Also talks about "awesome" Evolve from Turtle Rock.
I hate Friday afternoons. It's not just that I've got to get Hot Feature Sex queued up for weekend publication. It's not just that the news slows to a trickle. It's also that there's always somebody, somewhere, who goes and terrifies everyone else by publishing something genuinely news-worthy. Step forward Edge Online with this little nugget on the subject of Deep Six, the game Metro: Last Light studio 4A Games once planned to make before publisher THQ bought the farm.
Video mentions August reveal, plus a number of dates...
Microsoft's Major Nelson would like to remind you that Call of Duty: Ghosts' multiplayer component goes public next week, on 14th August. He'd also like you to bear in mind a number of mysterious dates and locations. What's all this about, then, Major? Anything to declare?
"It's not just a scorecard in a multiplayer map," says Massive chap.
The Division is probably the most exciting Tom Clancy outing in yonks (sorry, Splinter Cell), a higher-tech riff on the guiding principles of Day Z, in which you battle to save or destroy a plague-ridden city. It's one of a handful of games that are trying to make narrative and multiplayer cohere - material scarcity in the "campaign" world is also the reason players and player factions fight one another online.
Wargaming "helped" Microsoft realise the business model's importance.
A month or two back I had the pleasure of chatting to Wargaming.net's Victor Kislyi, the man behind free-to-play hit World of Tanks (a game in which two forms of nerdiness collide - stat-heavy multiplayer and 20th century history). The fruits of that chat can be read in our latest issue, on sale now. Kislyi's a fearsome interviewee, marrying in-depth knowledge of the product to the charisma of a classier shade of mob boss. Here's what he had to say about free-to-play on Xbox platforms.
"The fun for me is to see genres come alive that are not doing particularly well," says developer.
I was already bang up for a piece of Project Spark, Microsoft's world-building sim for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC - it's a gorgeously upholstered, easy-to-use toolset modelled on the existing Kodu Gamelab, which gave us the hysterical Bowser's Duel. That was before Microsoft Studios manager Michael Saxs Persson revealed that you can create space combat sims using it. Must not cry. Must not cry. Somebody hold my hand, please.
And you thought the Xbox One controller was expensive...
Avenged Sevenfold is a US metal band with a predilection for gaming, particularly Call of Duty. To celebrate their love, they're planning to take all your money by selling an (admittedly top-notch) Xbox 360 controller.
Four maps, 1200 MP, out 27th August.
It's been fun, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Treyarch and Activision have announced the game's final expansion, Apocalypse, a nostalgic outing which features characters from the original Black Ops and an adaptation of a map from Call of Duty: World at War.
Offer applies to five Xbox One launch window titles.
American Xbox One adopters can take advantage of a pretty fair deal at their participating GameStop stores; for a limited time, you'll be able to trade in Xbox 360 versions of certain games and get an upgrade to the corresponding Xbox One edition for less than $10.
"Feeling great about game performance - stuff is looking killer.".
Not so long ago, 'twas rumoured that Xbox One would be the recipient of a RAM upgrade before launch, to counter the loathsome might of the StayPlation 3.5 - from 8GB to 12GB, to be precise. Turns out this is all cobblers - you'll have your 8GB of RAM, and like it.
Major Nelson gives Xbox One Day One edition the unboxing treatment.
Does this count as another Microsoft-patented U-turn? It appears that the Xbox One will include a headset as standard after all, as an unboxing video that's just gone live over on Xbox Wire reveals.
Tune in at 12:30am BST to see world creation title in action.
Team Dakota's free-to-play Xbox 360 and Xbox One world building game Project Spark will feature in a lengthy demo session hosted live via Twitch tonight, the online video platform has announced.
Get up close and personal with the controller, charge kit and headset.
Heads up - Microsoft have unleashed a trio of sleek new promotional videos showing off the Xbox One console extras, giving us a closer look at the new controller, the play & charge kit, and the chat headset.
Controlling Elizabeth will encourage "a more feminine" approach to gameplay.
In a lengthy interview with IGN, Bioshock creator Ken Levine and level designer Amanda Jeffrey shared some insight into how Elizabeth will adapt to take centre stage for the first time in the Rapture-based story DLC, Burial at Sea, and provided the slightest of hints as to how the two characters are linked back to their Columbia counterparts.
Pre-orders for co-op heist-em-up looking healthy.
And lo, let it be known from this day forth that crime does indeed pay. Starbreeze Studios have released a statement to its investors and shareholders, informing them that all the money fronted by publisher 505 Games towards the development of Payday 2 has now been fully covered by the game's pre-orders.
But will still remain at id Software in some capacity.
Now then, here's a piece of news we did not expect to hear today. John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and lead programmer for Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and the Quake series, has joined the Oculus VR team as their new CTO.
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Warner Bros. have just released a new gameplay video for Injustice: Gods Among Us, which confirms the magician Zatanna as the game's sixth DLC character, second since the game's initial season pass ended.
"This is where the television community is pushing already," says Microsoft Studios boss.
Microsoft's investment in television has, it's fair to say, met with muted applause from consumers who'd rather the firm devoted its energies to creating the best possible games, rather than heading off Google and Apple's internet TV solutions. That's perhaps because Microsoft hasn't done enough to discuss the upsides for games enthusiasts. Here's a bit of insight from Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer on that front.
Get all the details right here.
Batman: Arkham Oranges, sorry, Origins, is but a few short months away from launch, and so Warner Bros. have just officially unveiled a tasty looking Collector's Edition. Tempted?
Tea-baggers not forbidden, but not wanted.
All too often, the ambiance and mood game designers labour to create is scuppered the second their work falls into player hands. That was certainly the case with Halo, a game of mournful orchestral refrains and gorgeous cosmic vistas, which has become a game where some players celebrate their victories by stuffing virtual genitalia into the mouths of their victims.
Microsoft veteran Ed Fries on Microsoft's U-turn and what comes next.
The internet has spoken, U-turns have been made, and Xbox One's release is just a few short months away. Time to stop your yappin' and start your preordering, assuming you're convinced. But hold on - what does Ed Fries, former Microsoft VP of game publishing and one of the driving forces behind the original Xbox, think of the next generation console and the kerfuffle surrounding its reveal?