TitanFall’s Xbox 360 release has been delayed two weeks

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Zackery Cote

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Those hoping to get their hands on TitanFall without having to purchase a new console will have to be a bit more patient than their next-gen peers. It was reconfirmed yesterday that TitanFall, developed by Respawn Entertainment, will hit the Xbox One and PC on March 11 in North America (March 13 in Europe). The Xbox 360 version, however, is being developed by a different studio, Bluepoint Games, and it has been given a shipping date of March 25 in North America (March 28 in Europe) so that the team can “put the finishing touches on the current-gen version of the game.”

As exciting as it is to hear that TitanFall is so close to release, it’s a bit of a shady business to have two different release dates. It harkens back to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, where the game was released later for the previous generation console as well. Understandably, the Wii version of Twilight Princess vastly outsold its GameCube counterpart. Regardless of the reasoning, it’s sure to be exciting for Xbox 360 owners that they’ll be able to get their hands on TitanFall at all.

Posted in News, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Tagged

Naughty Dog considering The Last of Us 2 or a new IP

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Nicole Kline

TheLastofUsThere’s always something going on at Naughty Dog. Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of The Last of Us, told Eurogamer that the Dogs are considering a sequel to that game or creating a new property as their next project.

“We just wrapped up Left Behind, and Bruce Straley, the game director, and I have been doing this for over four years now. So it’s just time for a break, and to recharge the batteries… We have started brainstorming some stuff. To be honest, some of them are sequel ideas, and some of them are brand new IP – we’ve spent the last few weeks brainstorming new IP. So we have to get some good steps and see… It’s kind of like how we approached Left Behind. Can we tell people a story that’s really worth telling, and that’s not repeating itself? And if we can’t, where can we get inspired – what is something that’s really going to challenge us, and push storytelling in this medium forward?”

The Last of Us: Left Behind, which comes out next week, is the game’s first – and the only – single-player DLC. This prequel will give us more insight into Ellie’s past, focusing on a friendship she had before she met Joel.

I can’t imagine a sequel to The Last of Us, but there have been plenty of times I couldn’t imagine a sequel and I was blown away (Dead Space 2, anyone?). I’m looking forward to seeing what the Dogs have planned for us.

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10 Actors We Think Could Play Nathan Drake in the Uncharted Movie

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Seth Gordon has been chosen to helm the planned film adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted. The director, best known for the Donkey Kong documentary King of Kong as well as Horrible Bosses, steps into the role after it was left vacant by Limitless director Neil Burger, who has since moved onto Divergent, the first installment in the teen franchise. He himself had inherited the role from Oscar winner David O. Russell, who left due to the fan backlash following a leaked storyline that didn’t resemble Uncharted in the slightest.

So now that the film finally has a director locked (again), the big question remains… who will fill the well-tread boots of cheeky protagonist Nathan Drake? Here is a list of ten actors we believe could do the role justice.

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Posted in Etcetera, Features, PS3, PS4, Top Story | Tagged

Daily Scoop: February 7, 2014 – It’s Friday!

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Nicole Kline

I’m not sure if you noticed, but hey! It’s Friday! I don’t know about you, but this has been the longest week ever. I’m excited for the weekend!!

There are plenty of good deals going around today! First up is the Daily Deal at Steam, which is Outlast for $9.99. It’s not quite as good a deal as free on the PSN with Plus, but it’s still a great deal!

There’s also a brand new Humble Weekly Bundle featuring Double Fine! Pay what you want for Psychonauts, Costume Quest, and Stacking! Pay $6 or more for Brutal Legend, and pay $16.74 or more and get early access to Spacebase DF-9.

But wait – there’s more! There are some new deals over at the Humble Store as well, including Jazz Punk for $11.99, Space Hulk for $19.99, and SPAZ for $2.49. Plenty of games to scoop up today!

Hit the jump for some t-shirts to put on your bod! Or, you know, wherever.

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us wins ten statues at 2014 DICE Awards

Posted on February 7, 2014 by John Scalzo

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When Santa Claus asks if you’ve been naughty or nice, if you’re a game developer, you might want to answer “naughty.” During last night’s DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us took home the top prize in ten categories (out of 13 possible nominations). The only other game to win multiple awards was BioShock Infinite, which took home two (Action Game of the Year and Oustanding Achievement in Original Music Composition).

