Anthem's new social space is kind of like the Tower from Destiny.

Anthem will have an interactive social hub that's separated from the central story-driven Fort Tarsis, BioWare's Mike Gamble confirms. The space, which was added at the behest of fans, is called the Launch Bay and allows gamers to group up with friends or randoms. Players can also identify items at the forge and unlock new missions to tackle while out in the wilderness. There's probably a storefront to buy cosmetics in this area, too.

This honestly shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Every big live game like Anthem needs a social space outside of red zones where players can interact, chat, and most importantly, show off the snazzy new cosmetics they unlocked. Of course there's also the strong social elements that push Anthem's engagement, especially since it's PVE-only. When Destiny's cosmetic microtransactions were switched on, the Tower became a high-tech fashion show and I have no doubt the Launch Bay will be the same way.

UPDATE: EA's PR contacted us to clarify that cosmetics can be bought with either shards or coins. Items sold in the store do not require both.

Every live service game needs a layered, multi-faceted engagement strategy. Most online games of this nature have lots of little "hooks" such as artificial-feeling grind mechanics thrown in, requiring players to spend hours accumulating materials, resources, EXP, etc. to build up their characters. Keeping players busy is an important part of the live service cycle, and BioWare's big new IP Anthem will employ these mechanisms in droves.

Today lots of Anthem preview articles went up. Some of them, like GameSpot's and Variety's coverage, delved into the heart of what makes Anthem tick: engagement. We know Anthem has cosmetic microtransactions, but even this monetization avenue isn't a shortcut.

Law firms are eager to snap up potential million-dollar payouts from the Activision-Bungie breakup.

Activision's recent split-up with Bungie caused stock to dive nearly 10%, a sharp decline that shook investors' pocketbooks and sent shares in wild fluctuations. Law firm Pomerantz LLP started investigating Activision for possible fraud at the behest of shareholders, and now other firms are jumping in.

Shareholders say Activision didn't clearly outline how the Bungie split would affect its stock, and weren't aware how its relinquishment of the Destiny IP would trigger a negative impact on share value. Complaints allege that Activision's statements were "materially false and misleading" and shareholders are encouraged to sue the billion-dollar publisher for damages. Now both the Rosen Law Firm and the Schall Law Firm have opened securities class action lawsuits against the company.

Right on queue Nintendo have announced their next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirit Board event, this time round players will be rewarded with two heads instead of one, thats always better right?

This weeks Super Smash Bros. Ultimate spirit board event is based around characters from different games that come in sets of two or more. Not only will players be be rewarded with the completed spirits for fighting them in their respective franchises, but also this week players will get bonus snacks to buff up whatever spirits they so choose.

Nintendo will be debuting the "More the Merrier" spirit board event on January 25th. If you want to catch up on the news regarding last weeks event, check out the invasion of the Fire Emblem characters here. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently available to purchase and is exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo have shown some support to indie titles and developers in their newly released "Indie Hightlights" video. The 16 minute long video gives us a quick synopsis of each title and reveals some previously unannounced release dates.

The video begins with the title 'Wargroove', a turn-based strategy game developed by publisher and developer Chucklefish. Firstly, compliments to the developers for the game's art style, it has been done exceptionally well in my opinion. Gameplay wise, Wargroove pits players in the shoes of a selected commander who will battle foes in a full-story campaign, as well as online multiplayer and local multiplayer. Players will also have the option of designing and sharing their own maps and levels. Wargroove will be released on the Nintendo eShop February 1st.

Nintendo continues throughout the video and gives small descriptions like the above for the following titles: Double Kick Heroes, When Ski Lifts Go Wrong, Forager, Goat Simulator: The GOATY, Inmost, Unruly Heroes, CrossCode and SteamWord Quest: Hand of Gilgamech. If I was recommend Nintendo Switch owners some interesting indie titles to try and sink some hours into, I'd recommend these games: Goat Simulator: The GOATY, simply because its hilarious, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, Wargroove and CrossCode. Within the entirely of this post I have compiled all of the trailers for each of the titles.

Mortal Kombat 11 isn't that far away from release, with a scheduled release for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC for April 23rd, a question must be posed; when will the Nintendo Switch version release?

