Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning has seemingly leaked on the Microsoft Store and will apparently make its way to at least Xbox One on August 11, 2020.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a remastered version of the 2012’s Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning that was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
This remaster appears to include all DLC, including Teeth of Naros and Legend of Dead Kel, and will have “improved graphical fidelity.”
Amalur’s story is penned by New York Times’ best-selling author R.A. Salvatore and was also developed by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lead designed Ken Rolston.
In our review of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, we said “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning isn’t the perfect game. Its random technical hiccups and inconsistent art style certainly holds it back from even higher levels of greatness. But no matter what you’re looking for, whether it be amazing gameplay, immersive storytelling or perhaps a riveting new world to explore as you fully customize and re-customize your character at will, Reckoning has it all.”
However, while Project CARS 3 will ultimately have little in common with its Hollywood-inspired stablemate, Slightly Mad has added a variety of features to its traditional, hardcore racing sim to make it more accessible to newcomers.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to make what we do and what we love about sim racing much more democratic,” director of production Pete Morrish explained to IGN in the lead-up to Project CARS 3’s announcement. “Much more welcoming; much more supportive.”
According to Morrish, for players tossing up between the excellent Project CARS 2 and the upcoming Project CARS 3, the decision is simple.
“In that situation, when you’ve got somebody in a store – looking at the two copies and thinking which one to go for – kinda by definition they’re not in the initial target market of Project CARS 2, which was very much towards racing fans and simulation heads and people that were fans of motorsport and so on,” said Morrish. “So there are certain things that we’ve done in Project CARS 3 that make the new version the version that that particular person should go for, at the drop of a hat.”
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=It%E2%80%99ll%20let%20them%20find%20their%20position%20on%20the%20continuum%20between%20casual%2C%20mass-market%20racing%20fan%20or%20petrol%20head%20and%20all%20the%20way%20to%20hardcore%20sim%20racer”]“So that person that’s umming and erring between the two versions needs to go for the latest version, because – as an experience – it’s much more their cup of tea, we think. It’ll let them find their position on the continuum between casual, mass-market racing fan or petrol head and all the way to hardcore sim racer.”
The brand-new Corvette C8.R is coming to Project CARS 3.
Project CARS 3 will feature a completely new career mode for the series, rebuilt from scratch. It’s pitched as a curated experience, taking players through 10 car classes and introducing upgrades and unique visual customisation options to the series for the first time. That said, the team was quick to stress this new approach to career mode hasn’t come at the expense of the series’ deep racing toolbox.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=We%20haven%E2%80%99t%20forgotten%20about%20what%20got%20us%20to%20this%20point%20and%20the%20people%20that%20supported%20us%20up%20to%20this%20point”]“We haven’t forgotten about what got us to this point and the people that supported us up to this point,” said Morrish. “So what they know and love about the franchise is there and it’s better than it ever has been before.”
“In the custom event mode all the cars and tracks are available straight away in that mode,” added Joe Barron, marketing and esports manager for Project CARS 3. “So if you’re more on the hardcore end of the scale and the first thing you want to do is turn every assist off and go and race in a thunderstorm in the middle of the night in your prototype or something like that, you don’t have to play through hours of career mode to get there if you want to jump straight into a custom event.”
“And likewise in multiplayer as well; everything is available straight away in multiplayer. The difference is, in the multiplayer side of things, if you don’t own the right car for a specific multiplayer event you can borrow one from the game for that multiplayer event. The only difference there is that you can’t customise or upgrade your car if you’re borrowing it for a one-off event, whereas if it’s in your garage you can do all the tweaking.”
Turning stock cars into race cars is reminiscent of Need for Speed Shift ‘Works Upgrade’ feature.
IGN was shown a glimpse of some of these upgrades in action, which involves customising livery templates, rims, tyre lettering, and so forth. There will also be the ability to build your own race cars from selected road cars in the game, which sounds like the racing modification feature in Gran Turismo and the ‘Works Upgrade’ option in Slightly Mad’s own Need for Speed Shift.
