Sony to hold job fair for Lionhead staff12/3/2016 Sony have invited the team to a recruitment event in Guildford, where Lionhead Studios are currently based.
This morning Lionhead took to Twitter for the first time since the news broke, thanking everyone for their support over the last few days. Best known for Black & White and the Fable series, Lionhead Studios undoubtedly have a lot of talented people working at the studio, and it would be a boon for Sony if they could snap them up following the closure.
Sony recently made a deal with ex-Konami man Hideo Kojima, suggesting that they may be looking to form a 'supergroup' of the world's finest game developers. If this is true (and why wouldn't it be?), they could have some very interesting new IPs coming up. Let us know your thoughts in the forums. Last week Torn Banner Studios revealed a teaser trailer for their latest multiplayer project, Mirage: Arcane Warfare, with more information promised to arrive this Tuesday. True to their word, yesterday saw the release of a new gameplay trailer and a few more details about the game. The game will feature a distinctive Arabian and Persian inspired settings, with maps located in market bazaars, palaces and deserts. Multiplayer matches will be focused on objective based game modes, and the game will feature a range of character classes each with unique weapons and skill sets.
According to Mirage's FAQ page, the six classes available to players will be:
Torn Banner CEO Steve Piggott spoke of how Mirage will be expanding on the multiplayer formula the developers established in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. "Our last game Chivalry was about chopping off people’s heads with a sword. Mirage takes that core gameplay DNA and explodes with a range of new bloody, brutal combat possibilities thanks to the addition of powerful magic.” He also addressed how the magical abilities allowed the development team be more creative with combat: “Mixing in the elements of fantasy and magic allow us to add entirely new components and levels of complexity to that core team-based combat concept that we find so much fun to play.” Mirage: Arcane Warfare is due to release on PC through Steam later this year, but if you would like to try it out before release Torn Banner are planning a beta for the game sometime in the coming months. Head over to the Mirage official site to sign up for your chance to take part. Let us know your thoughts on Mirage over in the forums. Bethesda have released a new trailer for Doom’s upcoming multiplayer closed beta, to give those lucky enough to be participating a glimpse of the fast and brutal action on offer. Players will get to try out two game modes during the beta, Deathmatch and Warpath, both of which will be playable on the maps Heatwave and Infernal.
For more information about how to redeem your beta key and eligibility requirements head on over to the beta redemption page. Doom is scheduled to launch on Friday 13 May. Will you be taking part in the closed beta? Let us know what you make of the game over in the forums. Star Ghost coming to Wii U this week9/3/2016 Interested? Be sure to keep your eyes on Pass the Controller for our upcoming review.
Let us know your thoughts and comments over in the forums. It launches May 17 alongside the digital version in Europe, whilst other regions will just have to do without.
Did you play Valkyria Chronicles the first time around? Will you be picking up this version? If so, digital or physical? Let us know on the forums. Cast of Gears of War 4 revealed9/3/2016 Game Informer have revealed new details about the cast of Gears of War 4 and the actors who will be lending their voices to them. That’s not to say all ties to the previous games have been cut, as the main protagonist for Gears 4 happens to be none other than the son of the gravelly voiced Marcus Fenix, hero and protagonist of the original games.
JD Fenix will be played by Liam McIntyre (best known for his lead role in the TV show Spartacus), and the son of the legendary COG hero seems to share his father’s dalliance for insubordination as he ran away to join the COG militia when he was young, only to go AWOL after a classified incident of which more details will be revealed as the game progresses. The second of the three characters revealed is Kait Diaz, a survivor who is unfamiliar with the ways of the COG, born and raised outside the relative safety of COG defended cities and the daughter of parents who were leaders of a group known as the Outsiders. Kait Diaz will be voiced by Laura Baily, who already has experience providing voices for gaming characters as she played Spartan Vale in Halo 5 and Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft. The final character revealed is Delmont ‘Del’ Walker, JD’s best friend and an ex-soldier who was also involved in the classified incident that saw both of them go AWOL from the militia and into the wilds of Sera. Played by Eugene Byrd, who recently voiced Marcus ‘Boomer’ Boone in Battlefield Hardline. What do you make of the new Gears of War crew? Considering Marcus Fenix went AWOL to save his father before the events of the first Gears game, will the classified incident involve a similar event with JD abandoning his post to save Marcus? A cameo appearance from the iconic character certainly can’t be ruled out. Let us know what you think in the forums. Rebellion have announced that Sniper Elite 4 will be launching on PC, PS4 and Xbox One this year. If your mission fails, there would be no Operation Overlord, no D-Day landings, and no Victory in Europe. No pressure, then. Sniper Elite 4 is the first in the series to be built purely for next-gen machines. It promises an expansive campaign for 1-2 players, as well as dedicated co-op and multiplayer modes home to "unrivalled sniping freedom across maps many times the size of those seen in Sniper Elite 3." Feast your eyes on the announcement trailer below. As in earlier titles, ballistics will play a huge part. Wind strength and direction, as well as bullet drop, need to be accounted for in order to land precision shots.
