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New Releases: Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, Resident Evil Origins, Life Is Strange, More

Posted on January 17, 2016 by John Scalzo

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It’s been a few weeks, but welcome to the first roundup of new retail game releases for 2016!

We start off the year with Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam, a new RPG for the 3DS from the Nintendo. After years of keeping them separate, the publisher has finally decided to merge their Mario & Luigi series of RPGs with the Paper Mario series of RPGs. I’m a bit surprised it took this long, but maybe Nintendo felt they needed more time to prepare the world for GIANT PAPERCRAFT BATTLES.

Also available this week is the Resident Evil Origins Collection for the PS4 and Xbox One. After redoing Resident Evil last year, Capcom turned their trained recreationists towards its prequel, Resident Evil 0, which had previously only been available on Nintendo platforms. The publisher packaged both games together for a retail release, but players can also acquire them as separate downloads through the PlayStation Store and Xbox Games Store (and Steam, for that matter).

Moving from remakes to re-releases, Dontnod has compiled their episodic game series, Life Is Strange, into a retail package for the PS4 and Xbox One. Players who missed out on Max Caulfield’s time-traveling adventures in Arcadia Bay will now be able to experience the complete story without waiting weeks between episodes. Also this week, PQube will re-release the Vita version of SteinsGate in a “Limited Edition” that includes a 2016 calendar.

Finally, get on the bus (and drive it) this week with Astragon’s Bus Simulator 16 for the PC.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the best-selling game of 2015; CoD franchise sells more than 250 million copies since 2003

Posted on January 15, 2016 by John Scalzo

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The numbers have been tabulated and the Call of Duty franchise once again reigns supreme over all other video games.

According to The NPD Group’s yearly report of retail releases, Call of Duty: Black Ops III was the best-selling game in 2015, besting EA’s Madden NFL 16 (#2) and Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (#3). The Call of Duty franchise also controlled the back end of the list with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare taking the #10 spot. Activision’s Scott Lowe added (by way of the Activision Games Blog) that the entire franchise has sold more than 250 million copies since the release of Call of Duty in 2003.

Believe it or not, games outside the Call of Duty franchise found success in 2015 as well, though most of them were released after July 1st including Star Wars: Battlefront (#4), NBA 2K16 (#6), and FIFA 16 (#9). The only game to break that trend (aside from a few 2014 stragglers like Advanced Warfare) was Mortal Kombat X (#8), which was released in April. The game-playing public may not always like it, but this does explain why publishers constantly strive to release their games in the back half of the year.

On the hardware side, console sales surged in 2015, as the PS4 and Xbox One continued to outpace the PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS4 was the overall winner in 2015, but NPD analyst Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz that both platforms did well: “After 26 months of sales, the combined cumulative sales of Xbox One and PS4 exceeds the 26 month total of the PS3 and Xbox 360 by 47 percent,”

The NPD’s list of the top ten best-selling games for 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)

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CoD: Black Ops III does a repeat of November as the best-selling game of December 2015 too

Posted on January 15, 2016 by John Scalzo

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While financial folks continue to claim that the Call of Duty franchise is in freefall, the latest game in the series still managed to top the sales charts in December. Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which also topped the list in November, beat out several other strong contenders for the public’s Christmas dollars including Star Wars: Battlefront (#2) and Fallout 4 (#3). There weren’t too many new releases available in December, but one, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (#7), managed to crack the top ten.

However, the the biggest surprise in the NPD Group’s December report might be that Minecraft: Story Mode landed at #9… even though the game disc available in stores only contains the first episode. Interestingly, it placed just behind the original Minecraft, which was firmly locked in at #8.

Even with a dearth of new releases, December 2015 was a good one from a financial perspective, which NPD analyst Liam Callahan shared with GamesIndustry.biz: “December 2015 was the best month on record for PS4 and Xbox One, and the second-best for the Wii U in terms of new physical software unit sales. This also meant that it was the best month of total eighth generation new physical software sales.”

The full top ten list for December 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)

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Nominees for the 2016 DICE Awards have been announced with Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3 leading the way

Posted on January 13, 2016 by John Scalzo

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The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 2016 DICE Awards.

Square Enix’s Rise of the Tomb Raider and CD Projekt’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt lead all other games with eight nominations apiece, including “Game of the Year.” They’ll be competing for the AIAS’s highest honor against three other games: Bloodborne, Fallout 4, and Ori and the Blind Forest. All told, 53 different titles received at least one nomination.

“Looking at the nominees for the 19th Annual DICE Awards, I am especially impressed by the broad range of titles catering to gamers’ increasingly sophisticated and diverse tastes,” said Martin Rae, the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. “It is always gratifying to watch our industry and its many artists and craftsmen grow and continue to challenge and thrill audiences.”

In addition to this year’s awards show, Satoru Iwata will be honored with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award and Hideo Kojima will be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.

The ceremony for the 2016 DICE Awards will take place on Thursday, February 16, during this year’s DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. The full list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)

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EA brings EA Access subscription service to PC as Origin Access

Posted on January 13, 2016 by John Scalzo

EA has announced that their EA Access subscription service (currently available on the Xbox One) is now available for PC players as Origin Access.