“With the upgrade system, one of the things we’re keen for people to be able to do is that – if they do latch onto a car that they really like early on in the career – you can carry that through the car classes,” said Barron. “The only thing I can’t tell you right now is which exact cars this applies to but quite a lot of the road cars have full race-spec kits that you can upgrade them with as well, so you can take them all the way up to some of the very top classes in the game.”
Multiplayer has also been overhauled and will include scheduled races (à la Gran Turismo Sport) and proper skill-based matchmaking.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=In%20Project%20CARS%202%20we%20already%20had%20this%20competitive%20racing%20license%20system%20that%20was%20measuring%20everybody%E2%80%99s%20skill%20level%20and%20safety%20or%20sportsmanship%20level…%20but%20we%20didn%E2%80%99t%20do%20enough%20with%20it”]“In Project CARS 2 we already had this competitive racing license system that was measuring everybody’s skill level and safety or sportsmanship level within the multiplayer side of things, but we didn’t do enough with it,” said Barron. “All that data existed and was attached to everybody’s individual profile; if you were setting up a custom lobby you could set parameters to limit who could join to certain skill levels.”
“But now that we’ve got the scheduled races and all the skill-based matchmaking, we’re actually making proper use of that, and that’s going to make a big difference to people being able to jump in from day one, find their level up against the right part of the community for them to be racing against, and improve the quality of racing.”
The Acura NSX before…
Slightly Mad Studios showcased a pair of new locations for Project CARS 3, including Brazil’s Autódromo José Carlos Pace (better known as Interlagos) and a street circuit in Shanghai. Amongst the many, many returning tracks we also spotted a Havana-based track. Shanghai and Havana have been locations in Codemasters’ Grid games in the past, but Morrish explains this is a fluke.
“Hand on heart, it is just coincidence,” he said. “Too little time has passed for any real coalition of our dev and their dev to have taken part. At the moment we’re part of one big family, and there are certain background things, boring HR processes, and stuff like that that we’re beginning to meld together, but the games we’re working on were too far developed to really have any cross-pollination of ideas or any new assets or things like that.”
“The stuff that we were working on pre-acquisition is the same post-acquisition. Future projects, things might be different, but Project CARS 3 is the same game as we started making.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Codemasters%20have%20their%20own%20engine%20and%20we%20have%20our%20own%20engine”]“Codemasters have their own engine and we have our own engine. It’s a bit like Unity and Unreal, say; you can’t take stuff from Unreal and stick it directly into Unity, and we’re the same sort of thing. We’ve got a mature tech stack we’ve been working on for 10, 15 years, same as Codemasters. So although they’re throwing around similar things, which are our version of a track and their version of a track, we can’t just suck one out and pop it into the other one.
“But we will be able to share assets more effectively and take advantage of some of the economies of scale that a larger company has and so on. So it’s a positive thing, we think, across both companies.”
…and after.
There have also been huge changes to the gamepad handling and improvements to force feedback for wheel users.
“One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time on is adding lots of little details and new features to the way that force feedback works for steering wheel players,” said Barron. “We’ve been looking at each phase of cornering as an individual part of the process, so braking and turn-in: what extra detail can we add there? What extra detail do we need as you get through the curve to the apex, and what extra detail can we put in as you start to put power on again? We’ve made some big steps in that area; as soon as we started compartmentalising it like that we made some big steps on force feedback, which has been really cool.”
“And we’ve really done lots of work to the gamepad handling as well, in terms of how the game reads – in particular – left analogue stick input, and then also making the assists a lot less intrusive on the gamepad. So they’re still helpful, but they become less of a crutch if you’re playing on a gamepad, and it’s easier to gradually turn them off and increase the difficulty, and along with that you’re going to be earning bigger rewards for experience and credits as you do that.”
Project CARS 3 will be available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this summer (or winter, for everyone below the equator). If you’re unfamiliar with the series, check out IGN’s review of Project CARS 2 here.
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Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.
Mega Crit Games has revealed that its popular card-based roguelike Slay the Spire is coming to iOS devices this month.
The news arrived in a blog post on Slay the Spire’s Steam community page. Mega Crit notes that more information will arrive during the Guerilla Collective Show on June 6th, but for now, the port has been confirmed. Slay the Spire on iOS will cost $9.99 at launch and offers “the complete, spire-climbing experience you have already enjoyed on PC.”
