MMO News [euro]

Star Wars Battlefront 2 takes Frostbite tech to the next level
The E3 Bulletin: Monday
Xbox One X promises a strong and stable line-up
Wolfenstein 2 looks fantastic in its debut trailer
Bethesda unveils Creation Club, a kind of paid-for mods initiative for Skyrim and Fallout 4
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider standalone expansion announced
Bethesda confirms Doom and Fallout 4 will get VR versions
Shadow of War's bossfights end with a nice chat in new Xbox E3 trailer
Gone Home dev's sci-fi follow-up Tacoma sets August release date
Metro goes open-world in Metro Exodus
BioWare's Anthem demoed, gameplay revealed
Ori sequel looks absolutely phenomenal
Crackdown 3 will launch alongside Xbox One X in November
Three-part Life is Strange prequel confirmed
Cuphead finally has a release date
A brand new look at Sea of Thieves gameplay
State of Decay 2 confirmed for spring 2018
Forza Motorsport 7 out in October, has trucks
Egypt-set Assassin's Creed Origins finally confirmed
Jelly Deals: $400 worth of games and stuff available from Humble for $15
Dirt 4 impresses on consoles, but PC offers the complete package
A Way Out crafts a cocky new forced co-op concept
The Evil Within 2 ads are popping up on Reddit

Star Wars Battlefront 2 takes Frostbite tech to the next level

Posted: 12 Jun 2017 02:04 AM PDT

Electronic Arts' continuing investment in its talented Frostbite team continues to pay dividends. We played a few rounds of Star Wars Battlefront 2 in the wake of the EA Play event, and initial impressions are very positive - this is an exceptionally beautiful game.

At this point, there's a very strong argument that this might just be the most impressive-looking Frostbite title we've seen - no mean feat bearing in mind that developer DICE is once again targeting that crucial 60fps target frame-rate, while BioWare's Anthem gives us some impression of what this revised technology can do when targeting 30Hz. At the time of writing, we've not seen console code, but our hands-on session was hosted on a high-end PC running Nvidia's GTX 1080 (the non Ti version). Quality settings were locked at default to ultra, meaning that this is peak Battlefront 2, at this point in development at least.

The most striking aspect of the presentation is the lighting and materials, where we may well be looking at a revamp of DICE's superb physically-based rendering system - a key component in the Frostbite toolkit that first debuted in the first Battlefront. Our demo playthrough featured a new Naboo-themed map that showcases a rich selection of materials ranging from the stone work of the city streets to reflective marble of the interior. Metalwork on droids and vehicles also looked sensational, and regardless of how you may feel about Star Wars Episode 1, Naboo's architecture and style was a highpoint and DICE's representation is sensational.

The E3 Bulletin: Monday

Posted: 12 Jun 2017 12:14 AM PDT

Once again we are doing daily E3 bulletins from show, posted every morning UK time. Here's what you missed over the weekend.

It's been another year and E3 still isn't dead, despite the pundits' proclamations. Instead it has morphed and spread, changing from a tightly-crammed few days of conferences into a rolling week-long slog of events and livestreams and endless, endless Content, to be consumed ceaselessly until the end of civilisation. The public are officially allowed in this year, and early indications are that a) all the exhibitors got a memo saying they had to talk up The Players, and b) the merch stand is expecting people to be impossibly hype just to be there.

The merch at this year's E3 is just impossibly lame. pic.twitter.com/JqT6zM16ce

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 11:00 PM PDT

The Xbox One X is going to be a beast. Amazing specs. Amazing look. Amazing tech chatter, a lot of which went over my head. It's built around power, compatibility, and craftsmanship, according to Kareem Choudhry, Xbox Director of Software Engineering, on stage at Microsoft's E3 press briefing, and somehow, it's a magic trick too, because it fits in the smallest box - the smallest Xbox - Microsoft has ever offered. Just look at how powerfully dinky this thing is, like an elephant squeezed into a service elevator. A controller leans insouciantly against one edge of it, and that insouciant controller pretty much towers over the machine. True 4K textures! True 4K assets! Enhanced visual fidelity, isotropic filtering and faster load times on the games you already own! Enough of this blather. Kareem is a man in a hurry. Let's see, he says, what this monster can do.

