The new Fire Emblem for . A bundle with both will be available, or players will be able to buy one and then download the other as DLC.
If is due out in Japan in June; it will then come to North America and Europe in 2016, though exactly how the two versions will be packaged (and what they will be called) remains to be seen.
A major expansion for PlayStation-exclusive co-op shooter
The Pilot Uniform (Helmet, Armor, and Cape).
AC-5 Arc Shotgun: A further development of the Arc technology, the AC-5 fires a wide, short-range cone and damages everything covered by the static discharge. The charge up is much faster than the original Arc Thrower but the discharge is not quite as powerful.
EXO-48 Obsidian: A powerful exosuit with two double autocannons. The firepower contained in this walking monstrosity annihilates light and medium infantry, and the two magazines allows for both maximum firepower or conserving ammunition. The only downside to this mech is its distinct lack of anti-tank capabilities.
Ubisoft believes the newest entry in the Rainbow Six series has the potential to become the best-selling shooter in the company's history, even surpassing , Ubisoft reaffirmed a 2015 launch for Siege. A specific release date was not announced, but the company said it expects the game out sometime between October and the end of the year.
In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the sacred is always at war with the profane, and beauty is always at war with blood. The series has always contrasted its world's physical glamor with its intrinsic violence, but never has that contrast been this uneasy, this convulsive. That The Witcher 3 depicts the immediate brutality of battle in great detail is not a surprise; many games fill the screen with decapitated heads and gory entrails. It's the way this incredible adventure portrays the personal tragedies and underhanded opportunities that such battles provide that makes it so extraordinary.
It is more than its thematic turbulence that makes The Witcher 3 extraordinary, actually. Excellence abounds at every turn in this open-world role-playing game: excellent exploration, excellent creature design, excellent combat mechanics, excellent character progression. But the moments that linger are those that reveal the deep ache in the world's inhabitants. In one quest, you reunite two lovers, one of which is now a rotting hag, its tongue lasciviously lolling from its mouth. In another, a corpulent spouse-abuser must find a way to love two different lost souls, each of which test the limits of his affection. Don't worry that these vague descriptions spoil important events: they are simple examples of the obstacles every resident faces. On the isles of Skellige and in the city of Novigrad, there is no joy without parallel sorrow. Every triumph demands a sacrifice.
Every horse Geralt has owned is called Roach. Talk about an identity crisis.
As returning protagonist Geralt of Rivia, you, too, face the anguish of mere existence, sometimes in unexpected, unscripted ways. The central story, which sees you seeking your ward and daughter figure Ciri, as well as contending with the otherworldly force known as the wild hunt, often forces this anguish upon you. But it was my natural exploration of the game's vast expanses that proved most affecting. At one point, I witnessed a woman sentenced to death, doomed to starve after being chained to a rock. It's a chilling sentence, of course, but it was only later, when I accidentally sailed past the tiny island where her corpse still rested, that the horror of her punishment sunk into my heart. The Witcher 3's story did not script this moment; it was merely a passing detail that might have been lost in the waves or overlooked in favor of the harpies circling overhead. Yet there she was, a reminder that my actions--actions that felt righteous and reasonable as I made them--allowed this woman to rot in this faraway place.
Loot has a huge role to play in the game, thanks to the high degree of armor and weapon customization. Different armor sets in particular are a joy to uncover, making Geralt look more and more hardened as you progress. In many role-playing games, hunting for treasure is more of a chore to be marked off of the to-do list than a pressing adventure of its own. In The Witcher 3, discovering a diagram of new and improved chest armor is a cause for celebration. Geralt can get a shave and a haircut (and delightfully, his beard grows back over time), but otherwise, you cannot customize his physical appearance; new armor means a new look, and with it, a new visual attitude. Geralt's look evolves from that of a battered soldier, to robed battle wizard, to wisened commander, all on the basis of the game's exquisite armor designs.
The Witcher 3 also benefits from its hugely expanded potions system, which allows you to quaff potions during combat--though as always, witcher potions are dangerous, and Geralt can only have so many in effect due to their rising toxicity. Between gear diagrams and potion ingredients, I became a digital hoarder, a trap I typically avoid in role-playing games. Again, it comes down to balance: your inventory fills rapidly, but for the most part, this is not just "stuff" for the sake of "stuff." I knew that the ingredients I collected would allow me to create a potion that in turn let me dive for treasure without being annoyed by pesky sea-dwelling drowners. I knew that I could break down those horse hides I collected into armor components the local smith needed to make me look even mightier.
In Velen, the wind blows particularly violently.
From one hour to the next, the compulsion to examine the landscape grows. Some of the joys that arise in the wilds are quiet ones: you mount your horse Roach and trot over the hill in time to see a rich sunset, always a treat in The Witcher 3, whose saturated reds and oranges make the sky look as beautiful and as blood-sodden as the meadows beneath them. You discover a boat and embark on an impromptu voyage through the islands of Skellige, taking note of the ship wreckage that mars the beaches and cliffs. The music swells, and a soprano intones a euphoric melody that accentuates the peacefulness. The peacefulness is always broken, however--perhaps by a journey into a dark dungeon where your torch lights the pockmarked walls and a snarling fiend waits to devour you, or by the shout of a boy crying out for your assistance.
At the time of this writing, I have only played the PlayStation 4 version, as it was the only version provided for advance review, but it is undoubtedly beautiful, though prone to occasional bugs and visual glitches. Solving a quest's subtasks in a particular order caused the game to stick at a perpetual loading screen. Roach decided to stop galloping and lurch ahead in a weird way for minutes on end until I quick-traveled away and returned. Geralt's hair blew in the wind, even when he was indoors. It's jarring should you enter an area after quick-traveling and the citizens have yet to pop in, including quest-givers.
