Halo 5 November Sneak Peek: Includes BTB Maps and REQs
Halo Waypoint released some sneak peeks of what is to come in the November update for Halo 5 Guardians. Included in this sneak peek, Big Team Battle in Area matchmaking as well as new REQs. The community’s top forgers, Warholic, The Fated Fire, The Psycho Duck, Nokyard and Ducain23 were brought into the studio a while back and they worked on large-scale BTB maps inspired by classics such as Longbow and Headlong. These maps have been play tested over the past few months and with the November update, the first four will be available in Arena matchmaking. Deadlock A collaboration between Nokyard and the 343 Multiplayer team inspired by Standoff. Stolen Forerunner knowledge has made war a glassy plain of death on which few can find purchase. Basin A map designed by the 343 Multiplayer team inspired by Valhalla Shake the dust from your feet. Guillotine A collaboration between The Psycho Duck and the 343 Multiplayer team inspired by Headlong. By day, a deadly urban battleground. By night, a playground for the reckless. Recurve A collaboration between The Fated Fire and the 343 Multiplayer team inspired by Longbow The wide arms of this training site embrace every instrument of destruction. We also received a sneak peek at some new REQ content headed our way with the November update. Over the next week Waypoint will be revealing the silhouetted content in the image below. In the comments below let us know which map you are most interested in.
Star Wars Battlefront to have Dedicated Servers
Previously, it had been released that Star Wars Battlefront would not offer a server browser, which caused many mixed feelings among the player base. However, TGS senior producer, Jamie Keen, has now released that Battlefront will still be on dedicated servers. Keen is quoted as saying, in reference to dedicated servers, “It’s one of the hallmarks of making sure we deliver an unparalleled online [service] for the game.” A public beta for Battlefront on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, will begin in early October. The full Battlefront game will launch November 17th on all systems.
Rise of the Tomb Raider-Multiplayer?
Recently, Tomb Raider fans may have been concerned with hearing news that Rise of the Tomb Raider had dropped traditional multiplayer. But, Microsoft has stepped forward and stated that the Xbox timed-exclusive may have some form of multiplayer. There are not many details at this time, but a Microsoft representative stated that “…players will be able to extend their single-player campaign and compete with their friends.” The representative also mentioned that players should stay tuned for further details. Chances are we will see these details fairly soon, seeing as Rise of the Tomb Raider drops on November 10th for Xbox closely followed by PC and Playstation in 2016. In addition we may even be looking at a sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider, since Phil Rogers, CEO of Square Enix America, reportedly told GameSpot that the Tomb Raider Reboot story arc from 2013 would be told across a trilogy. We will bring you more details about Rise of the Tomb Raider’s multiplayer as we learn them. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone Expansion Release Date
On October 13th the Hearts of Stone Expansion Pack comes to The Witcher 3. An expansion teaser was released today. Hearts of Stone will offer over 10 hours of new content, new storylines, characters and Runewords system. In the story Geralt is hired to defeat Olgierd von Everec, a bandit captain with the power of immortality. Besides the regular digital release, a limited boxed edition for $19.99 will be offered. This edition comes with the digital code as well as two physical Gwent card decks and a rule book. Check out the full trailer below and let us know your thoughts.
Borderlands on Xbox One via Backwards Compatibility
In November, when Xbox One Backwards Compatibility goes live for the public, Borderlands will now be on the list of available games from 360 on Xbox One. And is currently available in Preview. Previously-saved files, add-ons and achievements will carry over.
Luke Smith Talks Destiny: TTK Raid, King’s Fall with GameInformer
Game Informer sat down with The Taken King’s creative director and lead designer of the Vault of Glass, Luke Smith to discuss King’s Fall, the new raid coming to us on with TTK. King’s fall should be Destiny’s most complex and biggest raid to date. When asked about raids in general, Luke Smith explained that franchise director, Jason Jones was the one to want raids in Destiny early on, stating that Jones “felt it was really important that players have a cooperative activity that requires coordination and communication.” With strikes, they want them to be less cooperative heavy, but raids are meant to challenge the player and require teamwork and coordination. They always seemed pretty set on six players for raids, but Smith admits that Bungie is still learning what raids can be as far as game play goes. They want every raid to be a different experience through the mechanics and styles and are constantly experimenting with new ideas. Smith talks about TTK raid as the culminating moment of the story that players will experience throughout the DLC. When asked about what they learned from designing Vault of Glass and Crota’s End that helped with designing King’s Fall, Smith explains that players always surprise them. Players come up with intelligent, unique ways to manipulate the environment and mechanics to their favor in ways that Bungie never expects. The players have taught the developers and testers new ways to look at and test the experiences within raids better. Smith alluded to Prison of Elders in a possibly hint dropping and interesting way when he said, “I think Prison of Elders had some cool mechanics that evoke feelings of raiding, and we’re trying to build this journey for players where the game is preparing you for what the raids will ask you to do later on.” On the topic of gear and drops in raids, the devs took it hard when people were getting stuck at level 29 because one piece of raid gear just wouldn’t drop for them. They want all of your slots on your character to matter and that your experience with leveling doesn’t rely on a raid loot drop happening for you or not so they split light and character levels from each other. They want highest-level gear to be a little bit less important, hoping, “that players see their light level as a tool that allows them to climb the mountain they want to climb in the way that’s most interesting to them.” Bungie wants players to look how they want to look and chase progression. For the full interview visit GameInformer. Let us know in the comments below what you want to see different in King’s Fall compared to previous raids.
