Quantum Break Dev Releases ‘Thank You’ Video to Fans to Celebrate Game’s Launch

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Developer Remedy Entertainment officially releases a video to celebrate the launch of its action-adventure title, Quantum Break , which thanks the game’s fans.

After enacting numerous delays to make the game as perfect as possible, Remedy Entertainment’s Quantum Break has finally become available, and as a thank you to its fans, developers, and collaborators at Microsoft, the company has put out a brand new video featuring studio head Sam Lake sharing his gratitude for everyone’s patience and excitement for the release. Of course, the Remedy executive also gives thanks to all of thedevelopment team’s families and loved ones for keeping each individual developer grounded throughout the production process.

Not only does Sam Lake offer his appreciation to all of the people involved with Quantum Break ‘s creation in the clip below, but also he presents a cinematic trailer at the end of his speech to give fans who haven’t had a chance to brush up on the game’s content what the final product looks like. Naturally, the materials shown feature star Shawn Ashmorein the lead role, as well as other Hollywood actors such as Lord of the Rings ‘ Dominic Monaghan, Game of Thrones ‘ Aidan Gillen, and The Wire ‘s Lance Reddick.

For those unaware, it’s been a long and arduous road for Quantum Break , for when the game was revealed for Xbox One in 2013, it was given a release date of 2015. However, due to an almost complete re-haul of the title’s gameplay, art design, and assets, including the change of the lead role from Sean Durrie to Shawn Ashmore, it got pushed back to 2016.

Obviously, with Quantum Break being available now, it overcame all of the obstacles during its development, and was able to retain all of the elements that ended up making it the ambitious release it is today. So, considering Remedy Entertainment’s decision to incorporate 40 variations of a live-action showto adequately tell Quantum Break ‘s overarching story, it makes sense that the game needed more time in development to be fleshed out fully.

Interestingly enough, the lengthy development process has apparently paid off, for critics have gone on to give Quantum Break generally positive reviews, with most praising its strong storytelling and unique gameplay features, with a few lamenting its lack of a high replay value. Bearing that in mind, Lake’s show of gratefulness to Remedy’s and Microsoft’s crews and families is definitely in order.

Now that Quantum Break is officially out, Remedy Entertainment has earned a well-deserved break. Unfortunately, though, the speculation cycle never ends nowadays, so many fans’ minds have already wandered toward what the studio will work on next. Should Sam Lake and his team decide to tackleas the following project to Quantum Break , most gamers would probably be more than pleased.

Quantum Break is out now and is available for PC and Xbox One.

Source: Remedy Entertainment Oy – YouTube(via GameSpot)

Quantum Break Found Footage Trailer Features Time Travel

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A new found footage trailer for Remedy Entertainment’s Quantum Break officially releases, featuring actor Dominic Monaghan testing his new time machine.

Remedy Entertainment has released a new live-action video for their upcoming title, Quantum Break . The video was made available to the public yesterday and ties in heavily to the game’s time-traveling theme.

The trailer is presented in a found footage format, with Dr. William Joyce, who is played by Lord of the Rings actor Dominic Monaghan, testing his newly completed time machine in front of a camera. The doctor, who is the brother of Quantum Break ‘s lead character Jack Joyce ( X-Men ‘s Shawn Ashmore), informs the viewer that he will be attempting to jump forward in time by 5 minutes. He also reveals that while time-traveling to the past would be more impressive, he is only able to travel back to the moment of the machine’s activation – namely right now.

Not everything goes to plan for Joyce, but fans will have to watch the video for themselves to see what happens next. Adding to the game’s story in a video format is part of a unique experience which Quantum Break seeks to deliver upon it’s release. In an interview with Game Rant, the Senior Narrative Designer for Remedy Entertainment revealed that the upcoming game features 40 different variationsof its live-action show, allowing the filmed footage to adapt itself to the choices that players have made.

The story will be told with a combination of gameplay and this live-action component, with 4 individual 22 minute episodes featured throughout the title. These longer cut-scenes can be skipped without the player missing any real story, but they are sure to add a lot of depth to the in-game world that Remedy Entertainment has worked hard to create. The ambitious effort presented by the company is just one of the reasons why Quantum Break has taken so long to release, despite it initially being pitched as an early Xbox One title.

The people at Remedy Entertainment must have a lot of faith that the live-action episodic TV format will set Quantum Break apart from other titles, as the company has already announced that its next game will also be making use of the feature. Previous title Alan Wake took inspiration from TV shows, and now the company wants to take the format a step further, which should allowto be the sequel that the 2010 hidden gem deserves.

Quantum Break is set to finally release on April 5th for PC and Xbox One.

Check Out Footage of Cancelled Open-World Superman Game

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A new video from Did You Know Gaming?

explores the existence of a promising new Superman title that was meant to release alongside a Superman Returns sequel.

With just one week remaining until the release of Zack Synder’s Batman Vs Superman film’s release, it was always likely that we’d see a lot of new content released about the iconic heroes. Now, in a new video from, the team explored footage from a cancelled Superman title that we could have seen launched on the previous generation of consoles.

Based on a planned sequel to 2006’s Superman Returns , which coincidentally would have been named Man of Steel , company Factor 5 began development of a title featuring the last son of Krypton himself. The game was aimed to release around the same time as the movie would have, though it suffered from some delays when director Bryan Singer took a break from the franchise to work on World War 2 title Valkyrie . Unfortunately, as Singer finally returned to make the Superman Returns sequel, Warner Brothers told him that they were no longer interested in the franchise, choosing instead to reboot the Superman movies several years down the line.

The video by the Did You Know Gaming team shows off some of the test footage that the open-world game (codenamed Blue Steel) had finished, including a battle with Doomsday that involved the Man of Steel grappling the villain through a dynamically rendered building. It was hoped that all buildings would be fully destructible in this way, though the development team was a long way off this goal. Factor 5 also wanted the game to have a multiplayer mode, featuring other playable heroes such as Supergirl, though this too went hugely unexplored. The video also shows off some of the concept art of Supermanhimself, as well as some of the game’s vast array of villains.

While the aim was to push the PS3 hardware to its limits, Factor 5 also wanted to port the title to both Xbox 360 and Wii. Several developers have since admitted that the Wii version would have had to be considerably simplified, but the company was a huge fan of the hardware and wished to attempt the port anyway. When publishers Brash Entertainment began to fall to bankruptcy in 2008, Factor 5 was forced to close its doors due to no new publishers wanting to come on board, leaving the promising-sounding title dead in its tracks.

These days, while many fans dream of a Arkham Asylum -esque title featuring the Man of Steel, the only way we can play a modern title as the hero is through the use of Superman-based modsfor games such as GTA 5 . One YouTuber even went as far as to recreate the Batman Vs Superman trailer, using nothing but footage from the latest Grand Theft Auto title.

Looking back over the past few years, we’ve seen a lack of superhero titles released, which is likely due to a lack of faith in the titles by developers. The only real success that a company has had in recent times is Rocksteady’s Arkham series. Now with a complete Batman trilogy under the company’s belt, many believe that the team should tackle a Superman title, in an attempt to replicate the success it had with the caped crusader. However, there are also many reasons that lead us to believe that Rocksteady should not make the change to Superman.

In other Batman news, Telltale games has announced that its new Batman project will release this summer. Being an ever-popular character, Batman seems to get all the love from developers, but we’re not going to complain about too much of a bad thing, just so long as the game doesn’t suffer from the same amount of issues as Arkham Knight .

What would you like to see in a new Superman title? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Quantum Break’s Soundtrack is Getting Vinyl Release

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Music fans invested in Remedy Entertainment’s new title Quantum Break may be happy to hear that they can now pre-order the game’s soundtrack on vinyl.

Fans of Remedy Entertainment’s new story-driven title Quantum Break might be happy to hear that the game’s soundtrack is getting its own vinyl release, courtesy of LA-based company iam8bit. The production company has partnered with Microsoft and Remedy in order to develop this limited run of records.