If you’re an Android user, you’ll also be pleased to learn that the game is headed to that platform in the future, although the team at Mega Crit is not ready to talk about a potential release date yet. It’s in the works, which is the main thing!
The blog post offers a few screenshots from the iOS port for those interested in how the game will look on a touchscreen smartphone. We reviewed Slay the Spire back in January of 2019, calling the game an “extremely satisfying package.”
Star Wars actor John Boyega recently appeared at a rally in London’s Hyde Park where he gave a tearful, impassioned speech about fighting racism and banding together to make the world a better place.
“Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded, regardless, and now is the time. I ain’t waiting,” Boyega said. “Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this. This, today, is about innocent people. We don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”
You can, and should, watch the speech in its entirety below.
Lucasfilm, the movie studio behind Star Wars, issued a statement of support for Boyega. “Lucasfilm stands with John Boyega and his message. The evil that is racism must stop. We will commit to being part of the change that is long overdue in the world. John Boyega, you are our hero.”
Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill tweeted in support of Boyega, saying, “Never been more proud of you, John.”
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
Infinity Ward is increasing their efforts to ban racist names from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone, the developer announced in a recent tweet. The post says that they already ban users with racist or hate-orientated names from the game but additional counter-measures are being put in place to make sure names don’t slip through the cracks.
“There is no place for racist content in our game. This is an effort we began with launch and we need to do a better job. We’re issuing thousands of daily bans of racist and hate-orientated names. But we know we have to do more – and we are,” Infinity Ward said in the statement.
The tweet goes on to say that they will be adding additional resources to monitor and ID racist content and additional in-game reporting systems to increase the number of bans per hour. They will also be adding filters and greater restrictions on name changes in addition to increasing permanent bans to root out repeat offenders.
In recent days members of the Call of Duty community have been outspoken about the issues of racism and hate-orientated names and content in the games.
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“We’re otherwise encouraging that we all take notice of what’s happening in the United States, as well as other places around the world, and ask how we can all do more, as we must do more,” DICE said in a blog post. “Racism should not exist in our society. We stand with all of our African-American / Black colleagues and partners, families and friends, and everyone around the world who is ready to see it end.”
DICE is owned by Electronic Arts, which has pledged more than $1 million to organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, along with others to be announced. EA will also double-match employee donations.
The Battlefield V Summer Update goes live on Thursday, June 4 across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The update introduces a lot of new content, including two maps, nine weapons, six vehicles, five gadgets, and three types of grenades, all of which are new to Battlefield V.
The update is approximately 8.8 GB on Xbox One, 9.75 GB on PC, and 9 GB on PS4.
The new Al Marj Encampment map is set in Libya, and it’s a smaller-scale, infantry-only map for up to 64 players. Its supported modes include Conquest, Breakthrough, Squad Conquest, and Team Deathmatch.
The second “new” map is an updated version of Provence. “The play area has been extended to include the farm land, and areas around the outskirts of town, bringing tanks into this battlefield on 64-player Conquest, and Breakthrough,” DICE said.
The new weapons include in the Sjögren Shotgun (Support), Chauchat (Support), M3 Infrared (Recon), K31/43 (Recon), Welgun (Medic), M1941 Johnson (Assault), PPK/PPK Suppressed (all classes), M1911 Suppressed (all classes), and the Welrod (all classes).
The new gadgets are: Doppel-Schuss (Recon), RMN 50 Grenade Launcher (Recon), Pistol Flamethrower (Assault), Shaped Charge (Support), and the Kampfpistole (Support).
As for the new grenades, these include the Firecracker, Demolition, and Type 99 Mine for all classes. You can see the full Battlefield V Summer Update patch notes below.
The update goes live starting at midnight PT on Xbox, before coming to PC at 1 AM and PS4 at 2 AM. Check out the image below to find out when the update arrives where you live.
Aerodrome – Removed the MG turret that was placed below the ground at the edge of the map.
Aerodrome – Removed the stationary weapon fortification that was placed into the ground near Sector F.
Al Sundan – This map has temporarily been removed from rotation whilst we address an issue with incorrect VO, following a change to the playable factions on this map. It will be returned to all rotations pending a Hotfix that we’ll be releasing as soon as possible.
