X-Box, Playstation, and Wii Game News

[yourbeliefs]

2015 wasn't a great year for the Japanese game industry...

http://www.destructoid.com/2015-was-the-japanese-games-industry-s-worst-year-on-record-332402.phtml

 

[king3pj]

I'm sure that's still true but probably not to the extent that it looks like from that article. Even in the article it says that the source they used doesn't take digital purchases into account. Digital purchases are becoming a higher percentage of total sales every year. I would think that would be even more true in Japan than the US.

NPD and VG24/7 are becoming less and less relevant every year because they both only take physical retail copies into account.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is having an open beta next week for Xbox One/PS4 users.

http://www.pvzgw2.com/beta

 

[Zookster]

Wasn't sure if we should start a separate thread for consoles for pets, but here's the latest in products that no one asked for
http://www.cnet.com/videos/cleverpet-is-a-game-console-for-your-four-legged-friend/

 

[yourbeliefs]

No, EA Sports is NOT resurrecting their long dormant NCAA Football Franchise..

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/11/10749508/ncaa-football-teaser-video-ea-sports-denial

 

[yourbeliefs]

The new Homefront is coming 5/17 (just in time for my daughter's birthday!) to PC/One/PS4, but Xbox One owners get access to a closed Beta last month.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/12/10752330/homefront-2-release-date

Sign up for beta here (looks like the site crashed but keep trying.)

https://www.homefront-game.com/age

 

[king3pj]

The new Homefront is coming 5/17 (just in time for my daughter's birthday!) to PC/One/PS4, but Xbox One owners get access to a closed Beta last month.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/12/10752330/homefront-2-release-date

Sign up for beta here (looks like the site crashed but keep trying.)

https://www.homefront-game.com/age

I am looking forward to this game even though I never played the original. The setting just looked cool from the trailers. I'm not really interested in the multiplayer aspect but I suppose I will sign up for the beta anyways. It never hurts to have access in case I end up wanting to try it for some reason.

Edit: The release date is the day before my birthday too.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I found this amusing. I love seeing Punk just flat out insulting all the haters.

http://kotaku.com/cm-punk-says-fans..._source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

 

[king3pj]

Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is having an open beta next week for Xbox One/PS4 users.

http://www.pvzgw2.com/beta

Just a reminder that this starts tomorrow. I have Garden Warfare 1 on PC from a Humble Bundle and I have played it a grand total of 1 time but it was pretty fun. If you are looking for a family friendly shooter to play with your kids and you don't have a Wii U for Splatoon I definitely recommend checking this out while it's in free beta.

 

[yourbeliefs]

So the new Hitman game is, different now..

http://press.na.square-enix.com/releases/598/hitman-now-a-fully-episodic-aaa-game

 

[yourbeliefs]

Looks like the Call of Duty gravy train isn't slowing down too much, with Black Ops 3 not only being the best selling game of December, but the best selling game of the year as well.

http://charlieintel.com/2016/01/14/...est-selling-game-of-2015-at-retail-in-the-us/

 

[king3pj]

Looks like the Call of Duty gravy train isn't slowing down too much, with Black Ops 3 not only being the best selling game of December, but the best selling game of the year as well.

http://charlieintel.com/2016/01/14/...est-selling-game-of-2015-at-retail-in-the-us/

I'm not surprised it sold well but I expected Fallout 4 to outsell it with all the hype it was getting. I also thought Battlefront might have a chance just because the movie is doing so well. I know people who don't even play video games who were interested in Battlefront.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Unsurprisingly, there's a "Komplete" version of MK X coming out on March 1 known as Mortal Kombat XL. It includes all the DLC from the game, minus the 2 skins you only get from preordering the game..

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/20/10797792/mortal-kombat-xl-edition-all-dlc-launch-date

 

[yourbeliefs]

The Limited Edition version of Life Is Strange (Read: Retail copy) is being released today. For people that already own the game you get the Director's Commentary for free as a download starting today, assuming you have PC or One version. PS3/4/360 owners don't get it until the 25th for some arbitrary reason.

http://eu.square-enix.com/us/blog/life-strange-limited-edition-out-now

I'm looking forward to this. I'm almost done with my second playthrough and enjoying it quite a bit. Cool to see various situations from different perspectives.

