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'Rage 2' will receive at least two paid add-ons after launch
Just because Rage 2 is a single-player game doesn't mean its gameplay will remain all that static. Avalanche and Bethesda have published a 2019 roadmap for the open-world shooter, and it's evident that the developers want to treat the game almost as if it were an ever-evolving multiplayer title. There are two paid expansions in the pipeline, one in August ("Rise of the Ghosts") and one in November. While there aren't many specifics about the plot, there are promises of new stories, areas and gear for both add-ons.
Just Cause 3 won't launch with multiplayer, but Square Enix says it 'does make a lot of sense'
The recently-announced Just Cause 3 will not feature multiplayer capability when it launches in 2015, but developer Avalanche Studios and publisher Square Enix are being coy about the mode being patched in down the road. In an interview with Game Informer, Avalanche CCO and co-founder Christofer Sundberg said that although the team was focusing on the single-player content for now, they would consider it "maybe sometime down the line." Taken on its own, that statement doesn't seem too encouraging. However, Shinra Technologies - a subsidiary of Square Enix that aims to pioneer cloud-based gaming technology - has several key personnel sharing Avalanche Studios' office space. Jacob Navok, senior vice president of business for Shinra, told Game Informer he and his staff were working on a "possible future collaboration" with Avalanche. "What we see in the near future are cloud games that are developed from the ground up as well as games that are in an existing pipeline that we will enhance," Navok said before presenting an oddly-specific hypothetical situation. "For example, taking a game that doesn't have multiplayer right now and easily giving it multiplayer is what we imagine for enhancements." When Game Informer asked Navok if Just Cause 3 could or would be that game, Navok responded, "I think it does make a lot of sense." [Image: Square Enix]
Just Cause 3 is a retail box game, doesn't have microtransactions
No reason to fret, free-to-play police: Just Cause 3 will not be a free game with microtransactions, Avalanche Studios co-founder and CCO Christofer Sundberg said in a blog post. A few leaked screenshots made the rounds earlier in the week, and they showed what appeared to be a microtransaction system in a new Just Cause game. Avalanche announced Just Cause 3 yesterday and didn't provide pricing details, leaving folks to wonder. Wonder no more, Sundberg wrote: "Those leaked screenshots were taken from an ancient version of Just Cause 3. Like most games, this one went through an exploratory phase where we looked at different control schemes, different technologies, different business models. Those leaked screenshots show aspects of that process, and in no way reflect the game we are making today. To be perfectly clear: Just Cause 3 will be available in 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC. It will be distributed as a retail box and digital download. It is not a free-to-play game. It does not feature in-game microtransactions." Just Cause 3 will have post-launch DLC, which Sundberg said is "part of our ambition to support Just Cause 3 and its players for many years to come." [Image: Avalanche Studios]
Just Cause 3 hits PS4, Xbox One, PC in 2015
Just Cause 3 is in production from series developer Avalanche Studios, due out for Xbox One, PS4 and PC in 2015, according to Game Informer. The new game, at least in the beginning, takes place in a fictional Mediterranean archipelago ruled over by a dictator, and you'll get a wingsuit. The previous game in the franchise, Just Cause 2, launched in 2010, and Avalanche has been teasing a third installment almost ever since. A week after the release of Just Cause 2, Avalanche head Christofer Sundberg said, "We are absolutely interested in working with the Just Cause IP again." In 2012, publisher Square Enix registered the domain for JustCause4, despite there not being a Just Cause 3 yet. [Image: Avalanche Studios]
Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel Super Heroes review: Super friends
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes is adorable. From the plucky way characters stride toward danger, to the fantastic, real-world figures that power their adventures, it's hard not to be enamored with the sequel. Each time I plop a new figure on the base and a hero emerges from its magical Disney dust (made up of money and acquisitions), I revert back to that little Canadian kid from the early 90s, spellbound by Saturday morning cartoons.
Disney Infinity 2.0 is a whole new world with Aladdin, Jasmine
Disney Infinity 2.0 will include playable Aladdin and Princess Jasmine characters, Disney Interactive announced. Aladdin will have his magic lamp and scimitar on hand to defeat baddies, including familiar Agrabah guards from the Aladdin series of films. The acrobatic Jasmine will have the power to summon sandy cyclone winds. Aladdin and Jasmine will be accompanied by four power discs, one of which, named "Rags to Riches," transforms Aladdin into his more royal persona, Prince Ali. Another power disc gives the characters the ability to fly around the toy box on Aladdin's magic carpet. The final two discs affect the landscape of the toy box: The Sands of Agrabah and Jasmine's Palace View. Aladdin's figure will arrive this fall, whereas Jasmine's is slated to launch in early 2015. Disney Infinity 2.0 will launch September 23. [Image: Disney Interactive]
Loki, Green Goblin are Disney Infinity 2.0 Marvel super villains
Oh sure, playing with superhero action figures is plenty fun and we fully endorse it, but what good is a plastic hero without a plastic villain to whack against them every once in awhile? While it's true that this often results in damaged toys, Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes is removing that particular risk by making Loki, Green Goblin and Ronan the Accuser playable, thus allowing them to trade virtual blows with Marvel heroes in-game. The baddies are bit underrepresented for now, especially with all five of the Guardians of the Galaxy set to lend a hand (or branch, or paw) in the fight against evil, but when has being outnumbered ever stopped a comic book supervillain? Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Villains Heroes will be available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and PC on September 23. [Image: Disney]
Mad Max delayed beyond 2014
How to open this? The Mad Max game, which, like your ex, only pops in your head because of the herpes you can never get rid of, has been delayed until 2015. No, no, way too harsh. The Mad Max game, which, like a razor-bladed boomerang tossed by feral post-apocalyptic Australian children only returns to hurt you, has been delayed until 2015. That's good, but needs to be toned down a bit. The Mad Max game, the one that isn't Just Cause 3, has been delayed until 2015. There we go.
