Ahead of Activision’s official May 1 reveal of the next Call of Duty game, a promotional poster has outed a release date for the already outed Call of Duty: Ghosts. The poster proclaims a November 5 release date of Activision’s annual shooter along with a GameStop exclusive limited edition poster. Now there’s nothing to be surprised about when Activision comes out tomorrow to tell us that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be releasing on November 5, 2013. Unless this is all a ruse and there’s something completely different planned for the franchise. In which case, we will all be surprised. Whatever happens, you can feast your eyes on the poster sporting the release date and ugly bargain bin box art below:
These Ghosts are totally different from those Ubisoft Ghosts
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about the long-planned Gears of War movie. First news of the film came back in 2007 when New Line Cinema gained the rights for the film, but it’s been trapped in development hell for several years after losing its director and $100 million budget. However, the film now has a new producer: Scott Stuber. Stuber served as the producer on Seth McFarlane’s Ted as well as the blockbuster bomb Battleship (among others, but Battleship is a pretty stand-out disappointment).
It’s easy to be disappointed with a film adaptation of a videogame before its release given the less than stellar track record of past videogame movies, but it is promising to hear that the script for the film is being developed with Epic games, IP owner of the Gears of War franchise. No one else has signed with the film at this time, but Epic’s involvement with the script and the film now having a producer shows some interest in getting the project off the ground. Whether or not it actually makes it to cinemas (or is actually good) remains to be seen.
An Activision employee’s LinkedIn profile has been updated to include certain information of his work on Bungie’s upcoming Destiny. Said employee, one Ryan Wener, is listed as “Senior Director, Product Management” with Activision and is “leading marketing activities for the hotly-anticipated new gaming universe Destiny.” Beneath that bullet point, however, is listed his work in “monetization modeling.” This has led to some speculation as to whether Bungie’s upcoming sci-fi shooter will feature micro-transactions in its business model.
Nothing has been announced, but given that micro-transactions in games are more and more common these days, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Activision is publishing Destiny, so an in-game monetization platform would be a shock to no one.
Destiny is currently in development at Bungie for Xbox 360, PS3, and PS4; a version for the next Xbox has not been officially announced, but it would be safe to assume that it’s headed there, too. No release date or window has been given for the game at this time.
Respawn Entertainment, the product of a long-winded battle between Infinity Ward creators & staff and Activision, has been rather quiet regarding their debut title since the studio’s founding. Rumors are now circulating that their first game will be an Xbox-exclusive. Sources are stating the next Xbox as the primary system with a focus on online gameplay requiring an always-on connection. An Xbox 360 version is possible, but ports for Nintendo and Sony consoles are not being considered.
The game is said to be set in the future and will have players facing off in David and Goliath battles. “Davids are heavily armed foot soldiers. The Goliaths are giant exoskeletons–Titans–that these soldiers can pilot.” It’s worth noting that Respawn recently filed a trademark for Titan.
According to these sources, Respawn is working on the Xbox 720 version which will utilize a modified Source engine with the developer outsourcing for the Xbox 360 port.
Microsoft will unveil its next-generation Xbox on May 21 with E3 following shortly thereafter, so the legitimacy of this rumor will likely be sorted out in the near future.
Dead Island developer Techland has announced Hellraid, an upcoming first-person action game featuring a single-player campaign and multiplayer offerings. The single-player experience will let players “fight, develop skills, collect loot and craft weapons while exploring a world devastated by demons.” A four-player co-op mode and “system-generated online challenges, loot and enemy spawn points make the game playable for hundreds of hours!”
Hellraid is currently in development for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 for a late 2013 release.
Ubisoft’s upcoming Watch_Dogs has a new trailer and a concrete release date. Announced at last year’s E3, Watch_Dog places gamers in the shoes of the technically-inclined vigilante Aiden Pearce who can hack electronic devices to gain information, wire funds, or trigger traps in an open-world game environment. Watch_Dogs will be available on current and next-gen consoles as well as PC on November 19, 2013.
