Tag Archive

Rumor: PlayStation VR Will Cost $1100+ CDN, Stealth Launch Next Week?

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Could the PlayStation VR, formally known as Project Morpheus, make its’ way to retail as early as next week? According a report filed by the Uk’s Daily Mail Sony has sent out invites to an exclusive event centered around the technology for next Tuesday.  This event which is clearly aimed at the tech enthusiast press just so happens to coincide with the 2016 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Citing a retail listing that briefly appeared on Amazon.ca, the Daily Mail estimates that the add-on will be priced at approximately $1125 CDN (or $800 USD). Where things kind of really jump off the rails, so to speak, is their assertion that device will have a stealth launch right after the press event next week.  Not since the disastrous launch of the SEGA Saturn in 1995 has a major gaming company attempted to pull the now famous “and one more thing”, launching a product at the end of a press presentation. While it might work for Apple (repeatedly), would it be the right move for Sony’s fledgling VR technology?

Sony’s major competition in the VR space, the Oculus Rift, launches later this month on the 28th for a suggested retail price of $600 USD. HTC and Valve’s first VR kit, the HTC Vive, will ship a week later on April 5th, and is already available for pre-order at a staggering $799 USD price point. Do you think Sony will beat them all to the punch, even if they launch the PSVR in select markets?

Whatever happens, BrokenJoysticks will be sure to bring it to you. While we have yet to receive an invite for this specific PlayStation event we will have staff on the ground at GDC 2016. VR is sure to be the talk of the show and with just a few short days until the doors open who knows what surprises GDC has in store for us!

PS VR

 

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Leak: Overwatch Releases 5/24, Early Access Starts May 3rd

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

According to a series of full page and mobile advertisements that accidentally went live on IGN.com over the past few hours, Blizzard’s upcoming team based First Person Shooter Overwatch will release on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on May 24th 2016. Not only will the game come out in just a little over two months but Blizzard will reportedly host an open beta stress test with customers who pre-ordered the game gaining early access starting on May 3rd.

Overwatch Leak

Our staff got the chance to play during one of Blizzard’s rare Closed Beta Test Weekends and honestly I absolutely fell in love with the game. Since  the beta took a brief hiatus throughout most of December and a bit of January the Overwatch development team have added a number of skins, decals and other goodies through progression based unlocks.

Weren’t lucky enough to get into the beta? Mark May 24th on your calendar, Soldier!

[Source]

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Phil Spencer: There May Be Room For Large Hardware Upgrades For Xbox One

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Phil Spencer

Microsoft’s Xbox One platform was center stage last week when the software giant held a games’ centric press event in San Francisco to show how exclusives on Xbox One and Windows PC could be developed & released simultaneously. Sure demonstrations like Remedy’s upcoming Quantum Break and Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 6: Apex running on both platforms showcase how titles can run great on both platforms, but what happens when the available PC hardware outclasses the nearly three-year-old Xbox One?

The answer, according to Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer is how in how Microsoft looks at the Xbox One platform as a whole. Rather than looking at things through the traditional 5 – 7 year console generation framework that has existed since the 1980s, Microsoft is thinking about the Xbox One similar to how consumer mobile phones are approached. This could potentially mean substantial hardware updates without breaking backwards compatibility thanks to Xbox One’s universal application structure that was introduced alongside Windows 10.

Speaking to Polygon Spencer had this to say about where the future of Xbox One’s hardware may be heading:

“We look at these other ecosystems out there like mobile, tablet and PC and we see that they have a very continuous evolution cycle in hardware, whereas between console generations most of the evolution is making it cheaper and potentially making it smaller.

 Both are meaningful but don’t make the games play any better. If you look at PC specifically and see the evolution that happens there, there’s no reason why console can’t ride that same curve.”

No solid details in regards to what we could see from a potential Xbox 1.5 in the future. Perhaps it will be powered by the next generation Polaris APUs from AMD? Right now it’s all speculation but here’s hoping that Microsoft has paid attention to previous attempts to supercharge existing consoles with add-ons, lest the next Xbox One iteration become Microsoft’s 32X.

