Rumors of an upgraded PlayStation 4 have been floating around for a quite a few months and have even included leak technical specs. Those rumors can pretty much cease now that Sony’s Chief Global Executive, Andrew House, has confirmed to The Financial Times that the upgraded console will debut alongside the existing PS4 model from November 2013.
“It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4 … We will be selling both [consoles] through the life cycle.”
Confirmation of the PS4 Neo comes ahead of Sony’s upcoming E3 press conference, according to house the upgraded PlayStation will not be making an appearance. He did however confirm the longstanding rumor that PlayStation 4 games will have a ‘Neo mode’ as well as backwards compatibility with the existing console once the Neo ships.
Whatever Sony announces in Los Angeles we will bring it to you. Both Fionna and myself will be at the Sony press conference on Monday evening.
UMV has announced a clothing line designed especially for e-sports players, streamers and broadcasters. This new line is called “Ult” and takes a minimalist approach to game focused fashion inspired by the Los Angeles streetwear aesthetic. Ult will not only feature conventional short sleeved tees but also long sleeved tees, hoodie, hats and jackets. UMV says that they are working alongside designers like The Seventh Letter.
Ult will be unveiled on their official website as well on the convention floor on June 13th, the first day of the E3 Expo. Alongside Ult UMV is also launching a line aimed squarely at broadcasters with wearable technology at the forefront of their design philosophy.
The Seventh Letter founder, Corey Zoltan had this to say about their partnership:
“Many of our streetwear fans also love competitive video games so getting to collaborate with ULT esports makes perfect sense, and we are excited to offer that to the community,”
Do you think that a line of e-sports specific clothing makes sense? Let us know in the comments section! Broken Joystick’s staff are in California and will be covering everything breaking from E3 2016 all next week.
Parkour wunderkind Faith Connors returns in this reboot of the 2008 classic, Mirror’s Edge which is out today on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I got the chance to sit down with the game for six hours this past weekend and jump into Faith‘s shoes as she runs, runs, zip lines and slides around the City of Glass. DICE’s latest entry in the franchise not only tinkers with the narrative but also opens up the gameplay with a gigantic open world environment that players of the last game could have only dreamed of on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Here are my initial impressions.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is not a straight retelling of the original title, DICE has decided to tinker with key elements of the game’s narrative – when things kick off we meet the defiant young Faith as she is about to be released from juvenile prison. This technologically advanced prison features futuristic neon displays that advocate for the various corporations around the City of Glass and reminds prisoners that they “should reform and consider employment with any corporation of their choosing.” Once Faith is released from prison she is informed that she was two weeks from release to find employment with one of these corporations or she will be locked back up for an extended period. This version of Faith is very different from the one we saw in 2008, In the 2008 game she was driven by the need to clear her sister’s name for framed murder the plot of Catalyst centers more on corporate espionage than the bond between sisters. This lack of a key motivator and a change in voice actress makes Faith less of a compelling protagonist based upon the time I spent with the game.
Once released from prison the bulk of Faith‘s early story in Mirror’s Edge centers around her reconnecting with the group of runners that she was once acquainted with. In the world of Mirror’s Edge runners are an anti-corporate movement that believe that the average citizenry have been become complacent thanks in part to advanced augmented reality technology that provides the user with a constant stream of corporate approved information. Runners try to subvert this system of iron fisted control on the citizenry visa hacking billboards with anti-corporate messages, trafficing prohibited information to the lower class citizens of the City of Glass and partaking in the more than occasional corporate espionage adventure. Ideologically it is very clear where the runners are and how the player is supposed to react to the presence of these large corporations. While the game stays on point when it comes to underlying political messaging and themes, unfortunately, the cast of side characters don’t convey a lot of personality to the player. Faith’s former contacts serve as Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’s method for providing new story missions and none of these side characters feel like fully developed human beings and could probably be swapped out for one another if it wasn’t for the fact that certain NPCs deliver certain types of activities.
