Most Recent: PC

Star Wars: Battlefront is crowned Best of Gamescom at Gamescom 2015

Posted on August 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Heeding the words of Yoda (“Do… or do not. There is no try.”), Electronic Arts and DICE pulled out all the stops to win to five awards for Star Wars: Battlefront at Gamescom 2015, including the coveted “Best of Gamescom” title. The game also took home “Best Console Game – PS4,” “Best PC Games,” “Best Online Multiplayer Game,” and the “Most Wanted Consumer Award.” Strangely, Germany’s Digital Gaming Culture Foundation (Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur) didn’t even nominate it in the “Best Console Game – Xbox One” category.

Other multi-award winners at the 2015 Gamescom Awards include Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (“Best Console Game – Xbox One” and “Best Action Game”), FM6 (“Best Racing Game” and “Best Simulation Game”), and Super Mario Maker (“Best Console Game – Wii U” and “Best Social / Casual / Online Game”).

Not to be forgotten, the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, produced in conjunction with Valve, won for “Best Hardware / Peripheral.”

The full list of this year’s winners can be found after the break. (more…)

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Bandai Namco has released a gameplay trailer for Dark Souls III

Posted on August 8, 2015 by John Scalzo

The Dark Souls franchise will make its PS4 and Xbox One debut early next year (or rather, the first original entry in the series will) and now we’ve gotten our first look at it as Bandai Namco released the first gameplay trailer for Dark Souls III during this week’s Gamescom expo.

If you prefer your action games to be gothic and gruesome, Dark Souls III is the game for you:

Dark Souls III continues to push the boundaries with the latest, ambitious chapter in the critically-acclaimed and genre-defining series. As fires fade and only embers remain, journey once more into a world filled with more daunting and colossal enemies and environments. Players will be immersed into a world of epic atmosphere and darkness through faster gameplay and amplified combat intensity. New to the series are the Battle Arts attacks as each weapon will be equipped with its own unique Battle Art to deliver powerful attacks that will break through enemy defenses.

Dark Souls III will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in early 2016.

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Spectra Review: Chiptunes, Racing, and 80s Arcade Style Aren’t a Bad Combination

Posted on August 7, 2015 by John Scalzo

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It’s a rare game that credits the composer as a co-developer, but that’s what you get with Spectra, an overhead racing game that’s set to a chiptune soundtrack created by Niamh “Chipzel” Houston (best known for her work on Super Hexagon). British developer Gateway Interactive took her bleeps and bloops and laid them over a procedurally-generated raceway that expands out into space using arcade-style wireframe graphics. The music and visuals complement each other nicely, but Spectra’s “keep it simple” style goes a bit too far. (more…)

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Blizzard reveals World of Warcraft: Legion expansion at Gamescom 2015

Posted on August 7, 2015 by John Scalzo

Announced yesterday at Gamescom, the next expansion to World of Warcraft will be known as Legion. With Legion, players of Blizzard’s massively popular MMO will gain access to a new Hero Class (Demon Hunter), a new continent (The Broken Isles), and an increased Level Cap (110). The expansion will also include powerful “Artifact Weapons” to use against the demonic Burning Legion, a new “Order Hall” to recruit a regiment of NPCs, and a new PvP Honor System.

Will players need all these features to take on the Burning Legion? Probably, because they sound like bad dudes…

In this dire new chapter of the Warcraft saga, the demonic Burning Legion has returned, seeking to call forth their fallen leader—the dark titan Sargeras, Ravager of Worlds. As destruction rains across Azeroth, its heroes must seek salvation among the ruins of the Broken Isles, doomed center of ancient night elf civilization and birthplace of myths dating back to the world’s creation. In the face of hopeless odds, they must learn to master mighty Artifacts—legendary weapons that hold the potential to bring down the corrupted armies of the Legion—and strike an infernal pact with the dread Demon Hunters of the Illidari… accursed followers of the infamous Illidan the Betrayer.

We don’t yet know when World of Warcraft: Legion will be available, but a more complete rundown of the game’s features (including a very informative trailer) can be found after the break. (more…)

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First Unravel gameplay trailer revealed at Gamescom 2015

Posted on August 6, 2015 by John Scalzo

EA’s Unravel (and its protagonist, Yarny) made a big splash at this year’s E3 Expo. The publisher brought the character back for another round of press appearances at the Gamescom expo, giving us a first look at some gameplay video in the process.