Marita – Fixed a hole in the wall by Zervos Farm which could be exploited.
Panzerstorm – All standard modes now feature U.S. vs. Germany (except Grand Operations).
Panzerstorm – German Army is now set as the defending force.
Twisted Steel – All standard modes now feature U.S. vs. Germany (except Grand Operations).
Twisted Steel – Outpost – Fixed the floating barrels and barbed wire near Radio Tower A.
Twisted Steel – Outpost – Players should no longer be able to get stuck between the barrels and the bridge strut near tower D.
Underground – Fixed an exploit that could disable smoke effects.
Combined Arms – Fixed the missing tab on the end of round screen.
Firestorm – Players will no longer enter a bleed out state when playing solo mode.
Practice Range – Added the missing Panzerbüchse 39 & Boys AT Rifle bi-pod when using them on the range.
Weapons & Gadgets
New Weapons:
Sjögren Shotgun (Support)
Chauchat (Support)
M3 Infrared (Recon)
K31/43 (Recon)
Welgun (Medic)
M1941 Johnson (Assault)
PPK/PPK Suppressed (all classes)
M1911 Suppressed (all classes)
Welrod (all classes)
New Gadgets:
Doppel-Schuss (Recon)
RMN 50 Grenade Launcher (Recon)
Pistol Flamethrower (Assault)
Shaped Charge (Support)
Kampfpistole (Support)
New Grenades:
Firecracker Grenade (all classes)
Demolition Grenade (all classes)
Type 99 Mine (all classes)
Additional Changes:
Add-on Grenade Launchers for the Tromboncino and M1 Garand now try to switch to the main ammo type instead of the pistol when the player runs out of ammo. If no primary weapon ammo is available, a switch will be made to the pistol as normal. We think that this will lead to a better combat flow when the player ends up in these scenarios.
The Breda M1935 PG’s fire switching sound can now be heard.
Fixed a bug where smoke grenades would sometimes detonate in different positions for different clients, or not detonate at all.
Unified the impact grenade’s trajectory with the other frag grenades for improved consistency of grenade throws.
Slightly increased the time an impact grenade must travel, the amount it bounces off a surface, and detonation delay after bouncing. This won’t substantially change the gameplay of the grenade, but will improve the pucker factor of having one of these thrown at you.
Fixed a bug with the Lunge Mine which would cause another knockback, when it had been selected again after a previous use.
Vehicles
New Vehicles:
A-20 bomber (U.S. Faction)
P-70 Night Fighter (U.S. Faction)
P-51D fighter plane (U.S. Faction)
P-51K fighter plane (U.S. Faction)
M8 Greyhound (U.S. Faction)
Puma Armored Car (German Faction)
Additional Changes:
Improved the transition to ragdoll when players die in a vehicle and made it so the vehicle/wreck is followed for the victim to make it a more interesting experience.
Fixed an issue with the Hachi that was causing it not to steer as well as intended when moving at higher speeds.
Smoke screen weapons on tanks and airplanes now properly block spots, and name tags.
Fixed a bug that would cause the vehicle UI to show an incorrect position of the cannon, if the player had used it, and then switched seats.
AA guns now suppress on the same level as other vehicle MGs.
Planes
500lb bombs now have lowered blast damage, and increased irreparable damage to make it a two-pass kill.
BF-109 G2
Specialization tree changes to compete with P51K.
Start loadout includes spotting flares and 2x50kg bombs.
Engine or gun upgrade at tier 1.
Defensive options or finned barrels at tier 2.
Ground attack options or leading edge for tier 3.
Finally some less critical upgrades for tier 4.
BF-109 G6
Specialization tree changes to compete with P51D.
Start loadout includes nitrous, smoke, and 2x rockets.
Explosion protection or gun upgrade at tier 1.
Defensive options or finned barrels at tier 2.
Ground attack options or leading edge for tier 3.
Nitrous now functions in the same way as the super charger for the Pacific planes.
Finally some less critical upgrades for tier 4.
Soldier
New Soldier Characters:
14 New U.S. Faction Soldiers.
2 New Japan Faction Soldiers.
Additional Changes:
Additional fixes to prevent players from getting stuck in a bleeding out state. If this does not fix the problem, we hope that it will decrease the rarity from uncommon to rare.
