ride. Perhaps your first playthrough should be on a slightly easier setting, so you’ve got time to hone your skills? Maybe you just throw caution to the wind, consequences be damned! What’s important to remember is that playing video games is about having fun, and if you’re not having fun, you may as well clean the bathroom.
Earlier this week Sony issued an firmware update that rendered some people’s PS3’s unusable. Today the platform-holder has announced that a fix will be released on Thursday June 27th.
“We have identified the issue related to the PlayStation 3 software update (version 4.45) that impacted a small number of PS3 systems earlier this week,” reads a post on the US PlayStation 3 support forum.
“A new PS3 system software update is planned to be released on June 27 that resolves the issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding and we apologize for the inconvenience.”
Sony went on to say that any further announcements will be made through the same forum thread. So if you’re one of the people affected, stick it in your bookmarks.
News: Microsoft Puts a Date on Free Xbox Live Gold Games
Microsoft has released a few more details regarding the free games it intends to offer alongside Xbox Live Gold memberships.
Announced during E3 2013, the platform holder will be rewarding Gold members with two free titles every month. And unlike the equivalent PlayStation service, the Instant Game Collection, these are games that you can keep indefinitely.
Beginning in July, Microsoft will be offering up the free titles on the 1st and 16th of every month, starting with Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3.
"As our way of saying thanks, we're giving all active Gold members two bonus Xbox 360 games each month for the rest of the year," reads a statement from MS.
"Each specially selected, fan-favourite game will be available to download only for a limited time, so grab them before they're gone and keep them no matter what."
Nice, eh? Oh, and Gold members can still grab Fable III through Xbox Live up until then end of the month. Get on that if you haven't already.