Quantum Break ‘s score will come on a 180-gram vinyl record and will be limited to 3,000 copies so fans will have to act fast to get their hands on a copy. The soundtrack, by Finnish composer Petri Alanko, will also come with a code for the full digital version and is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2016. You can pre-order your copy of the vinyl from the iam8bit storenow.

This latest vinyl is the latest soundtrack to be added to the company’s catalogue of records, joining games such as No Man’s Sky , Uncharted , and Monument Valley . The track list for Quantum Break ‘s soundtrack has also been revealed:

SIDE A Meeting An Old Friend Campus Suite For Time And Machines Don’t Stand In My Way Remote Warning Disappearance
SIDE B Dodging Bullets Beth I Kept Waiting Goodbye… Again Damaged, Together Doubt, Despair, Hope A Whisper

So far, the launch for Quantum Break has gone smoothly for Remedy Entertainment. After finally releasing the title that it had worked so hard on, the company produced a videothanking fans for their patience and excitement involving the new game. There’s no doubt that the delays to Quantum Break could have spelt the end for the game’s hype but Remedy claims to have spent the delay time ensuring that the game was as polished as possible.

It’s very possible that the game’s TV show format made Quantum Break harder to develop than most modern AAA titles, but players will have to judge for themselves as to whether it makes for a worthwhile experience when it comes to actually playing the game. For those who don’t know, the third-person shooter features live-action segments featuring actorssuch as X-Men’s Shawn Ashmore, Lord of the Rings ‘ Dominic Monaghan, and Game of Thones ‘ Aiden Gillen which break up the core gameplay and change according to choices the player makes in-game.

It was certainly a risky move for Remedy but it seems that the company’s effort was not in vain, judging by the generally favorable reviewsthat Quantum Break has received so far. It’s sure to attract a range of gamers to the title, which is a good thing for Microsoft who hold exclusivity with the game’s release.

Quantum Break is available now for PC and Xbox One.

ARK Dev Explains How Poop Button Became In-Game Suicide Option

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It turns out that ARK: Survival Evolved ‘s notorious poop button has darker origins that many would imagine, according to Studio Wildcard’s co-founder.

ARK: Survival Evolved contains an interesting mechanic, allowing players to defecate at the touch of a button. While human feces does serve a purpose in-game, allowing players to craft fertilizer in a compost bin or tame dung beetles, it turns out the poop button has a darker back story.

Speaking to Kotakuat the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Studio Wildcard co-founder Susan Stieglitz explained the secrets behind the button’s origins. According to the developer, she came up with the idea when looking for a way to allowplayers to commit suicide, should they become trapped in a location and need to respawn, however the studio did not want to add a simple instant-death button.

“If you’re trapped in a room, [pooping] is the only conceivable biological function you could kill yourself with. Originally, we were debating putting in a suicide key to escape situations like that. Pooping is obviously pretty funny, and it had some marketing value, but it actually emerged as a solution to the idea of a suicide hot key — of instant death that would just feel cheap.”

The process is simple. Simply poop and then consume the leavings, taking 70 points of damage each time. Repeating the process leaves the players with a less-than-elegant suicide method that is more interesting than most games bother with.

It’s not just the survivor that utilizes the poop mechanic, all of ARK ‘s many creaturesproduce fecal matter in various volumes and all of the material can be used for the same purposes. While it’s not a glamorous feature, the poop button is potentially one of the bigger reasons why ARK is one of the more evolved survival gameson the market.

In other recent ARK news, developers Studio Wildcard recently announced the release of a new free-to-play, standalone title, a battle royale game which puts players against one each other in a quest to survive in a deadly environment. It’s unlikely that players will be looking to kill themselves in the survival game mode but, because of the developers’ intelligent design, the mechanic can still be used by the survivors to fertilize crops and keep themselves alive.

With the addition of ARK: Survival Evolved to the Humble Monthlysubscription service, more players than ever have access to the dinosaur-themed survival game, making it one of the more popular titles available today. The game is set for a full release sometime in June 2016 and will be coming to PS4 in addition to its current platforms.

ARK: Survival Evolved is available now in Early Access on Steam and Xbox One.

Source: Kotaku

Last of Us’ Actress Joins ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Voice Cast

‘Last of Us’ Actress Joins ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Voice Cast
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Once video game technology evolved beyond the low-bit graphics and chip-tune soundtracks of the last millennium and allowed developers the chance to create more intricate visuals and fuller audio, gaming became an even richer experience than ever before.

Once video game technology evolved beyond the low-bit graphics and chip-tune soundtracks of the last millennium and allowed developers the chance to create more intricate visuals and fuller audio, gaming became an even richer experience than ever before. Aside from gameplay, one of the most important aspects of the medium is its capacity to tell unique stories through the form’s ability to consolidate almost all other types of entertainment, including literature, music, and film. And nowadays, in order to spin a proper yarn, video game creators rely heavily on the use of voice actors.

One such plot-focused game company, the ravenously popular TellTale Games to be specific, is known for its mostly narrative-driven gameplay style with their episodic The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us titles. That being said, it comes as no surprise that dialogue is incredibly important in those games, and therefore causes the developer to depend on talented voice actors to lend credence to the stories. Fortunately for TellTale Games, voice actor Ashley Johnson is joining the cast of Tales from the Borderlands , the studio’s recent collaboration with Gearbox Software.

The announcement was made today by TellTale Games’ Community & PR Specialist Laura Perusco via her Twitter account. In even more important news for fans of Tales from the Borderlands , the company’s Public Relations Director Job J. Stauffer followed up Perusco’s Tweet with a confirmation that Johnson “plays a very core character” in the third and upcoming episode in the series.

With voice credits like Infamous: First Light and Ben 10 under her belt, Ashley Johnson’s no stranger to the gaming world, especially not after her critically-renowned role as Ellie in Naughty Dog’s groundbreaking PlayStation exclusive, The Last of Us . In fact, Johnson is an entertainment industry veteran with acting credits going back to when she was a kid, such as the part of Mike Seaver’s little sister in the family sitcom, Growing Pains .

With two chapters already released for Tales from the Borderlands , word of the third episode ought to be coming any day now, especially now with the aforementioned casting news being made known. Plus, TellTale Gamesoften like to play things close to the vest until their titles are as close to completion as possible, and will rarely break radio silence unless a project gets shifted around, like their announcement that season 3 of The Walking Dead won’t release this year.

Is voice acting important for you when it comes to enjoying a game? If so, which games do you think feature the best vocal performances?

Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1: “Zer0 Sum” & Episode 2: “Atlas Mugged” are currently available for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Source: Twitter(via IGN)

Last of Us’ Actress Joins ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Voice Cast

‘Last of Us’ Actress Joins ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Voice Cast
268
Once video game technology evolved beyond the low-bit graphics and chip-tune soundtracks of the last millennium and allowed developers the chance to create more intricate visuals and fuller audio, gaming became an even richer experience than ever before.

Once video game technology evolved beyond the low-bit graphics and chip-tune soundtracks of the last millennium and allowed developers the chance to create more intricate visuals and fuller audio, gaming became an even richer experience than ever before. Aside from gameplay, one of the most important aspects of the medium is its capacity to tell unique stories through the form’s ability to consolidate almost all other types of entertainment, including literature, music, and film. And nowadays, in order to spin a proper yarn, video game creators rely heavily on the use of voice actors.

One such plot-focused game company, the ravenously popular TellTale Games to be specific, is known for its mostly narrative-driven gameplay style with their episodic The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us titles. That being said, it comes as no surprise that dialogue is incredibly important in those games, and therefore causes the developer to depend on talented voice actors to lend credence to the stories. Fortunately for TellTale Games, voice actor Ashley Johnson is joining the cast of Tales from the Borderlands , the studio’s recent collaboration with Gearbox Software.

The announcement was made today by TellTale Games’ Community & PR Specialist Laura Perusco via her Twitter account. In even more important news for fans of Tales from the Borderlands , the company’s Public Relations Director Job J. Stauffer followed up Perusco’s Tweet with a confirmation that Johnson “plays a very core character” in the third and upcoming episode in the series.