It can do cars, for one thing. Forza Motorsport 7 looks lovely: sharp and clear, the cars nice and shiny with all of it running at 4K and 60 fps on Xbox One X. But is Forza really the best way to introduce a console that is meant to blow you away? Is Dan Greenawalt banging on about a new Porsche really the strain of hype this behemoth deserves? I was more excited when Choudhry announced the new box had a new power management system so innovative that they named it after the person who designed it. That showed, you know, a bit of character. A bit of quirk. A little bit of humanity glinting from within the silicon.

All of which is to say that, in one way, Microsoft did almost everything right at E3 this year. New hardware priced and dated - $499 and it's out November 7th. Rich Leadbetter's seen it, and he's delighted by what he's seen. Choudhry and Phil Spencer both seemed to have nothing but good things to say for it. And the games? The show, once again, was all games. Wall to wall games. 42 of them, 22 with console exclusivity on Xbox One - or maybe that was console launch exclusivity. And many of the games seem great. So why is the whole thing just a tiny bit underwhelming?

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 09:37 PM PDT

Bethesda has announced MachineGames' Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus with a cool reveal video.

The video, below, confirms the return of series star BJ Blazkowicz, member of the Resistance against the Nazi occupation of the United States in an alternative history 1961. He has to recruit resistance leaders to fight the Nazis in locations including small-town Roswell, New Mexico, the flooded streets of New Orleans and a post-nuclear Manhattan.

Here's the official blurb:

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 09:26 PM PDT

Bethesda has announced a kind of paid-for mod initiative called Creation Club for Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition.

It's coming this summer for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and allows you to spend credits on mods made by Bethesda Game Studios and collaborating partners. The mods include new weapons, armour, outfits, accessories, crafting options, housing features and gameplay enhancements.

All mods will be fully compatible with saved games and your existing add-ons.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 09:23 PM PDT

Dishonored 2 is getting a standalone expansion called Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

Revealed at Bethesda's E3 press conference, this new adventure is due on 15th September.

This time out you'll play as Billie Lurk who's gone all Solid Snake with a cybernetic arm and eye.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 09:16 PM PDT

Bethesda's recent Doom reboot and Fallout 4 are both getting VR support.

The VR versions of these games were shown off at Bethesda's E3 press conference moments ago.

Their official titles are Fallout 4 VR and Doom VFR. Yeah, you know what the F stands for.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 04:01 PM PDT

Middle Earth: Shadow of War got another new gameplay trailer at Microsoft's E3 conference, this time featuring a couple of boss battles, some pre-siege strategy, and some surprisingly chatty orcs.

The main focus of the trailer is on the more "dynamic" Nemesis System. It seems to be less focused on drawing us out of the gameplay to a separate menu, and more on how the various duels and power struggles play out in real time. Oh, and there's a very quick look at that weird spear-staff Celebrimbor lets us use in the arena combat, too.

In this case, it played out primarily through an invasion of an arena-based conflict, where a cocky Olog-Hai's taking on a regular Uruk-sized challenger.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 04:01 PM PDT

Gone Home developer Fullbright's upcoming sci-fi mystery Tacoma is coming to Xbox One and PC on 2nd August.

You can pre-order it now for £14.99 / $19.99 on Xbox, or get it 10 per cent off at £13.49 / $17.99 on Steam.

Tacoma puts players in the role of engineer Amy Ferrier as she boards the Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma and observes the holographic logs of its mysteriously missing crew members. Think Gone Home meets Everybody's Gone to the Rapture in space!

Metro goes open-world in Metro Exodus

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:47 PM PDT

UPDATE 11/06/2017 11.47pm: Metro Exodus is also coming to PS4. It's due on all platforms in 2018.

ORIGINAL STORY 11/06/2017 10.28pm: Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light developer 4A Games has revealed the third entry in its Russian post-apocalyptic series. It's called Metro Exodus and it's a proper open-world game.

Revealed at Microsoft's E3 2017 press briefing, Metro Exodus is confirmed for Xbox One and Windows 10.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:40 PM PDT

Microsoft closed its Xbox E3 2017 conference with an extended look at Anthem, BioWare's new shared-world action-role-playing game. It launches autumn 2018 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

The gameplay looked incredibly impressive, showcasing a vast open-world where you and a team of up to four friends can explore dense jungles and wildernesses, boosting around by jetpack or mech-enhanced-running. The ruins and treasures of a sci-fi world are there for you to find, but so are big beasties and baddies.

