Mike Suszek
Articles by Mike Suszek
Titanfall update brings co-op to Xbox 360 next week
The Xbox 360 version of Titanfall will receive update number eight next Monday, December 1, Respawn Entertainment announced. The update adds Frontier Defense to the game, Titanfall's cooperative multiplayer mode that arrived on PC and Xbox One just over one month ago. Frontier Defense puts a team of four players in charge of defending a "vital objective" from waves of enemies, which increase in difficulty with each mob. Like the update last month, next week's patch also introduces ranked online play to the first-person shooter, which features Rank Chips that act as "expensive pedometers," measuring players' activity in Titanfall and occasionally doling out rewards. Rank Chips can be turned off at any point, so the ranked play system isn't map-specific. The update also adds new Titan insignias and a full-screen mini-map option to the game. [Image: EA Games]
Steam Exploration Sale: Watch Dogs, Lords of the Fallen, more
As if there weren't enough deals to ruin your wallets this holiday season, Steam's Exploration Sale started today. As expected, the digital gaming platform began offering a number of discounted PC and Mac games today, with the sale lasting until December 1. Among the games on sale are Lords of the Fallen ($29.99), Don't Starve ($3.74), The Long Dark ($9.99), Watch Dogs ($29.99) and Goat Simulator ($4.99) A number of retailers and publishers already listed their Black Friday deals, such as EA's discounts on games like The Sims 4 and FIFA 15 ($40 each) through Origin. Some stores are already offering deals on games and consoles, like Wolfenstein: The New Order ($30) and Infamous: Second Son ($32.94) through Amazon as well as Sony's Co-Op Gaming sale on PSN that kicked off yesterday. [Image: Steam]
PlayStation Co-Op Sale: Dark Souls 2, Far Cry 3, Rayman
In the spirit of the money-saving holidays (and Thanksgiving, we guess), Sony kicked off a new Co-Op Gaming sale today that discounts games with local or online multiplayer functionality. The deals end on December 1, and PlayStation Plus subscribers get a bigger discount than other PSN users: up to 80 percent off the price of some games. Of the group, there are ten PlayStation 4 games on sale through PSN this week, among which are Awesomenauts Assemble ($5.39), EA Sports UFC ($13.99), Mercenary Kings ($8.99), Rayman Legends ($19.59), Surgeon Simulator: A&E Anniversary Edition ($6.39), TowerFall Ascension ($7.34) and Trine 2: Complete Story ($7.99). Other notable deals include Borderlands 2 (PS3, $4.54), Dark Souls 2 (PS3, $19.59), Rayman Origins ($13.29 on Vita, $9.79 on PS3) and Far Cry 3 (PS3, $9.79). [Image: Ubisoft]
Smash Bros. sells over 490K on Wii U in three days
Super Smash Bros. is the fastest-selling Wii U game to launch in the United States, according to a press release issued by Nintendo today. The publisher says it sold more than 490,000 copies of the game from its launch on November 21 through November 23. The figure represents sales at retail as well as digital copies of the game. The sales data pairs well with the portable version of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, which reached over 3.22 million copies sold as of late October. Those that own copies of the game on both platforms will receive the Pokemon character Mewtwo as a playable fighter down the road, though Nintendo may also opt to offer the fighter as premium DLC as well. Nintendo also launched its line of NFC-capable figures on the same day as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Amiibo, which can become pretty dastardly in the fighting game. The publisher did not offer any early sales data for Amiibo. [Image: Nintendo]
Marvel's Venom infects Zen Pinball games next month
Zen Studios announced a new table for its pinball games based on the popular villain from Marvel's Spider-Man universe, Venom. The table explores Venom's rivalry with Spider-Man as well as Carnage, the offspring of the dark Symbiote, hosted by the first of Venom's victims from the webbed superhero's comics, Eddie Brock. As with Zen Studios' other tables, the add-on will launch for multiple Zen Pinball and Pinball FX games on December 10 and December 11. It will cost $2.99 (€2.99/£2.49) for Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball FX 2 players on PS4, PS3, Vita, PC, Mac, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Wii U. Those playing Zen Pinball, Zen Pinball HD and Marvel Pinball on iOS and Android will need to pay $1.99 (€1.79/£1.49) to access the Venom table in those games. [Image: Zen Studios]
New trailer for Destiny's The Dark Below glances at gameplay
