Monthly Archives: December 2014

It's always exciting to hear what Microsoft's best development studio, Rare is up to these days. They have made classics like Banjo Kazooie and Viva Pinata, and have also thrown out dozens of other playful games suitable for the whole family.

Rare's most recent attempts have been within the world of Kinect, and they have released a various of sports and other active games compatible with the Kinect for the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, most gamers weren't really interested in Rare when all of their effort went into these kind of games, but in a new light, Microsoft has realized that Rare deserves to be doing something a bit more exciting with their time.

Que dozens of rumors now spreading the internet because of a small job listing Rare has posted on their website following the development shift for the studio. On the job listing, it states that Rare are looking for an animator that has "high quality animation skills that include movement in bipedal animation, quadruped and facial

After over a year of delays, and then weeks of issues at launch, Driveclub has now almost reached a perfect state, and the game is looking absolutely gorgeous, just like we had all hoped it to be.

Whilst previous patches had dealt with many issues in regards to game performance, server functionality and other boring technical issues, the last few patches in Driveclub have made some significant changes to the game, and finally the title is in a state that every is really learning to enjoy.

Even though Evolution Studios, the developers behind Driveclub, gave away free content to say sorry for the launch problems, the new 1.09 and 1.08 patch is probably the best gift players of the game could get. In patch 1.09, a huge amount of server and in-game performance issues were worked on, and it's now at a point where everything seems to be working in good order.

In patch 1.08, a brand new weather system was added to Driveclub. From snow to rain, Driveclub now looks even more

When the Master Chief Collection launched for the Xbox One, plenty of Halo fans were left devastated. Whilst 343 Industries did a spectacular job at delivering the new remastered content and graphics for the Master Chief Collection, it's online servers were plagued with problems, and most players had to week at least a week before they could play online properly.

Even then, there will still bugs, glitches and server problems, and most of the playlists were not even implemented at this point. Fortunately, 343 Industries have slowly been rolling out new fixes and extra content for the multiplayer portion of the Master Chief Collection, and this latest patch sees some much needed tweaks to the game bundle.

When you next get into the Master Chief Collection, a download will start for the newest update for the game. This new content patch has been focused exclusively on matchmaking online, and it's main feature adds new team balancing mechanics to the game.

343 Industries

Are you a fan of the previous Sniper Ghost Warrior games? If you are, then I have great news for you - CI Games have confirmed that they are indeed working on a third game in the Sniper: Ghost Warrior franchise, cementing previous rumors that suggested CI weren't finished with their previous installment in the series.

Whilst CI Games have been pretty busy recently on games such as Lords of the Fallen, a recent press release from the development team has revealed their plans for Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, and it is currently being developed as AAA title for the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and the PC.

So far, it seems as if development is still in early stages for the game though, as the press release revealed that Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 would only be released at some point in 2016. This release means there's no point holding your breath just yet - CI Games have got at least a year and a bit before they release Ghost Warrior 3.

Some at CI Games suggest the game may be

Turn 10 Studios have just released a new DLC pack for Forza Horizon 2, and it looks pretty interesting. Called Storm Island, this new expansion adds extreme weather, extreme rough terrain and a roster of new cars.

On top of the aforementioned content, the new Storm Island DLC will include a few new game modes and events, which will be accessible in-game once the DLC has been purchased.

The Storm Island DLC costs $19.99 for standard players and $9.99 for Forza Horizon 2 VIP members, and will include new off road areas, harsh weather and six new off-road vehicles that have been built specifically to deal with the new punishing terrain.

On top of this, Storm Island will include over 80 new events and 23 achievements have been added through this pack which can net players an extra 500 Gamerscore.

Interestingly, Forza and Turn 10 community manager Brian Ekberg revealed that the new DLC will only be supported on the Xbox One, as development for the Xbox 360 port has

Sledgehammer Games are gearing up to release their first ever DLC for their top selling COD title, Advanced Warfare, and from what we have seen so far, there is quite a lot to get excited about.

Whilst many DLCs from the Call of Duty franchise have exclusively contained a variety of new maps, the new Havoc DLC for Advanced Warfare contains some extra content as well as the expected new map lineup.

In the new DLC reveal trailer, two new guns have been revealed as part of the Havoc DLC, both of which are available as early access content for Xbox One players. The first weapon is the AE4 assault rifle, an energy gun that has a similar design to the energy shotgun and other energy rifle already in the game.

The second new weapon in the Havoc DLC pack for Advanced Warfare is the AE4 Widowmaker, a custom variant of the same energy assault rifle model.

So far, we do not know what new maps will be revealed for Havoc, but we expect that Sledgehammer Games will include

I've always been a fan of the Just Cause franchise. Whilst Grand Theft Auto may always hold the top spot for the best open world third person franchise out there, Just Cause is known for it's huge expensive worlds that are often many times larger than other games, and it's great freefall and skydiving mechanics.

Just Cause 3 is set to make it' way to consoles in the new future, and some new screenshots show off some of the great mechanics we've come to love from the series making a triumphant return.

Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios posted a huge gallery of new screenshots for Just Cause 3, so there is a lot to gawk at, but there are a few screens that got my attention. An interesting showed the protagonist of Just Cause 3 riding an airborne car as it plummets to the ground.

Another image had an epic showcase of the great grappling mechanics that allow players to hitch on to any ride, whether it's on the road, in the sea or in the air. In this case it was a helicopter.

Since the launch of Killer Instinct for the Xbox One, the developers behind the game have been slowly releasing more content for it over time. Perhaps the most exciting part of any new content releases for Killer Instinct are the introduction of new characters, or more specifically in this case, the re-introduction of characters from the franchise that did not make it into the game at launch.

One such character is Riptor, and Microsoft Studios have just revealed their plans to bring him to the new Killer Instinct on the Xbox One. Riptor featured in the original Killer Instinct game, and is a hybrid between a human and a velociraptor. The character stands out from the crowd of other humanoid fighters in the game, not only for it's appearance, but for it's unique move set as well.

Riptor will be entering the new Killer Instinct as part of the Killer Instinct 2 DLC, which will put players back a total of $19.99 for the Combo Breaker Season 2 pack, and a total of $39.99 for the

Thanks to the quick connectivity of the internet, games developers can communicate with their fans in new ways that can help game development become more in-line with what the players want.

Usually, new features are added to games based on player input, but recently, a little too much criticism left Tekken 7 game director Katsuhiro Harada with no choice other than to press the red button on one of the games new characters, at least that's what he's told us.

After announcing Lucky Chloe, a bouncy bubble, female character dressed up with plenty of kitten themed accessories, NeoGAF members argued that the character was very shallow and was completely unnecessary for Tekken 7.

After hearing these complaints, Harada reacted by revealing that Lucky Chloe will no longer be available in the United States. He further went on to explain that the new character would only be available in East Asia and Europe, and detailed that American players would prefer Lucky Chloe to be replaced

The months leading up to the Holiday season are always pretty hectic, but for major tech manufacturers like Microsoft, things get incredibly crazy. With the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 currently fighting for the top spot, Microsoft had a lot to do to manage to get an upper hand on Sony's new console.

One way Xbox managed to do this was by pushing for more deals and better bargains, and over the black Friday weekend, Microsoft managed to rake in a huge amount of sales thanks to their discounts around the globe, and this actually helped them to secure the most sold console units for that month.

It isn't going to stop at black Friday either - Microsoft have learned that good deals make sales, and in tune with this they have regularly been putting up discounts on their consoles, and most recently, their first party titles, and some selected third party games as well.

Firstly, digital copies of both Destiny and Call of Duty Advanced Warfare have been put up for just $19.99,