There wasn't much of a hint to Anthem's story, but we saw the player character heading out in their exo-suit, named Javelins, which we were told come in various models for different play-styles.

Ori sequel looks absolutely phenomenal

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:36 PM PDT

Stylish fantasy metroidvania Ori and the Blind Forest is getting a sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Revealed at Microsoft's E3 press conference, this follow-up will come to Xbox One and Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

"Embark on an all new adventure to discover the mysteries beyond the forest of Nibel, uncover the hidden truths of those lost, and unravel Ori's true destiny," developer Moon Studios teased of its impending adventure.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:22 PM PDT

Open-world cult classic Crackdown's impending second sequel, Crackdown 3, is now due alongside the Xbox One X on 7th November, Microsoft revealed at its E3 press conference.

Developed by Sumo Digital (LittleBigPlanet 3, Snake Pass), the sandbox sequel was announced way back in 2014 but went off the grid for a bit. Now Microsoft has shown some gameplay footage of how it's shaping up.

When Crackdown 3 was first announced, environment destruction was a major part of the reveal. Microsoft Studios general manager Shannon Loftis said on Twitter it was still a key part of the game.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:18 PM PDT

Life is Strange's previously-leaked prequel has been confirmed as a three-part mini-series.

Titled as Before the Storm, it is the work of US-based developer Deck Nine, again, as previously suspected.

Scenes showed story moments set some years before that of the original Life is Strange series, when its main character Max was absent, when Chloe had not yet turned full blue-hair punk, and when missing teen Rachel Amber was still around.

Cuphead finally has a release date

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:11 PM PDT

Classic cartoon platformer Cuphead has, at long last, got a release date.

It's due 29th September on Xbox One and Windows 10. Microsoft just showed a spanking new trailer during its Xbox E3 2017 press briefing - watch it below.

It's about time!

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 02:50 PM PDT

Microsoft has released some new Sea of Thieves gameplay that gives us an updated look at the game.

Sea of Thieves, from UK developer Rare, is described as a shared world adventure. You play a pirate alongside other pirates and seek treasure from all sorts of mysterious nooks and crannies.

The new video, below, shows off a number of players who work together to solve clues, dodge sharks and find some loot, before escaping a cave, fending off skeletons and then a rival pirate ship controlled by enemy players amid a storm.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 02:42 PM PDT

Zombie survival game and indie darling State of Decay is getting a sequel. It's called State of Decay 2 and it's coming next spring.

Revealed at Microsoft's E3 press conference, State of Decay 2 will be an Xbox Play Anywhere title, meaning it will be on both Xbox One and Windows 10 and players will be able to transfer their data between platforms.

The gameplay footage above promises a more robust State of Decay experience with plenty of refuges to build, vehicles to drive, and different types of zombies to shoot.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 02:33 PM PDT

Microsoft has announced Forza Motorsport 7 with the first live gameplay demo of Xbox One X at its E3 press conference. The racing sequel will be released on October 3rd - a month before the new console it's serving as a flagship title for - for the Xbox One and Windows 10.

Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt mentioned that the game will run in native 4K resolution at 60 frames per second on Xbox One X, as suggested by the engine demo seen by Digital Foundry in April.

Detail on the game was thin on the ground at the presentation, though Greenawalt mentioned it would feature more than 700 cars, including the largest collections of Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches ever seen in video games.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 02:24 PM PDT

Assassin's Creed Origins has finally, finally, been unveiled. It launches 27th October.

Set in Ancient Egypt, the game will chart the origins of the Assassins' Brotherhood, and the story of main character Bayek. He's an Egyptian sheriff who stands up to those attempting to corrupt Egypt's civilisation.

The game will have a greater focus on RPG elements, as shown in the game's extended set of gameplay. It featured Bayek returning to his hometown, a dusty settlement bordered by a temple fortress.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 10:56 AM PDT

A note from the editor: Jelly Deals is a deals site launched by our parent company, Gamer Network, with a mission to find the best bargains out there. Look out for the Jelly Deals roundup of reduced-price games and kit every Saturday on Eurogamer.

