Month: November 2017

One of the biggest pieces of gaming news this year will surely be the closure of Visceral Games and the re-tooling of the developer’s mysterious Star Wars game that was being made under the direction of Uncharted director Amy Hennig. While much has already been said on the topic, it was brought up again today during the latest EA earnings call.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson discussed the decision to close Visceral and spoke generally about why the developer wanted to “pivot” the unannounced game’s design to better mesh with player expectations and industry trends. As announced previously, this game is not being canceled, though development is shifting to EA Vancouver and it sounds like it is going in a different direction than the previous iteration.

Here are Wilson’s comments in full:

On Closing Visceral Games

“Anytime you close a studio, it’s a very, very tough decision and something that we take very seriously. We spend a lot of time working through before we make such a decision. But it does happen from time to time as part of the creative process.

On Visceral’s Star Wars Game And Why It’s Changing

“During the development process of the game they were working on, we’ve been testing the game in concert with players, listening to feedback in terms of what and how they wanted to play. And really tracking that closely with fundamental shifts in the marketplace. We are seeing an evolution in the marketplace, and it became clear to us that to deliver an experience that players wanted to come back and enjoy for a long time, that we needed to pivot the design.

“You may have heard the conversation around single-player versus multiplayer or single-player versus live service. [The decision to close Visceral and shift the focus of their Star Wars game] wasn’t about that conversation. It wasn’t about, ‘This was just a single-player game [and it] needed to be a live service.’ It was more about, ‘How do we get to a point where the overall gameplay experience was right for players.’ We still believe strongly in the Star Wars IP.”

Other Takeaways

Wilson said EA was happy with some of the assets and content that Visceral created for its Star Wars game. He said he hopes some of this can be preserved and utilized for potentially the new version of the game or perhaps something else.

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Last week, Kotaku published an in-depth story featuring developers who worked on the game about what happened with Visceral’s Star Wars game, which had the working title “Ragtag.” The report also claims that EA Vancouver is “essentially starting from scratch” with a new Star Wars game. You can read the full report here.

The next new Star Wars game is Star Wars: Battlefront II, which launches on November 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Titanfall developer Respawn is working on its own Star Wars game, a third-person action title, but we don’t know anything about it yet.

Raise hell in VR! Check out Doom’s fast-paced, brutal gameplay on the PSVR.

GameSpot News with Jess McDonell and me, Edmond Tran is back again to tell you about video game news you may not have read about yet if your only source of information is YouTube or something. Here’s what we cover today!

Destiny 2 PC Update Out Now Ahead Of Raid Release

Looks like there are a ton of PC players who have hopped on the Destiny 2 bandwagon, but while playing games on PC can give you superior graphical fidelity, it can also give you annoying bugs due to the gamut of hardware configurations that developers have to deal with. Destiny is no exception! Bungie have released a hot fix to address a few hardware issues, find out if you’re affected!

• Destiny 2 PC Update Out Now Ahead Of Raid Release

Star Wars Battlefront 2 Crate System Is Changing After Beta Complaints; Here’s What’s Different

Oh boy. So after Battlefront 2’s beta, there were a bunch of complaints about its Star Card booster system, the way you obtained them via loot crates, and how much they affected the game’s multiplayer. It rang the “pay-to-win” alarm bells with a lot of people, and now EA are trying to make changes to address those concerns.

• Star Wars Battlefront 2 Crate System Is Changing After Beta Complaints; Here’s What’s Different

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds gets Xbox One Release Date

This is the news Xbox One fans have been waiting for! Undoubtedly one of the most significant game releases of this year is… actually going to get an official release this year! The game will be launching on Xbox Game Preview and the PC version will get its v1.0 launch later this year. Everyone’s a winner! Unless you don’t own a PC or Xbox One. In which case, I’m sorry.

• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds gets Xbox One Release Date

GameSpot News will be back tomorrow with hopefully more good news from Paris Games Week. Until then, Happy Halloween!

We get both our hands on the PSVR version of Skyrim.

