Final Fantasy XV: Multiplayer DLC Gets New Release Date
Following a delay, Final Fantasy XV's fourth expansion - the 'Comrades' multiplayer DLC - will be released on November 15.
Announced on Twitter, the new release date is just over two weeks later than the original release date of October 31. No concrete details were given for the delay, with Square Enix saying it was "due to final adjustments and to create the best possible experience."
Comrades will let players create their own characters, and equip them with powers from the Lucian bloodline that gives Noctis his abilities.
Obviously there's a focus on creating full teams, but the expansion will also add single-player sections for your new character, allowing training and adding context to the main game's story.
Xbox Exec Defends Line-Up of Exclusives
Microsoft Studios Publishing's general manager, Shannon Loftis has defended the Xbox One's line-up of exclusive games, and indicated that unannounced exclusives are in the works.
Speaking to GameSpot, Loftis said, "I think our offering is good and it is solid. I definitely hear that gamers want more.
We do have more coming; more that are in the works that we're not talking about now. But I feel good about what we have to offer for the launch
."
Addressing the criticism that many of Xbox's exclusives (such as Forza 7 and Cuphead) are also available on PC through the Xbox Play Anywhere programme, Loftis was more bullish:
PlayStation Trophies Can Now Be Used to Pay for Games
Sony in the US is adding a new incentive for Trophy hunters - you can now trade in your exploits for PSN credit.
Announced by Sony (as spotted by DualShockers), the Sony Rewards system now allows players to register their achievements in return for a little kickback. Here's how your Trophies break down in to points:
- 100 Silver trophies – 100 points
- 25 Gold trophies – 250 points
- 10 Platinum trophies – 1,000 points
As you might expect, the payoff here isn't gigantic - 1,000 points breaks down to $10 of credit, meaning it'd take a whole lot of playtime to afford your regular AAA game.
Hearthstone Designers Answer Our Biggest Questions
BlizzCon 2017 saw the reveal of the next Hearthstone expansion called Kobolds and Catacombs, so we sat down with Hearthstone Game Director Ben Brode and Producer Eric Del Priore to get some answers to our biggest questions about this new content, as well as a few big-picture questions about a tenth class and that missing Druid Hero.
If you already haven’t, check out the trailer for Kobolds and Catacombs.
As you can see, the expansion is themed around battling monsters and finding wondrous treasures and epic loot to equip yourself with, just like you would in a classic fantasy dungeon crawl. If you didn’t catch it, Kobolds and Catacombs is a play on Dungeons and Dragons, which was a huge influence on this expansion.
Thor: Ragnarok Has Fourth-Biggest Opening of 2017
Thor: Ragnarok had a strong debut this weekend at the North American box office, surpassing projections with a first place opening estimated at $121 million.
Director Taika Waititi's comic book movie had the fourth-largest opening of the year, not far behind the $123.4 million debut of Stephen King's IT. Compared to the other Marvel Studios films released this year, Ragnarok outpaced Spider-Man: Homecoming's $117 million debut, but didn't eclipse the $146.5 million opening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Thor Ragnarok received an "A" CinemaScore from moviegoers and exceeded industry expectations, which projected the film to make somewhere between $100-$118 million. The film's debut is now the biggest opening in the Thor franchise, well outpacing the first film's $65.7 million opening haul and Thor: The Dark World's $85.7 million debut.
The Secret Goal of Overwatch’s Animated Shorts
A new Overwatch animated short debuted at BlizzCon 2017, showing the tragic tale of why Reinhardt joined the team. If you were feeling strong emotions by the time it ended, that’s by design, according to Lydia Bottegoni, SVP of Story and Franchise Development at Blizzard.
“We always say our job is to make people feel something. Feel heroic or feel sad or feel triumphant. That's our overall mission, to make you feel something, and the bigger the emotion, the easier it is to get people there,” Bottegoni said.
It's not uncommon to read comments comparing the emotional impact of an Overwatch animated short to a Pixar or DreamWorks movie. And just like those movies often earn big ticket sales, the desired effect is for gamers to get emotionally invested in a character so they'll be pumped to play the game and buy the latest content.
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USA vs Korea Made Me Believe In Overwatch Esports
Watching the USA play South Korea live at the Overwatch World Cup yesterday made me believe in Overwatch esports.
I think many people, myself included, are skeptical about the incredibly popular FPS’s competitive future. It’s been a hard game to spectate, to the point where Blizzard has openly admitted it and announced they are making changes to help Overwatch esports easier to follow.
New camera angles, including an overhead “gameboard” style view, can help clarify what’s going on, but the truly game changing improvement is team jerseys. Each team now has custom colors that stick with them, changing the look of both heroes and every ability effect to make it clearer who is using what.
How Blizzard Made the Perfect AI Cameraman for Overwatch League
As a huge Overwatch fan who didn’t really care about watching the game competitively, Blizzard’s esports spectator improvements are incredible.
Watch the video above to see what Blizzard has to say about the changes.
Instead of burying their heads in the sand and pretending Overwatch didn’t have spectator problems, Blizzard has proactively started fixing them. Team uniforms and colors are the most obvious and effective, but an improved AI camera and impressive instant replay functionality certainly help as well.
The difference is night and day, and I didn’t think something as simple as color-coded skins and abilities could make such a difference. But the increased clarity has had an immediate impact on how engaged I am in watching a match.
World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Trailer Rewind
Today we’re taking a look at the brand new cinematic trailer for the World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth expansion.
First thing we see is the Undercity, previously the capital city of Lorderon in Warcraft 3 and previous games in the series. It fell to the undead during the events of Warcraft 3 after Arthas murdered his father, the king. It’s been under horde occupation ever since and acts as the main city for the Undead race.
Next we see a ton of Horde banners all along the walls, then at 0:32, we get our first shot of Sylvannis Windrunner. Ever since Vol’jin was killed in the opening mission for the Legion expansion, she’s been the warchief of the Horde.