With such a big haul, The Last of Us naturally took home Game of the Year honors. The game also won Adventure Game of the Year, Oustanding Achievement in Game Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Story, Oustanding Achievement in Animation, Oustanding Achievement in Art Direction, Oustanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Oustanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Character Performance (for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie).

A few other games did manage to wrestle a few awards away from Naughty Dog, but that’s mostly because The Last of Us didn’t qualify for every category. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Downloadable Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds won Handheld Game of the Year, and Plants vs Zombies 2 won Casual Game of the Year.

The complete list of winners can be found after the break.

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Sledgehammer Games developing Call of Duty 2014 as franchise adds third team

Posted on February 7, 2014 by John Scalzo

sledgehammergames-logoFor 2006’s Call of Duty 3, Activision handed the Call of Duty series off to Treyarch to complete a new game in the series while original developer Infinity Ward completed work on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Since then, the two developers have worked in tandem to release a new Call of Duty game every year, with Treyarch taking the “even” years and Infinity Ward releasing their title during the “odd” years.

But yesterday, during their quarterly financial report, Activision announced they will add a third team to the mix to give each developer three years to create a new Call of Duty.

Sledgehammer Games assisted Infinity Ward on 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and they will use that experience as the lead developer on the still-shrouded-in-mystery Call of Duty 2014. According to Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, the publisher moved the Call of Duty series to a three-year development cycle to give each team more time to produce a great game: “This will give our designers more time to envision and to innovate for each title.” Hirshberg added that he believes “the 2014 game is going to be one of if not the best Call of Duty game ever.”

No other details were revealed about Call of Duty 2014, but Activision usually makes a formal announcement of the latest Call of Duty title in May ahead of the E3 Expo.

Posted in News | Tagged

EA wrangled up in “ratingsgate” controversy over Dungeon Keeper

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Andrew Rainnie

electronicartslogoIt seems that EA Games, everyone’s favourite publishing powerhouse, is intent on winning the title of Worst Company in America for a third year running. Not content with the bug-ridden release of Battlefield 4 and the lawsuits that arrived in its aftermath, the company has been accused of rigging the ratings system for the updated mobile version of Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper. The game, which has garnered less than stellar reviews, has employed a unique ratings system. When the in-game pop-up asks you to “Rate Your Experience,” gifting the game five stars will deliver you straight to the Google Play store. However, dare you wish to give the title a star rating below five, players will be whisked away, not to the Google Play store, but to an online feedback form, circumventing the Google Play store rating altogether.

The reason for this? An EA spokesperson has issued the following statement:

“We’re always looking at new ways to gather player feedback so that we can continue to improve our games. The ‘rate this app’ feature in the Google Play version of Dungeon Keeper was designed to help us collect valuable feedback from players who don’t feel the game is worth a top rating. We wanted to make it easier for more players to send us feedback directly from the game if they weren’t having the best experience. Players can always continue to leave any rating they want on the Google Play Store.”

As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. However, preventing players from offering a rating other than “Perfect” does not seem like a noble endeavour, no matter what the excuse is. If EA was really concerned about feedback, its developers could read the reviews left on the Google Play store. What this new feature amounts to is a deliberate circumvention of the ratings system in order to inflate the game’s score.

Players can choose to rate the game separately on the store outside the game, and as a result of “ratingsgate,” the one-star ratings are exploding. It seems that what we have witnessed is the ugly mutation of a cult classic into yet another freemium cash cow from EA’s mobile division.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Posted in Mobile, News | Tagged

Nintendo Download: Bravely Default, Retro City Rampage, The Lego Movie, More

Posted on February 6, 2014 by John Scalzo

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Welcome to another edition of the Nintendo Download. This week, 3DS owners will be treated to Retro City Rampage: DX, an enhanced and updated version of the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii game that most of us refer to as “8-bit Grand Theft Auto.” Also available today are a pair of Wii U titles: Percy’s Predicament, a family-friendly platformer, and Ninja Gaiden, one of the greatest ninja games to ever grace the NES.

Tomorrow, Nintendo and Square Enix will add Bravely Default, an RPG in the style of classic Final Fantasy titles, to the 3DS eShop and WB Games will do the same for The Lego Movie, a Lego-style game based on the movie of the same name. The Lego Movie will also be available on the Wii U eShop.

Finally, One Piece: Romance Dawn, an RPG based on the popular anime, will be available through the 3DS eShop on Tuesday, February 11.

More details on all of these games can be found after the break.

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