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Former 'DmC' devs are risking millions to make a 'AAA' indie
Hellblade, a third-person game seen through the lens of a mentally ill protagonist, is a multimillion-dollar risk for developer Ninja Theory. Its strong focus on building a unique world and narrative represents a huge shift in creative direction from the company's last AAA effort, the melee combat-heavy DmC: Devil May Cry. Rather than working with a big publisher, the Cambridge, England-based studio is self-funding Hellblade as an "independent AAA" title. It's a decision that's freed Ninja Theory from creative constraints, allowing it to tackle difficult topics and simply make the games it wants to make.
'Gunjack' producer on making virtual reality work for mobile
"Mobile VR doesn't have to mean [physically] moving around, but rather something you can access as easily in a café or a plane as you can at home. It was a choice made from day one: to create a fun and accessible experience by being static." JC Gaudechon, executive producer at CCP, the Icelandic developer famous for the massive space MMO EVE Online, is speaking about Gunjack, a demo turned fully fledged game for Gear VR, Samsung's mobile virtual reality headset. Gaudechon has spent the last six months shifting the project into a downloadable Gear VR title as CCP's betting big on the second coming of VR. With its upcoming blockbuster Valkyrie dogfighting sim, the studio's positioned as a major launch partner for both the Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus headsets next year. But Gunjack is not Valkyrie. Built from the ground-up for mobile, it required a totally different approach from its better-known stablemate. It required learning how to make VR work on the smallest scale.
Nick and Aaron on Gamescom: a conversation
Last week, two Engadget editors braved the sweltering Gamescom floor in Cologne, Germany, to bring you all the news. Now that the show is finally over, Aaron Souppouris and Nick Summers look back on a week at the world's largest public games conference, breaking down their highs and lows from Gamescom 2015.
Two indie pretenders to the 'XCOM' crown
2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown was a revelation. I'd never played the '90s original or its successors, but I was immediately drawn in by the reboot's story, world and, most of all, combat mechanics. At its heart, XCOM is a turn-based strategy game that pits your team of four soldiers against an alien invasion. As anyone who has played it at all will tell you, though, it's so much more than that. A sequel is coming this November, but in the meantime, a pair of independent developers are readying their own takes on the genre, and they both have the potential to be truly special games in their own right.
'Mirror's Edge Catalyst' is make or break for Faith
Even now, after seven years, Mirror's Edge is a unique and exhilarating parkour thriller. It's littered with flaws -- a paper-thin story, some frustrating level design and unnecessary gunplay -- but the clean, dystopian world and fluid motion still impress. The game didn't sell particularly well, so it was a surprise when EA first announced that it was giving developer DICE another roll at the franchise. Mirror's Edge Catalyst is a complete reboot for Faith, but it could also be the team's last chance to prove the series has a future. If the game can't find a larger audience this time around, it's unlikely that EA will green-light another.
'Star Wars Battlefront': a fine line between authenticity and fun
The Star Wars Battlefront franchise has a simple goal: to put players in the middle of huge, sprawling battles ripped straight from the films and wider fiction. Whether that's battling the AT-AT walkers on Hoth or an X-Wing squadron above Sullust, you're made to feel small -- just one of many soldiers fighting for the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire.
'Mighty No. 9' producer: 'We feel bad. Really, really bad.'
Mighty No. 9 is one of the most successful video game Kickstarters of all time. It's also been delayed. First until September, and then, earlier this week, it was pushed all the way to 2016. In the months between the two delays, the studio announced it's working with Armature and Microsoft on the Xbox-exclusive ReCore, and its developer Comcept launched two more crowdfunding campaigns for other projects. Backers are upset. So upset that the campaign for the new game failed to reach its goal. We sat down with Mighty No. 9 producer Nick Yu to ask why the game has been delayed, what Kickstarter is for and whether he feels bad. (He does.)
A game about a dude and his dragon is my Xbox One must-have
PlatinumGames is on a roll. The Japan-based studio is less than a decade old, but already it's put out a string of critically acclaimed titles such as Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It's built a reputation on fast-paced action and deep, rewarding combat, and now it wants to prove it can deliver a compelling RPG experience too. Scalebound, the studio's Xbox One exclusive, is scheduled for release in 2016 and until recently, we've seen little of the game beyond a short CG teaser. At Gamescom, the studio revealed a glimpse of its gameplay and now, after watching an extended demo, I've decided Scalebound is the Xbox exclusive I'm most excited about.
This is how you'll customize the Xbox One 'Elite' controller
We got up close and personal with the Xbox One's incredibly expensive Elite controller at E3, but how do all those modular bits and bobs work? A new video from Microsoft out of Gamescom sheds some light on just that. The Elite's customization goes much deeper than just swapping out different lengths of thumbsticks: you can adjust trigger deadzone, download custom button-binding profiles for certain games, tweak haptic feedback intensity on a motor-by-motor basis and even completely remap button functions. Long story short: if standard gamepads regularly fall short for your high-level needs, this is the paddle for you.
Crystal Dynamics is putting the 'tomb' back in 'Tomb Raider'
2013's Tomb Raider was a reboot of a game that defined the 3rd-person adventure genre. It represented a change in direction for the series, one that took cues from successful titles like Uncharted to breathe fresh life into what had become a tired franchise. But while critics rightfully praised the game's many strengths, the core of the original's gameplay -- tomb raiding -- was pushed to one side, with most of the game consisting of stealth, combat, and survival. For the timed Xbox exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider, developer Crystal Dynamics is bringing back tombs in a big way, and making some intelligent design decisions to update the old gameplay for the modern era.
