http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Thu, 15 May 2014 00:33:53 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-anniversary-event-will-make-it-easier-for-you-to-get-legendaries/1100-6419646/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png" data-ref-id="1300-2530480" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png" data-ref-id="1300-2530480"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png"></a></figure><p style="">Blizzard is going to make it rain legendary items in <a href="/diablo-iii/" data-ref-id="false">Diablo III</a> as a way of celebrating its second anniversary.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The event will begin on Thursday, May 15 at 12:00 PT and run for a whole week, ending on Thursday, May 22 at 05:00 PT, in which the latest community buff will be running on the PC and Mac servers. Legendary drop rates will be doubled during the event, and players will also receive twice as many Rift Fragments so it's even easier to hop into a Nephalem Rift. And, yes, the bonuses will stack.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition will be <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-ultimate-evil-edition-confirmed-for-both-xbox-one-and-ps4-coming-this-august/1100-6419572/">making its way to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August</a>. It also launched the 2.0.5 patch for Diablo III, so this might be the perfect chance to jump back in and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-s-latest-patch-toughens-up-crusaders-hands-out-more-gold/1100-6419612/" data-ref-id="1100-6419612">see what the latest balance tweaks have done to your favourite build</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released for PC and Mac back in March. You can <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-review/1900-6415713/">read what GameSpot's own Carolyn Petit made of the expansion in her review</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Martin Gaston is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on<a href="https://twitter.com/squidmania" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false"> Twitter @squidmania</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong><em>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email <a href="mailto:news@gamespot.com" rel="nofollow">news@gamespot.com</a></em></strong></td></tr></tbody></table> Thu, 15 May 2014 00:14:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-anniversary-event-will-make-it-easier-for-you-to-get-legendaries/1100-6419646/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-kart-8/1900-6415760/ <p style="">What's your favorite Mario Kart item? It's a personality test that has revealed a person's inner thoughts ever since <a href="/super-mario-kart/" data-ref-id="false">Super Mario Kart</a> gave Koopa Troopa a license to drive. If, for instance, you're fond of the lightning bolt, my handy reference sheet says that you have "schadenfreude" tattooed on your lower back. Or maybe across your knuckles. Either way, you're a connoisseur of chaos. For anyone who adores banana peels, I know that you're a guarded individual, more concerned with protecting your backside than rocking the boat. Shocked at my uncanny insight? My love is poured upon the infinite mushroom. I would much rather take a shortcut than fight for success the old-fashioned way.</p><p style="">I made such hypotheses naturally in recent Mario Kart games. Items were so important, and so ubiquitous, that it was hard to think of anything but the red turtle shells streaming toward you. What else can you do after being struck for the umpteenth time other than contemplate your very existence? In Mario Kart 8, the circumstances that encouraged such philosophizing have changed. Success comes from your racing prowess now, so though you will still curse at the occasional usurper making your life hell on wheels, victory is in your hands. There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.</p><div data-height="100%" data-width="100%" data-ref-id="2300-6418785" data-embed-type="video"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418785/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">You feel the weight of your driver as you try to hang a tight left while centrifugal forces push you away. Slam into another racer, and you feel the impact; the heavier body cruises onward while the lighter competitor, battered and bruised, tries to regain his or her composure. Speed bursts are everywhere in Mario Kart 8. Turns beckon you to powerslide, ramps urge you to boost, and you're continually seeking new ways to keep your kart speeding along. Unlike in <a href="/mario-kart-wii/" data-ref-id="false">Mario Kart Wii</a>, where you were compelled to drive up out-of-the-way ramps to get speed bursts, opportunities for a rush exist organically within the racing path. So you're continually gunning ahead, desperately motoring toward every ramp while exacting every drop of energy from turns to stave off the fierce competitors nipping at your tailpipe.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.</p></blockquote><p style="">All of your hard work is rewarded in Mario Kart 8. Once you leave your competitors in the dust, you can stay in first place. It's a strange feeling driving all alone, without anyone else nearby. In most other Mario Kart games, staying in front of the pack would have been impossible. The computer was never far behind, often passing you even when you were performing flawlessly. Or else you would be pelted by so many items that you wouldn't even know in which direction you were supposed to travel. That constant fight was maddening for me, so I welcome the loneliness of Mario Kart 8. If I stay in top form, I don't have to worry that four blue shells are going to end my fun in a hurry, or that Donkey Kong is going to breeze past me even though he should have been half a lap behind. My skill is all that matters. And I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529080" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="right" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529080"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hope that ink doesn't stink.</figcaption></figure><p style="">That's not to say that items aren't a part of the action. There are still blue shells--although they appeared so seldom that they rarely affected my positioning--and there were times when I was hit by three items in rapid succession and invented a curse that would have brought tears to my mother's eyes. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule. Items are just a complement to your racing now. Use a piranha plant to clear out hazards in your path, or fling a boomerang to bring your competitor to a stop. It's all in good fun. If you're a skilled-enough driver, being slammed by a shell is no more than a slight speed bump. So think up some horrific obscenity for when your shining moment is ripped away from you at the last second, and don't forget it; it may be a while before you can use it.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.</p></blockquote><p style="">Racing skill determines who wins and who loses. That's true if you're competing with a group of friends (local splitscreen supports up to four players, and you can play against 11 people in the game's smooth online races) or striving for gold medals against the computer (50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror Mode are all here). And by having the importance of weapons significantly reduced, it's now much harder to make up ground once you're stuck in the middle of the pack. There's no instant-win item to come in and save you, so you have to climb back slowly and surely by maximizing your speed and finding the best racing lines while hoping those in the lead make a mistake. Defense has become more important than in previous games. With the introduction of the super horn, you can repel any item flung at you, and simply keeping a shell or banana trailing behind your kart blocks almost any attack mounted against you. Even the star has been toned down. It still grants you invulnerability, but you're no longer infused with super speedy gasoline, which lessens the impact it has. It's fascinating just how different Mario Kart 8 is from, say, its Wii counterpart. It's so much less chaotic and so much more focused that their similarities are largely cosmetic.