Arkham Origins developer WB Montreal has passed on casting Kevin Conroy, who has voiced Batman in multiple titles since Batman: The Animated Series, as Batman in the upcoming videogame. WB Montreal stated that since Arkham Origins is an origin story featuring Bruce Wayne in his younger years, they’re looking for someone younger to fill the role. While fans of Conroy’s voice work as the caped crusader will be disappointed, it is understandable that they’d cast an actor with a younger sounding voice to portray Batman in his earlier years. No news as to whether or not Mark Hamill will reprise his role as The Joker.
Dark Horse Comics will be releasing a new Halo comic miniseries. Titled Halo: Initiation, the series will follow Spartan IV Sarah Palmer in her ODST days and will chronicle her service in becoming the first Spartan IV commander; her character was first introduced in Halo 4. Halo: Initiation is being written by Brian Reed who previously worked on the comic book adaptation of Halo: Fall of Reach as well as the screenplay for Halo 4.
In other Halo news, Epic Games’ global marketing lead Kendall Boyd has parted with Epic in order to work at Microsoft Studios as the Director of Halo Global Marketing. He has shipped over 35 games at Epic as well as EA Sports and THQ.
The rumors regarding the rebranding of the XCOM shooter as The Bureau are true. The game is still set in the XCOM universe but is no longer an FPS as it has been repurposed as a “third-person tactical squad-based combat game” with team and tactics “at the forefront of our gameplay experience,” according to The Bureau’s creative director Morgan Gray.
Keeping with the spirit of the franchise, when squadmates die in this tactical shooter, they’re gone for good. While this gameplay element isn’t anything new for the franchise, it’s certainly something that isn’t seen in shooters. In regards to this, Gray continued saying, “Our plotline is always moving forward. The consequences of that loss are immediate and there’s no way to hide from them. The war will not stop for you.”
When it was first announced (simply as XCOM), fans of the original games were upset at its radical departure from its strategy game roots. The game went silent for quite some time before the recent rumors started circulating about its rebranding. It is nice to see that they’re not wholly abandoning the original concept and keeping the game in the XCOM universe, but it would have been interesting to see the original vision of the game fully realized. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is being developed by Bioshock 2 developer 2K Marin and is scheduled for release August 20, 2013. The press release and trailer for this XCOM spin-off are below:
Set in 1962 at the height of the Cold War, The Bureau tells the origin story of the clandestine XCOM organization’s first encounter with a mysterious and devastating enemy. Originally established as America’s covert defense against the Soviet Union, The Bureau must adapt and overcome a threat unlike anything the world has faced before. As special agent William Carter, players will call the shots and pull the trigger, leading their squad of agents in the high-stakes secret war for humanity’s survival. Paramount to repelling the outside threat is The Bureau’s ability to cover-up the enemy’s existence in order to prevent worldwide panic.
In the spirit of the XCOM franchise, The Bureau’s calculated combat design requires players to think and act tactically. The game’s third-person perspective gives the player a sense of spatial awareness and grants them the freedom to transition in and out Carter’s unique Battle Focus ability seamlessly — heightening the tactical shooter action. The Bureau also fully embraces the concept of permanent consequence. As our last line of defense, every command can mean the difference between life and death for Carter, his squad and mankind.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will be unveiling its next-generation videogame console in nearly a month. With the date set for May 21, we still have quite the wait to find out what they have in store for the future of Xbox, but it’s nice that they’ve finally said something about the inevitable Xbox 360 successor.
The reveal is set to take place just 19 days before E3, so hopefully their E3 conference will focus more on the games and less on the system’s new features (it’d also be refreshing to have a conference that doesn’t flaunt Kinect and all the terrible games that have been made for it).
According to Major Nelson’s blog, the conference will focus on the future of Xbox and give us a “real taste of the future.” The conference will stream on Xbox Live, xbox.com, and be broadcast on Spike.
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