Fixed a bug that would in some cases play the wrong voice over when a soldier spots a bomber.
UI & Other
Fixed an issue that would cause spotted enemies to not show on the mini-map if the player walked into their own smoke.
Added the missing descriptions for the Calliope and Hachi in the statistics tab.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
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Pokemon Sword & Shield: Isle of Armor gets a release date, along with some surprise Gigantamax forms and new items. Sega announces the Game Gear Micro, which is coming to Japan this October. It’ll be released in four different colors, each with its own selection of games. Earlier this week, Sony delayed its PS5 event. This turned out to be the first of many delays, which now include Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty, Madden 21, and Fortnite.
For the next six weeks, GameSpot is hosting Play For All, a summer gaming celebration and charity event featuring special guests like Troy Baker, Danny O’Dwyer, and many familiar GameSpot faces. We are all coming together to raise money for Direct Relief in support of those fighting on the frontlines against COVID-19, as well as Black Lives Matter.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the 2012 RPG from controversial former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s ill-fated development studio 38 Studios and publisher EA, is making a comeback of sorts.
New rights-owner THQ Nordic is re-releasing the game in August with Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. German studio Kaiko is said to be handling the re-release.
The product description on Xbox.com states Re-Reckoning will release on August 11. All the DLC from the original game–including Teeth of Naros and Legend of Dead Kel–is included with the re-release. The game also promises “improved graphical fidelity.” You can check out a series of images in the gallery above.
The Xbox product page appears to have gone live too soon, as THQ Nordic has yet to formally announce Re-Reckoning.
In September 2018, after THQ Nordic acquired the rights to Kingdoms of Amalur, the company confirmed to Eurogamer that Electronic Arts continued to hold the publishing rights to the franchise, so a re-release would require their approval. The two companies have now seemingly worked out an arrangement.
Original developer 38 Studios went bankrupt, and the fallout caused a great deal of controversy in the developer’s home state of Rhode Island. Studio founder Curt Schilling now works for the conservative website Breitbart.
Kart racing fans rejoice! KartRider: Drift‘s second closed beta is now live, and players who have been accepted can download the game and jump right into Nexon’s latest free-to-play racing game.
If you’ve been wanting to get into the beta but haven’t been able to yet, our KartRider: Drift beta code giveaway is still active for a few more hours so enter now! Players can continue registering for the game even while the beta is active—the cut-off date is June 8.
Those who experienced the first wave of beta testing for KartRider: Drift will notice a number of in-game improvements, including a totally redone UI, a cleaner HUD, a rearview mirror, and other balance changes to make your racing experience more realistic. This second wave of the closed beta also introduces a new character, Diz, and new courses for players to try out along with a variety of cosmetic upgrades.
For those who have obtained access but who are new to kart racing, there’s now a Racing School mode as well which lets you strap on your training wheels to enjoy some low-stakes practice races. Those accessing KartRider: Drift’s second closed beta will also benefit from daily login bonuses including new karts, and a White Cloud Balloon item when the game officially launches.
As of June 3, the beta is now live globally and can be accessed via the Nexon Launcher, Steam, and on Xbox One (with the exception of China and Japan). The game has cross-platform capability, which means that you and your mates don’t have to all be on same type of console to enjoy racing each other. There is no firm release date for the title yet, but we’re keeping our eyes peeled. For more information on the closed beta specifically, check out the official KartRider: Drift website.
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Gwent, the card game spin-off of The Witcher 3, has a new expansion coming. On June 30, players will be able to play the Master Mirror expansion, which brings back the ominous Gaunter O’Dimm.
As the trailer below shows, O’Dimm has been pulling the strings behind the scenes for some time now, and this expansion will bring him to the forefront in the card battling game. The trailer suggests that this will have some major implications for Gwent’s storytelling.
The expansion will add 70 new cards, including several faction-specific cards and a new Legendary card type. There are 11 new neutral cards coming, too, as well as new statuses and abilities.
If you preorder now, you can get the Gaunter O’Dimm skin and an evolving cardback. You’ll be able to equip them immediately.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