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529081" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="left" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529081"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg"></a><figcaption>Little known fact: Ludwig is named after the lead singer of U2.</figcaption></figure><p style="">It's easy to rave about Mario Kart 8 because its core racing is so well executed. But there are a few head-scratching features that stand out like thumbs on a goomba. Why, for instance, isn't there a clock in Grand Prix? I love knowing exactly how much I won (or lost) by, so I cannot understand what is gained by stripping that away. Also, you earn parts to modify your vehicles by collecting coins, though all that tinkering just distracts from the action. Just give me a smart balance of weight, acceleration, and handling, and cut out the unnecessary collectibles. Then there's the default option after a race. For some reason, your cursor starts on View Highlight Reel instead of Next Race, which is just silly. Oh, how many times I mistakenly viewed highlight because I was anxious to race again. Trust me, this will annoy you, too. Plus, the character roster is quite lame. Yeah, there are 30 drivers, but two of them are palette swaps, five are babies, and seven are koopa kids. That's a boring selection.</p><p style="">One last complaint before I move on: Battle mode was intense in Super Mario Kart, was ridiculous in <a href="/mario-kart-64/" data-ref-id="false">Mario Kart 64</a>, and has slowly lost relevance ever since those high-water marks. Instead of reinventing Battle mode for the better in Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has reduced it to a lifeless husk of what it once was. There are no arenas built specifically for battling. Rather, you choose one of eight tracks and drive around aimlessly looking for people (either friends, the computer, or a mix) to toss shells at. That is the exact opposite of fun, no matter how many people you're playing against or how you've tweaked the item assortment. Because the tracks were designed for racing, there's no choke points to force people to fight, so you spend more time searching than attacking. Nintendo needed to go back to the drawing board for Battle mode and this tweak only made things worse.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529082" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="right" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529082"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg"></a><figcaption>Losing drivers get skinned, their pelts used as hang gliders for the victor.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Even though Mario Kart 8 does have a few problems, they're small enough that they don't detract much from the racing excellence. The greatest achievement of Mario Kart 8 is that it's as warm and welcoming as we expect, but doesn't cater to those who demand a helping hand. Instead, it strikes a balance, offering accessibility while demanding skill. It's easy enough for anyone to take a spin around Moo Moo Meadows, but the most determined drivers should come out on top. And, as someone who was annoyed by previous attempts to even the playing field, I really appreciate this change.</p><p style="">There's also a great assortment of tracks to hone your abilities on. The 16 new ones are as preposterous and demanding as you would expect, with a race down the snowy Mount Wario being the highlight, and the 16 retro tracks have been smartly remade to fit within this world. The gophers from Donut Planes 3 (originally in Super Mario Kart) create dirt tunnels that you can boost off, and there's an underwater portion when a bridge fails to reach the other shore. Certain courses let you race along the wall, giving you a new perspective on the beautiful worlds. Such a shift doesn't change the feel of racing, but it does add another layer of strategy. Should you ride on the wall in Toad's Turnpike? Or take the shorter route on the ground? And if you're particularly happy with your run, you can cut up a highlight reel of your efforts and upload it for everyone to see.</p><p style="">Nintendo has done an admirable job of keeping Mario Kart relevant. How many franchises can you think of that have remained in top form for more than two decades? Not too many. I do admit that my first impression of Mario Kart 8 was pretty close to a yawn. Mario Kart is one of my favorite franchises, but it's hard to get excited for the same old thing. But the more I played, the more I appreciated the many small changes, and grew to love my time in the Mushroom Kingdom. And now that yawn has changed to a shout of joy. It's more Mario Kart! I'm happy Nintendo still understands what makes this series so darn fun.</p><p style=""> </p> Thu, 15 May 2014 00:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-kart-8/1900-6415760/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-sims-2-gameplay-the-shaun-method-highlights/2300-6418809/ Chris and Benito celebrate history month by recreating the Mushroom Kingdom in The Sims 2 and things get... very dark. Hug your loved ones. Wed, 14 May 2014 16:45:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-sims-2-gameplay-the-shaun-method-highlights/2300-6418809/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-ps4-watch-dogs-isn-t-1080p-microsoft-expla/2300-6418808/ Microsoft says more Kinects will sell with Kinect-less Xbox One, Watch Dogs won't be 1080p on PS4, and Microsoft details why the PS4 is beating the Xbox One! Wed, 14 May 2014 16:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-ps4-watch-dogs-isn-t-1080p-microsoft-expla/2300-6418808/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-update-why-is-the-ps4-outselling-the-xbox-/2300-6418804/ Yusuf Mehdi claims Xbox 360 owners are enjoying the systems so much they are less inclined to upgrade. Wed, 14 May 2014 14:44:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-update-why-is-the-ps4-outselling-the-xbox-/2300-6418804/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-gets-more-free-dlc-jetpack-announcement-teased/1100-6419642/ <div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PfdcBE2kng" data-width="854" data-height="480" data-ref-id="2300-6418806"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418806/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">Developer Guerrilla Games continues to support PlayStation 4 exclusive FPS <a href="/killzone-shadow-fall/" data-ref-id="false">Killzone: Shadow Fall</a> with new content, delivering another free map this week as it readies a "big announcement" involving jetpacks.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The latest free DLC release consists of a multiplayer map called The Canyon. Set on the planet Helghan, the map contains both wide-open outdoor areas and tighter, close-quarters areas. More interestingly, it introduces a new mechanic to multiplayer in the form of gravity wells. "Consisting of anomalous spaces where the planet's gravity field is severely distorted, these wells allow players to 'fall' upwards to quickly reach different areas," explains the <a href="http://www.killzone.com/nl_NL/blog/news/2014-05-14_free-killzone-shadow-fall-map-the-canyon-launches-today.html" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="2014-05">Killzone blog</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">To download the map, you'll need to locate the map pack on the PlayStation Store containing Hanger and Cruiser; those two maps were released in early March and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-exclusive-killzone-shadow-fall-gets-free-multiplayer-maps/1100-6418134/" data-ref-id="1100-6418134">were also free</a>. Guerrilla does charge for some DLC, but not multiplayer maps. The most recent example is the Insurgent pack, which was released in April and contained new weapons, abilities, and the titular Insurgent multiplayer class. Owners of the game's <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-season-pass-revealed/1100-6414905/" data-ref-id="1100-6414905">season pass</a> received that content for free.