With voice credits like Infamous: First Light and Ben 10 under her belt, Ashley Johnson’s no stranger to the gaming world, especially not after her critically-renowned role as Ellie in Naughty Dog’s groundbreaking PlayStation exclusive, The Last of Us . In fact, Johnson is an entertainment industry veteran with acting credits going back to when she was a kid, such as the part of Mike Seaver’s little sister in the family sitcom, Growing Pains .

With two chapters already released for Tales from the Borderlands , word of the third episode ought to be coming any day now, especially now with the aforementioned casting news being made known. Plus, TellTale Gamesoften like to play things close to the vest until their titles are as close to completion as possible, and will rarely break radio silence unless a project gets shifted around, like their announcement that season 3 of The Walking Dead won’t release this year.

Is voice acting important for you when it comes to enjoying a game? If so, which games do you think feature the best vocal performances?

Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1: “Zer0 Sum” & Episode 2: “Atlas Mugged” are currently available for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Source: Twitter(via IGN)

The Game Rant Guide: March 2015 Edition

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March may come in like a lion, but there’s nothing sheepish about its exit.

March may come in like a lion, but there’s nothing sheepish about its exit. After February got things started, the 2015 gaming year kicks into full swing this month, with a bevy of indie and triple-A titles ready to decimate your wallets and dominate your spare time. Let’s take a look.

There’s no use pretending: this Game Rant Guide is a few weeks late, and by now everybody’s hopefully enjoying the strong slate of indie and downloadable titles that hit in March’s first few weeks. Sure-fire hits likeandlived up to expectations, while unknown quantities likeand Cities: Skylines proved to be pleasant surprises.

Still, it’s the week of March 16 that’s poised to be the big one, with Battlefield Hardline and the Final Fantasy 15 demo (part of the Final Fantasy Type-0 package) making their long-awaited debuts. And hey, let’s throw in someand afor good measure!

March 2015 Game List

(Note: Based off North American release dates; all information is subject to change)

Helldivers PS3: March 3 PS4: March 3 PS Vita: March 3 La Mulana EX PS Vita : March 3 OlliOlli 2 PS4: March 3 PS Vita: March 3 Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines PS Vita: March 3 Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 2 PS3: March 3 PS4: March 3 PC: March 4 Xbox 360: March 4 Xbox One: March 4 ScreamRide Xbox 360: March 3 Xbox One: March 3 Shiftlings PC: March 3 PS4: March 3 Xbox One: March 4 White Night PC: March 3 PS4: March 3 Xbox One: March 4 Tormentum: Dark Sorrow PC: March 4 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars 3DS: March 5 Wii U: March 5 Proun+ 3DS: March 5 OlliOlli 3DS: March 6 Wii U: March 6 Zombie Army Trilogy PC: March 6 PS4: March 6 Xbox One: March 6 Assassin’s Creed Rogue PC: March 10 Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea PS3: March 10 Cities: Skylines PC: March 10 DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition PS4: March 10 Xbox One: March 10 Flame Over PS Vita: March 10 Hotline Miami 2 PC: March 10 PS3: March 10 PS4: March 10 PS Vita: March 10 Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble PC: March 10 Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 3 PS3: March 10 PS4: March 10 PC: March 11 Xbox 360: March 11 Xbox One: March 11 Sniper Elite 3: Ultimate Edition PS3: March 10 PS4: March 10 Xbox 360: March 11 Xbox One: March 11 Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters PS3: March 10 PS Vita: March 10 Ori and the Blind Forest PC: March 11 Xbox One: March 11 Sid Meier’s Starships iOS: March 12 Mac: March 12 PC: March 12 Trine Enchanted Edition Wii U: March 12 Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. 3DS: March 13 Awakened Fate Ultimatum PS3: March 17 Battlefield Hardline PC: March 17 PS3: March 17 PS4: March 17 Xbox 360: March 17 Xbox One: March 17 Bladestorm: Nightmare PS3: March 17 PS4: March 17 Xbox 360: March 17 Final Fantasy Type-0 PS4: March 17 Xbox One: March 17 Jamestown+ PS4: March 17 Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas PC: March 17 Resident Evil Revelations 2: Episode 4 PS3: March 17 PS4: March 17 PC: March 18 Xbox 360: March 18 Xbox One: March 18 Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 2 – Atlus Mugged Android: Week of March 17 iOS: Week of March 17 PS3: Week of March 17 PS4: Week of March 17 Xbox 360: Week of March 17 Xbox One: Week of March 17 Woolfe: The Red Hood Diaries PC: March 18 Worlds of Magic PC: March 19 Mario Party 10 Wii U: March 20 Bloodborne PS4: March 24 Borderlands: The Handsome Collection PS4: March 24 Xbox One: March 24 Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin 3DS: March 24 PS Vita: March 24 Slender: The Arrival PS4: March 24 Xbox One: March 25 Infinite Crisis PC: March 26 Pillars of Eternity PC: March 26 Forza Horizon 2 presents The Fast and the Furious Xbox 360: March 27 Xbox One: March 27 Dead or Alive: Last Round PC: March 30 Axiom Verge PS4: March 31 MLB 15 The Show PS3: March 31 PS4: March 31 PS Vita: March 31 Neverwinter Xbox One: March 31 Paperbound PC: March 31 PS4: March 31 Toukiden: Kiwami PS4: March 31 PS Vita: March 31

That’s a strong end to the month, especially for PlayStation owners.looks just as fiendishly difficult as From Software’s other titles, and while Sony San Diego might’ve chosen the wrong Dodger for the cover (Clayton Kershaw has three Cy Young awards, people), MLB 15 The Show should continue its tradition of best-in-class excellence. And yet, March is only the warm up for next month. Can we say, everyone?

Borderlands Online’ Coming to China in 2015

‘Borderlands Online’ Coming to China in 2015
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Borderlands has become a household name among gamers worldwide thanks to the series’ unique artistic style and co-op gameplay.

has become a household name among gamers worldwide thanks to the series’ unique artistic style and co-op gameplay. Developer Gearbox Software has been hard at work growing the franchise, releasing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC earlier this year and partnering with Telltale Games to release the first episode ofa few weeks ago.

Publisher 2K Games has another surprise for Borderlands fans, though currently only for those fans living in China. The publisher, along with Shanda Games, an online game developer and publisher, unveiled– an MMORPG set in the Borderlands universe coming to China in 2015.

Turning Borderlands into an MMORPG in China is a good move for 2K Games. The game will very likely be a “free-to-play” style game, as gamers in China have a strong track record of making free-to-play games successful. Earlier this year, Activision released an open beta of Call of Duty Online , a free-to-play micro transaction version of Call of Duty that’s similar to Modern Warfare and Black Ops .

Silmilar to Call of Duty Online, Shanda Games and 2K Games will start by launching closed beta of Borderlands Online in early 2015. Gamers can sign up for the “Pandora Immigration Program” on the official sitefor a chance to participate in the beta. Players who make it into the beta will have the opportunity to explore Pandora and some of the storyline associated with the MMORPG.

The gameplay and open world concept of Borderlands helps make the transition to an MMORPG smooth for the franchise. In fact, some are surprised the series hasn’t made the jump sooner. A successful MMORPG has solid character progression, a strong loot system, opportunities for individual and group missions and raids, and a good inventory setup. Borderlands already delivers in each of these areas for the most part.

Borderlands Online will introduce new classes and regions to Pandora and the series alongside a plethora of new weapons and other gear. There are also sure to be microtransactions available to players within the game as well.

As of right now, Borderlands Online has been announced only for PC and mobile devices.  There is currently no word about when (or even if ) the game will make its way West.