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Titanfall 2 Retail Displays Deploy Without Notice – Reveal Soon?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Take this with a grain of salt but fans of Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall have begun to hype themselves up for the supposed incoming reveal of the game. All of this kicked off this morning when NeoGaf noticed that a twitter user by the name of Niall Maher noticed a “Titanfall 2” display box in the PlayStation 3 section of a local retailer.

A few hours later it was found that the game is also listed on Amazon.co.uk for the PlayStation 4 although it currently it has no description is simply filled with “to be determined”.

Could the reveal of Titanfall 2 be only a few days away? Perhaps Microsoft revealed it at their recent closed doors media briefing in San Francisco, the embargo from that event drops tomorrow morning (March 1st). We will of course update this story if anything official is announced.

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Rumor: Games With Gold For March 2016 Leaked

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

It looks like the Games With Gold for next month might have leaked out before the official announcement according to a post on gaming forum Neo Gaf. If the rumor is true then Xbox players can look forward to complementary copies of Sherlock Holmes: Crime & Punishment  and  Lords of the Fallen as long as they have an active Xbox Live subscription. Xbox 360 owners may receive Gearbox Software’s classic FPS Borderlands as well as the RTS title Supreme Commander 2.

Users in the original forum thread say that not only is the original Borderlands backwards compatible on Xbox One but also is all of the game’s DLC. We’ll see whenever Major Nelson makes the official announcement if Borderlands will include all of its’ add-ons.

Are you excited to try out the Dark Souls like Lords of the Fallen on Xbox One? Let us know!

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Did An Accidental Slip up Out Skate 4 For PS4 & Xbox One?

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

According to a now delisted item on Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi Electronic Arts could be poised to release the first current generation entry in their long-running Skate franchise – Skate 4- as soon as this August.

Alongside the supposed release date of August 23rd 2016 the website entry also featured cover-art for the game that reveals that copies of Skate 4 will also include a downloadable copy of the Xbox 360 title Skate 3 bundled with the Xbox One version.

The Skate franchise has been going strong for 9 years now, with the first entry debuting on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 back in 2007. Skate titles are known for their unique control scheme which uses the twin sticks on the Xbox / PlayStation controller to represent the borders’ foot movements, providing an additional degree of control not found in competing titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro-Skater.

Skate

Do you think that EA will surprise the world with a Skate 4 reveal at GDC or E3 this year? After the failure that was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 I’m sure skateboarding fanatics can give another publisher a go at recreating the thrill of riding on a board.

[Source]

Header Image: Promotional Screenshot for Skate 3.

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Have Left For Dead 3 Details Leaked From Valve?

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Left For Dead 3

Get out your tinfoil hats and listen up because apparently if you listen really close you can hear the dead stirring.

According to outlet Express.co.uk(via Neogaf) Left for Dead 3 is currently in active production at Valve for a 2017 release although this latest report does not list any platforms for L4D3 or would that be L3F7 F0R D34D?

Apparently the creative team at Valve has dreamt up three brand new protagonists for this supposed zombie slaying sequel – three male characters and one female character named Katherine. Previous “leaks” have corroborated one of the characters being named “Katherine” with the names of the 3 male leads being “Irvine”, “Keenan” and “Garret Jr.”.

It is said that there will be six campaigns for Left for Dead 3 including some returning favorites. The six playable scenarios are said to be: Crashland, Impasse, Inquisitor Land, Early Destination, Cliff Hanger and No Mercy. Players of the original 2009 Left for Dead game may remember No Mercy as the first campaign setting in Turtle Rock’s game that featured players escaping a hospital filled with the undead.

Back in 2013 access to an internal Valve planning tool called Jira was made available to the public and screenshots found their way onto longtime Valve fan site, Valvetime. At that time 68 separate Valve employees were listed in various Left For Dead 3 development groups. The Jira screenshots were one of the first acknowledgements of the Source 3 engine which was recently utilized in the DOTA 2: Reborn client update.

Do you think that ant of these details are true? Could this just be the case of anonymous internet trolls reposting old rumors to try and get our hopes up?

