27 Million PCs Could Be Running Windows 10
Windows 10's install base has reached a new high, and has reportedly been installed on nearly 27 million devices.
Neowin, citing its own sources, claims they've been told of the operating system's new install count, saying the recent release has "surpassed 25 million and may be as high as 27 million." Just last week, shortly after Windows 10's debut, Microsoft revealed that 14 million devices had already been upgraded to the latest OS.
This Tomb Raider Cover Features a Fiery Lara Croft
Dark Horse Comics has provided us with an exclusive first look at the cover to Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #2. Where Dark Horse's ongoing Tomb Raider series focuses on the rebooted version of Lara, this comic is a spinoff from games like Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris and features a more classic take on the globetrotting adventurer.
Gamescom 2015: Lara Croft Go Feels Like Classic Tomb Raider
Check out art Jean-Sebastien Rossbach's cover below:
Hitman Brings Back the Best of Blood Money
Hitman’s Paris fashion show level is absolutely teeming with people. There are models, stylists, private security, waiters, guests, and oodles of others. Hitman: Absolution featured around 30 to 40 NPCs within levels, in addition to the game’s crowd system. For Hitman, due December 8 this year, developer Io Interactive has dialled this number up to 300, on top of the crowd system. It’s a truly huge increase in headcount.
Coupled with the immense scope of the Paris level itself the amount of options this affords players tackling the hit here is extensive. There’s a loading dock filled with equipment, rigging, and contractors. There’s the catering area, packed with hospitality workers. There are the dressing rooms and make-up tables. There’s the main hall and catwalk, private quarters, secret rooms, a basement and a large attic. Io Interactive describes that levels in Hitman are like Swiss cheese, full of holes 47 can use to infiltrate and work his way through them. It’s abundantly clear as I watch 47 negotiate his way through parts of this massive area that delivering on the spirit of 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money while retaining the more nuanced controls of 2012’s Hitman: Absolution is the key aim here.
Final Fantasy XV May Borrow Tech from Just Cause 3
Square Enix has confirmed that it’s in talks with Avalanche Studios to use Just Cause 3 tech in Final Fantasy XV.
In an interview with IGN at Gamescom, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata revealed that conversations have begun about a collaboration between both studios’ development teams.
“We’re talking to their central technology team based in Stockholm in Sweden about a certain collaboration we might do with them and the Final Fantasy XV team,” Tabata told IGN via a translator.
“We’ve got really great hopes for this discussion. What we’re going to be talking about is possibly being able to use their really unique, really high level amazing technology they have in their studio and using it as an add-on to enhance the quality of a certain specific part of our Final Fantasy XV game,” he explained. “We really think something very special may be coming out of that.”
8 Best Things We Saw at Gamescom
We've spent all week in the lovely city of Cologne, eating the knuckles of pigs (it's a thing, look it up), drinking tiny beers, and playing lots and lots of glorious video games.
In the podcast, Alex, Krupa, Gav, and Dan – yes, Dan – pick our highlights of the show, from Dan's fresh take on Mafia 3 to Dan's embarrassing revelation. As always, you can watch the video up top or listen down below.
IGN UK Podcast #292: 8 Best Things We Saw at Gamescom - 44.3 MB
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Get Ready to Watch Microchipped NFL Players on Xbox One
Back when the Xbox One first debuted, Microsoft heavily pushed its new console as the ultimate NFL device. It was a smart idea, as the National Football League is America's most-viewed sport by a large margin, but we haven't heard much about the NFL on Xbox One as of late. That's likely due to the games-first tack Microsoft has adopted since, but the developers at NFL and Microsoft haven't forgotten about Xbox's biggest sports app: game-changing updates are on their way.
The biggest new upgrade involves data pulled from micro-chipped players (hopefully the tech is in their uniforms and not under their skin)—or as Microsoft and the NFL are calling it, “Next-Gen Stats.” Thanks to those chips, the location and speed of every single player is being monitored, and can be used in some pretty amazing ways. During a demo of "Next-Gen Replay," I watched an instant replay on the upper-right hand of the screen shown in sync with moving icons representing each player. (It was very reminiscent of Doom's map moving simultaneously with the first-person lead.) When a wide receiver cut right on his route to get in position for a catch, so did the icon. When the replay restarted, the icons on the football field display did, too.
Why We Love to See Batman Die
Warning: this article contains spoilers for the ending of Batman: Arkham Knight!
Arkham Knight opens with an ominous bit of narration from Commissioner Gordon, "This is how it happened. This is how the Batman died." From there, the final entry in the Arkham video game quadrilogy proceeds to document Batman's final night as Gotham's protector. Bruce Wayne faces a gauntlet of foes, conquers his fears and apparently sacrifices himself in order to ensure that Batman transforms into Bat-myth. But perhaps what's most interesting about Arkham Knight is that it's just the latest in a growing lineup of stories focused on "the last Batman story." Between this game, The Dark Knight Rises, the Batman: Endgame comic book storyline and even classics like The Dark Knight Returns, it seems Bat-fans are increasingly fascinated by the idea of Batman confronting his own mortality. And why not? It's not because of a morbid desire to see a hero fall or the DC Universe to be consumed by darkness, but because Batman is so often at his best at the end of his journey.
IGN’s UK Daily Deals: Rare Replay £14.40
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Rare Replay has been given a 9.0 "Amazing" score. Rakuten Base currently have it for £14.40 using code BASE10.
Portal’s Story Unofficially Continues in LEGO Dimensions
LEGO Dimensions features new story content set in the Portal universe that takes place after the events of Portal 2.
Speaking to IGN at Gamescom, WB Games producer Doug Heder explained that the story of LEGO Dimensions brings main characters Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle through various worlds (from Doctor Who to Ghostbusters and beyond), including a stopover in Valve’s Portal universe.
While that content ties into Dimensions’ main story and features test chambers with mechanics revolving around Batman, Gandalf, and Wyldstyle, a separate Portal Level Pack will also be available for purchase at launch. That expansion is designed specifically with Chell and her portal device in mind.
Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur Will Be “Huge and Spectacular”
Director Guy Ritchie and producer Lionel Wigram are currently busy working on their big-budget King Arthur movie Knights of the Round Table, so while they were doing the publicity rounds for current feature The Man From U.N.C.L.E., we asked the pair how that next collaboration would look.
“Pretty damn good” Wigram responded with a laugh. “I can give you the producer version. It’s going to be the coolest King Arthur that you’ve ever seen. It is a huge, spectacular, sword and sorcery fantasy. It’s our dream version of what we would have liked to see Excalibur be. What we also did, which I think helps a lot, is that rather than trying to do the whole story in one, we’ve limited ourselves to basically how Arthur becomes King. So that’s allowed us to spend enough time and detail on that. And we can enjoy then hopefully later iterations.”