Dark Souls 3 is ready for pre-order with the original Dark Souls
Australia so far has seen the pre-order screen for Dark Souls 3. The price is 99 AUD for the standard version, and 137 AUD for the game plus the season pass. This is approximately $60 USD and $100 USD. You should start seeing the prices in your region in a couple of hours. What is really interesting however is that when you pre-order Dark Souls 3 you will also get the original Dark Souls via backwards compatibility on the Xbox One. You should receive a codes within 7 to 10 days via Xbox messages after Dark Souls 3 releases. This also means that the original Dark Souls will be backward compatibly for everyone very soon. With 2 Dark Souls games I think that whoever pre-orders this game will not leave their rooms for a couple months. Tell us if your exited for the new release of Dark Souls 3.
Collectible toy line for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt inbound.
In partnership with CD PROJEKT RED, Dark Horse will launch a high-end product line based on The Witcher in the fall of 2016. Licensed product categories derived from the series will span a large range, including statues, busts, and action figures; prop and jewelry replicas; and barware, stationery, and other collectibles. This new line of products debuts with a stunning set of new figures. “We are truly excited to bring The Witcher 3 characters to life! Wild Hunt fans requested figures of Geralt, Ciri, Yen and other collectibles multiple times, and now, thanks to this cooperation, we’re finally able to fulfill these requests without putting ‘an arm and a leg’ on the price tag. I truly hope Witcher fans notice all the love and the excellent craftsmanship put into creating them!” said Rafał Jaki, Business Development Manager, CD PROJEKT RED. The first Witcher figures to be released are Geralt, Triss, and Yennefer, followed by Ciri and the Wild Hunt King, Eredin. Each will be designed to the character’s likeness, custom painted, and displayed in deluxe window box packaging with a suggested retail price of $29.99.
Do you want to be a Mammoth? well now you can if you pre-order Far Cry Primal
Yes you read right, if your here right now then you want to be a Mammoth, and I have some good news. If you pre-order any of Far Cry Primal’s editions then you will have access to three exclusive missions. The DLC pack is called Legend of the Mammoth. Ubisoft says that this DLC will allow you to experience life as a mammoth and fight for your herds survival. The mission’s names is Duel of the Beasts, Hunt the Hunters, and The Trapped Elder. We can probably guess that there will be a lot of smashing and killing in this DLC. Oh wait here is a trailer so you know what I mean. Far Cry Primal will release on February 23 on Xbox One and PS4, and March 1 on the PC.
More Xbox One exclusives coming to Windows 10?
Microsoft and Xbox for awhile now have been wanting to integrate Xbox gaming to PC gaming. We have already seen an example of this by Xbox announcing that Quantum Break will release on Windows 10, and so far fans have mixed feelings about this. One side says that its good that Quantum break and more are releasing on more platforms. More people can play, more money will be made to make more games, ect. On the other hand however fans say that releasing Quantum Break on more platforms steals the idea of “Xbox exclusive”, and the Xbox One will have less to offer. Wither you like it or not more and more rumors are coming out saying that more Xbox One exclusives are coming to Windows 10. Now we already know that Microsoft wants to pursue cross-buy between the Xbox One and Windows 10, so it wouldn’t be surprising that some “Xbox exclusives” would be joining that ride. A Chinese-based site called WPDang (via Windows Central) are saying that they have some info regarding which games would be available for cross-buy. A unsourced rumor is saying that the Xbox One exclusives Forza Motorsport 6, Scalebound, and Gears of War 4 will be released on Windows 10 along with the Xbox One of course. These are very highly anticipated games for the Xbox One, and people will take sides wither they like this idea or not. In my own opinion I like that Microsoft and game publishers are releasing their products to more platforms, but I don’t like how (at first) Xbox marketed these games as “Xbox exclusives” only. You cant just say that these games will be released on one platform but on another at the same time. That is lying to your fans. Yes, Windows 10 and Xbox is owned by Microsoft but it is not the same. Microsoft should’ve marketed these games as “Microsoft exclusives” instead. Please share your opinions in the comments below. We are very interested on what your opinions about this subject is.
Sniper Elite 4 is in development.
It looks like Sniper Elite 4 is being developed, as revealed by LinkedIn. This was taken from an employee of ADIA Entertainment, a Chinese company who works on digital arts. Sniper Elite 3 was a big turnout a lot of fans liked it and can’t wait for more. Check out this image below: VideoGamer have reached out to Rebellion and have said this: “To be honest we’re flattered that people are actively searching out for a new Sniper Elite title, and we certainly don’t mind being mentioned next to projects like Black Ops 3 and Unreal!” Kingsley said in a statement provided to us this afternoon. “However the person in question doesn’t work for Rebellion and we haven’t announced a new entry in the Sniper Elite series. Last year we celebrated the Sniper Elite series’ 10th birthday and 10 millionth sale, so our IP is still hugely important to both Rebellion and independent UK games development. We’re actually gearing up to announce a new Rebellion game soon, so expect to hear more from us before GDC!” We will learn more about this game soon. Stay Tuned Sniper Elite fans.