Just Cause 2 gets multiplayer mod on Steam December 16 [Update]
Avalanche Studios will launch a new mod for Just Cause 2 on Steam December 16. The mod brings online multiplayer options to the game, which originally launched in March 2010. Development on the mod first began in 2010, and the developer has since hosted multiple public beta tests of Just Cause 2's multiplayer. The final beta test is scheduled to begin this Saturday, December 7 and run until December 14, available through the multiplayer mod's site. Update: As a clarification, while the Steam page for the multiplayer mod lists Avalanche as the developer, an independent JC2-MP team created the multiplayer mod. The team restarted development on the mod in June 2012 and launched public beta tests one month later.
Toy Story's claw machine among five toy boxes added to Disney Infinity
Disney Interactive offered five new toy boxes for Disney Infinity owners to play with this week. Two of the toy boxes are inspired by the Toy Story films: the Toy Story Claw and Toy Story Racer stages. Toy Story Claw has players searching for ten lost aliens in a claw machine, whereas Toy Story Racer takes place in a space-themed racetrack. The other new Disney Interactive-created toy boxes introduced this week are Big Thunder, inspired by the Big Thunder Mountain attraction at Disneyland, as well as Sky Gauntlet 2 and The Sky Trials. Disney Infinity recently received new characters, including Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled's Rapunzel.
Mad Max story is standalone because 'movie tie-in games tend to be bad'
Back at E3, Avalanche Studios said the story in its Mad Max game is "standalone," which seemed a bit strange given the existence of upcoming Mad Max film Fury Road. At Gamescom we asked senior game designer Emil Kraftling to clarify the relationship between game and movie, and why Avalanche Studios went with its own standalone story. "We aren't limited as such by the contents of the [new] movie," Kraftling told us. "But we are able to use whatever contents of the movie that ties well into the games." The game is Avalanche's own interpretation of Mad Max's manic, post-apocalyptic universe, and the studio wants to stay true to its core aspects. That said, the thought of doing a movie tie-in clearly didn't appeal to Kraftling. "It is a standalone experience," Kraftling reiterated. "From the get go that's how we wanted it, because movie tie-in games tend to be quite bad, and we really want to be wary of heading there. We wanted to create the game with a game experience as the primary focus, and we want core gamers to be able to enjoy this game. We want to enjoy the game ourselves. We want to make a game that we want to play."
Disney Infinity gets two free mobile companion apps
Disney recently announced two mobile apps that go along with its soon-to-arrive game, Disney Infinity. The first app to launch is Disney Infinity: Action, an augmented reality app that has players filming movies of friends and family alongside three on-screen characters: Mr. Incredible, Sulley and Jack Sparrow. The app will be available starting today on the App Store and Windows Store, with an Android release coming "soon." Disney's other app has more ties to the console game, as Disney Infinity: Toy Box will allow players to build and edit worlds on their iPads. After building their levels, Toy Box players can then sync the worlds with Disney Infinity and unlock decoractions, props and characters. Disney said the app will launch in the coming weeks, and like Disney Infinity: Action, it will be free. %Gallery-196051%
Mad Max tears up a debut gameplay trailer
"We never got a hero. We got him ... the man they call Max." Besides that dramatic declaration, this Mad Max trailer also includes our first look at the gameplay. There's still a cinematic tang to this debut showing of Avalanche Studios' open-world adventure, but past the 1:10 mark it gets going with a fiery mix of vehicular destruction and old-fashioned fisticuffs. Some of the in-car combat is taken from the closed-doors demo we saw at E3, which showed just how brutal Max can be behind the wheel. Mad Max is scheduled to rip it up Oz-style on PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 sometime next year. %Gallery-193820%
Mad Max will speak like an Aussie, mate
Avalanche Studios is doing a U-turn to ensure Mad Max speaks the strewth. As we saw during the E3 demo of his upcoming game, Max spoke with an American twang, leading to fans calling for the road warrior's accent to be made Australian, as per the films. Yesterday, Avalanche Chief Creative Officer Christopher Sundberg announced a downunder return for Max's voice, tweeting, "Attn. fans who want Max to have an Aussie accent in #MadMaxGame : It shall be so. We admire your loyalty. You have been heard." What that means for Mad Max at large is unclear. As we noted in our E3 preview, Max's companion Chumbucket spoke with a hillbilly accent, suggesting the setting may not be Oz. As for what is fair dinkum, Avalanche's open-world is set to lay waste to PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, and PC sometime next year.