Do you think a Borderlands MMORPG will be successful? Would you play it if it expanded beyond China? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Sources: Hardcore Gamer, News 17173

Release Dates for ‘Borderlands: The PreSequel’ DLC and Second ‘Tales’ Episode Arrive

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When Borderlands debuted on previous-gen hardware it proved to be a competent first-person shooter, with a robust loot generator and a unique personality for the genre.

debuted on previous-gen hardware it proved to be a competent first-person shooter, with a robust loot generator and a unique personality for the genre. It wasn’t afraid to mix an RPG leveling system, branching skill trees and awesome weapons that would become obsolete as the player progressed, alongside a self-referential, irreverence to the non-stop killing spree that accompanied the vault hunter’s journey.

Oncereleased, Gearbox Software realized that it had created a fan-favorite franchise. The sequel upped the ante in every regard; there was an actual story this time, with memorable characters, diverse environments, an instantly recognizable cell-shaded style and a very aggressive DLC release schedule. Players loved it. It’s no surprise that the publisher would continue the trend with

That next installment appeared when GearBox Software revealed the next piece of DLC at Pax East, Claptastic Voyage . During this journey, players will venture forth into the recesses of Claptrap’s mind, the foul mouthed comic-relief of the franchise managed to become a playable character in The Pre-Sequel. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Apparently, Handsome Jack requires a “powerful, mysterious item that’s hidden within Claptrap’s source code.”

Gearboxwent on to say that players who purchased the season pass for The Pre-Sequel will have access to Claptastic Voyage when it releases on March 24 on PS3 and Xbox 360. In addition, if you picked up the bundle,for PS4 or Xbox One it will be available for download at no extra charge – which is always a great price.

Another piece of news shared at Pax East is the release date for Episode 2 of TellTale’s Tales from the Borderlands , titled Atlas Mugged (a play on the literary classic Atlas Shrugged ). Fans have patiently awaited for the reveal of the next episode since concluding Zer0 Sum back in November. During the week of March 17, that patience will be rewarded as gamers can download the second installment on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One or Xbox 360.

Whereas The Pre-Sequel expands upon the mechanics, gunplay and history of Borderlands , Tales from the Borderlands focuses on the characters, personality and future of Pandora after the events of Borderlands 2 . The cell-shaded aesthetic from previous games feels right at home within the Telltale engine and it’s refreshing to see the studio stretch its legs and return to comedy instead of the more serious tone of its other releases, such as The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us .

Who is your favorite character in the Borderlands universe? Are you going to play Episode 2 of Tales from the Borderlands when it releases, or wait to play the entire season at once?

Source: Polygon

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August 27th, 2014

Independent, Not Underground: Five Indie Game Developers Whose Games You Need to Be Playing

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Independent games are no longer a niche market.

Thatgamecompany’s Journey attracted a lot of attention for an independent release. Image from thatgamecompany.com

Independent games are no longer a niche market. It’s easier than ever to spread the word about your favorite indie games thanks to social media, and the ease of buying them through Steam makes distribution better for fans and developers alike. Increased availability and more people talking means some games receive attention that rivals that of AAA games.

Though this list is by no means exhaustive, here are five of the biggest independent game companies making games right now.

Team Meat

Team Meatis the team behind Super Meat Boy , 2010’s smash success about a cube-shaped hunk of meat trying to save his girlfriend, Bandage Girl. The game is known for its difficulty, but praised for its ability to test the player’s limits without making them feel cheated. What’s unique about the game is that it clearly isn’t meant to hold the player’s hand—it’s a tough, unforgiving platformer more like old school arcade games than many modern AAA games. That’s one of the reasons for its success; it doesn’t have to dumb down gameplay because the intended audience is people who enjoy the challenge and ultimate adrenaline rush felt after a hundred unsuccessful meat splatters on a buzz saw. Super Meat Boy wasn’t the end for Team Meat—they’re currently at work on Super Meat Boy: Forever , a follow-up in development for smartphones, tablets, and PC.

thatgamecompany

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is thatgamecompany, best known for games that prioritize aesthetics, music, and atmosphere over hardcore gameplay. The studio attracted a fair amount of attention for Flower in 2009, in which the player controls the wind to spread flower petals to dead grass to life. The game was praised for its attempt to evoke emotions in the player; rather than emphasizing difficulty or combat, Flower tries to instill the player with a sense of peace and happiness. Journey is their biggest claim to fame, boasting several game of the year awards and many other honors.

Like Flower , it relies heavily on atmosphere as the player explores a desert landscape, sometimes accompanied by other online players, with no written interaction. Though the game has a story, it’s left entirely up to the player to interpret the pictogram-style artwork scattered throughout the game. In 2014, Journey became the first video game in history with a Grammy-nominated soundtrack. Though thatgamecompany’s games aren’t to everyone’s taste, they’re known for pushing against our ideas of what games are and that, ultimately, is what makes them memorable.

Double Fine Productions

Founded in 2000 by game dev legend Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productionshas been churning out inventive and unique games beginning with 2005’s Psychonauts , which was widely praised for its humor and visuals. Thanks to the studio’s Amnesia Fortnights, in which the team drops what they’ve been working on and split into groups to work on new projects for two weeks, Double Fine has kept putting out fun and imaginative games like Brütal Legend , Costume Quest , and Broken Age . The studio has relied heavily on crowdfunding to accomplish their goals, and set records at the time for the funding raised for Broken Age , the second part of which is due out this year.

Telltale Games

Telltale Gamesis known for producing licensed adaptations of some of the most popular pop culture phenomena of the moment. Their adaptations of The Walking Dead , Game of Thrones , and Borderlands have received a lot of praise for telling complex stories that force the player to make tough decisions with few positive options. They’re gritty, dark, and often cynical, but players love the feel of being decision makers in some of their favorite stories.

Though not all of Telltale Games’ work has been successful (earlier licensed work like some CSI games and Jurassic Park received generally negative reviews), the studio’s newer work keeps audiences coming back. And, with the recent announcement of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode , which will bring the studio’s storytelling abilities to the sandbox arena of Minecraft , they’re sure to keep people talking.

Mojang

At this point, Mojangcan hardly be called an independent studio. There are Minecraft diamond swords at Hot Topic, Minecraft books at Target, and the whole company was recently purchased by Microsoft for a whopping $2.5 billion dollars. So what is it doing on this list? Easy: Minecraft is one of the best-selling games of all time with over 60 million copies sold over all platforms, and it was developed by one small studio with less than fifty employees.

Minecraft received wide praise upon its release for the freedom of its open world, the encouragement of creative expression, and the complexity of its crafting system. It’s a unique experience, and it’s no wonder that the game achieved such a shocking state of popularity despite its small team. Though not every indie developer will achieve Mojang’s state of success, the studio proves that it doesn’t take a big-shot backer to succeed—it takes invention, creativity, and a little bit of luck.

Who are your favorite indie devs? What do you think separates the big names from the little ones?

The Game Rant Guide: December 2014 Edition

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It’s that time again!

It’s that time again! The holidays are here, and that means more time for players to get their hands on some great new titles. Let’s take a look at what’s arriving in the month of December!

The month kicks off with Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones – Episode 1: Iron From Ice , arriving December 2nd on PS4, Windows and Mac. The Crew also races onto PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows on the 2nd. On the 5th, spin-off Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker makes an appearance on the Wii U. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris raids tombs on PS4, Xbox One, and Windows on December 9th. Elite: Dangerous launches onto the Windows platform on the 16th, with Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes close behind on the 18th.

