Exact details still TBC, but developer thrilled with possibilities.
We've been talking to Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt again. This is getting to be something of a habit. Today's topic is Forza Motorsport 5's DLC strategy - according to Greenawalt, there's scope for a much greater and more comprehensive flow of updates and add-on content. Monthly car packs, a la Forza 4? That would be a solid start, for sure.
Buy certain items, get 10% off your next purchase.
Not pre-ordered an Xbox One yet? Planning to? You may be interested in this Toys 'R' Us offer, which gives you 10% off the console when you buy certain items. Thanks for the spot, SavyGamer.
Freddy Kreuger is the victim of a slash attack, for once.
What with all the excitement over free Assassin's Creed 2 and Capcom bargains earlier, we completely forgot to write up this week's Deal of the Week. It's Mortal Kombat-flavoured. I honestly can't play the new Mortal Kombat, myself - all the X-ray bone-crunching gives me the wibbles. But you, perhaps you're made of sterner stuff.
"This isn't going to be an exact copy of other Elder Scrolls titles.".
ZeniMax Online creative director Paul Sage has answered a number of fan questions about The Elder Scrolls Online over at MMORPG.com. It's a massive MMO nerdfest in there, so gird your loins before pressing on. Alternatively, read my summary of the (seeming) highlights below.
Mathematical!.
Fans of dungeon-crawler Diablo and of super silly adventures across the Land of Ooo will be pleased, as the upcoming Adventure Time game has taken plenty of inspiration from the classic Blizzard series.
"Oh, I think you'll find he's coming.".
Microsoft will discuss its relationship with independent developers at forthcoming press events, Lionhead's creative director Gary Carr has revealed to OXM, in what could be a sign that the manufacturer's stance is shifting as regards Xbox One's publishing policies. We'll also hear more "very soon" from Phil Harrison, former Sony Worldwide Studios president, who's now in charge of Microsoft's European developer relations.
"We have the right team and the right tools, this would be a good time to do it".
Beyond Good and Evil 2 has been a long time coming. The game began development over eight years ago, but has been put on hold so many times since that many fans have lost any hope of it ever being released, despite the odd teaser trailer or piece of concept art surfacing online.
"The past instalments were relatively regimented," admits producer.
Dead Rising's strict timeline of events was a source of umbrage for some players - survivors would die, mission opportunities elapse as you hurtled around the open world, trying to balance the priorities. it's a system built for multiple playthroughs, essentially, as you won't know what to prioritise without hindsight. Recognising this, Capcom wants Dead Rising 3 to be a lot more easy-going.
Ubisoft's Swiss Army Knife of a protagonist goes nuts in new footage.
Back in black! On the hitlist! Other relevant puns! Ubisoft has released a new Splinter Cell: Blacklist trailer, thus reminding us that it's out on 20th August in the US and 23rd August in the UK, and that we haven't shot any fictional Middle Eastern terrorists in, like, weeks. Sorry for the reduced bodycount, I've been playing Red Dead Redemption.
Godly or ungodly? XBLA's next free-to-play effort nears release.
Man, you wait all day for a pagan deity and all of a sudden, three show up at once. That's care of Ascend: Hand of Kul, an action role-player in which the player pledges allegiance to a god, then goes about that god's holy business (read: bludgeoning, incineration) on the mortal plane. Signal Studios has released a new trailer which showcases the title's online features, bosses and general predilection for whacking skulls with hammers.
Out 2013 on XBLA, first details and screenshots.
505 Games has announced an Xbox Live Arcade version of Plastic Piranha's Rekoil, a post-apocalyptic multiplayer FPS that's built specifically for eSports. It'll launch later this year, and will feature user-generated maps (with competitions to decide how they arrive on Xbox Live). Find screens and announcement materials below.
Go on, make yourself look like a resident of Los Santos.
Rockstar's just unveiled a batch of Grand Theft Auto 5 flavoured gear, of which the undoubted standout is a Los Santos Police Department baseball cap. "Obey and Survive", it proudly declares. Be sure to don the cap when bothering the in-game fuzz, for maximum irony points.
Photorealistic characters need more smarts, smarter animation.
Characters that merely look real aren't "next gen" enough for Julien Merceron, Square Enix's worldwide technology director - to escape the infamous uncanny valley effect, developers need to work on more natural, responsive AI and animations.
2K Marin's shooter abundant in tactical choices and sudden deaths.
2K has released another Bureau: XCOM Declassified trailer, which examines how you'll form a team of agents, hone their skills, implement battlefield tactics and generally do your best to avert the alien conquest of Terra.
Uses face recognition to auto-load button settings, fave characters.
Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Isgreen has been banging on about how awesome Kinect is, very much in the vein of a man who works for Microsoft. According to Isgree, the game will use the sensor's face recognition feature to automatically load a bunch of settings the second you pick up the pad during local tournament play. This sounds rather... cool?
"You have to fill it up with food the first time," says Turn 10.
Forza Motorsport 5 will oblige a one-time internet connection at launch, Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt has told IGN, in order to download an assortment of "required content" that includes tracks and cars. Presumably, this is the consequence of the game's being built for Xbox One's original digital model, which required the user to sign in every 24 hours.
Six new sets of weapon reticules, skins and player card backgrounds.
Activision has released details of Black Ops 2's next round of micro-DLC content. You can expect six funky and/or groovy Personalisation packs on 23rd July, each of which contains a new weapon skin, player card background and weapon reticles and is priced 160 MP.
"Microsoft does not provide any government with direct and unfettered access to our customer's data.".
Microsoft's been in the news a fair bit lately on the strength of its supposed collaboration with the US National Security Agency - a Guardian report alleges that the latter is able to gather user data via Skype, Outlook and Hotmail with Microsoft's consent. The company has now released a formal statement on the matter, denying much of the report and calling on the US government to allow it "to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information".
Glorious pixel platformer uses time travel as a character swapping mechanic.
Capybara has posted a video of its other Xbox Live exclusive, the rather tasty-seeming Super Time Force. If you're new - and I'll admit to not knowing much about this, prior to this morning - the game's an action-platformer where you can reverse time in order to play alongside temporally displaced versions of yourself and other characters.
All signs point to a locked and loaded Gamescom.
Call of Duty: Ghosts will have a dog - this much we know. Perhaps that's all we need to know, going by how much Infinity Ward has been cooing over this bally dog in the last couple of months.