Gaming News - Page 1674

Final Fantasy Explorers is finally out for the 3DS in the west, and it lets you take on some familiar roles while you quest for that blasted Grand Crystal that seems to always be needed.

The quest for the Grand Crystal, a recurring theme in Final Fantasy lore, is crucial for the stability of the world. And you certainly can't go it alone, so you'll be able to take up to four different players, other humans via the Nintendo Network or even locally. Connect, then go forth and explore the world.

There'll be 20 classic and highly customizable jobs that you can choose from. Be a Dragoon (like the legendary Kain), Black Mage, Paladin and much more. You'll be limited to eight skills that you'll be able to use, though. But those skills you use? They can be available in other jobs too, when you master them. And if you're feeling frisky and like a fight, you'll have the chance to turn into some legendary Final Fantasy heroes from other games, like Cloud and Tifa.

Homefront: The Revolution is going to be supported with new content for at least a year, the studio told Gamespot.

Fasahat Salim, whose a game designer at Dambuster Studios, had a lot more to say, too. There's definite plans for DLC for at least a year, meaning deeply integrated story content that'll be well worth the the download. They have a unique way in which they'll introduce it too. When they're finished making new missions, they'll be released to the public to play. No waiting for a full DLC pack, and no paying for it either.

You read that right. There are no plans for a traditional season pass, or map packs do be bought later. Everything that's available in the game will be free. That doesn't mean you won't have to work for it though. But all content will be free. Even the microtransaction-based loot drops will only contain items that can be obtained in the game for free.

Platinum Games is making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game--yes, really--and it looks absolutely incredible. In fact, I might go so far as to say that Mutants In Manhattan looks like the best TMNT game I've ever seen, and that's not something anyone should take lightly.

Activision has just officially announced TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan with a new reveal trailer, showing off some serious turtle power action. Platinum's distinct cell-shading graphics are carried over from their last Transformers venture, and the style is a perfect blend of classic Mirage and IDW comic styles.

What makes the footage so utterly captivating is the action-packed chaos that our shelled heroes inflict. Leo, Mike, Ralph and Mikey wreak some serious havoc on the streets of Manhattan, with a ton of fast-paced ninjutsu combos and attacks that dominate foes.

Ubisoft is very proud of their creation, Tom Clancy's The Division and with how they've handled a more open development cycle this time around. They certainly don't want to repeat some of their past mistakes.

To help bring back consumer confidence, they've posted the patch notes for the version we'll be playing in the upcoming closed beta. And Ubisoft tells us that they and their alpha testers have found and fixed nearly 10,000 different bugs and glitches. So the closed beta should be mostly a smooth experience. Or at least you won't find yourself suddenly floating over Manhattan.

They're turning a new leaf, it would seem, when it comes to development. Despite the negativity that persists due to historically buggy and "bad" releases of games, Ubisoft's corporate culture wants to change so that it can better support the developers and their actual goals of making awesome gaming experiences.

Since Sony's PlayStation 4 is utterly dominating the current console market with tons of global sales, it's only natural for the Japanese console-maker to invest pretty heavily into the brand's future. To ensure the momentum keeps going, Sony has announced a new division that's totally dedicated to the PlayStation brand.

The new division is called Sony Interactive Entertainment and it will serve as the headquarters for everything PlayStation, according to Sony President Shawn Layden. "We are announcing the formation of a new company called Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) that will serve as the headquarters for everything PlayStation. This new company will power the next 20 years of PlayStation innovation. It will be headquartered out of the United States in San Mateo, California, joins the forces of both Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Sony Network Entertainment LLC, combining the strengths and talents of both companies."

Sony Interactive Entertainment will focus on the next two decades of PlayStation hardware and content, including PlayStation VR virtual reality gaming, the upcoming PlayStation 5 console, and expanded content offerings like Sony's TV-streaming-over-PS4 service PlayStation Vue.

The eSports world continues to expand, with research firm Newzoo and its new '2016 Global eSports Market Report' out, saying that 2015's total worldwide eSports revenue was $325 million.

$325 million might sound like a lot, but Newzoo expects the eSports economy to grow 43% to $463 million this year. The research firm attributes the 43% growth to an audience of 131 million, eSports enthusiasts along with another 125 million "occasional viewers who tune in mainly for the big international events". Newzoo said that global and local eSports markets should generate around $1.1 billion in 2019.

Digging deeper into the research, Newzoo said that investment into and advertising around eSports continues to expand rapidly. Newzoo said: "This year has been dominated by the amount of investors getting involved in eSports. An increasing amount of traditional media companies have become aware of the value of the eSports sphere and have launched their first eSports initiatives. With these parties getting involved, there will be an increased focus on content and media rights. All major publishers have increased their investment into the space, realizing that convergence of video, live events and the game itself are providing consumers the cross-screen entertainment they desire from their favorite franchises".

Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition is being worked on by developer Techland, with the Enhanced Edition being a new package that will include all of the content from Dying Light, as well as something new.

The Following expansion will include all of the previously released content and DLC, but the Enhanced Edition will spruce up the visuals and draw distance in Dying Light, as well as improve the performance on the console versions of the game, improve the overall gameplay, and more.

Techland has been working on Dying Light: The Following - Enhanced Edition for 1.5 years now, but have been unable to get the Xbox One version of the game above its current rendering resolution on the normal version of Dying Light: 1536x1080. The PS4 version of Dying Light for comparison sake runs at 1920x1080. During an interview with GamingBolt, Lead Producer on Dying Light Tymon Smektala said: "It's still 1536×1080. We believe a smoother frame-rate is more important than the exact resolution".

Lance Perkins was surprised to see $8206 charged to his credit card for something he didn't remember buying, as it was his 17-year-old son buying copious amounts of in-game FIFA goodies.

Perkins' son had spent $8206 in FIFA, so he attempted to have his credit card company drop the bill - so that he didn't need his son charged with fraud. Well, that didn't work, and his next option - asking Microsoft to drop the bill - didn't work, either. But, after a little while, Microsoft ended up budging, refunding the massive FIFA microtransaction bill.

Speaking with CBC, Perkins said he was "very pleased" with the outcome. He added: "Let's thank them for making that choice". But for me, doesn't this open a can of worms? Can't I go and buy $8000+ worth of microtransactions, and just blame one of my kids? Where would it end?

The open world RPG iteration of Five Nights at Freddy's has been removed from sale on the Steam store after the developer received a bevvy of complaints about the the game being in an unfinished state.

The decision to remove it from sale was made by the developer, Scott Cawthon, despite the mostly positive user reviews it was receiving. He simply wasn't satisfied with the end product and agreed that it was released prematurely. He's also worked with Valve to ensure that you can get a refund for it no matter how long it's been owned.

There's a lot of work to be done to make sure it's not only playable, but actually a polished and fun product for everyone. And when it's finally re-released, it'll be completely free, and hosted on GameJolt.

The long-awaited Final Fantasy XV is finally set to get a release date in a few months, and Square Enix is whetting our appetites with a few small snacks in screenshot form.

Square Enix's new batch of FFXV screenshots show off Noctis and company battling a variety of interesting baddies in open-world Lucis, and show off a glimpse at the devastating firaga spell. We also get a look at the most recently Active Cross Battle system display screen, which looks quite sleek and compact. Even still, I find the HUD lacking and too clean-cut, and it really doesn't remind me I'm playing a Final Fantasy game.

Apart from the new screens, the devs will be holding a brand new Active Time Report on Saturday,January 30 starting at 8:00PM PST on the Square Enix YouTube channel. The new show's theme will focus on magic, new battle system updates and footage, and the political strife between Lucis and the Niflgaard Empire.