Silence, creature of the sky! I am here to slaughter you!
These distractions stand out in part because The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is otherwise incredible and sumptuous; the little quirks are pronounced when they are surrounded by stellar details. And make no mistake: this is one of the best role-playing games ever crafted, a titan among giants and the standard-setter for all such games going forward. Where the Witcher 2 sputtered to a halt, The Witcher 3 is always in a crescendo, crafting battle scenarios that constantly one-up the last, until you reach the explosive finale and recover in the glow of the game's quiet denouement. But while the grand clashes are captivating, it is the moments between conflicts, when you drink with the local clans and bask in a trobairitz's song, that are truly inspiring.
Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider publisher Square Enix on Tuesday announced financial performance for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2015--and the results were strong.
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Overall, Square Enix--which also runs various non-gaming business units--posted revenue of ¥167.9 billion ($1.4 billion) for the year. That's up 8.3 percent. Profit, meanwhile, rose a healthy 49 percent from ¥6.6 billion ($55 million) to ¥9.8 billion ($81.6 million).
CD Projekt Red's highly anticipated role-playing game version will be ready to pre-load "soon," the Polish developer explained in its announcement today.
Check back soon for lots more on The Witcher 3, as we'll post our review at 7 AM PDT / 10 AM EDT today.
When you're reflecting on a recently completed game, hating it is just as helpful a feeling as loving it. Whether your opinions are glowing or scathing, strong feelings in either direction mean that you'll have plenty to share with others when the topic comes up. It's the middling game--inoffensive but unremarkable--that really haunts you. I don't feel any regret about the time I expended playing Toren, but that's the problem. I don't really feel much about that time at all.
In you direct a small girl known as Moonchild to the top of a crumbling tower. Like the tower of Babel, it was built by people seeking great power who were punished severely for their hubris. Mankind's last hope is a girl trapped inside the tower, doomed to die and be reborn endlessly until she can scale it and slay the dragon that shares her prison. It's a web of myth and mysticism where each individual thread is vaguely familiar but has been woven into something distinct and original.
Dragons never breathe nice things, do they?
Moonchild starts as a toddler stumbling around the overgrown lower level, but the endearingly uncoordinated flopping of her limbs gives way to composure and poise the farther she progresses up the tower. The enchanted sword that takes all her strength to first lift is soon wielded with ease. Aspects of Moonchild's maturation are handled very well, including her evolving design, with one notable exception. In her awkward preteen stage, her childhood dress tears into a convenient deep V-neckline with straps slipping away from her shoulders and three large round gaps in the cloth exposing the majority of her back. This is not what happens when someone outgrows a piece of clothing, and considering that the player saw this same character toddling around in baby bloomers about thirty minutes prior, this phase of her costume evolution comes off as somewhat creepy.
The actual act of climbing the tower involves solving relatively simple environmental puzzles, fending off assorted enemies, and exploring optional dream sequences where Moonchild's mentor explains her situation and some broader philosophical musings about the nature of mankind. This is where the your experience can be seriously derailed; if you skip these optional (and easily missed) sequences, it becomes quite hard to follow the plot. You'll never want for those lofty chin-stroking tidbits, though, even though they're some of the least interesting things the game has to say.
Kind of a Princess Mononoke meets Frozen thing going on here (and I'm into it.)
Storytelling gripes aside, the hands-on feel of playing isn't great either. The best illustration of this comes in the form of the shapes that Moonchild must fill with sand during her dreams. Each dream has at least one of these to complete, and to do so, you hold down the interact button and direct her around the shape's outline. The game very weakly snaps her to the path, but it's incredibly easy to stray. It's even easier if you disregard the warnings and elect to play with a mouse and keyboard instead. (Don't do this. Seriously.) These sand tracings are the most annoying part of the game; even when you perform well (controller and all), it looks like Moonchild has spread the sacred sand with as much care as a toddler spilling cereal all over the kitchen floor.
I wish my problems with Toren ended there, but I can't leave out the times that I somehow managed to wedge Moonchild in places where the camera steadfastly refused to follow, the times when she simply slipped through the floor geometry and fell into oblivion, the times when Moonchild's arms froze in place while her legs continued to animate normally, the times that her sword hit foes with so little effect that I kept attacking, not realizing that they were already dead, the times that I took a jump too early but the game graciously floated me over to the destination platform as though I'd triggered some sort of moon gravity mode, the time that I fought the dragon, fudged the timing, and darted back to regroup before it could perform its “you're too slow” instant kill... only for the game to snap Moonchild back into its talons anyway.
Disclaimer: Your sword may vary.
And yet Toren is not without its charms. In spite of some conspicuously low-quality models, it's a delightful thing to look at: its colors are vivid, its world is small but detailed, and it doesn't shy away from dramatic use of its camera and lighting effects. A couple of the dream sequences elicited quiet gasps as I proceeded through them, and even the credits (which feature painted illustrations unfurled to a vocal version of the game's beautiful theme) are worth watching.
For all the problems, it's easy to recognize the flashes of something special in Toren. It's a loaf of homemade bread, proofed and kneaded, laid in a pan, and sprinkled tenderly with rosemary but unfortunately pulled from the oven a few minutes before it could pass the toothpick test. However complex the recipe, Toren just feels undercooked.
Watch extended gameplay footage from Dex featuring the Giant Bomb crew.
Kevin and Alexa chat about their initial impressions of Assassin's Creed Syndicate after the reveal this morning.
Embody the new Assassin Jacob Frye in Assassin's Creed Syndicate and become a gang leader to break the corrupt stranglehold on London.