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">With this week's free DLC release out of the way, Guerrilla now plans on making an announcement of some sort this Friday, May 16. A <a href="https://twitter.com/killzone/status/466629129161695232" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">tweet</a> sent out by Guerrilla reads, "We are ready, how about you? #Killzone #SomethingNew #Jetpack," along with a short <a href="https://vine.co/v/MXbEFeZU0uL" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Vine video</a> that appears to show a jetpack being used in the game. Jetpacks and exoskeletons were both <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-features-no-xp-progression-in-multiplayer/1100-6414316/" data-ref-id="1100-6414316">left out of the game's multiplayer</a> at launch.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Their inclusion would introduce a wide number of new variables and exceptions to account for, and we want to focus on offering fair, reliable and consistent Warzone customizability," read an explanation from Guerrilla's Victor Zuylen last September.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">It now looks as if Guerrilla has managed to get jetpacks working in a way it feels comfortable with. We should find out more about the particulars later this week.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Shadow Fall was released alongside the PS4 last November and by January had sold over 2 million units, which, at the time, represented <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/almost-half-of-all-ps4-owners-have-also-bought-killzone-shadow-fall/1100-6417420/" data-ref-id="1100-6417420">nearly half of PS4 owners</a> in the world.</p><p style=""> </p> Wed, 14 May 2014 14:23:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-gets-more-free-dlc-jetpack-announcement-teased/1100-6419642/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/sir-you-are-being-hunted-review/1900-6415762/ <p style="">The English literary critic Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch posited that there are only seven basic conflicts in fiction when you get down to it: man against man, man against nature, man against himself...and so on and so forth in that fashion. Call them the kindred spirits of well-worn video game terms like player versus player and player versus environment. They're a little anthropocentric, sure, but all that man versus this and man versus that does get across one thing: man has a tendency to pick fights with pretty much anything. Still, Sir Quiller-Couch never quite made it to man against robot. That's an archetype left to be explored by more contemporary Brits, like the development team of Big Robot, maker of Sir, You Are Being Hunted.</p><p style="">The protagonist is trapped on a randomly generated archipelago that's one half British moor, one half otherworldly hellscape. He might be an aristocrat, or perhaps a cook or inventor, with a scant few survival resources to his name. Whatever his profession of choice, he has managed to run afoul of some dandified local robots intent on mounting his head on their cigar room wall. In order to escape, he needs to track down 17 remnants of the device that transported him there, and return them to a centrally located set of standing stones.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529146" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529146"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg"></a><figcaption>Robots can be picked out easily at a distance by their telltale red gaze.</figcaption></figure><p style="">How to best categorize the experience? If we were to follow Quiller-Couch's lead, breaking the video game medium into its essential permutations, our lowest common denominators might be those games that cast their players as predators, and the narrower swath that casts them as prey. Sir, You Are Being Hunted is nominally one of the latter. Its "tweedpunk" robots wear top hats and sport double-barreled shotguns, and by all outward impressions are ready to pursue "the most dangerous game." So you'd be forgiven for any visions of baying robo-hounds on your scent or Cylon-eyed trackers inspecting the footprints you've strewn across the English moor. But in Big Robot's take on the manhunt, the hunted becomes the hunter faster than you can say "They drew first blood."</p><p style="">On some level, that sort of shifting power dynamic is to be expected. Stories about hunts are often stories about comeuppance, whether that means Charles Remington getting mauled by lions in The Ghost and the Darkness, or whatever happens to <em>Jurassic Park</em>'s Robert Muldoon after he says "Clever girl." But it doesn't take much to flip that switch in Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Just a chance discovery of a weapon (or the selection of the officer class, which comes with its own firepower), and then you're the predator, stalking your prey and waiting for an opportune moment to cave in a straggler's metal skull. That's not to suggest that there's much punch to Sir's combat, though. There are only a couple of same-ish weapons on hand, all unwieldy. And the idea that these robots deem you beneath them on the food chain belies the fact that their artificial intelligence isn't anything to write home about, either. They're easily baited away with a thrown bottle or lured into a bear trap by the ringing of an alarm clock--the long and short of the stealth systems on offer.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529148" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529148"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>No textures stand up to close scrutiny, but that's how you usually see them.</figcaption></figure><p style="">You could avoid them almost entirely--most of the robotic hunters seem content to simply wander the islands at random, rather than actively search for you--except for the little matter of your exit strategy. That is, the 17 fragments of your transporter that have been cast to the four corners of your procedurally generated world. You can carry only so many at a time (even more than one is a risky venture when death sets you back to before you pocketed them), so you're stuck perpetually circling back to the center of the map to offload them. It's an objective that throws the natural vectors of the chase into disarray; what might otherwise be a more direct flight from danger becomes the looping, meandering path of one of the kids in a Family Circus comic, to and from the standing stones, trip by agonizing trip. Compounding the matter is that the fragments are typically guarded by bots that have to be dispatched by hook or by crook. When you're crouched in the tall grass, weighing the unsavory options of Sir's stealth and combat systems on either hand, you don't feel much like prey.</p><p style="">If only the grass looked a little nicer, perhaps all the time spent staring at it up close wouldn't wear on your patience. Sir, You Are Being Hunted's procedural island generator doesn't seed the landscape with much meaningful variety--even for English swamplands--and the foliage you spend most of your time huddled in is terribly rudimentary. Buildings, for their part, function only as crates, to be clicked for a pop-up menu displaying their contents. Strangely, the underbaked aesthetics often lend the islands an uncanny, haunting appearance, especially at night when shadows change their cast in bizarre shifts, and the moonlight shines on blocky textures that look like they were run through a randomized Photoshop filter.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529149" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529149"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Once in a while, the world procedurally generates something haunting.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Of course, with all the random asset generating that's going on underneath Sir's hood, it's only natural that the stars do occasionally align. The subdued British humor of the items you find usually paints by the numbers, but once in a while you happen upon a playable trombone or something equally irreverent, and all's well for a while. The robots, for their part, are delightful contradictions that intone Anglicisms and serve commendably as both cold, calculating sentinels and prancing, mustachioed fops. When you err enough to have to wait out a few passing groups, and their patrols veer toward your hiding place, the tension certainly ramps up.