The City of Glass is a gleaming white futuristic monolith to the advancements of technologies that have been produced by the various corporations in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. Tall, seemingly never-ending skyscrapers shimmer as their glass reflect the in-world light sources while yellow accents adorn the area’s that Faith is able to traverse when running from rooftop to rooftop. Top this very pleasing visual aesthetic is topped off with colorful cars and pedestrians which can sometimes be tiny specks below from some of the higher vantage of points available in the game. Combine this with a slightly punk look for some of Faith‘s fellow runners, and her initial outfit at the beginning of the story, and you have a game that knows how to visually define itself.
Traversing around the City of Glass is accomplished through the series’ signature first-person parkour. Unlike the last game, which gave Faith access to all of her abilities from the onset, Catalyst opts to give our heroine a basic set of movement, combat and defensive abilities from the get-go and locks the rest behind a progression system that is tied to an experience level. I could see why players who enjoyed the openness of the 2008 title would be disappointed with progression based unlocks, considering the fact that a number of abilities that were once standard are now locked behind the XP grind. However, I can also see how this would extend the life of the game and slowly teach players about their parkour maneuvers and allow them to master them before moving onto to more advanced skills.
So what abilities did Faith have access too over the course of the six hours that I played? The left bumper allows Faith to climb up objects, contextually jump off of nearby objects and climb up pipes or ladders. Left trigger allows Faith to kick descend ladders, jump down from ledges and slide along the ground. Like in the 2008 version running forward and then tapping the left trigger will launch Faith into a sliding forward dive that allows her to fit under narrow spaces and avoid combat with NPCs. More advanced techniques like rolling from tall heights by pressing the left trigger upon impact and using a wrist-mounted retractable rope become key to completing some of the side objectives and can be woven into Faith’s cityscape acrobatics as needed.
Here is a small sampling of some of the activities that await players in the brand new Mirror’s Edge:
Main Story Missions – These missions are delivered by Faith’s comrades in the Runner’s hideout, which also serves as the main safe zone, or by various NPCs located through the rooftops of the City of Glass. For the most part of the time I spent with these missions they typically revolve around corporate espionage or teaching Faith new game-play mechanics.
Package Delivery – Faith is able to pick up packages at automated drop-off points and then deliver them to a designated location with the time-limit. Really the package delivery missions are timed obstacle courses with various paths, failing the course will give the player the option to retry.
Hackable Billboards – Located throughout the City of Glass are billboards displaying corporate messages. Faith is able to hack these billboards to display messages for the runners in exchange for XP points.
User Created Trials – Using Faith’s augmented reality contacts users are able to create custom trials using up to 4 droppable checkpoints. These courses will then be populated randomly into other players games it seems. Once you’ve completed a user generated trial your score is placed on a leaderboard that is specific for that trial.
Mirror’s Edge Catalyst tries valiantly to take the parkour formula that was so well received with the original game and extend that 6 – 8 hour length into an open world experience that players could potentially lose 100s of hours in. There are dozens upon dozens of collectibles for Faith to collect and exchange for more moves, skills and pieces of gear. Longtime fans who enjoyed the first game might find the addition of an XP system and seemingly pointless collectibles to be padding used to lengthen the time spent with the game but honestly it feels like a fair tradeoff given the open world nature of the City of Glass..
Broken Joystick’s staff will be heading to E3 for the next 8 days but expect a full review of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst after our return!
It looks like the cat is out of the bag for one of Capcom’s big reveals at Microsoft’s E3 press briefing. The infected shall rise again, facing off against longtime Zombie slayer Frank West in a Xbox One / Windows Store exclusive Dead Rising 4 according to leaked screenshots and promotional material that appeared online yesterday.
Despite its’ title Dead Rising 4 will reportedly be a reboot/alternate telling of the Willamette Incident that introduced us to the world of Phenotrans, Zombrex and those pesky wasps that cause necrotic flesh to come back to life. Reportedly the game will also shift the time period of the Willamette Incident from late Summer to Christmas time. Unlike the other games in the franchise, DR4 will run on Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, ditching the proprietary engine that has powered the series since Capcom Vancouver’s Dead Rising 2.
Dead Rising 4is expected to be revealed next week and now confirmed information has been released just yet. Check out te quite convincing leaked assets below:
Well its time for the yearly butchering of Sonic it would seem. SEGA® today announced that its highly anticipated title Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, hitting shelves September 27, will be at this year’s E3, where gamers and Sonic fans alike will be able to get their hands on the game for the first time. Just in time for the 25th anniversary and to kill your childhood one more time. SEGA’s newest title which will be available on the Nintendo 3DS™ family of systems, will deliver all-new fire and ice game play elements that enables players to run through the game at top speed, or take their time with deeper exploration and puzzle play. Does that sound like sonic? Gotta go slower to solve these puzzles? No it doesn’t.