One of the most resounding pieces of feedback about Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s beta was around the game’s implementation of loot boxes. Some voiced concerns about being able to spend money to acquire higher level items that would give them an advantage on the battlefield. EA quickly responded to this feedback and just today outlined its plans for how it plans to keep Battlefront II from becoming a pay-to-win experience.

And during an earnings call today, EA CEO Andrew Wilson responded further about loot boxes and pay-to-win. He started off by saying the feedback around Battlefront II generally–about its campaign, multiplayer, and more–is “very, very positive.” People voiced their feedback about loot boxes, and Wilson pledged that EA is listening and will adjust the experience as needed to do what it can to ensure a balance playing field. He also pointed out that Battlefront II is not the only game dealing with loot box controversy.

“There was the conversation around loot boxes, which is not a Star Wars: Battlefront II-specific conversation but more one that the industry is having with players across the global community,” he explained. “And we are engaged in that conversation, engaging with our players on a daily basis as we think about that.”

One element of the issue is the idea of value, Wilson said. “In a world where a player pays $60 for a game, will there also be value in the ongoing digital ecosystem that comes for many years?” Wilson said.

A big change from the 2015 Battlefront reboot is that the sequel has much more content (three times as much, EA says), and it won’t be locked behind a season pass–because Battlefront II’s DLC will be free. Wilson said EA feels “very good about overall value proposition” for Battlefront II, and this includes the microtransaction system that EA is expecting will make up the lack of revenue from a season pass.

Instead of a season pass, Battlefront II will make extra money from “event-driven live services,” Wilson said. One part of this is content from Star Wars: The Last Jedi coming to Battlefront II this holiday around the time the new movie comes out.

He pointed out that almost everything that you can spend money to acquire in Battlefront II can also be unlocked through normal gameplay, so the microtransactions are a way for players to speed up their progress.

Avoiding a pay-to-win situation is important for EA. “Balance and fairness inside of gameplay is very important to our community and it’s very important to us as a benchmark to which DICE builds games,” Wilson said.

He added that EA is constantly thinking about things like what you can earn versus what you can buy and how to manage progression through that process. EA has already announced changes to the loot box system following the beta, and Wilson said EA plans to have a “daily dialogue” with fans “for many years to come.”

The game’s microtransactions are a way for players to “enhance and extend” their experience with Battlefront II, but you don’t need to spend money to enjoy the game, Wilson said. “What we’ve got with a core base game that’s three times the size, what would have been previously gated behind season passes is now free for all users with a focus on keeping the community together,” he explained.

Star Wars Battlefront II releases for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 17. For more on the shoot sequel, you can check out the game’s launch trailer here.

Find out what rewards you can earn by collecting up to 999 Power Moons in Super Mario Odyssey.

The Star Trek Podcast: Mudd pulls a “Cause and Effect” on Discovery and Burnham learns about this thing you Earth humans call… love!

There are 14 Ancient Tombs scattered across Egypt that will reward you with an ability point – here’s where to find them all.

Netflix has suspended production on House of Cards: Season 6 “until further notice.”

The company announced today on Twitter that filming, which began two weeks ago, has temporarily stopped in light of the recent allegations made against Kevin Spacey.

“Production on the final season of House of Cards is suspended until further notice,” Netflix said. “This will give us time to review the current situation with our producing partners at MRC. Execs are on set this week discussing with our cast and crew. More details to come.”

Netflix recently revealed that the upcoming sixth season of House of Cards will be its last. The decision to end the show was reportedly made months ago. Netflix and MRC released a joint statement saying they are “deeply troubled” by these allegations against Spacey.

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Planet Hulk comic writer Greg Pak has expressed his love for the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Thor: Ragnarok.

In a series of tweets, Pak praised director Taika Waititi’s work on the film, saying, “Just got back from a Thor: Ragnarok screening—and I absolutely loved it. Huge, huge high five, Taika Waititi!”

Pak went on to say it was a “total thrill seeing all those Planet Hulk elements and characters” in the film.

Thor: Ragnarok pays homage to the Planet Hulk ark and features aspects of Hulk’s alien world adventures despite being a Thor title. In fact, Bruce Banner actor Mark Ruffalo told IGN that Ragnarok is the first in a three-movie story arc for the Hulk.

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