Microsoft Studios lead talks Kinect and the future of Xbox
You might not know who Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda is, but you know his work. He was the driving force behind Kinect and HoloLens. And more recently, he's taken control of a large part of Microsoft Studios, the company's in-house video game publishing and development arm. As part of his position, Tsunoda leads Rare, Lionhead and other first-party studios, and also oversees the development of key Xbox exclusives published by Microsoft, such as Scalebound, Quantum Break and the new Crackdown. I sat down with Tsunoda for a chat at Gamescom, and quizzed him on the future of Xbox, HoloLens and gaming at Microsoft.
How the TV show in Xbox One exclusive 'Quantum Break' works
When Remedy released Alan Wake's American Nightmare, few people questioned the live-action cut scenes sprinkled throughout the campaign. It turns out those moments were the seedlings for a grander vision: to develop a game interwoven with a full TV show.
'Mighty No. 9' won't arrive until early 2016
Mighty No. 9, the new game from Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, isn't going to be arriving until some point in the first three months of 2016. It's the second delay for the kickstarted title, which was originally slated to drop this spring before being pushed back to September. According to an update posted to Kickstarter, the reason behind the push back is that while the core functionality of the piece has been finished, there's still a raft of bugs and issues relating to the online components that have yet to be fixed. Considering that so many recent high-profile releases have been sold with bugs that make them almost unplayable, it's probably wise to hold off. Still, judging by the comments on the post, it looks as if plenty of backers would much rather have the game now and wait for the features to come later.
'Star Wars: Battlefront' gets 20-player aerial combat
Yes, slicing your enemies with a lightsaber is one reason to buy Star Wars: Battlefront, but it shouldn't be the only reason. At Gamescom 2015, Electronic Arts has revealed that it's adding in an aerial combat sim to the game, entitled Star Wars: Fighter Squadron. The title is a 20-player aerial combat mode that pits Rebel forces against the Empire's TIE Fighter squadrons, much like the Lucasarts classics of yore. 20 human players will also be joined by 20 computer-controlled ships, meaning that each glorious battle will see 40 craft zooming around at once.
Watch Faith return to freerunning in 'Mirror's Edge: Catalyst'
EA and Dice are returning to the Mirror's Edge franchise early next year, and today we got an in-depth look at the game in action. Just like the original, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst has Faith leaping from buildings, bounding up ledges and taking out enemies with some brisk hand-to-hand combat. The squeaky-clean aesthetic is intact, but it's clear the jump to current hardware has given the parkour playground a little extra sheen. Check out the new gameplay trailer below to see the futuristic first-person freerunner in motion.
Razer stuffs colored lighting into more gaming keyboards and keypads
Razer has been decking out seemingly every gaming peripheral it makes with many-colored Chroma lighting, and there's no signs of that trend letting up any time soon. The company has rolled out Chroma versions of both its slim, laptop-like DeathStalker keyboard and its Orbweaver keypad, giving you even more ways to put on a light show while you play. Both let you pick from 16.8 million shades, including in multiple zones on the keyboard. As before, you can even sync colors and light patterns between other Chroma devices -- handy if you want to change the mood between games, or just show off at your next tournament. Just be prepared to pay for the pretty. Both Chroma devices are shipping very shortly, but you'll shell out $100 for the DeathStalker and $130 for its Orbweaver sibling.
Xbox at Gamescom 2015: a recap of Microsoft's strong showing
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-166784{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-166784, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-166784{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-166784").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Gamescom isn't open to the public just yet, but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from dropping some early news and trailers. During its "Xbox Briefing" in Cologne, the company announced DVR functionality for 2016, a new controller chat pad and a host of special console bundles. We also saw a slew of trailers for upcoming games such as Quantum Break, Scalebound and Crackdown 3. In the video above we give our take -- but if you've got time to spare, it's also worth checking out the proceedings in full down below.
Get a terrifying taste of 'We Happy Few' on Steam, Xbox this holiday
We Happy Few isn't necessarily a terrifying first-person stealth and combat game. So far, it's more of a bone-chilling, creepy, deeply unsettling experience. In other words: It looks great. Today, there's good news for anyone who pledged to the game's successful $330,000 Kickstarter, or anyone in the market for a drug-fueled romp through a fictional 1960s English town. We Happy Few will hit Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview at the same time this holiday season, Compulsion founder Guillaume Provost tells Engadget.
'Halo Wars 2' exists, hits Xbox One and Windows 10 in 2016
Halo Wars 2 is the sequel to 2009's troubled yet generally beloved real-time strategy game, and it's on its way to Xbox One and Windows 10 in fall 2016. Microsoft presented Halo Wars 2 as the cherry on top of its Xbox Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, today, offering us a short and sweet cinematic. Halo Wars 2 comes from current Halo developer 343 Industries and Alien: Isolation studio Creative Assembly.
The 'Halo 5' 1TB Xbox One is up for pre-order today
Among the bullet storms and massive explosions of today's Xbox conference, Microsoft unveiled a limited edition, Halo 5-branded 1TB Xbox One bundle, and it's so, so shiny. The bundle is available for pre-order today (priced at $500) and it drops on October 20th. Microsoft launched the standard 1TB console for $400 back in June, complete with a new controller. That console isn't so shiny -- because it's matte.