Yup looks like Sonic all right
So confident is SEGA that this will be a disaster that they are giving away three episodes of free SEGA’s press release says ” The content will be available for the very first time on DVD in North America, packaged with each Launch Edition copy of the game.” This does not give me confidence SEGA in fact it makes me think this game is so bad you have to give me free crap to get anyone to even look at it! The press release went on to quote Ivo Gerscovich, chief brand officer, SEGA of America. “This is a milestone year for Sonic, and part of the way we’re celebrating his 25thanniversary is by thanking fans with exciting promotions and content. This is the first time that we’re going to package a game with Sonic Boom episodes, and we feel it will serve as a special gift to the fans,”
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice for Nintendo 3DS will be available in stores and in the Nintendo eShop throughout North America on September 27, 2016 for $39.99 and is available for pre-order now at sonicthehedgehog.com/boom.
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 andgame 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!
Indie survival & exploration title Kona will make an appearance as 1 of 100 titles available for play at the Indiecade booth at this year’s E3.
Kona places players in Northern Canada in the 1970s as a strange blizzard blankets the town of Atamipak Lake. As a detective players must investigate this strange town, investigate the eerie happenings and survive.
A major update to Kona is planned for E3 which will bring improvements in how item combinations are generated. Player feedback provided developers at Parabole with the insight that coming up with combinations was just too cumbersome. Speaking about this change the CEO of Parabole, Alexandre Fiset said:
“Our community on both Steam and GOG.com helped us a lot by providing useful feedback and suggestions. One of their concerns was that combining items felt unintuitive and interactions sometimes were unclear. We listened to their feedback and came up with a better and easier way for players to interact with objects in the game”
Kona is currently available via Steam Early Access which gives players access to a 2 hour long demo version of the game. It is priced at $10.99 CDN.
Nintendo confirmed today that The Legend of Zelda will be the only playable game at E3 and will be the company’s focus at E3. Sadly.
Nintendo will transform its booth at the E3 video game trade show next month in Los Angeles to immerse fans in the world of the newest game in The Legend of Zelda franchise – playable for the first time ever at the show. To ensure attendees are able to truly experience the freedom of exploration the game offers, The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will be Nintendo’s focus of the show this year, and will be the only playable game in Nintendo’s booth via extended demos.
At E3 this year, we’re treating people to an immersive Zelda experience,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “By giving attendees extended hands-on time with this remarkable game, they’ll be able to get a much deeper understanding of something new for the franchise.”
Yet another day means yet another round of supposed leaks for the Nintendo NX. As with anything related to the unannounced console, take these with a grain of salt because we all remember how that supposed controller leak went down last month.
This last news comes by the way of multiple NeoGaf threads and a locked Twitter account belonging to a known industry insider.
The Legend of Zelda For Wii U has long been rumored to be coming to both the Nintendo NX and Wii-U and this latest lengthy post by 10K adds another anonymous confirmation to that list. Other Wii-U titles supposedly in development for the NX? Ports of Mario Maker and Splatoon are both in active development according to 10K’s multiple sources. While these games may certainly be in development there is some contention about whether or not they may come to market due to the challenge of engineering cross platform play for Splatoon and backwards compatibility with existing levels for Mario Maker. Apparently it is also “100% confirmed” that Smash 4 (otherwise known as Smashbros for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U) will be making its way to the NX as an enhanced port, no rumblings if this game may also support cross platform play or use the 3DS as a controller.
Apparently development kits have not been sent to eligible developers yet. Although, the Software Development Kit (or SDK) is apparently in the hands of developers as of the publication of the lengthy post. In relation to ports of current generation titles (Xbox One / PS4) – these anonymous sources have had no problem porting current generation code to Nintendo’s SDK with ease and reportedly the NX’s clockspeed will be somewhere around 15-30% faster than the one found in the PlayStation 4.