Mad Max not Barlog's rumored project, says Avalanche CEO
Though Mad Max has been a project spanning several years, going through several iterations in that time, Avalanche Studios CEO Christofer Sundberg claims it's not the game that was rumored in 2008. God of War 2 lead Cory Barlog had reportedly gone to Avalanche Studios in 2010 to work on a Mad Max game, tied to a new movie. "I don't know what [Barlog] worked on before he started working with us," Sundberg told Polygon, "but when we worked together he wasn't on Mad Max." Sundberg said the team has been in production on this Mad Max game for around 18 months, though it's been at Avalanche in some capacity for years now. "The game has gone through a series of iterations. We've been working for it for a couple years." Mad Max is due in 2014, for PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. We saw the open-world action game game at E3 and caught up with our old hillbilly pal, Chumbucket.
Mad Max gets behind the wheel of Avalanche's open-world wasteland
Considering how many games trace their dystopian wasteland roots to it, it's interesting to see the E3 hands-off demo of the new Mad Max hone in something with plenty of room for exploration: vehicular combat. Just Cause dev Avalanche Studios promises 50 "authentic" Mad Max vehicles for players to enjoy in the third-person open-world game, as well as the ability to customize your own wrecking ball on wheels. After seeing Max traverse the sand dunes, with pleasingly crisp dust clouds sweeping past his big old boots, the demo soon finds the road warrior behind the wheel of a creaking black sedan. Its back roof is ripped off, turning it into a makeshift pick-up truck. Couched in the back is Max's crazy hillbilly companion Chumbucket, who's spouting off nonsense as he clutches onto a harpoon gun, and ducking for cover from the unfriendly armored cars beginning to surround the pair. Max pulls out a one-handed shotgun to take out a nearby driver in slow-mo, before Chumbucket fires his harpoon to rip the tire off the next vehicle, sending it sprawling into another for a satisfying double whammy. Frank Rooke, the game's creative director, says the harpoon gun can be used to pull off tires, armor and even other drivers - yoink! %Gallery-191235%
Mad Max announced for PlayStation 4 from Avalanche Studios [Updates: Trailer, due in 2014]
Sony announced that Just Cause series developer Avalanche Studios is working on the PlayStation 4 game Mad Max, based on the cult classic post-apocalyptic film series. A release date was not announced. Update: Mad Max is due out in 2014 for PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Avalanche teaser images were steampunk sandbox game now 'on ice'
Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg's pictorial tweet teases – generally thought to be Just Cause 3 or a Mad Max game – were actually a steampunk sandbox game the studio was working on five years ago. Speaking to Edge, Sundberg explained it's a game the studio had in development but has now been "put on ice." Sundberg tweeted this morning, "The steampunk game was shut down in 2008. We lost ~90 [developers] in the process. Now, 5yrs later [Avalanche] is doing better than ever." "I really love that art style, and to combine it with sandbox gameplay is a dream of mine," he told Edge. "Fortunately, being an independent developer I can control my own destiny and we'll make something in that world sooner or later." Another "almost" Avalanche Studios project was a "massive, open world" Star Wars game, but that fell through and now is more unlikely than ever. Whatever Avalanche is really working on will hopefully be revealed by E3.
Avalanche was 'almost' signed to make 'massive Star Wars open world game'
At some point between 2005 and 2009, Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios "almost" signed with LucasArts on a "massive, open world" Star Wars game, according to former Avalanche Studio Manager Oskar Burman and current Chief Creative Officer Christofer Sundberg. In the wake of EA, including DICE, obtaining exclusive rights to make Star Wars games, Burman tweeted, "Actually, wanting to work with SW goes deep in Swe [Sweden]. Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we almost got that deal when I was at Avalanche." Avalanche founder Sundberg replied, "If they had given us the deal back then LucasArts would be alive today. A massive SW open world game! We would have rocked it." Burman, currently General Manager at Rovio Stockholm, worked at Avalanche between April 2005 and May 2009. It's unclear if the deal in question was set aside as LucasArts made Star Wars 1313 an internal project, or if it relates to something separate. When LucasArts and 1313's demise was announced last month, Sundberg tweeted that staff working on the game had told him it needed another two years to be completed. When approached, an Avalanche spokesperson declined to comment.
Avalanche teases Just Cause 3 announcement
Avalanche Studios founder Christofer Sundberg is being a coquet, teasing what appears to be Just Cause 3 – or a modern Mad Max game.Sundberg tweeted out the above image yesterday, which came a couple weeks after the same character model was teased in an action scene on a bike.Although Just Cause 3 is the natural assumption from the images – since the character model has similar features and accessories to series protagonist Rico Rodriguez – there is still the outlying possibility it's the Mad Max game. We've known that game had been in production at Avalanche under God of War 2 director Cory Barlog until early last year.Sundberg told Eurogamer at the time of Barlog's departure, "I can't comment on our project, but all I can say is that the projects we've been working on for the last two years and the one we recently started up in NY are sailing along like never before."