December 2013 Release List

(Note: Based Off North American Release Dates; All Information Is Subject To Change)

Week of December 2nd, 2014

Game of Thrones – Episode 1: Iron From Ice (PS4, Windows, Mac; December 2nd) Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix (PS4; December 2nd) The Crew (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows; December 2nd) Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (PS3, Xbox 360; December 3rd) Game of Thrones – Episode 1: Iron From Ice (Xbox One, Xbox 360; December 3rd) Tales from the Borderlands – Episode 1: Zer0 Sum (Xbox Live Arcade; December 3rd) Dead State (Windows; December 4th) Game of Thrones – Episode 1: Iron From Ice (iOS; December 4th) Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U; December 5th) NES Remix Pack (Wii U; December 5th) Ultimate NES Remix (3DS; December 5th)

Week of December 9th, 2014 Destiny: The Dark Below (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, December 9th) Game of Thrones – Episode 1: Iron From Ice (PS3; December 9th) Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (PS4, Xbox One, Windows; December 9th) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (3DS; December 9th) BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (Windows; December 11th) Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Windows; December 11th) The Talos Principle (PS4, Windows; December 11th) Halo: Spartan Strike (Windows, Windows Phone; December 12th) The King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition (Windows; December 12th)

Week of December 16th, 2014 Elite: Dangerous (Windows; December 16th) Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (PS4, PS3; December 16th) Raven’s Cry (Windows, Mac, Linux; December 16th) Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Windows; December 18th)

That’s it for 2014! Although December is typically a slow month for gaming, a few big-name releases should keep gamers busy as they anticipate what 2015 will have to offer. Ranters, what will you be spending your holidays playing? Let us know in the comments section! As a huge Oculus Rift enthusiast, I’ve got to pick Elite: Dangerous .

See you next year!

Follow Kyle on Twitter @ superkyol.

Telltale Spills Details on ‘Game of Thrones’ & ‘Tales From The Borderlands’

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Ever since the release of the harrowing first season of The Walking Dead , indie studio Telltale Games has received widespread praise from critics and gamers alike – eradicating bad memories of their take on Jurassic Park – with many people eagerly awaiting Telltale’s future releases.

The Walking Dead kicked off its second season last week with an excellent first episode, and the studio has also released the first episode of The Wolf Among Us , a new episodic game based on Bill Willingham’s “Fables” comic books.

Telltale’s recent success has drawn attention from other companies as well, and the studio recently struck a multi-year, multi-titlepartnership with TV network HBO, and hugely popular historical fantasy series Game of Thrones is set to get the Telltale treatment first. Also announced this month was a Borderlands spinoff title called Tales from the Borderlands , which is being produced in collaboration with Gearbox Software.

Either one of these announcements would be enough on its own to trigger a severe attack of excitement, and both of them together contribute as much to the holiday spirit as any number of twinkling lights or Christmas trees. There are still plenty of questions being asked about both Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones , however, and Telltale’s senior vice president of publishing recently offered a few answers to Polygon .

When asked what first inspired Tales from the Borderlands , Allison replied that alcohol might have had a little something to do with it:

“We were backstage at the [2012] Spike VGAs. And Gearbox was sitting at table one and we were sitting at table two – we were there for The Walking Dead . We got to talking a little bit, and I don’t remember when it the night it became, ‘we should do this thing,’ but it happened over a few cocktails.

“We could have easily left it and chalked it up to too much tequila, but we followed up when we got home. And they remembered the conversation. The ‘Borderlands’ universe has so much story potential, all those great characters. There’s a narrative there in ‘Borderlands 2’ but it serves a certain purpose, and we can serve a different purpose with it for fans of the franchise.”

Given that plans for Tales from the Borderlands have apparently been around for a while – and the game already has a fully animated trailer– it will probably release its first episode before Game of Thrones . However, Allison boasted of Telltale’s unique approach to development and said that the current plan is to “work on three or four great things” every year from 2014 onwards. Telltale bases their production model on television shows, rather than video games, which makes sense for games that are largely based on dialogue and character interaction.

Game of Thrones , like The Walking Dead , is a series that lends itself very well to Telltale’s current formula for storytelling and gameplay. The relationships are fragile, the choices faced by the characters are difficult, and their ramifications can be terrible. While the simplest approach to Game of Thrones would be to make another fantasy RPG out of it (this has already been done), Allison explained that what drew Telltale to the series as a project was the things about it that don’t fit easily into the average AAA game:

“We want franchises that are really difficult to translate into traditional gaming, we don’t want to make another ‘ Walking Dead’ first-person shooter. What works with the franchises we have it the characters, the story and drama and the relationships. We look for franchises that are huge and have all those elements.”

HBO’s Game of Thrones is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, just as AMC’s The Walking Dead is based on the comic books by Robert Kirkman. Telltale’s adaptation of The Walking Dead seems to be based more on the comics than the show, though since it includes mostly original characters this isn’t always apparent. In the case of Game of Thrones however, Allison stated that it will definitely be based on the show rather than Martin’s books:

“Creatively, we’re going to defer to the show because we are using HBO’s license. Playing the game should feel like watching the show and we’ll be making lots of decisions the same way the showrunners do. We’ve talked with them about how they make their decisions and how they pace their scenes, what they do when they face a big plotline and what to keep and cut. We’re taking their expertise and applying it to the material we bring to the table.”

Despite the growing number of games on Telltale’s to-do list, the studio is not planning to outsource any work, and will instead have team members moving between the various projects as and when they are needed. Borderlands , Game of Thrones , The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us will be the studio’s four projects in 2014, and with the content being released episodically it sounds like a system that could work effectively without putting too much strain on the creatives involved.

One thing’s for sure: there’s definitely a lot to look forward to from TellTale in 2014. We’ll keep you updated on Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands as these projects develop.

Source: Polygon

Tales from the Borderlands’ Releases Tomorrow

‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Releases Tomorrow
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With as little fanfare as possible, Telltale Games has confirmed that their latest series, Tales from the Borderlands , will begin its episodic journey starting tomorrow.

, will begin its episodic journey starting tomorrow. The first episode will hit PC and PlayStation platforms on November 25th, and an Xbox One release will follow on the 26th.

The first episode in Tales from the Borderlands is titled “Zer0 Sum” and will seemingly focus on the Vault Hunter Zer0. Telltale has been fairly secretive with details, but we do know that the game picks up after the events of Borderlands 2 , in which Zer0 was a playable character.

Borderlands ‘ iconic villain Handsome Jackis also said to play a major part in the game’s narrative, but how exactly is unclear. Perhaps the idea is to build off Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel , which featured Handsome Jack’s transformation from anti-hero to full-fledged villain

Gamers interested in picking up Tales from the Borderlands have several different ways to do so. They can pick up the individual episode for $5 on the platform of their choice, or they can pick up the Tales from the Borderlands Season Pass. Said Season Pass will retail for $15 on Xbox, $20 on PlayStation, and $25 on PC. No reason for the price disparity has been given.

It’s also important to point out that these dates are only for North America; European gamers will get their hands on Episode 1 on December 3rd. Coincidentally, that’s also when the Xbox 360 version will launch worldwide.

As we mention, there’s a fair bit of mystery surrounding Tales from the Borderlands , but that’s not unexpected given this is a Telltale production. The developer likes to play everything close to the chest, whether it’s their upcoming Game of Thrones adaptation or this Borderlands spin-off. The nice thing, though, is that Telltale also loves to surprise, like they did here with the release dates.

And for Telltale fans that means two high profile releases before the end of the year with Tales and Game of Thrones . Keep an eye on Game Rant for our review of Tales from the Borderlands ‘ first episode in the coming days.

Are you excited to play the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands ? Did this release date announcement catch you by surprise?

Tales from the Borderlands: “Zer0 Sum” releases November 25, 2014 for PC, PS3, and PS4; November 26, 2014 for Xbox One; and December 3, 2014 for Xbox 360.

Source: Telltale

Telltale Releases First ‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Gameplay

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Telltale Games cut its teeth on humorous games like Sam & Max , Monkey Island , and Back to the Future , but it wasn’t until the ultra-serious The Walking Dead premiered that the studio’s point-and-click adventure formula really found its footing.

premiered that the studio’s point-and-click adventure formula really found its footing. Since then, Telltale’s been on a roll. Not only is The Walking Dead heading into its third “season,” but(a spin-off of Vertigo’s popular Fables comics) received rave reviews.

Telltale’s upcomingseries looks to continue the trend, with a cast full of compelling charactersand a storyline that presents players with a series of weighty, significant decisions. Frankly, though, as good as those games are, they’re not very funny.