</p><p style="">But those rare moments aside, the essential elements of Sir, You Are Being Hunted--the conflicts between man and machine, between hunter and hunted--aren't getting their due. Here is a game that wants to tell a basic story, but that's left too much space between its opposing forces to make them duel.</p> Wed, 14 May 2014 14:18:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/sir-you-are-being-hunted-review/1900-6415762/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/killzone-shadow-fall-the-canyon-dlc/2300-6418806/ Check out the latest DLC for Killzone: Shadowfall. Wed, 14 May 2014 14:06:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/killzone-shadow-fall-the-canyon-dlc/2300-6418806/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-bmw-vision/2300-6418803/ The virtual race car BMW Vision Gran Turismo takes to the racetrack in Gran Turismo 6. Wed, 14 May 2014 13:34:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-bmw-vision/2300-6418803/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-goes-gold-on-track-for-release-later-this-month/1100-6419641/ <div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6418765" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418765/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""><span>After more than five years in development, work on Ubisoft's open-world game <a href="/watch-dogs/" data-ref-id="false">Watch Dogs</a> is complete, the publisher announced today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Watch Dogs has gone gold, and is right on track for worldwide release on May 27, 2014," reads a post on <a href="http://blog.ubi.com/watch-dogs-gone-gold/" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Ubisoft's blog</a> by communications manager Gary Steinman. The post goes on to state that the game entered development in 2009, making this a development cycle of roughly five-and-a-half years.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"It's exciting to be gold," said creative director Jonathan Morin. "But it'll be more exciting when people are playing. For the fans it means that it's true. It means there will be no such thing as another delay. But for us, it's not done until they actually have it in their hands."</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Watch Dogs had been slated to arrive last November before being <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-delayed-to-spring-2014/1100-6415591/" data-ref-id="1100-6415591">delayed until this spring</a>. This decision was later described as a "<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-ubisoft-delayed-watch-dogs/1100-6416756/" data-ref-id="1100-6416756">very intense one</a>" by Ubisoft, which felt the game would be best served by giving developer Ubisoft Montreal the additional development time.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">We learned this week that <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-runs-at-900p-on-ps4-792p-on-xbox-one/1100-6419607/" data-ref-id="1100-6419607">neither the Xbox One nor the PlayStation 4 version</a> of Watch Dogs will run at 1080p or 60 frames per second, despite <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-ps4-may-not-end-up-running-at-1080p-and-60fps/1100-6419588/" data-ref-id="1100-6419588">indications to the contrary</a>. Instead, the PlayStation 4 version runs at 900p and the Xbox One version runs at 792p; both run at 30fps.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Resolution is a number, just like framerate is a number. All those numbers are valid aspects of making games," Morin said of that announcement. "But you make choices about the experience you want to deliver. In our case, dynamism is everything. Exploration and expression are everything. You want to have a steady framerate, but you want to have dynamism at the core of the experience. The same goes with resolution."</p><p dir="ltr" style="">When it releases later this month, Watch Dogs will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, with a Wii U version <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-for-wii-u-definitely-not-canceled/1100-6418164/" data-ref-id="1100-6418164">coming sometime later</a>.</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSmokingManX" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter @TheSmokingManX</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><em><strong>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com</strong></em></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 13:30:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-goes-gold-on-track-for-release-later-this-month/1100-6419641/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-behind-the-bmw-vision/2300-6418802/ Get a look behind the scenes of Gran Turismo 6 and learn more about the ideas from the BMW design team. Wed, 14 May 2014 13:23:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-behind-the-bmw-vision/2300-6418802/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-amplitude-for-ps3-ps4-won-t-happen-unless-crowdfunding-is-successful/1100-6419640/ <p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529103" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529103"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg"></a></figure><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><p dir="ltr" style="">If the Kickstarter campaign for a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">new Amplitude game for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4</a> comes up short, the game will not be made, developer Harmonix says.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"There aren't publishing funds waiting in the wings or some third party who's eager to offset our costs--either we fund the game here, or the game goes back on the shelf," Harmonix director of publishing and PR John Drake <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harmonix/amplitude" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">said on the developer's website</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The new Amplitude Kickstarter campaign has raised <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harmonix/amplitude" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">$234,691 from over 6,000 backers</a> so far. That's well short of the game's $775,000 target. The campaign ends in nine days on Friday, May 23. Of course, it's not uncommon for Kickstarter games to rally near their funding end-date and come out successful. </p><p dir="ltr" style="">Asked what Harmonix would do if the crowdfunding effort came up short, creative lead for the new Amplitude game, Ryan Lesser, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">told GameSpot earlier this month </a>that he didn't think that would happen.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Our hope is, of course, that people dig it and want to have the game made," Lesser said at the time. "In the unlikely event that it fails, we will take that as a lesson learned and say 'OK, this is a game that people are either not ready for or don't want right now.'"</p><blockquote data-align="left"><p dir="ltr" style="">"Making games of any size is risky and takes tremendous time, resources, and creative efforts. It's also far more expensive than you might think" -- Harmonix's John Drake</p></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="">Also in the new blog post, Drake addressed the thought that Harmonix is too big and resource-laden a developer to need to use Kickstarter to fund a new game.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"The one thing we think an acceptable 'game on Kickstarter' needs to share is that the project is, at its heart, a dream that can't become a reality without fan funding. And we think that Kickstarter has room for dreams of all sizes, including ours," Drake said.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Some fans have suggested that Harmonix has deep pockets from their famous franchises like <a href="/rock-band/" data-ref-id="false">Rock Band </a>and <a href="/dance-central/" data-ref-id="false">Dance Central</a> and might think, 'Can't you find this yourselves?'