A recent leak has surfaced via a large video game retailer, the company called 'GAME' lists Mortal Kombat 11 for the Nintendo Switch on their website. What is most interesting about their listing is that they feature a release date, according to GAME Mortal Kombat 11 for the Nintendo Switch "releases on 10/05/2019", or May 10th for short.

Now this is certainly not an official release date for the game, so as per usual with these listings from retailers assume that this date is simply a placeholder. Speculating if this release date could be accurate wouldn't be that far left-field though, as it isn't that far away from the April 23rd release date. The line of thinking for this assumption is that I'd expect both Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios would like their game to launch somewhat unanimously across all platforms. Mortal Kombat 11 for the Nintendo Switch is also being co-developed by Shiver Studios and will feature geometry and graphical reductions, more on that story here.

Based directly after the events of Far Cry 5, Far Cry New Dawn brings a fresh new outlook on the once devastated location of Hope County. Ubisoft have released a new story trailer showcasing some terrains and more importantly a potential partnership that could be quite shocking to Far Cry 5 players.

Far Cry New Dawn is based 17 years after the worldwide fallout events of Far Cry 5, many of the survivors of the nuclear blast have formed small communities in the post-apocalyptic world and have different rules for their survival. As expected in events as catastrophic as the ones at the end of Far Cry 5, some survivors turn one and another. Players will placed right on the front line of defense in New Dawn as "the vicious Highwaymen, led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou, travel from place to place bleeding people dry of all available resources."

Halfway through the trailer we are introduced to a very familiar face, Joesph Seed, or better known as 'The Father'. Surprisingly enough, The Father doesn't seem to be threat in New Dawn, and more so players will seek out his assistance in-game. This suggests that the Highwayman are a much larger threat than once assumed, so big of threat to everyone with their blind onslaught that players will need help from "New Eden" and more importantly "The Father" himself. Far Cry New Dawn releasing on February 15th, 2019 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Guns can transform on-the-fly thanks to Metro Exodus' new modular crafting system, adding greater tactical strategy to the FPS.

With its huge open-world scope and reactive storytelling, Metro Exodus isn't content with being the biggest Metro game yet: it's also doing awesome things with gunplay. The new shooter will have a wide array of customizable weapon mods that transform specific weapons into other gun types. Gamers can slap on a scope and a stock to a pistol and change into a rifle, or pop on a heavy barrel and an extended magazine to make it a bastardly rapid-fire SMG. Mods like scopes, barrels, stocks, and magazines can change up weapon performance by boosting (or reducing) stats like range, firepower, accuracy, etc.

"Using a new customization system, you can evolve your arsenal in the field, effectively adapting to any situation. Whether it's as a silent assassin, a close-range heavy-hitter, or anything in between, there's a multitude of options available to fit your preferred style of play," 4A Games said in a new Metro trailer.

After many long years of development, BioWare today confirmed their ambitious new IP Anthem has gone gold and is ready to ship.

When Anthem's development began in 2012, BioWare dreamed of making a unique inter-connected world that's always changing. The game would be in flux with a dynamic and reactive storyline, a world that's always evolving, explosive action with recurring payouts, and morphed RPG mechanics. Anthem is the biggest thing BioWare has ever made will be a sink-or-swim moment for the dev's new experimental approach, which could kick off a new era for both EA and BioWare.

I've been reporting about Anthem for years now--we predicted the IP would be action-based and that it'd have monetized online components--and I've seen the game evolve and take shape. It went from a nebulous mention in EA's earnings reports to a full-on RNG mech shooter with an incredibly vivid world.

Crytek today announced it's working on a new online-driven AAA game built with Cryengine and SpatialOS technology.

Crytek and Improbable, the company behind SpatialOS, are teaming up to make a new game. SpatialOS is a cloud-based infrastructure specifically designed to host and allow easy iteration on online multiplayer games, and currently powers a host of indie games like Seed and the 1000-player battle royale Mavericks: Proving Grounds. The goal of this partnership is to integrate a cohesive synergy between the games engine and cloud service to provide a new avenue for game developers to make projects. SpatialOS is already friendly with engines like Unreal, Unity, and soon Cryengine.

The Crysis dev will actually test out this integration with a brand new AAA game. Details are sparse, but we do know Crytek's new game is an online service-based game with multiplayer components (obviously, as it's using SpatialOS) and should be some sort of monetized, engagement-driven experience.