With Tales from the Borderlands , Telltale is finally returning to its comedic roots. Gearbox’sseries of sci-fi shootersis just as famous for its outrageous, anything-goes atmosphere as it is for its dazzling array of loot. Judging from today’s first lookat‘ gameplay, it seems that Telltale’s fully committed to keeping that tradition alive.

The new trailer introduces viewers to Rhys, a beleaguered Hyperion janitor — excuse me, assistant vice janitor — who’s out to make a name for himself. Rhys (voiced by Troy Baker) heads to Pandora with his best friend Vaughn ( The Nerdist founder Chris Hardwick) to steal a vault key and make his fortune. Naturally, complications ensue.

The trailer doesn’t quite as much time with Fiona, the game’s other protagonist, but it’s only a matter of time before gamers get to know her better, too. The new footage also features Patrick Warburton as Rhys’ boss Vasquez and Dameon Clarke as Borderlands 2 big bad Handsome Jack.

The video should allay any concerns that Telltale’s not up to capturing Gearbox’s specific comedic voice. Not only does Tales from the Borderlands sport Borderlands’ signature cell-shading effect, but the trailer’s cut at a frenetic pace that fits nicely with the original shooters’ mad-cap style. Borderlands’ pseudo-western aesthetics and over-the-top violence? Those are here, too.

The trailer is all story; gamers won’t get to see more than a snippet of Tales from the Borderlands’ bot-based combat, which is disappointing. However, the trailer is funny. Really funny. A couple of gags based on long, uncomfortable silences are particularly encouraging; that’s the kind of thing that’s simply not possible in a more action-oriented title.

In addition the new trailer, Gearbox also unveiled Tales from the Borderlands’ platform and pricing information. Basically, it’s coming to everything. Individual episodes will set console gamers back $4.99 per installment, with a season pass coming in at around $20. Mac and PC season passes will cost $24.99, while iOS and Android pricing has yet to be announced.

Tales from the Borderlands will release its first episode for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Mac, PC, iOS, and Android platforms before the end of 2014.

Crash Bandicoot is a Veteran With PTSD In Latest Onion Video

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The Onion releases a video portraying Crash Bandicoot as a game exploring the life of a Vietnam War veteran struggling with PTSD and substance abuse problems.

The Onion, the satiracle website which paints fictitious news developments as actual news, has gone and done it again. This time, the faux-news website has taken the unsuspecting title character of Crash Bandicoot , and produced a video examining how everyone’s favorite bandicoot is actually portraying the adventures of a veteran from Vietnam struggling with substance abuse problems. The video goes on to explain that Crash is navigating “a world he doesn’t understand,” poking fun at the playful level design from the game.

The video technically comes from Clickhole, which is The Onion’s full-time impersonation of Buzzfeed. The video applauds the producers offor acknowledging the traumas of war instead of glamorizing them, and goes on to explain that the bandicoot’s penchant for eating Wumpa fruit is actually just imagery for a much more serious substance abuse problem. As Crash jumps around in the video, the narrator goes on to draw parallels between the ‘shirtless wandering character’ and actual PTSD-stricken veterans from the Second Indochina War.

Gamers can take a look at the video below, which really puts a heavy weight of the typically upbeat adventure in Crash Bandicoot :

Rumors about a potential Crash Bandicoot comeback have been ramping up over the last few months ever since Sony’s Middle Eastern arm posted a Crash -based teaserout of the blue two months ago. Gamers everywhere expected a similar tease to come other Sony channels, but so far the corporation hasn’t followed up with the seemingly random tweet. Before the dust could settle from that, a NECA toys executive casually mentioned that Sony was bringing the franchise back, only for another NECA representative to later say his comments were ‘misunderstood’.

Even prior to the tweet-based drama, SCEA President Shawn Layden made an appearance at PSX last year wearing a Crash Bandicoot shirt, which makes us believe the long-awaited return of Crash Bandicoot may really be on the horizon – though we expect whatever game Sony eventually cooks up will have little to do with the mental tole of seeing combat in Vietnam.

Videogames as a medium have actually been used to help those with post-traumatic stress disorder before, and that includes the latest virtual reality headsets. The Oculus Rift has been used to treat Iraqi war veterans coping with the mental illness, and a recent study posted on Psychological Science has reportedly discovered that playing Tetris right after a flashbackcan help interfere with the power of traumatic memories.

What do you think about The Onion’s Crash Bandicoot video, Ranters?

Source: Clickhole

Sneak Peek at Metal Gear Online Survival Mode; Out Next Week

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Konami uploads a new video to the publisher’s official YouTube channel, providing fans with a sneak peek of what Metal Gear Solid Online ‘s new Survival Mode will offer.

The teaser video, included below, offered fans of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain ‘s multiplayer content a preview of the brand new Survival Mode. Konami had previously announced the new matchmaking mode would be available on April 7, arriving as part of‘s update 1.11. While the video is brief and doesn’t attempt to go into detail regarding Survival Mode, that’s likely because news of this particular multiplayer content first broke way back in December of last year.

The initial announcement of Metal Gear Solid Online ‘s Survival Modecame as a vague tweet that referenced Konami’s general plans for the multiplayer heading into 2016. Since then, though, fans have learned that Survival will pit teams of six to compete against each other in a series of skirmishes, and that teams managing five wins in a row will earn special in-game rewards. The free 1.11 update will also bring maps that were previously only accessible to Metal Gear Solid 5 DLC ownersto those who just have the base game.

While all players will be able to engage in some Survival Mode gameplay as soon as it’s available, those who purchased Cloaked in Silence , the recent Metal Gear Online DLC campaign, will be able to access the new multiplayer mode free of any restrictions. Those fans without the DLC will be limited to playing only ten matches of Survival Mode a week, making the elusive five win streak that much more valuable of an achievement.

Interestingly enough, more hardcore fans of the Metal Gear series might begin the new Survival Mode with an advantage over the competition. Survival Mode was included in the original Metal Gear Online for the PlayStation 3, which has since seen its servers shut down in 2012. Metal Gear Online in its current form is an upgraded version of the same concept, and launched after a month-long delay in October 2015. While the gameplay has improved significantly, it’s likely familiarity with the old version’s Survival Mode could help teams looking to score an early win-streak bonus.

Despite the negativity surrounding Konami’s public image these days, the publisher has been quick to support its Metal Gear Online community. After a series of setbacks following the multiplayer launch, Konami offered gamers free in-game contentto make up for Metal Gear Online ‘s server issues. While Metal Gear Online has ultimately struggled to thrive under the daunting shadow of Metal Gear Solid 5 ‘s single-player campaign, at least it is still receiving continued support from its oft-maligned publisher.

Metal Gear Solid 5 is out now for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

Source: Official Konami YouTube Channel(via VG 24/7)

Hideo Kojima Launches New YouTube Series

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Following his departure from Konami, his partnership with Sony, and a research tour for his upcoming game, Hideo Kojima launches a new YouTube series called ‘Hideo Tube’.

Hideo Kojima is a busy man these days, following the drama-filled breakdownof his relationship with Konami. When he’s not making groundbreaking video games or rubbing shoulders with Hollywood directors, he’s out trying new things in order to quell his passions. In the latest of Kojima’s long line of announced projects, today saw the launch of his brand new YouTube series called Hideo Tube .

Released through the official Kojima Productions YouTube channel, the pilot episode of Hideo Tube doesn’t actually have anything video game related in it. Instead, Kojima spends the entire 45-minute episode discussing his top ten movies of 2015 with Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain novelist Kenji Yano.

For those who are curious, the full list of Kojima’s top ten movies of 2015 can be seen in the video below. Be warned, though: not every movie on the list is quite what might be expected of the acclaimed video game auteur, who expresses his love for Shaun the Sheep and The Intern alongside more obvious choices such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Star Wars: The Force Awakens .

Hideo Kojima has really embraced his post-Konami life following his difficult departure from the company. After the disbanding of his game studio, Kojima Productions LA, Kojima relaunched a new incarnation of the studio and partnered up with Sony. The end goal of the partnership is to release a brand new game for PS4 and PC.