Huge Update for Neverwinter on Xbox One with Free Elemental Evil Expansion
September 8th an update for Neverwinter on Xbox One will go live combining the Elemental Evil, Fury of the Feywild, Shadowmantle, and Curse of Icewind Dale expansions. Included will also be an increased level cap, new adventure zones four end-game campaigns, high level player dungeons and Oathbound Paladin will be added as a playable class. Check out the trailer below, curtesy of GameInformer and let us know what you think.
Street Fighter V New Beta Dates Revealed
On Wednesday Capcom announced new dates for the Beta Test for Street Fighter V. The worldwide Beta will be held August 28th starting at 4:00pm PDT and will end September 2nd at 7:00am PDT. Capcom reminds everyone that it is a Beta so players may encounter some connectivity issues, but that they, “expect everything to run continuously throughout the entire five day beta period”. Capcom also left players with some suggestions to help ensure the best experience possible during the beta: Wired internet connections provide more stable speeds than Wi-Fi, so use a wired connection if you can. Avoid downloading files in the background while playing, as it takes up bandwidth and slows your connection. Let us know in the comments below if you plan to participate in the beta testing.
Bungie The Taken King Strike Reveal Stream-Breakdown[SPOILERS]
Today Bungie revealed one of the new strikes coming to us with The Taken King. This particular strike is called Shield Brothers and is a Cabal themed strike on the Dreadnaught. Fireteam: Community Manager Cozmo, Communtiy Guest Mr. Fruit and Sandbox Designer Claude Jerome entered the level 36 strike while Community Manager, Deej and Design Lead, James Tsai announced. Shield Brothers starts because the Cabal are an invading force on the Dreadnaught and we want to stop them so we have access to the secrets and loot aboard the Dreadnaught. The strike begins by dropping you straight into the Dreadnaught with enemies attacking you almost right away. Level 36 Cabal attack as you make your way through room by room. You also come across some Taken enemies. Your fireteam must take out a tank in a small room to continue forward. The final boss battle consists of two different bosses. One known, as Valus Mau-ual is Cabal with boosters on his shoulders and the ability to body slam you from great distances as well as an arm canon. His brother Thu’urn has a large canon on his back that launches mortars at you from great distances. You fight one brother at a time at first, not quite finishing each one off. Then they come back out together. There are boss shields involved and the bosses seem to be less grounded and more mobile than previous strike bosses. It appears that when you defeat just one of the bosses when they are out together the other boss picks up the dead ones attack ability. So when the fireteam killed Maul-aul, Thu’urn seemed to become the ultimate boss by receiving Maul-aul’s shoulder boosters and arm canon. Meanwhile the whole time there are additional enemies filing in and attacking. Over all the strike only took the fireteam about 20 minutes to complete, but keep in mind they were level 40s doing a level 36 strike with higher level weapons. James Tsai discussed strikes as a whole and we learned a few interesting and important changes coming to strikes with TTK. Bungie wanted to make strikes more rewarding, so bosses will have unique loot drops. They also wanted strikes to be less static so you may see variables in enemy types, and dialogue each time you do a strike. So that may mean the strike we saw today won’t be exactly the same when you first attempt after September 15th. The team also showed off and discussed their new subclasses and their artifacts. We also saw Mr. Fruit pick up something interesting towards the beginning of the strike. We are unsure at this time what it is for. Let us know what you think of the new strike and what your theories are about this drop Mr. Fruit got. Check out the full archived stream HERE Stay tuned for a more personal spoiler free review of the strike from an audio only, non video experience from our very own Twizted.
Boss Key Announces First Game-LawBreakers
Boss Key Productions, a video game development studio based in North Carolina, founded by Cliff Bleszinski, announced the name and a trailer for their first game. LawBreakers, planned to be released some time in 2016, will be an arena shooter where gravity is a weapon. Lawbreakers vs law enforcement. Government testing on the moon caused “The Shattering”, the splitting of the moon’s surface, which lead to Earth’s gravity to break. At first Earth moved on and rebuilt, but by 2105 “lawbreakers” moved in and brought with them a flood of narcotics and war. Players will have a range of weapons and items that allow them to increase, decrease and invert gravity. The game will have 5v5 matches and Boss Key announces that half the cast is female. Boss Key will release its first game play trailer on Friday August 28th. They will also be at PAX with an opportunity to play the game.
