Lionhead Veterans Found New Studio
New independent UK studio Upstream Arcade has opened its doors with the aim of creating "bombastic" action games.
The studio comprises developers Adam Langridge and Imkan Hayati, who cut their teeth on Lionhead Studios games Black & White 2 and Fable II, as well as Max Payne 3. They have 30 years of experience between the two of them. Additionally, Langridge led development on the recently released stealth heist game The Marvellous Miss Take.
According to Upstream Arcade's website, its goal is to create "bombastic action games that will make players look and feel so good, they will want to share the show with their friends by uploading and streaming their gameplay."
Witcher 3 Devs Launch New Studio Wickerman Games
Chris Hardwick and Dan Cordell, both formerly of CD Projekt, have launched a new indie studio in the UK - Wickerman Games.
Founded in February this year, the studio aims to make the games that "nobody seems to be making." The two developers are inspired by pen-and-paper RPGs and aim to merge what they love about such games into computer games.
Though the studio has yet to reveal its first project, it plans to maintain a transparent development process via its blog and to offer DRM-free content to gamers post-launch.
Destiny: The Taken King Makes PlayStation History
Bungie's latest expansion for Destiny released earlier this week to much success, setting day-one sales records for Sony's gaming platform.
According to Activision, Destiny: The Taken King is now the most downloaded game on launch day in PlayStation history, outpacing the main game's original release in September of last year.
"It's safe to say the Destiny franchise continues to gain momentum," Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, said of the expansion's stellar performance thus far. "Along with our talented partners at Bungie, we cannot wait to watch the community continue to grow and tackle the King's Fall Raid kicking off on Friday."
No specific sales figures have been released, and the game's performance across Xbox One and Xbox 360 have yet to be detailed.
FIFA 16 Is Playable Now With EA Access
EA Access members can play up to 10 hours of FIFA 16 starting today.
Every mode of FIFA 16 is available, according to the EA Access website. The subscription service is exclusive to Xbox One, letting members play games early along with other benefits.
There is also a demo out for FIFA 16 on all consoles, featuring a Kick-Off match, the FIFA Ultimate Team Draft as well as the trainer mode. And EA unveiled the full soundtrack for the sports game last week too.
Amazon Announces Fire TV Gaming Edition
Amazon has announced its new Fire TV Gaming Edition, a gaming-focused bundle that will cost $140 USD.
The Gaming Edition bundle contains the new Amazon Fire TV, a new game controller, a 32GB micro SD card, and two games: Shovel Knight and Disney's Ducktales.
The new Fire TV has 75% more processing power and twice the GPU performance, making it a step up from the original, which we deemed a "solid first effort" in our review last year. The Fire TV game controller, meanwhile, features an ergonomic design, a headphone jack, and voice search.
According to VP of Amazon Devices Peter Larsen, the Fire TV currently has "more games than any other streaming media player," with over half of those games costing under $1.
Star Wars Battlefront Beta Will Be Open to Everyone
Electronic Arts and DICE have revealed that the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront beta will be open to everyone.
On the Star Wars Battlefront blog, the game's community manager Mathew Everett stated that anyone with a PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One can join the beta. EA previously announced that the beta was set to arrive in early October.
In addition, Everett said the Star Wars Battlefront beta is playable offline, meaning players can check out the Survival Mission mode on Tatooine by themselves or with a buddy thanks to split-screen co-op. The other modes available in the beta include Walker Assault on Hoth and Drop Zone on Sullust.
App Store Update: September 17
Every day hundreds of new apps make their debut on the App Store, and hundreds more are updated or reduced in price. We have sifted through the noise and highlighted those select few that might be worth your attention.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Sundown: Boogie Frights – (Freemium)
"Steal from the living, defend from the dead.
It’s the summer of 1978 and the zombie outbreak is in full swing. Get ready to bomb some zombies to oblivion as you defend the town of Somewhere, New Mexico. Send tough guy, Jimmy, out on rescue missions to find other survivors. Raise your own army of specialized zombies to help Roxy loot nearby towns.
Daily Deals: $40 Gaming Headset, Fullmetal Alchemist, So Many Xbox Deals
The Complete Full Metal Alchemist Is Down To $35
Down from $56.
$40 Console And PC Compatible Headset
This Logitech headset is excellent for the money and down to its low price of $40. It's normally around $56. It'll work on PC, PS4, and Xbox One if you have a controller with the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Super Mario Maker Players Have Uploaded Over 1 Million Courses
Fans of the recently-released Wii U exclusive Super Mario Maker have been staying busy creating and sharing levels.
According to Nintendo's Japanese Twitter account, the company claims over 1 million user-created courses in Super Mario Maker have been uploaded and shared with users worldwide.
In Super Mario Maker, players are given tools and assets from different Mario games which they take and use to create their own levels. Much like the user-generated content in PlayStation's LittleBigPlanet series, these unique levels can be shared with other players once they've been created.
Super Mario Maker is Nintendo's latest release for the Wii U home console, and has made enough waves with fans that it will soon be getting its own Super Smash Bros. stage. Read IGN's Super Mario Maker review to learn how you can craft devilishly difficult levels.
This Week in the Nintendo eShop
The most interesting thing out this week might be Shovel Knight's free update, which adds in a brand new playable character (Plague Knight) and a new challenge mode. But aside from that, this week has a few other standout games, such as Year Walk, the celebrated iOS release coming to Wii U, and the quirky Wii U Virtual Console release of the little-known GBA game Car Battler Joe.
Year Walk ($6.99)
Year Walk, first released on iOS in 2013, is a unique adventure game where you journey through a dark woods inspired by Swedish folklore. On Wii U, the GamePad is integral, as players can use it in conjunction with the TV to solve puzzles, unravel clues, and more.