This announcement of the Sony partnership was subsequently followed by Kojima and Mark Cerny’s “high-end technology tour.”Aimed at finding the latest high-end technology for his upcoming game, the tour saw Kojima and Cerny visit a number of well-known video game developers such as Quantic Dream and Crytek.

It wasn’t just high-ranking game devs that Kojima took the time to visit, however. Between his search for cutting-edge video game technology, Kojima managed to find time to have a chat to J.J. Abramsabout his newly reborn studio. Next week will see Kojima reunite with former collaborator Guillermo del Toro to present a special address for the 2016 D.I.C.E Summit Awards.

As for the Metal Gear franchise, it appears that Konami intends on continuing the series without Kojima. Just recently, Konami released a new DLC campaignfor Metal Gear Online, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ‘s online component. However, while Metal Gear is no longer in Kojima’s steady hands, it appears that he has moved onto bigger and better things. Whether it’s a completely brand new game that blows Metal Gear away, a future collaboration with J.J. Abrams, or just hour-long YouTube videos about his favorite movies, fans everywhere will be eagerly awaiting Kojima’s next move.

Source: YouTube

Silent Hills’ P.T. Demo Brought to Life in Short Film

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Filmmakers Oddest of the Odd release a short film titled ‘Silent Hills P.T. in real life’ on YouTube, in tribute to Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s axed Silent Hills game.

Despite Konami pulling the plugon Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s Silent Hills collaboration nearly a year ago, fans everywhere are still not quite over game’s cancellation. It says a lot about thefanbase when intrepid fans figured out how to re-download the P.T. demoafter Konami pulled it from the PlayStation Store – albeit unofficially using third-party software. But that fan effort pales in comparison to what a group of YouTube filmmakers came up with.

While gamers have since taken matters into their own handsin an attempt restart Silent Hills, YouTube filmmakers Oddest of the Odd decided to go the extra mile and recreated the Silent Hills P.T. demo as a live action short film, complete with the demo’s much-touted disturbing content and eerie atmosphere.

The film is just under 14 minutes long, and is every bit as terrifying and excellent as the P.T. demo. For Silent Hills fans, and those wanting a few nightmares, watch the film right here:

Although it’s probably time to stop mourning Silent Hills , there will always be that intriguing question of “what if?”, especially if high-quality fan-made tributes such as Oddest of the Odd’s P.T. short film keep coming up. Guillermo del Toro’s recent discussion ofat this year’s D.I.C.E Summit highlighted the massive potential of the game, and served to fan the flames just a little while longer.

It is understandable that the cancellation of Silent Hills was a big blow to gamers everywhere, but rather than dwell on what could’ve been, fans should start looking forward to what Kojima has in store. Having relaunched his Kojima Productions studioin preparation for the development of a new and exclusive game for Sony, Kojima has recently stated that he would love to work with del Toro and Norman Reedus againon something.

Talk of Kojima, del Toro, and Reedus reuniting is just speculation at this moment, but the prospect of the three working on something new is intriguing. With the rights for del Toro’s Insane project back in his hands, and Kojima expressing interest in making a VR horror game, there’s a range of possibilities for the trio to build upon the work they started with Silent Hills. As far-fetched as it may seem, perhaps Kojima, del Toro, and Reedus might even entertain the idea of collaborating with Oddest of the Odd, given that the group are big fans of Silent Hills , and they certainly know how make excellent horror films.

With Kojima embracing his post-Konami freedom, and Reedus still holding out hopefor another collaboration, perhaps something will be on the cards in the future, Silent Hills or otherwise.

Source: YouTube

GameTrailers Website Shut Down, Staff Let Go

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Sad news emerges on the internet today, as long-time video game community staple GameTrailers.com announces it is shutting down its operations effective immediately.

GameTrailers was, at one time, the internet’s best resource for discovering and viewing new video game trailers. However, today, thirteen years after the website first launched, the once industry staple announced via its official Twitter that it would be closing its doors. Brandon Jones, the boss and founder of the site, also took to his own personal Twitter to confirm the news to the many fans in disbelief over the sudden closure:

“Today is the last day of GameTrailers. I wish it wasn’t so. I love all of our fans like family. Thank you for letting me do this job.”

The website has also laid off all of its staff members, including Jones. According to Ben Moore, GameTrailers’ Associate Editor, the team was informed that they were out of jobs only a few hours before the official announcement was made, and the staff are understandably “still reeling a bit”. The decision to close the website was made by Defy Media, a company that bought GameTrailers in 2014 and immediately made a number of layoffs.

GameTrailers used to be among the gaming community’s best resources for clips of video games and trailers, carving out a place for their content early as the rest of the gaming world still struggled to migrate past magazine previews to the more entertaining and dazzling video advertisements. However, while the news might be sudden for both the website’s employees and outsiders alike, it is not entirely unexpected.

The video game industry has been in a constant state of growth and evolution since the website’s initial launch, and the state of video content now compared to a decade ago is rather dramatic. Once YouTube became the internet’s resource for pretty much all recorded video content, it became significantly easier for gamers to access trailers and other clips without needing to visit any other site to do so. YouTube also became an incredibly profitable venture for gamers like PewDiePie, which only increased the site’s traffic and power over video as more content producers migrated to the platform.

All things considered, then, it makes sense that the increasing number of competitors covering video game trailers and the way the current marketplace sits has worked in conjunction to force out a beloved staple of the community. When a lot of gaming’s video content flows through the equally gargantuan channels of YouTube and Twitch, smaller websites like GameTrailers will inevitably struggle to keep up. While an implementation of a subscription service like YouTube Redmight have been an option once, competing with the millions of videos that already exist and are accessible for free with YouTube’s regular service made that an impossibility.

Of course, even though it might make sense, it doesn’t make it less terrible. Hopefully the members of the GameTrailers team find a new home for their creative and engaging content soon.

Were you one of the many gamers who scoured GameTrailers daily for content in the early 2000s? What’s your fondest memory of the website? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Twitter(via Kotaku)

PewDiePie Talks Games With Conan O’Brien

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The YouTube phenomenon and popular Let’s Play personality, PewDiePie, discusses video games with Conan O’Brien on the talk show host’s late night program.

Last night, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg appeared on the popular late night television show, Conan , to talk about video games, promote his new YouTube Red show known as Scare PewDiePie , and to say that he reserves judgment for people who post “unboxing” videos on the web due to his position as a person who plays video games for a living. Furthermore, PewDiePie goes on to explain his “very specific audience” to O’Brien, and how they contribute to his billion plus views online.

Also during the couch panel discussion, it was confirmed that PewDiePie would join Conan O’Brien for one of the comedian’s Clueless Gamerepisodes. In the past, Conan has cracked wise while playing games such as Witcher 3 , Fallout 4 , Super Smash Bros. , and the forthcoming DOOM from id Software, but this time around, he and Kjellberg will take on Ubisoft’s soon-to-be-released action-adventure title, Far Cry Primal .

The conversation between Conan and PewDiePie is a pretty mundane affair, since the whole concept of the couch segment itself is so stale. It’s typically just a means for people to promote their projects, which often causes comedy to take the sidecar. Not to mention, while the talk show host and Let’s Play star are both talented and charismatic within their own rights, there’s not much chemistry to be had between the two. Thankfully, Andy Richter saves the bit with a solid joke about a surgeon who just operates on people for the laughs. Explaining the quip in writing does it no justice, so check out the clip below to understand the full context surrounding it.

Kjellberg’s appearance on Conan isn’t the first time that the famous YouTube personality has hit the television airwaves. As it happens, PewDiePie joined Stephen Colbert at The Late Show on CBSa while back to explain Let’s Plays to the host, discuss Internet culture, plug his book, and advertise his mobile video game Legend of the Brofist .

Considering PewDiePie’s appearances on cable and network TV, it’s clear that he’ll continue to show up in the mainstream media in order to expand his ever growing fan base. And with him starting an entertainment network called Revelmodewith the Disney-owned Maker Studios, the company will surely book him for even more talk show spots in the future so as to spread the word about its existence as far as possible.