The trailer showcases a level known as “The Sea” and Yarny has to figure out how to navigate the shoreline without being washed away by the tide. The physics-based platforming is excellent and Yarny’s world is somehow ridiculously detailed and heavily stylized all at the time. A single strand of thread, the character’s very literal lifeline, dangles behind him at all times.

It’s easy to see why EA’s executives believe the game charmed everyone at E3. Unravel is in development at Coldwood and will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, possibly as early as next year.

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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gets two new trailers at Gamescom 2015

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Josh Griffiths

The hotly anticipated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is less than a month away, and Konami is finally ramping up promotion for the game (while in the midst of some internal turmoil) by releasing two more trailers that show off the game’s new features.

Revealed during Gamescom 2015, a short gameplay trailer (embedded above) notably wasn’t directed or edited by Hideo Kojma, while a longer demo walkthrough (available after the break) showcased the new and improved Mother Base.

Among the new features demonstrated in the walkthrough video is the ability to take showers to wash away blood and collect posters scattered throughout the base. Players can also run obstacle courses, train troops, and customize the base (including layout, insignia placement, color, and security measures). We also got a look at how all of these features integrate with the iDroid while you’re in the field.

Also showed off was Forward Operation Base (FOB) multiplayer mode, which involves creating a base separate from Mother Base that other players can invade at any time. In the demo, we saw the player in the middle of a mission get a warning that their FOB was being invaded, and they quickly left the mission to defend the base. What followed was a game of cat and mouse that ended after the defender captured the attacker.

With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releasing September 1st, these are probably the last trailers we’ll see before it’s release. It’s been a heck of a ride considering the significance of this game in the franchise. But, the light is finally right around the corner. (more…)

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Activision confirms StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void will launch in 2015

Posted on August 6, 2015 by John Scalzo

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Activision delivered their quarterly financial report on Tuesday, and in addition to talking about how much money they made, Chief Financial Officer Dennis Durkin got to announce that StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void will definitely be released by the end of the year:

“One important addition is we are now confirming that the much anticipated final chapter for StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is expected to be released in 2015 and will now be included in our guidance for the full year.”

Later in the report, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime talked a bit more about the standalone expansion and how happy he is that players won’t need to be invested in the earlier titles to experience Legacy of the Void:

“[W]e’re working hard to deliver a worthy finale to an epic story that’s now been over 17 years in the making. One of the reasons we feel we can continue to expand our StarCraft II audience is that players no longer need to have the previous entries in the series in order to play Heart of the Storm or Legacy of the Void. This provides a great opportunity for players who might have missed one of the chapters in the trilogy to come back and jump right into the latest content.”

Blizzard has set up shop at the 2015 Gamescom expo this week and attendees will be able to try out a StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void demo at the developer’s booth in Hall 7.

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Battleborn will be released on February 9, 2016

Posted on August 6, 2015 by John Scalzo

2K Games and Gearbox Software have announced that Battleborn will be released on February 9, 2016. Gearbox’s “hero shooter” will include 25 “Badasses” when it releases early next year and a new trailer released for the 2015 Gamescom expo introduces us to four of them. Say hello to Ambra, Reyna, Mellka, and Benedict:

  • Ambra: Born into an ancient order of priestesses responsible for discovering a way to prolong life indefinitely, Ambra was betrayed by her leader and her faction, the Jennerit Empire, and now fights alongside the Battleborn. She is a specialist hero, dealing damage up close through her melee attacks and powerful abilities, while healing her allies in the process.
  • Mellka: A stealthy assassin, Mellka lost her parents at a young age before eventually earning her place among the Eldrid’s black op’s and intelligence bureau. Her life has been defined by a series of staggering losses, but her response to these losses was never despair – it was fury. She strikes quickly, disorienting foes with her nerve gas machine pistol and bio-glaive melee attacks.
  • Reyna: Known by her followers as “The Valkyrie,” Reyna was born aboard the Rogue faction’s ailing junk heap of a flagship and is a native to the last star system. Reyna has fought tirelessly for the freedom of her space pirate comrades, finding her calling as their inspirational leader. She dishes damage with her laser pistol and uses her command glove to support her teammates.
  • Benedict: August Benedict Jr. is one of several surviving races of bird-like “Aviant” refugees. He swore allegiance to the Peacekeepers where he’s gained considerable notoriety for being a self-centered jerk that’s capable of astounding destruction with his rocket launcher. Double jumping, rocket jumping, and flying – Benedict’s good at all of them and he lets his teammates know it.

An open beta for Battleborn will be held sometime before the game ships to stores this February. But 2K Games isn’t ready to talk about the public test just yet and will announce more details about it at a later date.

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