After Destiny's cinematic introducing the story of the game's upcoming DLC, The Dark Below, leaked, Bungie opted to issue a more explanatory video. As seen on Game Informer, the developer diary-style trailer discusses the "one way trip" nature of The Dark Below's design. The trailer also introduces Eris Morn, the merchant and primary quest-giver that failed to defeat the DLC's main villain Crota in the past. The Dark Below will launch on December 9 and adds new gear and maps to the game, which are also shown in today's video. The DLC will cost $20, and it is also part of the Destiny's $35 season pass program. Those that buy the expansion will also receive a new Sparrow vehicle capable of performing some fancy tricks. [Image: Activision]
Activision, Vivendi lawsuit settlement amounts to $275 million
Activision Blizzard reached a settlement this week over a shareholder's lawsuit in regards to the Call of Duty publisher's October 2013 buyout. As a result, Vivendi and others will pay $275 million to Activision to settle the litigation, which began in August 2013 before Activision's $8.2 billion purchase of itself from Vivendi was completed. Under the settlement terms, Activision will also add two directors to its board and must change the terms of its voting rights. According to the lawsuit, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelly seemingly benefited from insider knowledge of the company's purchase, obtaining a 10 percent discount when Kotick's investment firm purchased 172 million shares of Activision for $2.34 billion. The lawsuit alleged a "breach of fiduciary duties, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment." Emails from the suit presented in July revealed that Vivendi wanted to fire Kotick in 2013 during the purchasing negotiations. [Image: Activision]
GOG Big Fall Sale Finale: FTL, Fez, Sam And Max, Rogue Legacy
GOG.com kicked off its DRM-free Big Fall Sale Finale this morning, putting more than 700 games on sale until Tuesday, November 25. The sale is split into two 48-hour periods, the first a "recap of flash deals" that rapidly come and go, and a second period with the Big Fall Sale's daily bundles that starts on Sunday. Thrifty buyers may want to act fast, as some of the flash deals will expire within hours. The deals include Fez ($5), Rogue Legacy ($3), Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition ($2.49), Pathologic ($2), System Shock 2 ($5), Rollercoaster Tycoon: Deluxe Edition ($3), FTL: Advanced Edition ($5) and the four primary Wing Commander games are $3 each, with the first two games bundled together. Sam & Max Save the World and Beyond Time and Space are $15 each, while The Devil's Playhouse is $17.49. OG.com also has deals on bundles starting today, such as the Fedora Deluxe Pack, a five-game Tex Murphy bundle that players can download at 80 percent off ($7.16). The digital games distributor is also offering a movie bundle for $8.45 that features five films, including The King of Arcades, Pixel Poetry and Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. [Image: GOG.com]
Mewtwo may become premium DLC for Super Smash Bros.
Nearly one month ago, Nintendo revealed legendary Pokemon Mewtwo as a playable fighter for Super Smash Bros, available only to those that own both the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game. Expected to arrive in spring 2015, the downloadable character will be free to the dual-Smash players, but new information on Club Nintendo notes that all players may have access to Mewtwo down the road. While it's no guarantee, the promotion page includes a footnote that the "Mewtwo DLC may be available for purchase in the future," as corroborated by the game's Japanese site. To make the prospect of purchasing the Pokemon character in Super Smash Bros. cloudier, Game Director Masahiro Sakurai told Video Gamer this week in regards to paid DLC for the games that the development team isn't "working on anything at the moment." Those looking to guarantee that they'll get a download code for Mewtwo will need to register their copies of both Smash Bros. games on Club Nintendo by March 31, 2015. Super Smash Bros. will launch on Wii U tomorrow in North America and November 28 in Europe. For more information on the game, be sure to check out our review. [Image: Nintendo]
New Super Mario Bros Wii crosses 10 million copies sold
New Super Mario Bros Wii reached 10 million copies sold, Nintendo announced via Twitter. The side-scrolling platformer first launched on Wii in November 2009 and became Japan's fastest-selling game for the console two months later. Nintendo's return to 2D platforming action in the Mario series was popular for its multiplayer offerings; up to four players could traverse the Mushroom Kingdom's environments together, knocking into one another along the way. The publisher has since returned to Mario-leaping action on Wii U with games like 2012's New Super Mario Bros. U and last year's Super Mario 3D World, the latter listed by Joystiq as one of the ten best titles that launched in 2013. Nintendo shipped over two million copies of Super Mario 3D World as of May. [Image: Nintendo]
