Saints Row Developer Announces Agents of Mayhem
Volition has been awfully quiet since the last Saints Row game graced all of our lives with its goofy, irreverent presence last year, but that silence is about to end. Introducing Agents of Mayhem – Volition’s new baby, and our focus for June’s IGN First.
In some ways, Agents of Mayhem is exactly what you’d expect from the open-world action vets, but in quite a few others, it most certainly isn’t. I’d be happy to explain, but it might be easier to show you first. Check out the lengthy debut trailer below.
As you can see, Agents of Mayhem is in keeping with Volition’s modern design ingredients: an urban landscape, lots of open-world action, and a touch of the whimsical. As the trailer hints at, you play a squad of three agents, and use their unique skills in tandem to beat back the bad guys; which isn’t to say you’re necessarily controlling the “good” ones. Though they’re definitely a lot nicer than the mustache-twirling megalomaniacs of L.E.G.I.O.N., the agents of M.A.Y.H.E.M. aren’t exactly heroes with a capital “H” either, which is part of their charm. Imagine letting the Suicide Squad loose in a futuristic version Seoul, Korea and you’ve got one foot in the ballpark.
Blizzard Looking at Cross-Console Play for Overwatch
Blizzard appears to be considering cross-platform play between the two console versions of its first person shooter, Overwatch.
In response to a fan question about the subject on Twitter, the official Overwatch account said: "There is no cross platform play. We'll keep an eye on cross-platform possibilities on the consoles."
However, there are no plans for cross-platform play between PC and consoles. A follow-up reply said "Mixing mouse/keyboard and controller can have balance and competitive issues."
These replies suggest we shouldn't expect anything soon, but there is at least some possibility in the future.
Yooka-Laylee Delayed to 2017
3D platforming Kickstarter smash, Yooka-Laylee has been pushed back from its expected release of October 2016 to "Q1 2017".
Playtonic made the announcement in a press release, with Managing Director Gavin Pearce saying:
“We’ve made the difficult decision to lock the release of Yooka-Laylee to Q1 2017. While we felt confident we could ship the game in October as originally planned, the team has decided that it would like to add a few extra months’ polish to our schedule.
"Ultimately, this will allow us to release a better game to the thousands of fans who’ve supported us throughout development."
The news comes alongside the game's new E3 trailer, which you can watch below:
Blizzard Accidentally Made Its Overwatch Animation Anticlimactic
There's something iffy about Blizzard's latest Overwatch animation video, tucked away in some odd Japanese calligraphy.
Read literally, a scroll Hanzo kneels in front of says "dragon head, snake tail," which makes sense given some of the iconography in the trailer.
However, according to Afternoon News (thanks Kotaku), Japanese speakers don't read the four Kanji characters on the scroll literally, as Blizzard had perhaps intended. Instead, they form an idiom meaning "anticlimax."
Even a system as basic as Google translate will tell you these four characters mean "anticlimax" when put together. So this is either an unfortunate oversight, or a Japanese speaking member of the Overwatch team has just pulled off the Mother of all practical jokes.
Fan-made Star Wars Battlefront 3 Remake Approved for Steam
Fans have been working on a remake of the unreleased Star Wars Battlefront III, and it looks like it's going to be released on Steam.
According to Eurogamer, Valve has approved the Frontwire Studios developed game, which has been renamed as Star Wars: Galaxy in Turmoil.
Battlefront 3 was originally in development at Free Radical Design around 2008, but the relationship between the developer and publisher LucasArts broke down.
Galaxy in Turmoil will be released for free, but it remains to be seen whether Disney will have anything to say about Frontwire using the Star Wars name.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Announced
Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, an HD remaster of Final Fantasy XII coming to PlayStation 4 in 2017.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will include the Zodiac job system, which was previously not available in the West. It will also offer a new trial mode, allowing players to “take on monsters and enemies in up to 100 successive battles.”
Aside from newly remastered character models and cutscenes, The Zodiac Age will include “newly recorded background music,” as well as the option to switch between the original soundtrack and the remastered soundtrack.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will be playable at E3, so keep an eye out for impressions right here on IGN next week.
Xbox One Getting Cortana Voice Commands and More
Microsoft has announced plans to release a pair of updates that will bring a host of new features to Xbox One owners, including support for Cortana voice commands.
This week, Xbox Preview members will be able to check out the update, which will also be making its way to the Xbox app on Windows 10 "in the coming weeks." The array of new features will be rolled out in waves and serve to "bring together more people and more games across devices through Xbox Live."
The first of Microsoft's two updates will bring with it Cortana voice commands for Xbox One users, which will work with both Kinect and headsets. Xbox One's Game Collection is also getting an interface update, making it easier and faster to locate and launch games within your library. Facebook Friend Finder is also coming to Xbox One users, as well as improved sharing for screenshots, achievements and recorded clips.
Pre-Order Xbox One S for Under £250
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Pre-order Xbox One S 500GB Console for £249.99 at Simply Games. Console is due for release September 30th, 2016.
Telltale’s Batman, TWD: Season 3 Release Windows Revealed
Batman: A Telltale Game Series will make its debut very soon, as the studio has announced its upcoming adventure series will premiere this summer.
In a post on Twitter, Telltale Games Head of Creative Communications Job Stauffer announced the release window for the first episode of the new Batman series and narrowed down the launch window for the third season of The Walking Dead, which will debut this fall.
'BATMAN - The Telltale Series' will premiere this summer@TheWalkingDead's 3rd season will premiere this fall#E32016 begins in 1 week ;)
What Infinity Ward Can Learn from the Missteps of Ghosts
It’s Infinity Ward’s turn to release a Call of Duty (CoD) game this year; the first for the dev in the series' newish three-year development cycle. The rotating roster means that it’s following Treyarch’s Black Ops III, which in turn followed Sledgehammer Games’ Advanced Warfare from 2014. The trick, though, is that Infinity Ward’s last game was Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Ghosts wasn’t particularly well received by fans and the fact that Infinity Ward’s latest CoD game has the ‘Infinite Warfare’ subtitle and not ‘Ghosts II’ is a telling sign that Activision is keen to distance itself from the lacklustre reception of the developer’s last Call of Duty game. While it’s a good idea to start fresh, instead of attempting to convince jaded fans that the Ghosts sub-series really could have legs, there are some key learnings Infinity Ward can take from its last divisive CoD game that could help ensure Infinite Warfare hits the ground running.