Digital Extremes, developers of free-to-play shooter Warframe has held its latest Home Devstream, offering updates on many of the announcements made in last week’s stream. Most notably, Nightwave’s long awaited Series 3, Glassmaker, is set to drop very soon.
While there isn’t a set date yet, the devs have indicated that we can expect the all-new take on Nightwave to drop within the next week. Glassmaker is currently awaiting certification approvals, but will go live once those have cleared. The new Nightwave event is an interactive murder mystery, asking the player to find the identity of the mysterious Glassmaker. For the first time, the Nightwave vignettes will be interactive, allowing players to explore.
The game’s next core update Deadlock Protocol is also in the works, featuring a new Warframe and an associated story quest. Digital Extremes’ Rebecca Ford has teased that fans of 2017’s Chains of Harrow quest are likely to enjoy Deadlock Protocol too, with the two updates sharing a lot of similar themes. While there’s still no date confirmed for its release, Deadlock Protocol is still being planned for late May, although it could see a delay into early June.
For a look at some of the new skins features coming in Warframe’s upcoming updates, check out more of the Digital Extremes stream above.
Warframe is currently available on PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.
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Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has pushed beta version 1.3.0 to its main servers after just under two weeks of testing, bringing with it more refinements, crash fixes and improvements in the behavior of its many AI characters.
Leading the patch notes for the new game version 1.3.0 is a collection of crash fixes, which have been the main focus of most of the patches to date. While the game has suffered from crashes and bugs since release, the developers have been working hard in conjunction with player feedback and bug reports to fix them. The new beta branch has also allowed crashes to be detected before they make it to most players’ games.
The new patch also applies yet more AI tweaks to balance out the game–lords and other NPCs have become better at managing their money, while mercenary groups in taverns have become larger and stronger.
The full patch notes includes a number of tweaks both minor and major, to make the huge simulated world of Bannerlord a bit more believable. With such an intricate game, it’ll likely take a while yet for TaleWorlds to balance out all the different systems that have to work together.
If you want to be involved in the process, you can opt into the beta testing branch of the game via your Steam library.
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Call of Duty: WWII developer Sledgehammer Games is ramping up. The studio’s COO, Andy Wilson, confirmed in a new interview that the developer is looking to fill 100 positions at its locations around the world as it moves to take on more responsibilities including working on two games at once.
Sledgehammer was founded in 2010 by Dead Space and EA veterans Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, both of whom have since left the studio. With Sledgehammer now entering its second decade of existence, Wilson told VentureBeat that the studio is launching an initiative called “Decade II,” and this includes hiring many more people across its offices in California and Australia.
Wilson shared that Sledgehammer has already received more than 2,000 applications for its numerous open roles in its offices in Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia.
“Sledgehammer Games is entering a period of growth across both of our main studio locations: Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia. We’re now a multi-project studio and we’re looking for a substantial number of new team members to join us,” Wilson said. “We’re looking across every discipline and various levels of seniority. It’s a pretty exciting time for our studio.”
Sledgehammer currently employs more than 200 people, and it plans to add more than 100 in the next year, Wilson said. The executive added that one of the benefits of Sledgehammer operating in California and Australia is that it allows the developer to be on the clock 24/7, which is required for the types of online, constantly updated games that it makes.
“The launch is really just the start, as games are being played around the clock, it’s a great advantage to be able to cover more of the 24-hour cycle for things like live operations and support,” he said. “Finally, there’s a certain momentum you gain from having the baton passed constantly between a team in one location finishing their day just as another is winding up for theirs.”
Sledgehammer’s Melbourne office opened in 2019. It was recently revealed that the Melbourne team also contributed to Call of Duty: Warzone. The studio doesn’t have any announced projects at this stage, but you can expect they are working on a new Call of Duty title.
Activision, which owns Sledgehammer, has a number of studios contributing to the Call of Duty franchise. These include Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Raven Software, High Moon Studios, and Beenox, among others.