Driveclub update adds photo mode, three new tracks
Evolution Studios updated Driveclub yesterday, adding a photo mode option as well as three new tracks. Players can now press the right side of the DualShock 4 controller's touch pad to enable photo mode, then use the system's sharing features to send their pretty car screenshots across the web. Driveclub's three new tracks, which include reversed variants, are located at Yedapalli in India, Los Pelambres in Chile and Wester Ross in Scotland. The developer posted the patch notes to Driveclub's official Facebook page. The update also added support for two upcoming expansions, the Ignition Expansion Pack and Photo-Finish Tour Pack. Both pieces of DLC will launch on November 25 in North America. Driveclub's latest update featured changes to corner and collision penalties as well as corner cutting "for balancing purposes." In addition to new menu and club functionality, the update also introduced "a number of minor bug fixes, performance improvements and usability tweaks." Driveclub has been plagued with server connectivity and performance issues since its October launch. [Image: SCEA]
Destiny's free trial transfers your characters to the full game
A trial version of Destiny is now available for players to freely check out, Bungie revealed. Unlike Destiny's July beta program, the trial version offers players a taste of the first-person shooter as well as the ability to transfer their character's progress to the full version of the game. Players will only be able to transfer their characters between consoles of the same family, however (PS4 and PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360). Bungie noted that the trial takes up roughly the same amount of space on each system's internal hard drive as the full game does; 20 GB for the PS4 and Xbox One trial and 6 GB for the PS3 and Xbox 360 demo. Conveniently, Activision's servers handle the character transferring functions automatically, no action is required on the part of players. Destiny's Reforged Iron Banner event started this week and runs until Monday. [Image: Activision]
WWE 2K15's 'My Career' mode crashing Xbox One systems
WWE 2K15 launched off the top ropes and into Xbox One and PS4 systems this week, and was met with a number of technical issues as it landed. Polygon reported that Xbox One versions of the game crashed during multiple attempts to play My Career mode, a game-breaking problem listed by others on 2K's official support forums. One player discovered a trick that appeared to solve the issue: Disconnecting their system from the Internet seemed to make My Career mode available to them. 2K's support team addressed other concerns, such as instances where PS4 players are unable to download add-on content like the Sting and Hulk Hogan characters. Additionally, the publisher offered a guide for players stuck on the game's demo match, which happens for those downloading the launch update at the same time. We've reached out to 2K for information on the game's early issues and will update as we learn more. [Image: 2K]
EA CFO: Microsoft is catching up to Sony
Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen believes Microsoft is "catching up" to Sony in the current-gen console battle. Jorgensen said during a talk at the UBS Global Technology Conference in Sausalito, California yesterday that "Sony has jumped out to a lead with a great console and I think a great pricing strategy" with the PS4. Shipments for Sony's latest home console reached 13.5 million consoles as of late October, whereas Microsoft reported that shipments of Xbox One consoles hit 10 million globally last week. Jorgensen saw the Xbox One's $50 price cut for the holidays as a tactic by Microsoft that "will continue to pull the consumer into the new consoles." The EA executive estimated that combined sales for the two systems will top 25 million consoles following the holidays. [Image: Microsoft]
Holy crap, your wallet is screwed today
November 18 is the new October 7. Last month's $300 day tamed before it began, as the launch of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor moved up a few days while Dragon Age: Inquisition was delayed to the industry's new busy day, today. It's okay, friends, we're here to guide you through today's retail chaos. Dragon Age: Inquisition reached Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC today, and was received well in our five-star review of the game. Joystiq Streams took Dragon Age for a spin earlier this week, so those that want a taste of the game's first hour should watch the archived video. Meanwhile, Ubisoft dished Far Cry 4 out to current-gen, last-gen and PC players, a game deemed the "undisputed king" of open-world shooters that offers a "staggering number of adventures."
