Month: December 2019

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox and the guy currently playing Microsoft’s next-gen console (codenamed Project Scarlett) at home, says Remedy’s sci-fi shooter Control is coming to Xbox Game Pass.

The Xbox boss casually revealed the news during a recent Extra Life stream on Mixer. When discussing his favourite games of the year with developers from 343 Industries, Spencer said, “I thought Control was really good. It didn’t reach enough people, so I’m glad to see that it’s coming to Game Pass so hopefully more people will play it.” You can watch him discuss Control around the 44-minute mark.

It’s a surprising tidbit to reveal during a mellow live stream, especially since Microsoft just announced a slew of new games coming to Xbox Game Pass during the month of December–Control not included. It’s another feather in Game Pass’s cap, though, and as Spencer said, it should hopefully result in a wider audience playing the game. Remedy recently expressed its satisfaction with Control’s sales performance, even though it failed to top the charts when it launched back in August. But its inclusion on Game Pass gives more people an opportunity to play one of 2019’s best games.

Despite near-universal praise from critics, Remedy Entertainment’s Control didn’t quite top the charts when it was released back in August of this year. Remedy CEO Tero Virtala isn’t particularly worried, however, as he says Remedy is pleased with how the game is selling.

In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Virtala revealed that the sci-fi shooter was developed over the course of three years with a modest budget of just under $30 million. “We don’t quite require the same huge lifetime numbers as many other games with bigger development budgets,” Virtala explained. “Therefore, even though Control didn’t have chart-topping sales right from the get-go, we are in a good position with steady sales. We always take the long view here.”

Virtala pointed to the longevity of digital distribution as one of the reasons launch sales aren’t as important as they used to be. “Nowadays, the majority of sales for many games are generated over a long period of time in digital stores–and Control continues to sell, which is good,” he continued. “We are bringing more free and paid content to the game. It has the proven high-quality and uniqueness, and the word-of-mouth that keeps growing. There is still a big audience out there that hasn’t yet heard of Control. These are all factors that support the longer-term sales.”

Virtala expressed his satisfaction with Control’s success, especially considering it’s a new IP that was mostly self-funded. The game’s director, Mikael Kasurinen, echoed this sentiment, adding that Remedy is “extremely proud of Control, not just from the perspective of quality and creativity, but also in how we changed the culture of production and development. We haven’t done a game as fast since Max Payne 2.

“What makes it even more impressive is that Control involves a lot of new technology, a new approach to the world structure, and is also not a sequel–a rarity nowadays.”

With two story add-ons due in 2020, Remedy isn’t done with Control just yet either.

Earlier today, a listing on the Microsoft Store let slip that Vanquish is coming to Xbox One. Now, further listings have revealed that both Vanquish and Bayonetta are coming to the console with enhanced 4K visuals at 60fps on Xbox One X. The frenetic PlatinumGames action titles will be available separately or as part of a celebratory 10th-anniversary bundle on February 18, 2020.

Details are sparse, and no prices are currently showing on the store, but the listing does note that both games are remastered for the first time on Xbox One. Bayonetta and Vanquish were, of course, originally released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the beginning of the decade, and have been available to play via Xbox One’s backwards compatibility for a while now. Neither game is enhanced for Xbox One X, though, so these new releases fill in that gap by bumping the resolution up to 4K at 60fps with some other visual upgrades.

In all likelihood, the two action titles have been ported from their belated 2017 PC releases, which both support the same visual enhancements. The screenshots included on the Microsoft store page are even identical to those put out prior to the PC version’s launch.

With both games seemingly on their way to Xbox One, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to suggest PlayStation 4 versions are on the horizon, too.

Rocket League, the popular car-soccer game, recently pledged to remove loot boxes in favor or a more transparent “Blueprint” system, which lets you see what you’re getting and choose whether to spend your credits building it. The Blueprint update has now arrived, and developer Psyonix has published extensive patch notes alongside it. All Keys and Decryptors have been turned into Credits and Bonus Gifts, Crates have been turned into Unrevealed Blueprints, and a new Item Shop offers a rotating selection of goods.

It’s a substantial change, and already many players are taking to Reddit to complain about how pricing works in the game, noting that customization upgrades are now prohibitively expensive and much harder to get your hands on. A thread on Reddit is cataloging complaints from players about prices; as of now, it has 1700 replies. Elsewhere, users are noting examples of items, like the Pyrrhos exotic wheels, that have been massively marked up.

As one post sums it up, if you’d bought 23 keys before, you’d get 23 items; now a single item might cost the same in credits as 23 keys would have cost. It remains to be seen whether this system will see changes based on user feedback, or if Blueprint trading will lessen the issue for the community. For now, though, it seems that the change has made cosmetic items in Rocket League more expensive, albeit also more transparent.

Rocket League released in 2015, and is available for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. Psyonix was bought out by Epic back in July 2019.

GTFO, the new shooter from Payday lead designer Ul Andersson and his team at 10 Chambers Collective, has a release date. The game will release on December 9 at 12 PM PT through Early Access on Steam.

On Early Access, players will be able to get a taste of the first-person shooter that also features survival horror elements and team-based gameplay. You play as a prisoner trapped in a horrible world filled with nasty creatures trying to kill you.

The conceit with GTFO is a system called “The Rundown.” This includes timed-based challenges that reset with new game updates, so players only have a limited window to take part. This sounds similar in nature to how Hitman‘s Elusive contracts work. Some missions, called Expeditions in GTFO, might be available for 1-2 weeks, while others may be available for months.

Take a look at the video below to learn more about how The Rundown works.

The Early Access period is expected to run for one year, during which time 10 Chambers will gather feedback and further tune and refine the game. For more on GTFO, head to the game’s Steam page. You can also watch GameSpot’s preview above, in which we describe the game as a fear-filled Left 4 Dead.

There are a bajillion Bluetooth speakers out there, but we’ve cut through the noise to find the clearest winners of the bunch.

You’ve been thinking about using a cloud backup service, but don’t want to hassle with the research. Good news; we’ve done it for you, and here’s our picks for the very best.

A remastered version of Vanquish for Xbox One has appeared with a 2020 release date.

It seems that Sega is releasing a remaster of the 2010 third-person shooter Vanquish for Xbox One on February 18, 2020. There’s been no official announcement yet but the game is now listed on the Microsoft store (via ResetEra).

The listing says that the game will have 4K graphics and run at 60fps on Xbox One X. The PC version of the game that was released back in 2017 also supported 4K 60fps.

Continue reading…