2020’s new Call of Duty is on track to launch later this year, though Activision has yet to confirm which studio is developing it or what the game is. Activision is historically known to announce the year’s new Call of Duty instalment in May, but it’s unclear if that will happen this year. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
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The racing game you might have played a long, long time ago is back. It’s got modern controls, but you’ll still be racing across the same tracks as Anakin Skywalker, Sebulba, and more. There’s no online multiplayer, unfortunately, but you can race others via splitscreen or the Switch’s LAN connection. PS4 players will sadly have to wait a bit longer, as that version of the game has been delayed.
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Deep Rock Galactic — May 13
Available on: Xbox One, PC
Space dwarves with guns–that’s the pitch for Deep Rock Galactic. Choose from an engineer, gunner, driller, and scout as you explore randomly generated mines full of alien bugs. You can explore with friends in four-player co-op to make your spelunking a little smoother as you fight off all sorts of alien bugs.
Super Mega Baseball 3 — May 13
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
It might look cartoony, but Super Mega Baseball 3 is all about realistic simulation. The latest in the series has improved mechanics for picking off, stealing, pitching, and hitting. You can also import your custom teams from Super Mega Baseball 2 if you’d rather not make them from scratch this time around.
Ion Fury — May 14
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Ion Fury puts you in the shoes of a bomb disposal worker nicknamed Bombshell, and if that sounds familiar, it’s because this shooter is a prequel to 2016’s Bombshell–same name, same protagonist. And if it looks familiar, that’s because it’s from 3D Realms, the makers of Duke Nukem 3D. That should give you a good idea of how it’ll feel to battle cyber-soldiers in Neo DC.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix — May 15
Available on: Switch
The latest in Miku’s rhythm game series is (mega) mixing things up. You can play through her songs with standard button presses in Arcade Mode or use the Switch’s Joy-Con motion controls in Mix Mode. There’s also a fun T-shirt maker for dressing up Miku with your personal designs. The Eshop demo is available now if you want a little appetizer.
After 12 years with Gearbox Software, audio director and composer Raison Varner has announced on Twitter that he will be moving to Obsidian Studios. Varner has worked on all of Gearbox’s flagship games over the years, as well as voicing various Borderlands psycho enemies and the Loader Bot in Tales From The Borderlands.
Time for a big move! I’m excited to announce that I will be joining Obsidian Entertainment in Irvine CA. This week was my last week at Gearbox. I’m eager to see what’s over the horizon as we plan for new adventures, new potential and new experiences with the awesome people at OB!
Varner was the music director on Borderlands 3, working with a team of composers to push the game’s soundtrack to be unique and creative, while still belonging cohesively to a single game. Under Varner’s leadership, Borderlands 3 pushed the possibilities of what a game soundtrack would do. In an interview with GameSpot, Borderlands 3 composer Jesper Kyd said the game featured “a really deep interactive music system with many layers and modular pieces that are randomly put together in-game, so the music sounds a bit different every time you play the game.”
The 2020 Money in the Bank match was a dumb, ridiculous spectacle with tons of fan service and an action film soundtrack. But most importantly, it was funny and entertaining. It felt surprisingly spontaneous for something that was pre-taped. WWE needs to do more matches like this for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The dialogue between the fans and performers is indispensable in a professional wrestling event. This is not a dramatic play, where the audience sits quietly and holds its applause for the final bow. In professional wrestling, fans respond–immediately and viscerally–to what they see. The performers, in turn, have to listen to the fans and adjust their acts accordingly. Speed up. Slow down. Play to the crowd or taunt them. It’s an interactive medium.
Take away this interplay, and it’s hard for even longtime wrestlers to know how to react. And on a general, week-to week basis, WWE’s programming has suffered as a result. We’re getting matches that are technically great but lacking that difficult-to-define intensity that results from a live crowd.
But at this year’s Wrestlemania, WWE figured out a way to make its programming different and fun: by leaning into pre-taped, cinematic segments. On Night 1 of Wrestlemania 36, the Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and Undertaker stole the show. On Night 2, the Firefly Fun House match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt lit up social media. Both matches excited the fans, and both were completely different in tone. The Boneyard Match was a low-budget horror short. The Firefly Funhouse was a gonzo deconstruction of the John Cena character, filled with meta contextual humor and non sequiturs.