 

[Zookster]

The Limited Edition version of Life Is Strange (Read: Retail copy) is being released today. For people that already own the game you get the Director's Commentary for free as a download starting today, assuming you have PC or One version. PS3/4/360 owners don't get it until the 25th for some arbitrary reason.

http://eu.square-enix.com/us/blog/life-strange-limited-edition-out-now

I'm looking forward to this. I'm almost done with my second playthrough and enjoying it quite a bit. Cool to see various situations from different perspectives.

So you can play the game with a director commentary voice-over like on a DVD/Blu-ray movie? Or is it a separate audio/video feature? I don't think I've ever seen that in a video game, but then again I usually don't access a game's extras menus to look at art concept designs and whatnot.

 

[yourbeliefs]

So you can play the game with a director commentary voice-over like on a DVD/Blu-ray movie? Or is it a separate audio/video feature? I don't think I've ever seen that in a video game, but then again I usually don't access a game's extras menus to look at art concept designs and whatnot.

No. It appears to just be a bunch of behind the scenes videos. They appear to be about an hour long if this YouTube video is accurate at all. It's more of a special feature than a true commentary. Too bad, although to be honest as much as I really like the game I'd find myself hard pressed to play through the ENTIRE game a third time just to get this information.

Not many games do true "director's commentary." I saw one for that Half Life 2 Tech Demo Lost Coast, and Alan Wake had a pretty cool one where at certain parts of the game a small screen would come on and one of the developers would talk about what was going on. While it was cool, it was slightly annoying because whenever they started you basically had to stop what you were doing to observe the commentary because the game is so engrossing that you can't play while paying attention to separate audio (Not exactly a podcast friendly game.)

 

[king3pj]

Gone Home also came with a Director's Commentary option on PC. I never listened to it because I only played through the game once.

 

[Zookster]

No. It appears to just be a bunch of behind the scenes videos. They appear to be about an hour long if this YouTube video is accurate at all. It's more of a special feature than a true commentary. Too bad, although to be honest as much as I really like the game I'd find myself hard pressed to play through the ENTIRE game a third time just to get this information.

Not many games do true "director's commentary." I saw one for that Half Life 2 Tech Demo Lost Coast, and Alan Wake had a pretty cool one where at certain parts of the game a small screen would come on and one of the developers would talk about what was going on. While it was cool, it was slightly annoying because whenever they started you basically had to stop what you were doing to observe the commentary because the game is so engrossing that you can't play while paying attention to separate audio (Not exactly a podcast friendly game.)

Thanks for clearing that up. I feel the same way; I'm much more likely to check it out if it's a separate video feature. I don't think I'd even replay my all-time favorite game just to hear creator commentary.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Thanks for clearing that up. I feel the same way; I'm much more likely to check it out if it's a separate video feature. I don't think I'd even replay my all-time favorite game just to hear creator commentary.

I don't know. I'd love to fire up Resident Evil 4 or Bioshock or Arkham Asylum again and play through it to listen to commentary, as long as they have enough in it to justify playing again. I'd need hours of commentary to justify that for those games.

Of course, if you absolutely can't get enough commentary about how a game was made, look no further than Double Fine Adventure!

 

[yourbeliefs]

Well this is, interesting...

The 2016 Dice Summit is being opened by Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) and Randy Pitchford (Creator of Gearbox) What's more interesting is the theme of the summit this year, which is:

Setting the stage as the Wednesday Opening Conference Keynote will be a special presentation by two friends: Penn Jillette, author, actor and half of legendary magic team Penn & Teller, and Randy Pitchford, magician, co-founder and president of Gearbox Software. Discussing “Assumptions and Expectations with Interactivity and Magic,” this session will incorporate some lessons in misdirection of attention, expectation disruption and just plain old-fashioned lying. Jillette and Pitchford will then lead members of the audience through a magic trick that will move from the live theater to virtual reality.
​

So, the lead speakers for this are a magician who has (or HAD, since they haven't made any new episodes since 2010) a show called "Bullsh*t!", and a man whose recent claim to fame is simply how full of sh*t he is and actually taking PRIDE in it. Seriously, take a look at this and then this great follow up (NSFW language.)

Maybe the logic for the people at D.I.C.E. is that if you're going to have people speak for them, you better get the best representatives of the subject manner!

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/21/10...dy-pitchford-open-dice-summit-next-month-with