</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"The short answer is: nope," Drake said. "Making games of any size is risky and takes tremendous time, resources, and creative efforts. It's also far more expensive than you might think," he added.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The $775,000 Harmonix is looking for to make the new Amplitude a reality is the minimum amount of funding the studio needs to be able to self-fund the rest of the project, Drake said. He pointed out that $775,000 is actually less than half of the entire budget for the game, meaning the true budget is somewhere north of $1.55 million.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Even in the scenario where we raise the $800,000 or so on Kickstarter, we'll be risking more of Harmonix's money than we probably should--all because we want to make this game so badly," Drake said. "Harmonix had successes in the past that let us keep the studio going and make small games, but at this point our coffers as a company aren't full enough to fund the entirety of Amplitude by ourselves. There isn't a secret vault of Rock Band money that we've forgotten about."</p><p style="">If Harmonix is able to secure enough funding to make the new Amplitude game, it is <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">scheduled to be released sometime in March 2015 across PS3 and PS4</a>.</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on<a href="https://twitter.com/EddieMakuch" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false"> Twitter @EddieMakuch</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong><em>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email <a href="mailto:news@gamespot.com" rel="nofollow">news@gamespot.com</a></em></strong></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 13:05:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-amplitude-for-ps3-ps4-won-t-happen-unless-crowdfunding-is-successful/1100-6419640/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-4-art-director-leaves-343-to-join-oculus-vr/1100-6419639/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529098" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529098"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">A senior employee at <a href="/halo-4/" data-ref-id="false">Halo 4</a> developer 343 Industries, Kenneth Scott, has left the studio to join Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift which continues to amass talent from throughout the industry.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Scott will assume the same title--Art Director--that he carried at 343, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/oculus/status/466309521824948224" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">tweet</a> sent out by Oculus (via <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-05-14-halo-art-director-joins-oculus-vr" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="2014-05">GamesIndustry.biz</a>). He had been with 343 since 2008, and prior to that he spent a decade as the art director for id Software.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Welcome Kenneth Scott, Oculus Art Director, formerly of 343 and id Software," the tweet reads. "Ken is building our 1st-party content team!"</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Scott is hardly the first former id Software staffer to end up with Oculus; most notably, John Carmack <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/john-carmack-takes-full-time-job-at-oculus-rift-developer/1100-6412625/" data-ref-id="1100-6412625">assumed the role</a> of chief technology officer while still at id, where he continued to work <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-officially-leaves-id-software/1100-6416346/" data-ref-id="1100-6416346">until several months later</a>. (The parent company of id, ZeniMax, is currently <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/report-elder-scrolls-parent-company-seeking-compensation-for-oculus-rift-headset-oculus-calls-claims-ridiculous/1100-6419351/" data-ref-id="1100-6419351">suing Oculus</a>, which has <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-responds-to-claims-that-it-stole-vr-tech-from-fallout-parent-company/1100-6419420/" data-ref-id="1100-6419420">vowed to fight back</a>.) Soon after Carmack went to Oculus, another id staffer, former <a href="/rage-2011/" data-ref-id="false">Rage</a> creative director Matt Hooper, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-id-software-creative-director-also-joins-oculus-vr/1100-6412736/" data-ref-id="1100-6412736">made the same move</a>. Notable developers from other studios, including Valve's <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-veteran-joins-oculus-rift-company-brings-expertise-in-eliminating-simulator-sickness/1100-6418241/" data-ref-id="1100-6418241">Atman Binstock</a> and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-vr-hires-another-valve-virtual-reality-veteran/1100-6418627/" data-ref-id="1100-6418627">Michael Abrash</a>, have also been hired by Oculus.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The company aspires to create a platform with a billion people using it--what CEO Brendan Iribe describes as "<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-vr-aspires-to-create-an-mmo-world-with-1-billion-people-in-it/1100-6419518/" data-ref-id="1100-6419518">the largest MMO ever made</a>." After its recent <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/facebook-buys-oculus-rift-company-in-a-massive-deal-worth-an-estimated-2-billion/1100-6418540/" data-ref-id="1100-6418540">$2 billion acquisition by Facebook</a>, there has been some doubt cast on whether gaming remains a key point for the company, but Iribe has stated Oculus is "very committed to gaming."</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSmokingManX" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter @TheSmokingManX</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><em><strong>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com</strong></em></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 12:49:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-4-art-director-leaves-343-to-join-oculus-vr/1100-6419639/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/super-time-force-now-playing/2300-6418801/ Join the GameSpot crew as we travel through time to encounter dinosaurs, and robots and fun! Wed, 14 May 2014 12:44:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/super-time-force-now-playing/2300-6418801/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/war-does-not-make-one-great-valiant-hearts-preview/2300-6418800/ Carolyn Petit explores the lives of three people caught up in World War 1. Wed, 14 May 2014 12:14:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/war-does-not-make-one-great-valiant-hearts-preview/2300-6418800/
http://auth.gamespot.com/ Gamespot's Everything Feed! News, Reviews, Videos. Exploding with content? You bet. en-us Thu, 15 May 2014 00:33:53 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-anniversary-event-will-make-it-easier-for-you-to-get-legendaries/1100-6419646/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png" data-ref-id="1300-2530480" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png" data-ref-id="1300-2530480"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/1493/14930800/2530480-diablo+3+leg+event.png"></a></figure><p style="">Blizzard is going to make it rain legendary items in <a href="/diablo-iii/" data-ref-id="false">Diablo III</a> as a way of celebrating its second anniversary.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The event will begin on Thursday, May 15 at 12:00 PT and run for a whole week, ending on Thursday, May 22 at 05:00 PT, in which the latest community buff will be running on the PC and Mac servers. Legendary drop rates will be doubled during the event, and players will also receive twice as many Rift Fragments so it's even easier to hop into a Nephalem Rift. And, yes, the bonuses will stack.