Any eleventh hour additions to Santa's sleigh?.
Not jumped aboard the Xbox One bandwagon yet, and desperate to do so by the time Santa commits his annual act of festive house-breaking? Keep your hair and/or knickers on. Like a more practically minded breed of saint, I've rounded up all the online retailers who are currently guaranteeing delivery by or before Christmas Eve. Availability is obviously subject to change, so if you're interested, don't delay.
"If we think we've ended up with a 70 percent game, we're not going to ship it.".
Ubisoft's North American president Laurent Detoc would rather delay a game than release it in an unsatisfactory state. In other news, EA has gone on record to explain that it doesn't sponsor the burning-down of orphanages, while Activision has confirmed that it doesn't endorse the punching of kittens.
"It will mimic reality like you've never seen before," enthuses Ubisoft Massive.
See that, DICE? That's a thrown gauntlet. In a new blog post, Ubisoft Massive has talked up the Snowdrop engine that powers Tom Clancy's The Division, boasting that it's capable of the "most realistic" real time destruction to date.
May have been in development since September 2011.
Remember that "unannounced IP" from Killer Instinct developer Double Helix we uncovered earlier in the month? Well, I'd say that there's a fair chance it's the "unannounced action shooter" mentioned by senior VFX artist Allen Will on his LinkedIn page (discovered by NeoGAF). Plots are thickening, no doubt about it.
Dane Vogel to return in DLC or sequel?.
A new Saints Row game - or at least, new content for Saints Row 4 - appears to be in development, if a Tweet from voice actor Jay "Dane Vogel" Mohr is anything to go by.
Our new issue is on sale now.
The end of the year is almost upon us, and what better way to while away the long, wintry days and nights than by reminding yourself that spring 2014 is going to be utterly, completely brilliant. Why? The clue's on the cover of our latest issue: Titanfall hits Xbox One and Xbox 360 in March. Respawn's debut is backed by Bethesda's controversially priced but promising Elder Scrolls Online, Ubisoft's long-awaited Watch Dogs and the fearsome Dark Souls 2, among other promising titles - we've previewed the lot within. Also: free posters!
Start your holiday off with a burst of colourful platforming.
Press Play's nicely brought-up Xbox One platformer Max and the Curse of Brotherhood is now available to download from Xbox Live. It weighs in at 2.98 GB, and costs #163;11.99 or $14.99. Queue up your download here.
BioWare releases work in progress screens.
One of two things could be happening right now. On the one hand, BioWare may have just released work-in-progress screens of Dragon Age: Inquisition, revealing a number of environments, costumes and characters. Or, BioWare could be making a game in which floating Qunari heads team up with possessed suits of armour to scribble notes on pictures of houses. Which would you rather play?
Three Castlevania titles for just over #163;10.
Today's Countdown to 2014 deals are positively blood-curdling, brethren. You might say that they'll drain your bank account, ho ho, or that you'd be batty to miss them, or that there's not much money at stake. I'll be fangful once it's over, won't you?
Press Play's charming platformer mounts a surprise December release.
Well this is a bit of a turnaround. Press Play's platformer Max and the Curse of Brotherhood - tacitly expected in 2014 - will release tomorrow, 20th December, on the Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox One. It'll cost #163;11.99, and on the basis of 45 minutes with a preview build, should be rather good.
Futuristic setting confirmed to be riddled with jump ramps.
Had you forgotten all about Trials Fusion, the next, sci-fi instalment of Redlynx's side-on bike 'em up, known and feared for its lethal addictiveness? That changes... now. A new in-game image - or rather, composite of three in-game images plus an artwork- has arrived care of Lifelower, the individual behind the leaking of those so-called Alien: Isolation screenshots from last week.
Update will also "increase the general stability of the game".
DICE has released a new Battlefield 4 Xbox One update on Xbox Live, in a bid "to increase the general stability of the game". Among other things, the update tackles a number of crash bugs, addresses the corruption of single player save games, and sorts out a problem where you'd take quadruple damage while wearing armour.
455 MB download for a cheaper economy? Sold.
Forza Motorsport 5's much-anticipated "miser's bounty" update is now available to download from Xbox Live. It's a 455 MB file that raises the rate at which players earn credits, lowers car prices and introduces a couple of new modes, Tag and Drag Racing. Thanks to our Twitter follower DarkWolf747 for the heads-up.
Day Three of Countdown to 2014: The Automobiling.
Hark! An ecstatic revving of engines. Playground's Forza Horizon - a festive, open world, comparatively laymen-friendly take on the numbered Forza series - is now 50% off on Xbox Live Marketplace. You can also buy the game's Season Pass for 70% off to receive six packs of six cars apiece. Anybody keen?
New mission, character, weapons, vehicle and costume.
Dead Rising 3's very first DLC add-on has been unveiled. Titled Operation Broken Eagle, it stars Spec Ops Commander Adam Kane, a man tasked with finding and capturing the President of the United States. It's like Air Force One, but backwards! Or something like that. I hope the President turns out to be Harrison Ford.
"343 is exploring future episodic storytelling endeavours in the Halo universe.".
Halo 4's episodic Spartan Ops component may have annoyed more people than it enticed, but 343 Industries remains committed to episodic story-telling in general. The developer is in the market for a producer to help with "future episodic storytelling endeavours", in what could be a hint as to the direction of Halo for Xbox One.
Colosseum pack adds new skins and multiplayer arenas.
Remember Ryse, the "hot one" at the launch day ball? The game we deemed a "pleasant surprise" in the face of much partisan rancour and ballyhooing about resolution? Crytek has released an update for it, which adds two free level events to the multiplayer. There's also the Colosseum DLC, now available for $3.99.
Robbins Geller files suit in North California on behalf of affected stockholders.
All is once again Not Well in the land of Electronic Arts. US law firm Robbins Geller has filed a class action suit against the publisher on behalf of stockholders affected by Battlefield 4's well-documented bugs and a subsequent plunge in EA's share price.
Stockholm dev parachutes in another payload of fixes.
DICE has released yet another Battlefield 4 update for the Xbox 360 version of the game, following the release of an comprehensive-sounding Battlefield 4 Xbox One patch last week. How are you getting on with this? Killed anybody in a gratifyingly smooth and hiccup-free way lately?
"You'll be looking at two different sides of the coin," says Remedy.
The mists are beginning to clear as regards Remedy's Quantum Break, perhaps the most mysterious of the Xbox One's exclusives, with the possible exception of Capybara's Below. Last week we learned that the game is a third-person shooter with cover elements, in which you can meddle with time for a tactical advantage. Now, head of franchise development Oskari Hakkinen has revealed a little more to Develop about how Quantum Break's narrative works.
