Coming in July, prepare to be smote.
After saying "no we won't" and then "maybe we will do Dark Souls 2 DLC, three new chapters have been announced for From Software's punishing RPG. Also, the past tense for 'smite' is 'smote', not 'smited'.
Live TV Twitter integration, Vine and HBO GO all on their way.
Microsoft's been improving their app services at a rollicking pace recently. We've had the Xbox Live Gold requirement dropped for Netflix and Hulu and an an improved Skype experience in the last month, and now we're set to see tens of new apps join that existing stable.
"Balance, precision, big balls".
Only real drivers expose their wheels, it seems. Those who 'cover' their wheels with bits of 'car' are nothing more than cheap imitations. Or at least that's the impression given by a selection of open-wheel race drivers in this new video for GRID Autosport, Codemaster's latest iteration in the racing series.
You'll flip.
For its first ever developer collaboration, Telltale is teaming up with Zen Studios to create a digital pinball table based on Season One of the The Walking Dead series.
The definition of perfect timing - trailer inside.
With the FIFA World Cup just a week away, and Microsoft throwing their weight behind the event in the form of companion app Destination Brazil, there's probably no better time to release their football (or soccer) themed Xbox Original programme. Alongside a first-look trailer, Microsoft has announced an air date of Sunday the 15th of June for Every Street United, a football documentary that will mark the beginning of the Xbox Originals TV scheme.
Next-gen releases get a little 'craftier.
We rather liked Terraria. The Minecraft-esque adventure that swapped voxels for pixels might not have enjoyed quite the same success on Xbox 360 as Mojang's monster, but it seems publisher 505 Games have some hope that it might dig a niche on next-gen.
Says "Sony is great brand and strong team. Competition is good" and challenges Michael Pachter's assumptions.
We should clarify it's not a literal embrace (well, maybe off stage, who knows) but more of a nod to its nearest rival before E3 commences on June 10.
It's the sequel we deserve, and the one we want right now.
Rocksteady's upcoming Xbox One open-world crime fighter, Batman: Arkham Knight, has been delayed until 2015. To compensate, Warner Bros. has released a few more dribble-worthy screenshots of the titular Arkham Knight, and a video of the Batmobile transforming into Battle Mode.
Drivatar data shared with Forza 5, new online features explored.
The same Forza Horizon 2 write-up that gave rise to these wide-eyed remarks about texture resolution has furnished us with insights on gameplay. According to Playground's creative director Ralph Fulton, the new Forza's world offers three times as much drivable terrain as the original Horizon's Colorado, and it'll take players over 100 hours to achieve 100 per cent completion.
"Those are last gen concepts.".
A miraculously buoyant treasure trove of Forza Horizon 2 info has popped out of the internet's ocean, care of an IGN write-up. It includes a commentary from Playground's creative director Ralph Fulton on the game's supporting technology, and in particular the developer's ambitious approach to lighting.
Also, new screenshots and tech trees.
World of Tanks: Xbox 360 has been treated to an injection of Soviet testosterone, and what better way to celebrate that than with a trailer that echoes the trailer for much-imitated Chris Nolan flick Inception. Brace for slow-motion object physics, Matrix-style rotating freeze-frame, booming music, and chickens. Wait, did I just type "chickens"? Because I meant tanks.
Say hello to HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age.
Crytek has revealed HUNT: Horrors of the Gilded Age, a third-person, free-to-play action game for up to four players for consoles and PC. Which consoles? That's for them to know and you to speculate about. The game will be sold under Crytek's "games as a service" model, which presumably means it's a free-to-play affair.
Six issues for #163;19.99 - not too shabby, shirley?.
Hello, UK non-subscribers! This week is a particularly good time to take the plunge with a subscription to Official Xbox Magazine - we're offering an extra #163;10 off in addition to existing discounts, which means you can snap up six months' worth of issues for #163;19.99. The savings! They rain upon us like cruise missiles in any given game of Battlefield 4.
The weekly deals for 3-9 June.
This week's Xbox Live Gold deals include Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Far Cry Classic and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon for less than ten Olde Worlde English Pounds combined, but that's not why you should be excited. It turns out there's a game called "Invincible Tiger". A fairly average-sounding game called Invincible Tiger, admittedly, but let's not allow a little thing like "the critical consensus" to interfere with the propagation of an awesome name.
Xbox One's second Forza game pulls over for inspection.
A feast of glistening bodywork awaits your eyes, reader. Scroll down right this instant for the first Forza Horizon 2 screenshots, kindly passed on by CVG. I'm going to go ahead and assume that they're of the Xbox One version - those rain effects look like they'd send the Xbox 360's CPU into a death spiral.
Footage ostensibly escapes EA event.
"Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no," in the words of the journalist Ian Betteridge. Well I'm very sorry, Mr Betteridge, but I can't make my mind up about the below video. It purports to be footage of leaked Battlefield Hardline multiplayer gameplay - to be specific, of the multiplayer mode Blood Money, where you fight to transport fat stacks from a central stash to your safehouse. It could also, however, be a sophisticated mod inspired by last month's leaks.
Scheduled for 2015, it'll introduce new modes and new characters.
As Ed might have mentioned yesterday, the official announcement of a new Mortal Kombat game has left me rather excited. So excited that I've only just calmed down enough to piece together a few details on what the new game will actually entail. Mmm, delicious Earth-realm entrails.
Different teams and supporting technology for the current and last-gen editions of FH2.
At the risk of weirding you out from the get-go - not that I've had a problem with doing that in the past - the announcement of Forza Horizon 2 yesterday was a moment of huge release. For months, we'd gossiped and ruminated like a herd of high-powered motors, smoking and revving at the starting line. At last, the wave of a checkered flag! At last, the green light! At la- wait, what's this? An Xbox 360 version?
Bethesda, Deep Silver, Ubisoft, Microsoft Studios and more actually have games we don't know about yet.
Streaming service Twitch has published its broadcast list for E3, and there's actually a number of publishers and developers that have games that we don't know anything about. Considering the amount of leaks over the last couple of weeks, this is ground breaking and a little exciting.
Out in 2015, still astonishingly violent.
In the interests of full disclosure, imagine that I'm a TV anchorman screaming a news report from the middle of a raging hurricane. The news report is about Mortal Kombat X, which has just been announced for 2015 release, and the hurricane is Aoife's reaction. I'm sure she'll be able to tell you more, once she's stopped throwing chairs at me from the top of that filing cabinet.