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Earlier this week, Blizzard announced that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition will be <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-ultimate-evil-edition-confirmed-for-both-xbox-one-and-ps4-coming-this-august/1100-6419572/">making its way to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on August</a>. It also launched the 2.0.5 patch for Diablo III, so this might be the perfect chance to jump back in and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-s-latest-patch-toughens-up-crusaders-hands-out-more-gold/1100-6419612/" data-ref-id="1100-6419612">see what the latest balance tweaks have done to your favourite build</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Diablo III: Reaper of Souls was released for PC and Mac back in March. You can <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-review/1900-6415713/">read what GameSpot's own Carolyn Petit made of the expansion in her review</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Martin Gaston is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on<a href="https://twitter.com/squidmania" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false"> Twitter @squidmania</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong><em>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email <a href="mailto:news@gamespot.com" rel="nofollow">news@gamespot.com</a></em></strong></td></tr></tbody></table> Thu, 15 May 2014 00:14:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-anniversary-event-will-make-it-easier-for-you-to-get-legendaries/1100-6419646/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-kart-8/1900-6415760/ <p style="">What's your favorite Mario Kart item? It's a personality test that has revealed a person's inner thoughts ever since <a href="/super-mario-kart/" data-ref-id="false">Super Mario Kart</a> gave Koopa Troopa a license to drive. If, for instance, you're fond of the lightning bolt, my handy reference sheet says that you have "schadenfreude" tattooed on your lower back. Or maybe across your knuckles. Either way, you're a connoisseur of chaos. For anyone who adores banana peels, I know that you're a guarded individual, more concerned with protecting your backside than rocking the boat. Shocked at my uncanny insight? My love is poured upon the infinite mushroom. I would much rather take a shortcut than fight for success the old-fashioned way.</p><p style="">I made such hypotheses naturally in recent Mario Kart games. Items were so important, and so ubiquitous, that it was hard to think of anything but the red turtle shells streaming toward you. What else can you do after being struck for the umpteenth time other than contemplate your very existence? In Mario Kart 8, the circumstances that encouraged such philosophizing have changed. Success comes from your racing prowess now, so though you will still curse at the occasional usurper making your life hell on wheels, victory is in your hands. There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.</p><div data-height="100%" data-width="100%" data-ref-id="2300-6418785" data-embed-type="video"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418785/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">You feel the weight of your driver as you try to hang a tight left while centrifugal forces push you away. Slam into another racer, and you feel the impact; the heavier body cruises onward while the lighter competitor, battered and bruised, tries to regain his or her composure. Speed bursts are everywhere in Mario Kart 8. Turns beckon you to powerslide, ramps urge you to boost, and you're continually seeking new ways to keep your kart speeding along. Unlike in <a href="/mario-kart-wii/" data-ref-id="false">Mario Kart Wii</a>, where you were compelled to drive up out-of-the-way ramps to get speed bursts, opportunities for a rush exist organically within the racing path. So you're continually gunning ahead, desperately motoring toward every ramp while exacting every drop of energy from turns to stave off the fierce competitors nipping at your tailpipe.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">There are no excuses anymore; Mario Kart 8 focuses on its excellent racing, and the experience is stronger for it.</p></blockquote><p style="">All of your hard work is rewarded in Mario Kart 8. Once you leave your competitors in the dust, you can stay in first place. It's a strange feeling driving all alone, without anyone else nearby. In most other Mario Kart games, staying in front of the pack would have been impossible. The computer was never far behind, often passing you even when you were performing flawlessly. Or else you would be pelted by so many items that you wouldn't even know in which direction you were supposed to travel. That constant fight was maddening for me, so I welcome the loneliness of Mario Kart 8. If I stay in top form, I don't have to worry that four blue shells are going to end my fun in a hurry, or that Donkey Kong is going to breeze past me even though he should have been half a lap behind. My skill is all that matters. And I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529080" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="right" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529080"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529080-mario+kart+8+-+last+two+cups+in+50cc09.jpg"></a><figcaption>Hope that ink doesn't stink.</figcaption></figure><p style="">That's not to say that items aren't a part of the action. There are still blue shells--although they appeared so seldom that they rarely affected my positioning--and there were times when I was hit by three items in rapid succession and invented a curse that would have brought tears to my mother's eyes. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule. Items are just a complement to your racing now. Use a piranha plant to clear out hazards in your path, or fling a boomerang to bring your competitor to a stop. It's all in good fun. If you're a skilled-enough driver, being slammed by a shell is no more than a slight speed bump. So think up some horrific obscenity for when your shining moment is ripped away from you at the last second, and don't forget it; it may be a while before you can use it.</p><blockquote data-size="large" data-align="center"><p style="">I was more than happy to stay in first while everyone else battled for second place.</p></blockquote><p style="">Racing skill determines who wins and who loses. That's true if you're competing with a group of friends (local splitscreen supports up to four players, and you can play against 11 people in the game's smooth online races) or striving for gold medals against the computer (50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and Mirror Mode are all here). And by having the importance of weapons significantly reduced, it's now much harder to make up ground once you're stuck in the middle of the pack. There's no instant-win item to come in and save you, so you have to climb back slowly and surely by maximizing your speed and finding the best racing lines while hoping those in the lead make a mistake. Defense has become more important than in previous games. With the introduction of the super horn, you can repel any item flung at you, and simply keeping a shell or banana trailing behind your kart blocks almost any attack mounted against you. Even the star has been toned down. It still grants you invulnerability, but you're no longer infused with super speedy gasoline, which lessens the impact it has. It's fascinating just how different Mario Kart 8 is from, say, its Wii counterpart. It's so much less chaotic and so much more focused that their similarities are largely cosmetic.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529081" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="left" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529081"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529081-mario+kart+8+-+ta2+-+2014-05-14+10-47-2307.jpg"></a><figcaption>Little known fact: Ludwig is named after the lead singer of U2.