Month: June 2019

It appears Blizzard Entertainment has canceled a project that was in development for at least two years. Game developer David Gibson, who was a senior animator on Overwatch, started working on a mysterious unannounced Blizzard project in July 2017, according to his LinkedIn page. He worked on this game for about two years before announcing his departure from Blizzard this week.

Whatever this project was, it’s reportedly no longer happening. “Unfortunately, you’ll never see what we made over the past two years–that’s [game development],” he said on Twitter.

Game development is a highly iterative, fluid process. It is not uncommon for projects to get canceled midway through development, for a variety of reasons. Gibson did not offer any specifics on why this project was seemingly axed or if his departure from Blizzard is related.

According to Blizzard executive producer Allen Adham, roughly 50 percent of Blizzard’s games are canceled before release. “The truth is, behind the curtain, it’s a horror show. But most people outside of Blizzard don’t realize around half of our titles don’t see the light of day,” he explained to Game Informer. “So, people who think we’re a consistent company, we’re only consistent in that we only release the really amazing games.”

GameSpot has contacted Blizzard in an attempt to get more details.

Gibson didn’t say if he was let go or if he is leaving voluntarily. Whatever the case, Gibson says he has already lined up a new gig.

Blizzard’s new president, J. Allen Brack, has said that Blizzard currently has more projects in development than ever before in the company’s history. It seems it has one fewer now. Recently, Brack teased that Blizzard might be working on some kind of Overwatch spinoff or sequel.

If Blizzard does have new projects to announce, that could happen at the BlizzCon 2019 event in November. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Battlefield V is getting lots more content this year, including four new maps coming to the game with the Chapter 4: Defying the Odds update that launches on June 27. These maps, like all the ones released already, are completely free as part of Battlefield V’s free expansion campaign. More details on all the new maps are coming at E3 2019 this weekend.

The first of the new maps is Al Sundan, which is based on the Under No Flag single-player mission. It’s set in the North African desert, and it’s a large-scale map supporting 64 players. Next up is the 64-player Marita map, which launches in July. It’s the second map set in Greece, following Mercury that was released at the end of May.

“Marita transports players to a gorgeous mountainside with cobblestone roads overlooking a river, and features infantry-focused combat where Allied forces are making a last stand to halt the Axis army,” reads its description.

The other two maps, Lofoten Island and Provence, are smaller in scale; they’re designed around close-quarters combat. Both of these maps will be released sometime in summer.

Moving ahead, DICE will launch a new map called Operation Underground in October. The map is inspired by Battlefield 3‘s Operation Metro map, and it features a number of different areas such as streets, courtyards, and train platforms.

You can see a glimpse of all the new maps in the video embedded above. All of the new maps for Battlefield V will be shown off during publisher Electronic Arts’ EA Play event this weekend in Los Angeles.

Battlefield V launched in October 2018 and it sold more than 7 million copies in under two months; that was below EA’s commercial expectations.

Lots of zombie games have pockets of survivors, but Dying Light 2 is aiming to make a richer experience surrounding them. The survivor camps that largely manifest around the safety of rooftops play into your gameplay, as your decisions will be reflected in the communities. A new piece of concept art shows a rooftop farm.

As described by Techland, your choices will help uncover new areas and impact how they thrive. The studio suggests that helping survivors will often come at some personal cost, so you’ll need to choose between putting your own needs or those of the community first. The studio promises that each player’s city will be a reflection of their own personality and choices.

“You will be shaping the world around you using resources you collect and steps you choose to take,” creative director Adrian Ciszewski said. “The path to achieving your goal will at times take unexpected turns, but you can always get back on track, at a certain cost. The thriving rooftops are visible proof of a path once taken by the protagonist–the more he helps the survivors, putting his own needs aside, the more life and hope can spread throughout the city. Players will have their own cities that entirely reflect them in Dying Light 2.”

Dying Light 2 was confirmed in 2018, but got a shot in the arm recently with the announcement that Square Enix is partnering with Techland to distribute the game. It will be a part of Square Enix’s E3 2019 press conference, which is scheduled to take place on Monday, June 10 at 6 PM ET / 9 PM PT. Other games appearing at that event will be Marvel’s Avengers, new game Outriders, and very likely the remake of Final Fantasy VII.

For more on Dying Light 2, check out what we know and what we’d like to see.

There’s no denying that Death Stranding looks like Hideo Kojima’s typical brand of perplexing. While it has elements of modern game design, what we’ve seen from the game doesn’t seem to fit into any one specific genre. According to Kojima himself, that’s because he has invented something new with this one.

The Japanese auteur took to Twitter to break down exactly what he’s set out to do with the new PS4 exclusive. Death Stranding is an action game, as evidenced by the release date trailer above, but Kojima says the game is creating a hybrid of something entirely new. He calls Death Stranding an “action game/strand game(social strand system),” a project that’s not quite a stealth game but not quite a first-person shooter either.

There are elements of both featured in Death Stranding, with protagonist Sam Porter Bridges (portrayed by The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus) shooting and stealthing his way through the dilapidated world Kojima has conjured up, but Kojima seems more interested in the “strand” part of Death Stranding. He says the game is “incorporating the concept of connection(strand)” to create a “totally brand new genre.”

Genre creation isn’t new for the prolific developer. With the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Kojima coined the term transfarring, a portmanteau of transfer and sharing in which a save file could be moved between the PSP, PS Vita, PS3, or PS4, allowing for seamless, continuous play. The Tactical Espionage Action of the Metal Gear franchise also falls into Kojima’s genre-blending/creation ethos.

