May 30, 2016

Starbreeze Buys Rights To Payday Franchise From 505 Games, Ends Microtransactions

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Starbreeze Studios the developers behind the popular Payday series have announced a deal with former publisher 505 games that would see Starbreeze acquire the full rights of the Payday franchise in exchange for $30 Million USD of stock.

The next game in the franchise Payday 3 is currently under development as the terms of this deal will see 505 & Starbreeze split revenue from the console versions of Payday 2: Crimwave Edition until their [505’s] marketing / promotion costs have been recouped and Payday 3 released. Revenue generated from the Steam release of Payday 2 will be in the hands of Starbreeze retroactively as of May 1^st.

For fans wondering about the horrendous micro transactions that received absolutely piles upon piles of criticism, they’re being removed from all versions of the game. Introduced last October, Payday 2 would present players with locked “safes” that contained skins & stat bonuses but could only be opened with a $2.50 USD drill item. Despite other games using a similar model for cosmetics – most notably Counter Strike: GO – the addition of stat boosters on skins caused an uproar within the community., especially since the developers previously said they would NEVER EVER INTRODUCE MICROTRANSACTIONS.

Now, those nasty microtransactions are gone and Starbreeze has pledged to add new content to Payday 2 for at least the next 18 months.

Check out the “E3 Teaser” released by Starbreeze for Payday 2 below:

505 Games Pay Day 2 PC PS4 sale Starbreeze Studios Steam Xbox One

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ESA, Major Publishers, Hardware Vendors Bring A Slice of E3 To The Public

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

The Entertainment Software Association in partnership with major hardware vendors like Alienware, Oculus and HTC and with support from major developers like Nintendo, Ubisoft and Warner Bros Interactive will bring a slice of the E3 excitement to the public with the recently announced E3 Live event.

Attendees can purchase tickets on the E3 Live official website. This public event will be open the evenings of Tuesday June 14th and will run through the evening of the 16th – which are the same dates that the E3 industry only show floor is open.

Attractions include the Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions experience (separate tickets required) , a large demo truck from Alienware and game stations from major industry players like Oculus, Alienware, Monster and Twitch. It will also be a chance for the public to mingle with some of their favorite developers and industry personnel!

E3 E3 2016 ESA

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Nintendo eShop Sales for May 26th, 2016

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Jason Nason

I’ve decided to split this off from the regular weekly Nintendo Download to give a little more of a deep dive into each newly added item to the eShop sales list. So what’s been on sale previously will have the same list you remember, but new entries will also have more detail at the top of the page.

Please note that all of the below prices are shown in USD unless otherwise stated. Prices are higher in the Canadian eShop.

Enjoy!

Eshop Nintendo Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Wii U

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Is Xbox one VR real?

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Fionna Schweit

ArsTechnica is reporting that they have a source who is telling them that a major publisher currently planning to release a new virtual reality game on the Xbox One in 2017 and that game will be shown at e3. This is a pretty big report. Unless MS is branding an Oculus (they have a previous relationship with Oculus) this can only really mean that the previous reports of an Xbox VR are probably accurate. here is the exact quote from the Ars article
“Ars can confirm that at least one major developer is currently planning to release a new virtual reality game on the Xbox One in 2017 and plans to show that game at E3. The news lends credence to multiple recent reports suggesting Microsoft is planning a more powerful, VR-compatible Xbox One for 2017. The information was provided to Ars directly by the developer as part of pre-E3 planning and was confirmed by a PR representative.”

So that seems pretty definitive. Ars goes on to say that its a well known European Developer and that the game is in an established franchise with a lot of other fanct stuff that basically means nothing at this point. Brokenjoysticks will be live at the Xbox press conference on June 16th to bring you any news about this new device, and Microsoft willing our first hands on impressions. The game is supposedly going to release on PS4 and PC as well, so I guess we can expect to see it coming to the Rift and other VR headsets as well.

an artists rendering of what the new headset could look like.

Microsoft has yet to officially announce anything VR related, and Ars is very instant that this title has VR in the name, so they may have just blown the whole VR cover off of MS. With only two weeks left till E3 its a toss up when a rumor comes out like this one. Its probably true (reliable source, close to reveal) but as always with rumors take this with a large grain of salt, it could all just be a false flag for something else. Neogaff also has some compelling evidence, the listing of several VR categories for companies that develop for Xbox.

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