Just in time to kick off this year's E3 festivities in style, Humble has gone ahead and put together an extra special bundle to benefit the ESA Foundation (that's the Entertainment Software Association's charity, for the uninitiated). The folks at Humble are calling this one the 'E3 Digital Ticket' and 25 companies are chipping in to get involved, from Amazon and Twitch to THQNordic and Sega.

What this bundle looks like for you, dear readers, is the ability to get over 20 games and downloadable content packs for up to $15 (around £11.76) today. By spending at least $1, you'll also get 10% off a Humble Monthly subscription as well as a stack of coupons to spend in the Humble Store itself.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 05:12 AM PDT

Codemasters returns with the latest series entry for its Dirt rallying series, and its objective here is clear: to retain and indeed expand upon the hardcore simulation aspects of the excellent Dirt Rally, and to combine it with a more accessible, user-friendly arcade mode too. The developer's Ego engine is pushed still further this time around, which begs the question - can the technology meet the increased demands of this more ambitious title, and can it retain the solid 60fps that characterised the previous game? And on top of that, what additional features does the PC version bring to the table?

To its credit, Codemasters has made it clear that achieving locking to 60fps is the priority here - and in playing the title, it's easy to see why. There's a tangible improvement in controller response compared to the last-gen 30Hz Dirt titles, and the sense of feedback is on another level. To ensure the best chance of retaining that super-smooth frame-rate, Dirt 4 employs the use of a dynamic resolution scaler - it's implemented on all consoles, but its effects are more noticeable on the Xbox One version of the game, especially in the most intense, GPU-heavy areas of the game.

However, diving into straight rallying gameplay, there's very little to tell the console versions apart. The PlayStation 4 version appears to employ higher precision anti-aliasing over Xbox One, with improved MSAA coverage. There's the sense of additional refinement as opposed to any particular game-changing improvements, while shifting to PS4 Pro sees Codemasters deploy a range of further visual boosts. There's improved shadow quality, increased MSAA coverage on environments, better reflections and refined environment map resolution. The rear-view mirror also gets MSAA coverage, something that doesn't happen on base hardware. Pro doesn't appear to require much in the way of dynamic resolution scaling throughout gameplay, and has a tighter lock to the target 1080p resolution.

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 03:00 AM PDT

A couple of weeks ago I played a new Escape the Room experience which blew my mind a little bit - where, part-way through, we were suddenly introduced to another, separate room to explore. The sudden change in gameplay forced our team to behave differently - coordinating to solve situations from different perspectives at the same time. It's a frantic feeling of fun I found again today, thousands of miles away, playing A Way Out - another game where two points of view unfold simultaneously, where players must communicate to progress.

Mixed in amongst the polished teasers and preening Let's Plays, A Way Out was an oddball standout from EA's press conference. Exclusively co-op, this early 2018 release is the next game from Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons writer and director Josef Fares. We've known of the project's existence since the end of last year, but after playing and loving the devastatingly emotional and understated Brothers, seeing A Way Out's brash and grizzled gameplay debut today was a genuine shock. Gone was the previous game's fantasy pastoral setting, replaced by dirty, urban 1970s scenes. Brothers 2, this was not.

Where Brothers' core gameplay conceit was that you controlled two characters with one controller, A Way Out inverts this by forcing two people to each pick up a pad. You can play in local co-op with someone in the same room, or alternatively by connecting online with a friend. But there is no online matchmaking, Fares confirmed at EA's post-event showcase today. "It's cocky," the excitable Fares told me. "But the experience is made to be co-op. This is the game."

Posted: 11 Jun 2017 12:53 AM PDT

The E3 leaks are in full flow: this time it's adverts for the unannounced The Evil Within 2 popping up on Reddit.

"Bethesda returns you to the nightmare in The Evil Within 2," reads the advert, which was spotted by multiple users on Reddit overnight.

"Now available for preorder. How will you survive?"

MMORPG Blog: Online Games MMO

MMO News [euro]

MMO News [euro]

Total Pageviews

statcounter

Translate

Labels

Followers

Readers

Blog Archive