Some of these rumors have been backed up by Emily Rogers. Unfortunately the account is locked so we can not verify the authenticity of these tweets but here is a screenshot as it appeared in the original GAF thread:
What do you think these of these? Fake? Real? E3 Is only two months away, I suppose we will find out then.
Nintendo has officially joined the list of exhibitors for this year’s E3 Expo. Right now the company’s name appears in the list of companies attending the show. which you can view right here or search the official E3 site for yourself. No other details about what Nintendo might be showing have of course been announced. Nintendo isn’t known for leaks – with the recent NX leaks being the except and one of those turned out to be completely false. The company still has some big games planned for 2016 including Star Fox Zero which ships later this month and The Legend of Zelda for Wii U.
This confirmation comes just one day after Microsoft announced the timing for their press conference and sent invites out to select gaming press, enthusiasts and business folks. Will our next piece of E3 news belong to Sony? They do say good things come in threes!
The biggest show in gaming, E3, is still almost two months away but we now know when MS will host their Xbox One focused press conference. According to IGN MS will host their live-streamed conference on Monday June 13th at 9:30 AM PST.
We don’t know what Microsoft may reveal at this year’s E3 although a few titles do standout: Gears of War 4, Crackdown 3 and 2017’s Scalebound.
Broken Joysticks staff will be on the ground in LA for this year’s E3. When something huge breaks we will bring it to you.
I think most of us remember the Xbox one being called “undepowered and suck” by several game magazines around the world. Things have come a long way since then. I can now play my Xbox One from my PC, Microsoft has announced that I will be able to cross save files from my Windows 10 apps to my Xbox, and that I can probably only buy most games once and play them on both my Xbox and my PC. While its a bit unlikely that Xbox will ever make it to PS4 levels of console sales there is no doubt that Microsoft (and Phil Spencer) has done a good job of trying to do right by gamers with Xboxes current direction.
In a recent interview with the Venture beat Spencer said
“In the near term, our focus is on the Xbox console. We’re going to have a nice E3. The next focus is how we come to desktop. I’ll call it that. A lot of our franchises map better to desktop. A lot of our players play on both console and desktop. So let’s go after that and see what issues we run into, like control or voice communication or cross-buy, things we’re trying to enable. Let’s solve one big issue first and then look at the next wave of touch in mobile as a place we can go,”
The gist of what Spencer seems to be saying is that the Xbox console’s reach is set to extend far beyond the Xbox it self and off in the world of Windows 10. We have seen some of this with the much maligned recent release of Quantum Break, which was Microsoft’s first heavily advertised cross platform unified architecture game, and now it probably time for us to listen to a long presentation where we hear about the “console divide” and how Gears 4 will be cross platform.
What do you think will happen at this years E3 conference with Xbox? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter or in the comments below!
We’ve seen a lot of footage from Monolith Soft’s upcoming futuristic RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X through various Nintendo Direct events and footage from Japan. Now we finally know when this fantastic looking Wii U game will be available in North America – December 4th 2015. It will also be getting a PAL region release sometime this December as well.
Originally announced in January 2013, Xenoblade Chronicles X transports players to the year 2054 humanity is forced to evacuate earth after a war between alien faction breaks out. After one of the ships carrying survivors from earth crashes on the planet Mira it is up to the player character and their party to help the residents of New Los Angeles and save humanity from the warring alien factions.
During Nintendo’s E3 2015 “Treehouse” live-streams we got a 40 minute look at the English localization for the game. All other previous live-streams and Nintendo Direct events used footage from the Japanese version of the game.Read More
Guerilla Games has been pretty quiet about what shape their next PlayStation 4 exclusive would take. Two years after the release of Killzone: Shadowfall Guerilla took the wraps off of their latest project Horizon Zero Dawn during this week’s PlayStation Media Briefing at E3. To say that this 7 minute debut trailer has me excited about the future of Sony’s latest platform would be doing Horizon a disservice, it is possibly the freshest new IP I’ve seen in years.Read More
A new entry in the Metroid Prime franchise is on its way to the Nintendo 3DS the publisher revealed today. Titled Metroid Prime: Federation Force this multiplayer focused handheld title is a spin-off set in same universe as Retro Studios’ acclaimed first person adventure trilogy. Read More