Priced at $4.99 a month, Origin Access will let subscribers play every game in “The Vault” and provide early access to brand new EA games before they’re released. According to EA, Origin’s “Vault” will also include a variety of third-party titles, such as the currently available This War of Mine (from 11 Bit Studios). So what else is available in “The Vault”? Here’s the list we found on the official Origin Access site:

“The Vault” Titles Currently on Origin Access

  • Battlefield 3
  • Battlefield 4
  • Battlefield Hardline
  • Dead Space
  • Dead Space 2
  • Dead Space 3
  • Dragon Age: Origins
  • Dragon Age II
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition
  • FIFA 15
  • Need For Speed Rivals
  • Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
  • SimCity
  • The Sims 3
  • This War of Mine

In addition to unlimited access to games in “The Vault,” Origin Access subscribers will also receive a 10% discount on all future Origin purchases. And if that doesn’t convince you, EA also commissioned a great commercial starring Bill Nye (which has been embedded above) to promote the service.

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Deep Silver confirms May 17 release date for Homefront: The Revolution

Posted on January 12, 2016 by John Scalzo

Confirming last week’s release date leak, Deep Silver has announced that Homefront: The Revolution will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on May 17. The publisher has also released “This Is Philadelphia,” a brand new trailer that shows what it’s like to live in the game’s Korean-occupied “Yellow Zone” (Wait, really?):

In the “This Is Philadelphia” trailer released today, citizens get their first chilling glimpse into the world of Occupied Philadelphia in the year 2029: The birthplace of American freedom has been split into three occupied zones, each zone varying in the level of KPA police activity with each unique zone forcing players to adapt new gameplay strategies in order to further the progress of The Revolution. The “This Is Philadelphia” trailer showcases the unforgiving Yellow Zone, distinct from the war-ravaged wastelands of the Red Zone, and the highly militarized Green Zones, the Yellow Zone is a densely populated environment offering a unique challenge and gameplay experience to would-be Freedom Fighters.

Xbox One owners who are interested in joining a Homefront: The Revolution closed beta this February can head over to Homefront-Game.com to register for a chance to receive a Beta Token from Deep Silver.

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Gameplay trailer for Mortal Kombat X: Kombat Pack 2 released

Posted on January 12, 2016 by John Scalzo

WB Games wants you to have a bloody good Tuesday as they’ve released the first gameplay for Mortal Kombat X‘s upcoming Kombat Pack 2 DLC. In development now at NetherRealm Studios, Kombat Pack 2 will add four new fighters to the game: Leatherface (from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), the Xenomorph (from Alien), Bo Rai Cho, and Tri-Borg (a composite character that fuses together Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke). The new characters are incredibly fast and the chainsaw-fu practiced by Leatherface (against Jason Voorhees, I might add) is incredible.

Players who purchase Kombat Pack 2 will also receive a fifth playable character, the mighty Goro, and a number of costumes that were previously exclusive to Mortal Kombat X pre-order customers:

  • Goro – The feral, four-armed Shokan warrior will be available as a playable combatant.
  • Brazil Pack – The Brazil Pack features three new character skins: Futbol Cage, Capoeira Liu Kang, and Gaucho Kung Lao.
  • Kold War Pack – The Kold War Pack includes three new character skins: Motherland Sonya, Tundra Sub-Zero, and Revolution Kano.
  • Kold War Scorpion – Kold War-themed Scorpion character skin.
  • Apocalypse Pack (Never-Before-Released) – The Apocalypse Pack features three new character skins, reimagining characters Takeda, D’Vorah, and Erron Black with an apocalyptic theme.

NetherRealm will release Kombat Pack 2 sometime in 2016, though they’ve previously said that all four characters will be available in early 2016.

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WGA nominates Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Pillars of Eternity, Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Witcher 3 for 2016 Writers Guild Award

Posted on January 12, 2016 by John Scalzo

wgaThe nominees for the 2016 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing were announced by the Writers Guild of America yesterday.

The WGA bestowed nominations on four titles this year, including Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Pillars of Eternity, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It’s hard to pick a frontrunner at this point, but Syndicate is the seventh game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise to be nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing since the WGA began honoring writing for video games in 2008. The complete list of nominees can be found here:

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (Ubisoft)
Story: Marc-Alexis Cote, Hugo Giard, Corey May, Jeffrey Yohalem
Narrative Director: Corey May
Lead Writer: Jeffrey Yohalem
Assistant Narrative Director: Melissa MacCoubrey
Scriptwriters: Richard Farrese, Russell Lees, Mark Llabres Hill, James Nadiger, Jared Schincariol, Travis Stout, Ceri Young
Additional Senior Writer: Paul Monk
Additional Writing: Judith Flanders, C.J. Kershner, Gabrielle Shrager, Danny Wallace

Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Entertainment)
Lead Writer: Eric Fenstermaker
Writers: Carrie Patel, Olivia Veras
Additional Writing: Chris Avellone, Jeff Husges, Matt MacLean, Jorge Salgado, Josh Sawyer, George Ziets

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Microsoft)
Lead Narrative Designer: John Stafford
Narrative Designer: Cameron Suey
Lead Writer: Rhianna Pratchett
Additional Writer: Philip Gelatt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt)
Lead Writer: Marcin Blacha
Lead English Writer: Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz
Writers: Arkadiusz Borowik, Aleksandra Motyka, Bartosz Ochman, Karolina Stachyra, Jakub Szamalek
Additional Writers: Marcin Batylda, Michal Galek, Tomasz Marchewka, Robert Oglodzinski, Rafal Praszalek, Artur Sliwinski, Stanislaw Swiecicki, Pawel Zych
Story: Marcin Blacha, Jakub Szamalek

The winner of the 2016 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing will be announced on Saturday, February 13.

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