Month: March 2018

Overwatch‘s tribute to StarCraft is now available. A free Kerrigan skin for Widowmaker can be yours by simply logging into the game anytime between now and April 3. The skin gives Widowmaker a Terran makeover, outfitting her with the look of StarCraft’s most famous Ghost–at least, before she became the Queen of Blades.

This is one of several cross-promotional goodies Blizzard has planned to celebrate StarCraft’s 20th anniversary on March 31. Starting today you can also get portraits and decals by logging into StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2, and a Battlecruiser pet in Diablo 3. Hearthstone will get a StarCraft-themed Tavern Brawl on March 21, Heroes of the Storm will sport anniversary portraits starting on March 27, and World of Warcraft will get its own StarCraft pets.

Blizzard started laying some groundwork for an anniversary celebration last year, with the announcement that the original would become free, accompanied by a relatively cheap 4K remastered version. StarCraft helped build the studio into the name it is today, so it only makes sense to roll out the red carpet when a big birthday comes around.

This comes hot on the heels of Overwatch’s latest new character announcement: Brigette, a support-class and daughter of fellow support Torbjorn. She naturally came along with her own set of set of skins to customize as you like. She’s currently only on the public test realm, but she’ll be coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One soon.

Xbox One‘s library of backwards compatible games has grown a little larger today. Microsoft’s Major Nelson revealed via Twitter that another pair of Xbox 360 games are now playable on the current-gen console.

Headlining the new batch of backwards compatible titles is Hitman: Blood Money, the 2005 installment in the stealth-action series. It arrives alongside Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, the 2011 Lego Star Wars game inspired by the Clone Wars animated series. You can learn more about the titles in GameSpot’s original Hitman: Blood Money review and Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars review.

As usual, if you own a physical copy of either game, you can now pop the disc in your Xbox One to initiate a download and start playing. If you own either digitally, you will find it waiting in the Ready to Download section of the My Games and Apps menu. Like all other backwards compatible titles, you can also purchase the games from the Xbox Store.

Microsoft has been regularly adding new Xbox 360 games to Xbox One’s backwards compatible catalog. Other recent additions include Vanquish and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. A small handful of original Xbox games are also backwards compatible on Xbox One, though those will be added much less frequently than 360 titles, with the next batch not slated to arrive until sometime this spring. You can find the full list of Xbox One backwards compatible games here.

After a leak last week claimed the new Battlefield will be set in World War II, a new report has now seemingly brought more details to light on the upcoming shooter. GamesBeat originally leaked Battlefield V–as the game is rumored to be titled–and it has now followed up with more information about the game’s campaign and mechanics.

Firstly, the site claims Battlefield V’s single-player mode will include a number of different stories packed into one overarching campaign. Battlefield 1 had a similar system of having you control a number of different protagonists to gain different perspectives on the war, and this is something DICE apparently wants to do again with the second World War. It’s also important to note that GamesBeat says the title “Battlefield V” may simply be a placeholder, and that it was also used for Battlefield 1 when that game was in development.

The site goes on to say that DICE is working on a co-op mode for Battlefield V, though it’s not yet clear what form this will take and whether it will support split-screen. Finally, it’s claimed that players can now go prone on their backs–similar to Rainbow Six Siege–while GamesBeat also corroborate an earlier report from USGamer that the game will have loot boxes containing cosmetic items only. Battlefield 1 also contained cosmetic loot boxes, but DICE’s most recent game, Star Wars Battlefront II, caused controversy last year by packing loot boxes with items that can affect gameplay.

If EA does return to WWII, it will be the first in the series set during that era for a while: the last game set during the conflict was 2009’s Battlefield 1943. The publisher is yet to comment on the recent rumors, but it has confirmed a new Battlefield game is coming this year and that it will be playable at EA Play in June. Given that’s the case, we’ll likely find out more about the game soon.