Rockstar troubleshoots GTA Online character transfer issues
Rockstar Games is investigating Grand Theft Auto 5 PS4 and Xbox One save progress transfer issues following its launch today, the developer acknowledged on its GTA Online support site. The next-gen version of the game was announced during Sony's E3 2014 press conference in June, along with the news that players could transfer their character's progress from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions to PS4 and Xbox One. Specifically, the problems are cropping up for players that haven't played GTA 5 in some time. "We are looking into an issue preventing character transfer and GTA Online login on accounts that haven't played GTA Online since 2013," Rockstar wrote on the support site. The developer noted in an update that "this issue has now been addressed for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 users, and will be addressed for Xbox One and Xbox 360 users by tomorrow." Xbox One players should be able to log in to GTA Online, but won't be able to transfer their character progress just yet. [Image: Rockstar Games]
GameStop's Black Friday ad leaks Xbox One, PS4 bundle deals
GameStop's Black Friday ad has apparently leaked, spilling dollar-saving deals all over the Internet's floor. The retailer will reportedly offer the Xbox One holiday bundle that includes Assassin's Creed: Unity and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag for $330, as well as the PS4 limited edition bundle with Grand Theft Auto 5 and The Last of Us for $400. As for individual games, GameStop will feature deals on Alien: Isolation and EA's sports games such as Madden 15 and FIFA 15 ($40). Also on sale are The Evil Within, Sleeping Dogs and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ($30 each) as well as Metro: Redux and Murdered: Soul Suspect ($25 each). BFAds has the full leaked ad ready for your perusal, thrifty spenders. GameStop and Amazon already discounted PS3 and PlayStation TV systems ahead of the shopping spree holiday. [Image: Microsoft]
Majesco doubting 'ability to continue' following layoffs
Majesco has fallen on hard times, as the Cooking Mama publisher "implemented a reduction of our workforce to reduce our fixed costs," according to recent SEC filings. The company's layoffs came at the very end of October, just after its independent label Midnight City launched Costume Quest 2 on PS3 and PS4. The publisher reported a net loss of $2.7 million in September for the quarter ending July 31 as well as a net revenue of $2.9 million, a 27.2 percent drop year-over year. When pointing to the earnings report in a November 6 filing, Majesco said it "suffered losses that raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern." Likewise, Majesco is "currently not developing any significant new games for release in fiscal 2015," a period that ends on October 31, 2015. The three games slated to launch during that time are Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends 3D Racing for 3DS, Gone Home's console port courtesy of Midnight City and Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms for PC, which is currently available in early access form on Steam. [Image: Majesco]
Ubisoft details third Assassin's Creed: Unity patch
After Ubisoft issued a second patch for Assassin's Creed: Unity late last week, the publisher gave a glimpse of the next update for the game, which is expected to fix more of its technical issues. The third update will be "larger in scope" compared to the previous two, patching bugs "like Arno getting stuck on certain areas of the map," and issues with getting in and out of cover. AI and crowd behavior will be tuned in the coming update as well as co-op multiplayer matchmaking and connectivity problems. Ubisoft also expects to fix situations where the game crashes for players, missing menu items and HUD pop-up errors as well as some of the game's performance issues, such as framerate drops. While Ubisoft said the patch will "dramatically improve" the experience for Unity players, it noted that "this next patch won't solve every problem." [Image: Ubisoft/King_Anesti]
GameStop, Amazon discount PS3 and PS TV ahead of Black Friday
Black Friday may be two weeks away, but retailers are already dropping the price on two pieces of Sony hardware: PlayStation TV and PlayStation 3. Both systems will start at $80 and $200 respectively through Amazon and GameStop for the holiday season, though GameStop notes that the deals are temporary and are "first-come, first-served." The PS TV's DualShock 3 bundle is also down to $100 at the two retailers, saving game streamers $40 off the bundle's regular price. Thrifty buyers can also opt for deals on PS3 bundles, such as the 12 GB PS3 with Disney Infinity ($200) or a 500 GB console with either The Last of Us or Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham and The Sly Collection ($250 each). Sony isn't the only company offering early discounts this year; Microsoft cut the Xbox One's price by $50 for the holidays and already listed the Microsoft Store's Black Friday deals. [Image: Sony]