Kojima managed to get some big name actors to appear in Death Stranding. Along with longtime collaborators Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus, Death Stranding will star Lea Seydoux (The Lobster, Spectre), Lindsay Wagner (Grey’s Anatomy, The Bionic Woman), Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Margaret Qualley (Death Note, The Leftovers), director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Valhalla Rising), Tommie Earl Jenkins (The Bourne Identity, Gambit), and Troy Baker (Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, The Last of Us).

Death Stranding releases for PS4 on November 8.

Microsoft is preparing for its E3 2019 presentation and has promised to “go big” for Xbox this year. The company has added another intriguing teaser to the mix, although it’s so open-ended it could mean just about anything.

In a tweet from the official Xbox account, the company said, “We invited something new to #XboxE3 this year.” Of course E3 presentations are often full of new announcements, but this one was conspicuous. This something seems bigger than most E3 surprises, and the mention of an invitation could imply it is bringing in something from outside its own company.

So what could it all mean? The curious wording could hint at something big–in which case, it might be teasing the reveal of its next-gen Xbox, Scarlett. While that isn’t expected to launch until next year at the earliest, Sony has already been talking a great deal about the still-unnamed PS5, so Microsoft may want to follow suit and outline its vision for next-generation hardware.

Beyond that, we know Microsoft will be talking about its xCloud streaming service coming later this year. It has also been hinting at expanding Xbox services to other platforms, including the recent announcement of Xbox Game Pass on PC. It is also planning to show off 14 Xbox Studios games, including some from its spate of new acquisitions.

Altogether, this could be anything ranging from a surprising partnership to new hardware or services. We’ll have to watch the Xbox E3 press conference to be sure. That will begin on June 9 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 10). Be sure to check our full press conference schedule for more dates and times.

Just ahead of E3, publisher THQ Nordic has promised a series of three game announcements over the next few days. The first of these has been revealed, with the company announcing SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC at some point in the future.

The brief 20-second trailer doesn’t give away much of anything, but we do know this is a remake of a cult classic platformer originally released back in October of 2003. Purple Lamp Studios–who previously developed The Guild 3–is handling development, and the game’s official description has revealed there will be an all-new multiplayer mode beyond the single-player hijinks of SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy.

The announcement goes on to say, “The cult classic is back, faithfully remade in spongetastic splendor! Play as SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy and show the evil Plankton that crime pays even less than Mr. Krabs. Want to save Bikini Bottom from lots of rampant robots? Of course you do! Want to underpants bungee jump? Why wouldn’t you! Want to join forces in a brand new multiplayer mode? The battle is on!”

This is the first of three new game announcements THQ Nordic has promised for this week. The second will be unveiled June 6 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST, while the third will arrive on June 7 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST.

Rumours have been swirling after an e-mail sent to press regarding E3 appointments gave away some scarce details that point to the possibility of new games in the Destroy All Humans and Darksiders franchises. An E3 panel certainly seems to point to the latter, with Darksiders: Action Adventure Evolved set to discuss “the inception of the Darksiders universe and where it’s headed next.”

Black Mirror Season 5’s release date has finally arrived, with three new episodes of the hit anthology series arriving on Netflix worldwide. As always, the new episodes deal with some of the darker interpretations of futurism and technology.

Here, we take a look at Smithereens, which stars Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Spectre), Damson Idris (Snowfall), and Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3, Interstellar, BlacKkKlansman). It’s directed by James Hawes (Doctor Who, Black Mirror: Hated in the Nation) and was written by series creator Charlie Brooker.

The official plot synopsis reads: “A cab driver with an agenda becomes the center of attention on a day that rapidly spirals out of control.” We won’t say more than this so we don’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the episode yet!

Once you have watched the show, watch the video above, in which Lucy James and Tamoor Hussain uncover all the Easter eggs and secrets they can find and break down the plot.

Black Mirror Season 5 is the first release from the show since the interactive special Bandersnatch, which came to Netflix in December 2018. Prior to that, Season 4 was released in December 2017. For more on the sci-fi series, check out our comprehensive breakdown of the Black Mirror universe’s timeline. For more on Season 5, meanwhile, you can watch our breakdowns of Black Mirror: Striking Vipers and of Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too.

We learned a wealth of new details about Switch’s upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield games during the latest Pokemon Direct broadcast, from the pair’s release date to their new Dynamax mechanic and more. One topic the presentation didn’t touch on was your Pokedex, but we’ve now gotten our first details about that as well thanks to the official Pokemon Sword and Shield website.

Just as in Pokemon Sun and Moon, your Pokedex in Sword and Shield contains a Rotom, a Ghost/Electric Pokemon that is capable of inhabiting electronics. However, rather than being its own dedicated device, it appears your Pokedex this time will be part of your character’s smartphone, which is fittingly dubbed the Rotom Phone. You can see how it looks below.

Interestingly, it appears the Rotom Phone has more functions than simply logging the Pokemon you encounter. According to the website, you’ll also be able to attach it to your bicycle, which will allow you to move faster and even cross water. During the games’ latest trailer, we can briefly see the player character pedaling across a lake using a water bike. It wasn’t clear if that bike was a separate item you needed to acquire or if it worked similarly to Sun/Moon’s Poke Ride feature, but the website makes it seem it’s a form your regular bicycle can take thanks to the Rotom Phone.

If that’s indeed the case, then it appears the Rotom Phone will effectively replace HMs, the special moves you needed to teach Pokemon in the past to navigate the region. Recent titles have been doing away with HMs, and it appears Sword and Shield will be continuing that trend. One of the new Gen 8 Pokemon, Corviknight, acts as a sort of taxi service and can ferry players back to towns they’ve previously visiting, much like the old Fly HM did.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for Nintendo Switch on November 15. You can catch up on all the other big news about the games in our Pokemon Direct recap. For more, be sure to check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.