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A Boy And His Blob Heading To Xbox One and PlayStation 4

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

A Boy And His Blob

WayForward Technologies’ 2009 reimagining of  A Boy and His Blob is coming to the Xbox Live Marketplace and presumably the PlayStation Network in just over two weeks time.

Spotted by eagle eyed readers on the Xbox Live Marketplace this current gen port of the Wii original looks to boast impressive 2D art assets that no doubt benefit from the bump to an HD resolution. The Xbox One version will clock in at about 2.19GB if the Xbox Live Marketplace is correct.

The game is a 2D platformer where the player, taking the role of the titular boy, must utilize his friendly blobs shapeshifting powers to solve puzzles.

Here is the official description from Xbox Live:

A Boy and His Blob makes its triumphant return! As the boy, you feed Blob jelly beans and watch him transform into cool and useful objects to solve puzzles and escape danger. With its robust and emotionally driven story, challenging puzzles, and visually impressive art style, A Boy and His Blob marks the re-release of this 2009 cult-classic!

We will have more on A Boy and His Blob as soon as it is officially confirmed. The original 2009 version appeared exclusively on Nintendo Wii.

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Rumor: Distribution Agreement The Reason PSO2 Has Yet To Reach Western Shores

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Rae Michelle Richards

Phantasy Star Online 2

Could a single contract be responsible for Phantasy Star Online 2 not seeing a western release despite the huge success of Free-to-Play MMORPGs?  According to a source speaking anonymously to SEGA fan site TSSZ Beyond Blue, this is indeed the case. This particular agreement is speculated to be between SEGA of Japan and Gamania Digital Entertainment, it is said that SEGA is barred from publishing PSO2 on any distribution platform and not just Valve’s Steam – which has been their mainstay for PC ports.

For western fans of the long dormant series there may yet be hope – the agreement between the two companies is said to have a finite length, meaning that the clauses dealing with distribution will eventually expire although an exact timeframe is not known. Gamania was involved with the Chinese rollout of Phantasy Star Online 2 in both mainland China, Hong Kong and Tawian.

Official communication with western fans ceased on the official PSO English North Ameriecan Facebook pag went dark over three years ago after the game was playable at PAX Prime 2012. Fans have since had to download the Japanese version and use unofficial translation patches to get the game into a playable state or use VPNs to play the official English version launched in South East Asia launched in 2014

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Final Fantasy XV PS4 Version Slated For June Release By Amazon Japan

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Final Fantasy XV

Amazon Japan has created an entry for Final Fantasy XV that may reveal that the game is scheduled for a June 2016 in that country.

We already know that Square Enix is planning to announce the release date of XV sometime this coming March so perhaps a early summer release in Japan and a Fall 2016 release in North America and Europe isn’t too shocking.

I also noticed while viewing this page that price is listed as 18,000 Yen or $149.99 USD – could this signal a possible collector’s edition? There’s no further information on the page and in all likelihood all of this information could purely be placeholder data.Read More

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PlayStation Flash sale Could Be Imminent

Posted on December 24, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

If a social media screen-cap posted on Neogaf is to be believed then a holiday weekend long Flash Sale may be forthcoming in the next few hours on the playstation store.

Posted by Gaf user Spy this Facebook post seemingly comes from PlayStation’s Mexican social media page and advertises a sale featuring some of the biggest new releases from this year including EA’s rebooted Need For Speed, Assasins Creed Syndicate and Just Cause 3.

If Sony happens to announce a surprise Flash Sale we will surely bring it to you!

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AMD Crimson Bug May Cause Cards To Overheat

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Editor’s Note:

After the publication of this story it has come to our attention that AMD has issued a tweet that outlines their plans for a hot fix for this particular bug due out on Monday, original story follows:

AMD’s recent release of the Crimson driver suite – designed to replace the aging AMD Catalyst Control Centre and speed up gaming performance by up to 20% – might have a critical bug linked to the software’s control of graphic card fans.