But at Money in the Bank, we got something different from both of those matches: a go-for-broke comedy routine. Both the men and the women started at the same time on the ground floor of the WWE’s headquarters in Connecticut. They had to race to the roof–“climb the corporate ladder,” if you will–and retrieve the MITB briefcase to win a world title shot.
There was a massive food fight. There were brawls in the weight room, the catering hall, the conference room, and the fire escape. There were a couple of times when the men and women crossed over into each other’s matches; Shayna Baszler choked out Rey Mysterio before the poor guy was sandwiched by Otis and Nia Jax. There were cameo appearances by Brother Love, Doink the Clown, and Johnny Ace for long-time fans. Near the end, there was an appearance by Vince McMahon, who followed social distancing guidelines by kicking AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan out of his office before disinfecting his hands.
There was an actual wrestling ring on the roof, along with ladders for the Superstars to climb. But the wrestlers spent more time brawling and running through the halls than doing any sort of actual ring work. And this was the key, best creative decision. The at-home viewers are conditioned to hearing audience feedback to dangerous ladder stunts and in-ring spots. Without that response, we don’t get the vicarious thrill of feeling like we’re there in the crowd. The hallway segments were uncharted territory. We know what a ladder match looks like. But we didn’t know what would happen next in this format. We got a tour of the WWE building. And to cap it off, the right people–Asuka and Otis–picked up the victories.
It would have been easy for WWE to phone it in and do a basic ladder match at the Performance Center. But tonight, they took a risk and it paid off. Sometimes it will work, and sometimes it won’t. But it’s always preferable to have a go-for-broke creative effort than settle for something that’s safe.
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Empire of Sin, the upcoming 20s-set mobster strategy game from Romero Games Ltd, will feature a real-life figure from developer John Romero’s family tree. Elvira Duarte was Romero’s great-grandmother, an eccentric character who developers John and Brenda Romero wanted to honor in the game. The announcement has been made to coincide with Mother’s Day.
In the video below, John and Brenda explain that Duarte was an interesting character–she walked around with a green parrot on her shoulder, who would deliver punchlines to jokes she told. She ran three brothels, but quit and retired after winning the lottery. And now, a century later, she’s a video game character.
Duarte will be a playable mob boss in the game, with her own powers and a revolver that she can take enemies down with. She’s introduced in the trailer below.
Elvira Duarte’s “mob ability” in the game is called Devil’s Breath, which allows her to take control of enemy characters and use them to kill their own people.
The in-game model of Elvira is based on John’s grandmother Socorro, one of Elvira’s nine children. As Brenda says, she kind of looks like John, too. In any case, it’s a cool bit of character trivia–if you pick Elvira, you know you’re playing as a real person.
Empire of Sin is coming to Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC this year. The game will release in Fall 2020.
The next update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Xbox One is coming soon, and it introduces a new bug in Halo 2: Anniversary. In a blog post, developer 343 Industries warned players that the new update adds a bug where the reticule moves off-center for couch co-op split-screen multiplayer.
343 said it is currently working on a fix for the problem, with the aim of it releasing in the coming weeks.
“Our test teams identified a newly introduced issue in H2:A where the reticule is off centered when playing split screen multiplayer,” 343 said. “The team is working on a fix for this and we will be targeting a hot fix build update for this in the coming weeks ahead.”
This update releases on May 12, which is the same day that Halo 2 comes to PC through The Master Chief Collection. The May 12 Xbox update also includes performance updates for Halo 3 that aim to bring the game back to a better state.
“Our goal is to bring Halo 3’s performance on Xbox back to what it was prior to our update when Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary launched on PC. In great news, the team has been conducting internal tests and they are showing positive improvements for the experience which you will see in this update,” 343 said. “The team is not done and will continue more extensive testing and listen for community feedback on any additional areas of improvements needed for Halo 3’s performance.”