March 1 is bringing Heavy Rain to PS4
Quantic Dreams has announced on their official Facebook page that the PS4 version of Heavy Rain finally has a release date, March 1st. That’s in the U.S. Everyone in else will need to wait an extra day until March 2nd. There is also a bundle collection consisting of both Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls which will be available both physically and digitally, but the physical edition is not available in the U.S. The game will most likely be $30 as it is the cost of Beyond: Two Souls on PS4 already. The full list of dates and editions can be found below. North America and Latin America Heavy Rain (Digital) – March 1, Heavy Rain & Beyond: Two Souls Collection (Retail) – March 1 (Latin America-only) Europe, Australia, and New Zealand Heavy Rain (Digital) – March 2 (EU) / March 4 (UK), Heavy Rain & Beyond: Two Souls Collection (Retail) – March 2 (EU) / March 4 (UK) Asia (excluding Japan) Heavy Rain (Digital) – March 2, Heavy Rain & Beyond: Two Souls Collection (Retail) – March 2
Hitman Go hits PS4 and PC next week
Square Enix has revealed that Hitman Go will release on PS4 and PC next week as a Definitive Edition which will include of the content on mobile. Although no exact price has been listed yet, the mobile version is available currently for $4.99. Hitman Go is a turn based Hitman game which takes place over 91 levels of increasing difficulty. Evolving the legendary stealth franchise from a third-person console action game to a turn-based strategy game for mobile was a unique endeavor but one that has resulted in global praise for the mobile game,” said Patrick Naud, Head of Studio at Square Enix Montréal. Hitman Go launches February 23rd on PS4, Vita and PC.
Book Review: Ready Player One
While it wouldn’t make much sense to review a five-year-old video game, a five-year-old book about video games seems much more practical. We gamers follow the release schedule very closely. Game trailers get hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views, official twitter channels are followed, and news site chomp up every press release. Books themed on video games are rare, and good ones are far rarer still. I had only heard of Ready Player One this past month and realized that it, too, merited attention and review. After all, video gamers have long craved positive attention and limelight, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a highly acclaimed title on the subject. I picked up the book and finished it in a single day, and while I was completely engrossed with it while I was reading it, the longer I think about it, the less I like it. Taking place in the year 2044, Ready Player One follows 17-year-old Wade Watts, a poor, orphaned high school student living in the economically devastated United States. The world has become a very different place following various wars, peak oil, famine, disease, and climate change, a true political left-wing nightmare scenario. Wade, like many people in the book, spends nearly all of his time in a virtual reality Internet called OASIS, immersed by advanced VR headgear and controlling gloves. There, he goes to high school, has a couple of friends and acquaintances who could live anywhere on the planet, and plays the most massive multiplayer game known to man. OASIS credits carry more weight than actual currency as most of mankind chooses to live the majority of their reality virtually. The plot is set in motion by the death of the founder of OASIS James Halliday, who posthumously announced a massive Easter egg hunt inside of OASIS, with the prize being his fortune of hundreds of billions of dollars and the controlling stake of the company that owns OASIS. For five years everyone on the planet obsessively searches for the first key in the hunt, without a hint of progress being made. As most people give up and start to consider the mystery an elaborate hoax, Wade continues searching, eventually uncovering the beginning of the egg hunt and becoming and instant celebrity. The majority of the book follows this hunt, which incorporates nearly every level of geek culture in existence. Huge amounts of text are devoted to the 80s, with references like Pac-Man, Zork, Wargames, Joust, and Rush playing central roles, and so many more playing supporting roles. There is significant charm to Ready Player One, especially for those old enough or retro enough to understand even a fraction of the references. Being 32 years old myself, I knew I was in for a geek culture adventure ride when I read the early passphrase “You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada,” a reference to the 80’s movie The Last Starfighter, one of my family favorites growing up. The stack of references only grows from there. In a way, Ready Player One is the literary embodiment of a common juvenile fantasy, wherein the protagonist is talented in a very specific way, and those talents are called upon to save the world. Seeing it played out in fiction is quite satisfying in its own way. The other half to the virtual world of Ready Player One is the unification of the most beloved factions of geekdom. With few limits to the possibilities in OASIS, Cline describes incredible encounters of ships from Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Halo, and dozens more, all flying about and interacting as so many people have seen only in their imaginations. The universe is littered with worlds containing entire rebuilt locations from Blade Runner, Dungeons and Dragons, and more, explored by the characters in loving detail. For anyone who has ever wished they could live in a fictional world for just an instant, Ready Player One provides a sprawling playground of limitless possibilities. However, a story is more than just its setting, and that’s where Ready Player One breaks down. Cline appears to have written the book with only a stereotypical Redditor in mind, both as his protagonist and as the reader. Cline wastes no time in shoving his views on religion and politics down the reader’s throat in the first 10 pages. He tries to paint a picture of a world fallen into that left-wing nightmare, but clearly lacks the understanding of the complex issues to avoid creating an immersive world that would come from either a far better researched prognostication of potential modern catastrophes, or by simply making the novel take place in 2145 rather than 2045. As it’s written, the setting of Ready Player One reads like an episode of Captain Planet, with the cackling cartoon villains who want to destroy the planet having been the victors. Cities are randomly annihilated by nuclear weapons, oil has almost completely run out, global warming has destroyed much of the environment, travel by any means is nearly impossible, government secrets are available for purchase with only modest amounts of internet currency, and people care more about electing the Presidents of the Internet (Corry Doctorow and Wil Wheaton, as if the message of sucking up to Reddit wasn’t played up enough) than the President of the United States. While some of those are tangible contemporary problems, they’re handled so haphazardly that I am unable to take them seriously. As though to escape the problems of the real world, every character important to the plot spends most of their time, if not nearly all of it, connected to OASIS. Wade Watts in particular spends the majority of the book becoming more and more dependent on the OASIS, regressing from the real world. I found him to be quite an unlikable character. He starts out as a stereotypical introverted and unattractive geek who is beyond obsessed with video