Several users on different sub-reddits are reporting that the AMD Crimson software is not correctly adjusting their Radeon Card’s fan to properly manage the increased heat that comes with running games.Read More

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AMD Crimson Driver & Software Suite Rumored For Imminent Release

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Owners of AMD cards have been seeing some inferior benchmarks when compared against comparable Nvidia hardware with recent titles like Batman: Arkham Asylum and The Witcher III. Many tech journalists and enthusiasts users have speculated that this disparity may have to do with these titles utilization of Nvidia’s proprietary GameWorks technologies. Rain effects in Batman, Lighting in Fallout 4 and hair in The Witcher III all utilize Nvidia exclusive technologies that AMD owners have had to tone down or disable entirely in order to achieve the same framerates as GeForce owners.

It looks like AMD might finally have an answer with the (rumored) impending release of AMD Radeon Crimson – a brand new driver and software suite that according to leaked marketing material will provide a number of benefits to owners of existing and future hardware.

On the r/PCGaming sub-reddit a user by the handle of BehindaCorpFirewall posted a link to over a dozen presentation slides that outline the AMD Crimson software. Here are a few of the more interesting points, at least to me:

Higher Frames Per Second

  • Asynchronous Shaders allow for breaking serial workloads into parallel tasks
  • Idle GPU resources used for this task instead of queuing
  • Improved multi-threading performance

Low Frame Rate Compensation Technology

  • Smooths out gameplay when application frame rate falls below monitor refresh rate
  • Algorithms adjust GPU output and refresh-rate to prevent game stuttering
  • No additional hardware or configuration required for this feature.

Custom Resolutions Support & Better Up-Scaling

  • Allows users to create custom resolutions.
  • Control over pixel density & refresh rate.
  • Improved 2k (1080P) à 4K (UHD) scaling

What do you think of some of these rumored changes that the Crimson driver & software may bring? If these leaked material are even close to accurate we could see the rollout of this new software package in the coming days. If you head-on over to the AMD website you can already watch a preview video outlining some of the work that has gone into Crimson.

Right now all of this should be considered a rumor, as an AMD owner I’ll be sure to take some bench marks in some of the games I regularly play and report back after the rollout.

[source]

[Header Image Source]

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Beware of Spoilers: Halo 5 Retail Copies May Be In The Wild

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

Spartans be on alert because it seems like retail copies of Halo 5: Guardians may have found their way into the wild from the retail supply chain ahead of the game’s October 25th release date.

Akai, a member of the NeoGaf forum, posted an image taken from IMGUR that shows what looks to be a shrink-wrapped copy of Halo 5: Guardians for the Xbox One. Unfortunately no pictures of the disc or included leaflets were posted so its authenticity is subject for now.

It is not uncommon for the games media to receive copies of games well in advance, often these copies are retail builds or in some cases with larger games very controlled digital downloads if it’s a larger title under NDA. It is unknown if the copy shown in Akai’s images are simply pictures of a retail copy provided for review as no receipt was provided with the pictures.

This isn’t the first time a Halo title has been leaked ahead of release. Pretty much every major game in the franchise has been leaked since Halo 2. According to IGN’s extensive piece on the history of Halo leaks Halo 2 was leaked nearly 3 weeks before its release. Halo 3 faired a little better by only being leaked onto pirate sites a week before release. Halo: Reach leaked almost a full month before release and 343 Industries first Halo title – Halo 4 – leaked in mid-October of 2012.

If you’re planning on surfing the Halo sub-reddit, Twitch.tv or other popular Spartan gathering places beware because spoilers may be coming soon.

Halo5

[Source]

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Final Fantasy XII HD Unexpectedly Teased

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Rae Michelle Richards

This past Saturday during the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert Final Fantasy concert composer Arnie Roth let word slip that an HD remaster of Final Fantasy XII will be out “soon”.

As avid Square fans might know this is not one of the many Final Fantasy titles expected for release in the coming years which include: World of Final Fantasy and the Final Fantasy VII Remake both of which were announced at this year’s E3. Nor is it the upcoming Final Fantasy XV which finally had a playable demo released this past March.

During the development of last year’s Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster long time series producer Yoshinori Kitase mentioned in an interview that if that package was successful Square would look into producing other HD remasters including FFXII.

You can watch a short video clip of Arnie Roth talking about the HD version of Final Fantasy XII, which he calls a “remake”. We’ll have more on this story if it develops any further.

[youtube id=”IMGTCxb6rAc”]

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