With PewDiePie’s massive success as a gamer and online personality being featured prominently in what many view as the traditional arena of entertainment — that is, television — it’s obvious gaming has become more widely accepted than ever. Bearing that in mind, we’ll surely see video games, Internet culture, and mainstream TV overlap even more so in the future.

PewDiePie’s new show Scare PewDiePie premieres this week on YouTube Red.

Source: Team Coco(via GameSpot)

Fine Bros. Abandon ‘React’ Trademark After Massive Backlash

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Following overwhelming backlash, the Fine Bros.

Following overwhelming backlash, the Fine Bros. say that they will drop their ‘React’ trademark plans, along with their React World initiative and their Content ID claims.

Earlier this week, YouTube content creators the Fine Brothers made headlines after announcing their plans to trademark phrases such as ‘React‘, ‘Teens React’ and ‘Elders React’, regarding their massively popular series of reaction videos. They also planned to launch ‘React World’, an initiative that would allow other YouTubers to use the reaction format and also be supported by graphics and music.

Following the duo’s reveal, huge backlash ensued as YouTubeusers and other content creators questioned how the Fine Bros. could possibly trademark the format when so many others have made similar videos (including The Ellen DeGeneres Show). Moreover, people were concerned that suddenly many non-Fine Bros. reaction videos would be stripped from the web.

Following the controversy – which saw the Fine Bros. YouTube channel lose over 200,000 subscribers ( and counting) – the YouTubers have now announced that they will be dropping the trademarks. In a post on Medium, they say that they will “rescind” all of their “React” trademarks and applications”, they will discontinue React World, and they will also release all past Content ID claims (Content ID is YouTube’s copyright system).

The brothers say “we realize we built a system that could easily be used for wrong”, and they also recognise that the concern that “trademarks like these could be used to theoretically give companies (including ours) the power to police and control online video” is a “valid concern. Given the creators’ previous actions (including video takedowns and criticizing Ellen DeGeneres’ take on reaction content), they say that it “makes perfect sense for people to distrust our motives here” and though they maintain that their intentions were “pure”, they also note that there is no way of proving that.

Many will see this as a big win for both YouTubers and those who view and subscribe to their content. Should the Fine Bros. stay true to their word, and refrain from going after reaction videos in future, then it means like videos such as elders reacting to Mortal Kombat X fatalities(and other videos in that vein) will continue to entertain. Moreover, it means that YouTubers will no longer have to worry about being hit with a copyright claim or a lawsuit for infringing the trademark, something which is an incredibly stressful outcome even if there’s a chance YouTube will pay the legal fees.

Others, though, feel that the community will see more of these types of trademarks cropping up in future. Recently, Sony was criticized for its attempts to trademark Let’s Playand though that trademark looks destined to fail, YouTube can offer huge monetary gains so it looks likely that more will try to capitalize in the coming years and months.

Source: Medium

It’s Fine to Criticize the Fine Bros. and Sony Trademark Attempts

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As YouTube stars the Fine Bros.

As YouTube stars the Fine Bros. and media giant Sony face fury over plans to trademark popular video modes, we discuss exactly why these steps would be bad for gaming.

The history of video games is littered with a wide variety of gaming lawsuits and legal battles. Back in the 1980s, Nintendo entered into a dogged legal battle with Universal Studios over Donkey Kong’s likeness to movie monster King Kong. More recently, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega decided to take on Activisionover the use of his likeness in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 , citing “blatant misuse, unlawful exploitation, and misappropriation for economic gain.”

In just the last couple of weeks, there have also been a pair of extremely controversial trademark disputes. First, Sony tried to claim ownership over the term ‘Let’s Play’, whilst YouTube stars the Fine Bros. then attempted to trademark the concept of the reaction video. Both claims once again brought up the issue of content ownership on the web, with the YouTube community up in arms over the announcements.

The Fine Bros. dispute understandably caused a major storm online. The YouTube duo, whose channel currently sits at a huge 13 million subscribers, tried to trademark reaction videos, which make up the most popular bulk of their channel’s videos. The response to this claim, however, was not exactly in the channel’s favor. Instead, after a string of complaints, the duo conceded defeat and apologized for their actions.

Sony, meanwhile, also went after a hugely popular online video term, this time trying to get their hands on the idea of Let’s Play videos. The phenomenon, in which gamers showcase their own playthrough of a particular game, is incredibly popular online, with Sony then attempting to capitalize. However, things did not go according to plan, with clarification first required on the matter from the USPTO, before the claim was unceremoniously dumped.

Undeterred, Sony tried to trademark Let’s Play once more. Once again, the matter did not go the tech giant’s way, with video game-focused legal team MacArthur Law Firm stating that “the term ‘Let’s Play’ is generic and…Sony should not have exclusive rights over it.” Whether or not Sony will accept the verdict is another matter entirely.

On the face of it, Sony and the Fine Bros. could not be more different. Sony is a multi-national technology company with a long history in the industry and a huge amount of financial clout. The Fine Bros., meanwhile, run a very successful YouTube channel, and appear to be about as far away from the idea of corporate ownership as possible.

However, the similarities in the ways both parties have acted during these trademark debacles show that Sonyand the Fine Bros. both have at least one thing in common. In spite of both parties earning plenty of revenue through the use of new media and technology, particularly gaming, it’s clear that Sony and the Fine Bros. have a disappointing lack of awareness regarding the way that new media functions.

Quite simply, some of these traditional business models of trademark claims do not necessarily work in the Internet age. The incredible growth of online has created a whole new world of revenue streams, and these do not always fit with the strict trademark laws that currently exist. There is a grey area over ownership of ideas, and it’s no surprise to see certain companies trying to capitalize on this. However, both the Fine Bros. and Sony have gone about this in the worst possible way.

The potential for financial gain through the use of online media is huge, particularly when video is concerned. PewDiePie is one of the most iconic figures in online video, and has the financial success to prove it. Last year, the Swedish Let’s Play star earned a massive $7.45 million dollars in ad revenue.

Not only that, but online media has powers beyond money gained from advertisements. The individuals who run these popular YouTube channels are also hugely influential with their audiences. A survey carried out by Variety showed that some of these Internet celebrities were more influential than their traditional counterparts, particularly when it came to authenticity.

As such, the Fine Bros. and Sony have made attempts to make a finite grab for online assets. A successful bid would have allowed the companies to have a strong hold on some of the most popular YouTubecontent. In Sony’s case, it could have granted the company some kind of ownership over seemingly endless of hours of online content. Meanwhile, the Fine Bros. would have protected their own claim as one of the most popular reaction video creators, as well as stifling competition through a granted authority over the concept itself.

There is, however, one big problem with both of these trademarks. The Fine Bros. has neither claim to the idea of reaction videos, nor the authority to stifle those who may create similar videos. Sony, too, has no claim over the idea of a Let’s Play video. Both of these entities, the world of reaction videos and the world of Let’s Plays, exist beyond these companies, taking a place in the public space.

The idea that these companies could own these loose concepts is also incredibly worrying. Frankly, the gaming community and the online community have won important victories when these trademark claims were thrown out. Or, rather, two particularly nasty bullets were dodged. The precedent set by either of these claims could have had major ramifications for the way in which the Internet functions, and it’s unlikely that YouTube’s increased access to legal fee supportwould help.

Sony and Fine Bros are not the only parties that have tried to strong-arm online media into ownership of content. In fact, in other cases, the company in question has managed to stake a claim to the online age. Nintendo, a company that has always fiercely defended its own intellectual property, takes a strict stance against Let’s Players playing Nintendo games, forging the Nintendo Creators Programand gaining a cut of revenue from any video released using the publisher’s content.

The struggle between companies and online content creators is unlikely to end any time soon, either. Although Sony and the Fine Bros. have been dissuaded from following up on these trademark claims for now, it would not be surprising to see another major player in the industry try to make their own grab for another popular concept. Even though the Internet has been around for a long time now, it seems as though businesses are still sounding out how to make a profit.