</figcaption></figure><p style="">It's easy to rave about Mario Kart 8 because its core racing is so well executed. But there are a few head-scratching features that stand out like thumbs on a goomba. Why, for instance, isn't there a clock in Grand Prix? I love knowing exactly how much I won (or lost) by, so I cannot understand what is gained by stripping that away. Also, you earn parts to modify your vehicles by collecting coins, though all that tinkering just distracts from the action. Just give me a smart balance of weight, acceleration, and handling, and cut out the unnecessary collectibles. Then there's the default option after a race. For some reason, your cursor starts on View Highlight Reel instead of Next Race, which is just silly. Oh, how many times I mistakenly viewed highlight because I was anxious to race again. Trust me, this will annoy you, too. Plus, the character roster is quite lame. Yeah, there are 30 drivers, but two of them are palette swaps, five are babies, and seven are koopa kids. That's a boring selection.</p><p style="">One last complaint before I move on: Battle mode was intense in Super Mario Kart, was ridiculous in <a href="/mario-kart-64/" data-ref-id="false">Mario Kart 64</a>, and has slowly lost relevance ever since those high-water marks. Instead of reinventing Battle mode for the better in Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has reduced it to a lifeless husk of what it once was. There are no arenas built specifically for battling. Rather, you choose one of eight tracks and drive around aimlessly looking for people (either friends, the computer, or a mix) to toss shells at. That is the exact opposite of fun, no matter how many people you're playing against or how you've tweaked the item assortment. Because the tracks were designed for racing, there's no choke points to force people to fight, so you spend more time searching than attacking. Nintendo needed to go back to the drawing board for Battle mode and this tweak only made things worse.</p><figure data-ref-id="1300-2529082" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg" data-size="medium" data-align="right" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529082"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_medium/725/7253563/2529082-mario+kart+8+-+love+that+150cc+-+2014-05-08+09-40-3302.jpg"></a><figcaption>Losing drivers get skinned, their pelts used as hang gliders for the victor.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Even though Mario Kart 8 does have a few problems, they're small enough that they don't detract much from the racing excellence. The greatest achievement of Mario Kart 8 is that it's as warm and welcoming as we expect, but doesn't cater to those who demand a helping hand. Instead, it strikes a balance, offering accessibility while demanding skill. It's easy enough for anyone to take a spin around Moo Moo Meadows, but the most determined drivers should come out on top. And, as someone who was annoyed by previous attempts to even the playing field, I really appreciate this change.</p><p style="">There's also a great assortment of tracks to hone your abilities on. The 16 new ones are as preposterous and demanding as you would expect, with a race down the snowy Mount Wario being the highlight, and the 16 retro tracks have been smartly remade to fit within this world. The gophers from Donut Planes 3 (originally in Super Mario Kart) create dirt tunnels that you can boost off, and there's an underwater portion when a bridge fails to reach the other shore. Certain courses let you race along the wall, giving you a new perspective on the beautiful worlds. Such a shift doesn't change the feel of racing, but it does add another layer of strategy. Should you ride on the wall in Toad's Turnpike? Or take the shorter route on the ground? And if you're particularly happy with your run, you can cut up a highlight reel of your efforts and upload it for everyone to see.</p><p style="">Nintendo has done an admirable job of keeping Mario Kart relevant. How many franchises can you think of that have remained in top form for more than two decades? Not too many. I do admit that my first impression of Mario Kart 8 was pretty close to a yawn. Mario Kart is one of my favorite franchises, but it's hard to get excited for the same old thing. But the more I played, the more I appreciated the many small changes, and grew to love my time in the Mushroom Kingdom. And now that yawn has changed to a shout of joy. It's more Mario Kart! I'm happy Nintendo still understands what makes this series so darn fun.</p><p style=""> </p> Thu, 15 May 2014 00:01:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/mario-kart-8/1900-6415760/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-sims-2-gameplay-the-shaun-method-highlights/2300-6418809/ Chris and Benito celebrate history month by recreating the Mushroom Kingdom in The Sims 2 and things get... very dark. Hug your loved ones. Wed, 14 May 2014 16:45:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/the-sims-2-gameplay-the-shaun-method-highlights/2300-6418809/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-ps4-watch-dogs-isn-t-1080p-microsoft-expla/2300-6418808/ Microsoft says more Kinects will sell with Kinect-less Xbox One, Watch Dogs won't be 1080p on PS4, and Microsoft details why the PS4 is beating the Xbox One! Wed, 14 May 2014 16:00:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-ps4-watch-dogs-isn-t-1080p-microsoft-expla/2300-6418808/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-update-why-is-the-ps4-outselling-the-xbox-/2300-6418804/ Yusuf Mehdi claims Xbox 360 owners are enjoying the systems so much they are less inclined to upgrade. Wed, 14 May 2014 14:44:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gs-news-update-why-is-the-ps4-outselling-the-xbox-/2300-6418804/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-gets-more-free-dlc-jetpack-announcement-teased/1100-6419642/ <div data-embed-type="video" data-src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PfdcBE2kng" data-width="854" data-height="480" data-ref-id="2300-6418806"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418806/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style="">Developer Guerrilla Games continues to support PlayStation 4 exclusive FPS <a href="/killzone-shadow-fall/" data-ref-id="false">Killzone: Shadow Fall</a> with new content, delivering another free map this week as it readies a "big announcement" involving jetpacks.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The latest free DLC release consists of a multiplayer map called The Canyon. Set on the planet Helghan, the map contains both wide-open outdoor areas and tighter, close-quarters areas. More interestingly, it introduces a new mechanic to multiplayer in the form of gravity wells. "Consisting of anomalous spaces where the planet's gravity field is severely distorted, these wells allow players to 'fall' upwards to quickly reach different areas," explains the <a href="http://www.killzone.com/nl_NL/blog/news/2014-05-14_free-killzone-shadow-fall-map-the-canyon-launches-today.html" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="2014-05">Killzone blog</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">To download the map, you'll need to locate the map pack on the PlayStation Store containing Hanger and Cruiser; those two maps were released in early March and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-exclusive-killzone-shadow-fall-gets-free-multiplayer-maps/1100-6418134/" data-ref-id="1100-6418134">were also free</a>. Guerrilla does charge for some DLC, but not multiplayer maps. The most recent example is the Insurgent pack, which was released in April and contained new weapons, abilities, and the titular Insurgent multiplayer class. Owners of the game's <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-season-pass-revealed/1100-6414905/" data-ref-id="1100-6414905">season pass</a> received that content for free.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">With this week's free DLC release out of the way, Guerrilla now plans on making an announcement of some sort this Friday, May 16. A <a href="https://twitter.com/killzone/status/466629129161695232" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">tweet</a> sent out by Guerrilla reads, "We are ready, how about you? #Killzone #SomethingNew #Jetpack," along with a short <a href="https://vine.co/v/MXbEFeZU0uL" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Vine video</a> that appears to show a jetpack being used in the game. Jetpacks and exoskeletons were both <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-features-no-xp-progression-in-multiplayer/1100-6414316/" data-ref-id="1100-6414316">left out of the game's multiplayer</a> at launch.