The last two games in the series featured a particularly gruesome 'kill-cam' which would, upon skillful shots, follow the bullet’s trajectory in slow motion towards the unfortunate recipient, before showing you an anatomically correct x-ray of where the bullet hit. Needless to say people love it, us included, so it’ll no doubt be returning for the fourth installment. If you’re excited by what you've seen and want to keep informed, or just want to be in with the chance of winning a free copy of the game upon release, you can sign up to the official mailing list. Are you excited for Rebellion’s new entry in the Sniper Elite series? Let us know in the forums. The launch date for Blizzard's first person MOBA-like ‘hero shooter’ looks to have been revealed to be 24 May, thanks to the early posting of an advert.
It’s now been confirmed that the release date was correct and that the open beta runs from 5 - 9 May, but those who pre-order will get two days early access for them and a friend, as was alluded to in the leaked advertising. The Origins Edition of the game will set you back £44.99 and comes with a bunch of skins for the heroes, as well as a few bonuses for other Blizzard titles like World Of Warcraft, Diablo 3 and Hearthstone. Overwatch is set in a not-too-distant future, some years after a robot uprising and massive global conflict. The Overwatch was a task force put together by the United Nations to protect humanity after the crisis, however an accident killed the leaders of the task force and it has since been disbanded. Overwatch is gone but the world still needs heroes, which is where you come in. The heroes each have unique abilities and belong to one of four classes; offense, defense, tank or support. Unlike similar games, you aren't locked into a certain hero when the match starts, instead free to change with each death à la Team Fortress 2. In the various game modes you'll play as part of a six-man team, either attacking or defending. The attackers have an objective - such as capturing control points or delivering a payload - whilst the defenders need to hold them off until time runs out. Check out the gameplay trailer below for an idea of what to expect come May, and to meet a few of the eccentric heroes. Are you picking up Overwatch? Let us know in the forums.
Work on Fable Legends has stopped as Microsoft announce plans to potentially close Lionhead Studios.
Microsoft said they are "in discussions with employees about the proposed closure of Lionhead Studios", which they are required to do under UK law when so many redundancies are announced.
Microsoft went on to say that they “remain committed to the development communities in the UK and Europe”, and that they’ll work together with those affected to help them find new opportunities at Xbox or elsewhere in the gaming community if they desire. Fable Legends had been in closed beta with a devoted following for quite some time, so this news comes as a big shock. What this means for the future of the Fable series, no-one knows, but it would be a shame to see the end of one of Microsoft's most popular franchises. We'd like to wish the teams at Lionhead Studios and Press Play all the very best. We'll keep you updated as more details are released. Deep Silver recently announced that remasters of both Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide would be coming to the current generation of consoles in the form of Dead Island Definitive Collection. The package is also set to include a bonus 16-bit endless runner, titled Dead Island: Retro Revenge. According to the publisher, Retro Revenge has a retro look (naturally), melee-based combat, leaderboards, achievements and plenty of depth. Game mechanics include power-ups, super attacks and a combo system. You can watch the announcement trailer below. Dead Island is an open world, first person hack 'n' slash RPG set during the zombie apocalypse and featuring tons of weapons with which to dispatch undead hordes. It also boasts up to four-player 'drop-in, drop-out' co-op, drivable vehicles and a decent sized map.
The original released to a mixed reception, criticised for its performance issues, amongst them a host of bugs, glitches and some texture loading problems. Hopefully those will be fixed in the re-release. Dead Island: Riptide was more of the same all around - more of the same zombies, more of the same weapons, and yes, more of the same performance issues. Noticeable by its absence from the definitive collection is Escape Dead Island, which gained negative reviews across the board. If anything, its omission makes the bundle more attractive. If you can’t wait until May, you might want to check out Dying Light, which Sam calls “a slightly better Dead Island” in our review. Are you interested in this? Holding out hope for the troubled Dead Island 2? Let us know in the forums. |
READ MORECategories
All
Archives
February 2023
|
Pass the Controller |
|