Xbox-Exclusive Action-Platformer, Unit 4 Announced
Brand new studio, Gamera Interactive has announced its debut project - a 16-bit style action-platformer called Unit 4 - exclusively for Xbox One.
Including both single-player and 4-player local co-operative campaign modes, the game sees members of the titular Unit (each with unique abilities) attempting to chase down the alien force that's stolen sacred artifacts from their world.
Here's a suitably bleep-bloopy reveal trailer:
The game's seemingly aiming for a distinctly old-school vibe, featuring ability-specific logic puzzles and inflicting one-hit kills on players from any source of damage - but matches that with space exploration and minigame elements to go along with the core platforming.
How Much Does Suicide Squad Need to Make to Succeed?
To say there's a lot riding on Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. and the DC Extended Universe is an overwhelming understatement.
According to an industry insider cited by The Hollywood Reporter, Suicide Squad has "got to do $750 million, $800 million to break even. If they get anywhere close to that, they'll consider it a win."
The David Ayer-directed film reportedly cost $175 million to produce (including roughly $10 million on reshoots) and over $100 million more to market. It's currently tracking to open this weekend between $125 million and $140 million, the latter of which would make it an even bigger North American debut than Deadpool ($132.4 million).
Peter Capaldi Likely to Continue on in Doctor Who
Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is handing in his writer's badge after the popular BBC show's next season, but he doesn't think actor Peter Capaldi will leave with him.
"I have no reason to suppose that I'm writing out a Doctor," Moffat told Doctor Who Magazine, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Peter is loving the role, and long may he do so." Some had speculated that Capaldi would exit with Moffat, so that a new Doctor could regenerate alongside incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall.
The Wrong Characters Keep Appearing in Overwatch’s One-Character Mode
Overwatch dropped Lucioball - a Rocket League-indebted new game mode - as part of its Summer Games seasonal event on Tuesday. Because this is the internet, people have already worked out how to use characters other than Lucio in Lucioball.
Numerous videos have popped up since release, showing practically every other character in the game taking part in the new sport, most of whom go onto break the rules by straight up murdering their opponents. Lucio might have had his offensive moves turned off for the mode, but that doesn't mean damage can't be done.
Full No Man’s Sky Soundtrack Now Streaming
The first part of 65daysofstatic's soundtrack album of music from and inspired by No Man's Sky, Music for an Infinite Universe is available to stream now.
The ten tracks available to stream are more traditional 65DOS tracks, inspired by writing for the game. Missing from the stream are the album's six soundscapes, drawn directly from the procedural soundtrack the game creates as you play.
Here's the stream, released alongside The Independent:
Comic Book Reviews for August 3, 2016
With a new superhero movie hitting theaters, this week's comic book lineup was all about Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad. DC relaunched both Harley's solo series and the main Suicide Squad book to solid results, though their real winners this week were Superman #4 and Sheriff of Babylon #9. Over at Marvel, Invincible Iron Man began tying into Civil War II and Doctor Strange wrapped up the "Last Days of Magic" storyline. Elsewhere, writer Chip Zdarsky said farewell to Jughead and The Walking Dead kicked off a major new story arc called "The Whisperer War."
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases. And be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
Sean Bean to Voice Civilization 6 Tech Tree
Not only did Sean Bean voice the Civilization VI E3 trailer, he's also taken on the mantle of tech tree narrator.
According to PC Gamer, the actor will be voicing the historical quotations which appear when you research new technologies in the game.
Sean Bean takes over from Morgan Sheppard, who performed the same role in Civ 5. Before Sheppard, Leonard Nimoy voiced the tech tree in Civ 4.
Bean has done voice acting for a couple of video games video games before, most recently as the narrator in Kholat, and before that as Martin Septim in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, illegitimate son of Patrick Stewart's Uriel Septim.
Disney 16-Bit Platformers Now Available on PC
GOG.com is offering players a blast from the Disney past, with a trio of 16-bit sidescrollers now available beginning today.
The 16-bit era releases of Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book are all now available exclusively on GOG.com, DRM free, for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Each game will normally cost $9.99, though GOG has discounted them for launch to be available for $8.99. All three can be purchased together in a special bundle for $19.99.
And for those wondering, the Aladdin version being released is the Sega Genesis and PC version of the game, not the Capcom-produced SNES game also based on the 1992 Disney animated hit.
Telltale Releases Patch to Fix Batman Problems on PC
Telltale is aware of the performance issues people have been having in the PC version of its new Batman game, and has released a patch to remedy some of them.
Some users on the game's Steam discussion page have been complaining about poor frame rates, and Telltale believes many of these issues are due to people running the game on integrated graphics, or the result of outdated drivers.
The new patch automatically defaults the game to run on dedicated graphics cards, and adds graphics settings to enable selection of higher performance textures, or higher quality textures, based on your hardware.
Hidden Master Chief Etched into the Xbox One S
You can find Master Chief on the new Xbox One S, and not just in-game.
Xbox's Mike Ybarra teased at the existence of Chief on the new Xbox on Twitter yesterday, but didn't reveal exactly where he'd be found.
Hmm what's that? pic.twitter.com/c6UrAT0Xox
— ♏️ike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) August 3, 2016
It was actually discovered by Ifixit in its Xbox One S Teardown, which will give you a guide on how to take the console apart, if you dare.