Sony Says God of War Is Fastest-Selling PS4 Exclusive
God of War is now the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive.
Per PlayStation Blog, the game sold over 3.1 million copies worldwide after three days available, from April 20-22. Sony Santa Monica Studio head Shannon Studstill shared a message celebrating the achievement.
"I would like to personally thank the millions of fans around the world who decided to embark on Kratos’ latest adventure with us," Studstill said. "Your support is truly inspiring, and it’s a reason why we push ourselves every day to go beyond the boundaries of play."
Xbox Backward Compatibility Playtime Nears 1 Billion Hours
Microsoft is touting Xbox One backward compatibility, saying almost 1 billion hours have been spent playing older games.
On Xbox Wire, the company is preparing for E3 2018 by noting a handful of milestones for Xbox, such as saying there are over 200 games now with Xbox One X enhancements. The nearly 1 billion hours on backward compatibility includes original Xbox and 360 games.
Last month, Microsoft released a new wave of original Xbox games, like The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind and Jade Empire. You can check out IGN's list of Xbox One backward compatible games for what else is available.
The Walking Dead: Major Comic Book Characters Rumoured for S9
Casting for The Walking Dead reveals some major comic book characters are inbound, and a big bad from the comic's story arc hopefully isn't far behind.
Warning: Some spoilers for The Walking Dead's season 8 finale follow.
TVLine reports that casting is in progress for Yumiko and Magna, two women who eventually join Alexandria and have major roles in the comics.
What's more, the pair play a part in the Whisperers story arc, which sees the Alexandrians go to war with the walker skin-wearing faction.
For the moment, there's no word on casting for the Whisperers or their leader, Alpha, but since the season 8 finale dealt with Negan somewhat, season 9 is going to need a villain. The Whisperers seem a likely pick.
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery Discounts Its Microtransactions Following Heavy Criticism
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery has slashed its microtransaction prices after receiving criticisms about the game's mechanics and monetization methods.
Eurogamer reports that as well as heavily discounting microtransactions, the free-to-play mobile app is offering various prices to different users. This is seemingly a second phase of A/B testing, with both the original and discounted prices appearing for users.
A/B testing presents two versions of something, in this case the pricing of microtransactions in an app, to see which option performs better. The Harry Potter mobile game appears to be discounting 130 gems to 99p down from £4.99 for some users, while others are seeing a drop from £2.99 to 79p for the same bundle.
World’s First Look at Red Dead Redemption 2
There’s a sense of connection in Red Dead Redemption 2 I’ve never seen in a game before. Everything has its place and everyone has a purpose. Importantly, it’s not just a veneer either. Other games give the appearance that life continues around you regardless, but stop for a second and it’s easy to see past the façade – the guy with the broom isn’t really sweeping his porch, he’s stuck in a never-ending cleaning loop that even a gun to the head cannot break.
In Red Dead 2, people exist. They have work to do and schedules to stick to, regardless of whether you’re there to see it or not. But if you are there, they’ll react accordingly - so point a revolver at the guy innocently sweeping his porch and, depending on his demeanour, he could drop to his knees and beg for his life, or at the opposite end of the scale draw a six-shooter and retaliate. There’s deep-rooted connection between you, your actions and the surrounding world, which is critical to everything that Red Dead Redemption 2 is. Rockstar doesn’t just want you to play as outlaw and protagonist Arthur Morgan, it wants you to live as him.
Why Red Dead Redemption 2 Is More than Just a Prequel
Prequel isn’t really the best way to describe Red Dead Redemption 2.
Yes, events strictly take place before those of the last game – 1899, not 1911 – and yes, it features John Marston, to some extent, but the word ‘prequel’ isn’t right. It carries unwanted connotations. While it looks like we’ll discover the origin of those scars, this game isn’t about filling in the history of Marston, tracing back the origins of all his traits to some neat moment in the past. Read Dead 2 is aiming at a more complex and definitely more interesting relationship with its predecessor.
How Gamora’s Infinity War Story Is Different in the Comics
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Avengers - Infinity War!
A great many characters died during the course of Avengers: Infinity War. Them's the breaks when an all-powerful villain is obsessed with eliminating half of all life in the universe. But arguably none of these deaths hit quite as hard as Gamora's. This fan-favorite character found herself sacrificed by her adoptive father in order for him to claim the Soul Stone.
This surprise twist has sparked a newfound interest in Gamora's comic book adventures. Yes, Gamora did indeed die in the comics, though that was hardly the end of her journey. Those comics also offer some crucial hints as to what's next for the character. Read on to find out how Infinity War drew from the source material.
Life Is Strange Comic Continues Beyond One of Game’s Endings
Before continuing further, please note this article contains spoilers for Life Is Strange. The story deals with the conclusion of the game.
An upcoming Life Is Strange comic series will continue the story beyond one of the game's heartbreaking endings.
Revealed by its Amazon product description, which was first spotted by Eurogamer, the official Life Is Strange Collection from comics artist Emma Vieceli will contain a story called Life is Strange: Dust.
God of War Future Updates Detailed
Sony Santa Monica has detailed its plan for upcoming God of War updates, which will include Photo Mode.
The studio's support update highlights a few of the changes it intends to roll out in patches. The previously announced Photo Mode is still on the cards, and following last month's update that added an option to increase text size "for map, goals, codex and the resources tab of the UI menus," there are further plans to introduce a "global increase to text size in all menus and subtitles."
What Did You Think of This Week’s Comics?
It was another big week for the comic book industry, as Marvel relaunched its flagship Avengers comic and DC delivered the bargain-priced special DC Nation #0. Check out our new reviews and thinkpieces and be sure to let us know your favorite new books of the week in the comments below.
Written by Jason Aaron | Drawn by Ed McGuinness
"It can be tough to keep track of Marvel's numerous Avengers relaunches, especially as they seem to be arriving more and more frequently. By my count, this is the fourth comic since 2010 to bear the name 'The Avengers #1.' But at the end of the day, a great creative team and a great pitch are all a series needs to stay on track, and Marvel seems to have both with this latest incarnation of the series." -Jesse