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Their inclusion would introduce a wide number of new variables and exceptions to account for, and we want to focus on offering fair, reliable and consistent Warzone customizability," read an explanation from Guerrilla's Victor Zuylen last September.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">It now looks as if Guerrilla has managed to get jetpacks working in a way it feels comfortable with. We should find out more about the particulars later this week.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Shadow Fall was released alongside the PS4 last November and by January had sold over 2 million units, which, at the time, represented <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/almost-half-of-all-ps4-owners-have-also-bought-killzone-shadow-fall/1100-6417420/" data-ref-id="1100-6417420">nearly half of PS4 owners</a> in the world.</p><p style=""> </p> Wed, 14 May 2014 14:23:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/killzone-shadow-fall-gets-more-free-dlc-jetpack-announcement-teased/1100-6419642/ http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/sir-you-are-being-hunted-review/1900-6415762/ <p style="">The English literary critic Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch posited that there are only seven basic conflicts in fiction when you get down to it: man against man, man against nature, man against himself...and so on and so forth in that fashion. Call them the kindred spirits of well-worn video game terms like player versus player and player versus environment. They're a little anthropocentric, sure, but all that man versus this and man versus that does get across one thing: man has a tendency to pick fights with pretty much anything. Still, Sir Quiller-Couch never quite made it to man against robot. That's an archetype left to be explored by more contemporary Brits, like the development team of Big Robot, maker of Sir, You Are Being Hunted.</p><p style="">The protagonist is trapped on a randomly generated archipelago that's one half British moor, one half otherworldly hellscape. He might be an aristocrat, or perhaps a cook or inventor, with a scant few survival resources to his name. Whatever his profession of choice, he has managed to run afoul of some dandified local robots intent on mounting his head on their cigar room wall. In order to escape, he needs to track down 17 remnants of the device that transported him there, and return them to a centrally located set of standing stones.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529146" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529146"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529146-0001.jpg"></a><figcaption>Robots can be picked out easily at a distance by their telltale red gaze.</figcaption></figure><p style="">How to best categorize the experience? If we were to follow Quiller-Couch's lead, breaking the video game medium into its essential permutations, our lowest common denominators might be those games that cast their players as predators, and the narrower swath that casts them as prey. Sir, You Are Being Hunted is nominally one of the latter. Its "tweedpunk" robots wear top hats and sport double-barreled shotguns, and by all outward impressions are ready to pursue "the most dangerous game." So you'd be forgiven for any visions of baying robo-hounds on your scent or Cylon-eyed trackers inspecting the footprints you've strewn across the English moor. But in Big Robot's take on the manhunt, the hunted becomes the hunter faster than you can say "They drew first blood."</p><p style="">On some level, that sort of shifting power dynamic is to be expected. Stories about hunts are often stories about comeuppance, whether that means Charles Remington getting mauled by lions in The Ghost and the Darkness, or whatever happens to <em>Jurassic Park</em>'s Robert Muldoon after he says "Clever girl." But it doesn't take much to flip that switch in Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Just a chance discovery of a weapon (or the selection of the officer class, which comes with its own firepower), and then you're the predator, stalking your prey and waiting for an opportune moment to cave in a straggler's metal skull. That's not to suggest that there's much punch to Sir's combat, though. There are only a couple of same-ish weapons on hand, all unwieldy. And the idea that these robots deem you beneath them on the food chain belies the fact that their artificial intelligence isn't anything to write home about, either. They're easily baited away with a thrown bottle or lured into a bear trap by the ringing of an alarm clock--the long and short of the stealth systems on offer.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529148" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529148"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529148-0002.jpg"></a><figcaption>No textures stand up to close scrutiny, but that's how you usually see them.</figcaption></figure><p style="">You could avoid them almost entirely--most of the robotic hunters seem content to simply wander the islands at random, rather than actively search for you--except for the little matter of your exit strategy. That is, the 17 fragments of your transporter that have been cast to the four corners of your procedurally generated world. You can carry only so many at a time (even more than one is a risky venture when death sets you back to before you pocketed them), so you're stuck perpetually circling back to the center of the map to offload them. It's an objective that throws the natural vectors of the chase into disarray; what might otherwise be a more direct flight from danger becomes the looping, meandering path of one of the kids in a Family Circus comic, to and from the standing stones, trip by agonizing trip. Compounding the matter is that the fragments are typically guarded by bots that have to be dispatched by hook or by crook. When you're crouched in the tall grass, weighing the unsavory options of Sir's stealth and combat systems on either hand, you don't feel much like prey.</p><p style="">If only the grass looked a little nicer, perhaps all the time spent staring at it up close wouldn't wear on your patience. Sir, You Are Being Hunted's procedural island generator doesn't seed the landscape with much meaningful variety--even for English swamplands--and the foliage you spend most of your time huddled in is terribly rudimentary. Buildings, for their part, function only as crates, to be clicked for a pop-up menu displaying their contents. Strangely, the underbaked aesthetics often lend the islands an uncanny, haunting appearance, especially at night when shadows change their cast in bizarre shifts, and the moonlight shines on blocky textures that look like they were run through a randomized Photoshop filter.</p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529149" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529149"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/416/4161502/2529149-0003.jpg"></a><figcaption>Once in a while, the world procedurally generates something haunting.</figcaption></figure><p style="">Of course, with all the random asset generating that's going on underneath Sir's hood, it's only natural that the stars do occasionally align. The subdued British humor of the items you find usually paints by the numbers, but once in a while you happen upon a playable trombone or something equally irreverent, and all's well for a while. The robots, for their part, are delightful contradictions that intone Anglicisms and serve commendably as both cold, calculating sentinels and prancing, mustachioed fops. When you err enough to have to wait out a few passing groups, and their patrols veer toward your hiding place, the tension certainly ramps up.</p><p style="">But those rare moments aside, the essential elements of Sir, You Are Being Hunted--the conflicts between man and machine, between hunter and hunted--aren't getting their due. Here is a game that wants to tell a basic story, but that's left too much space between its opposing forces to make them duel.</p> Wed, 14 May 2014 14:18:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/sir-you-are-being-hunted-review/1900-6415762/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/killzone-shadow-fall-the-canyon-dlc/2300-6418806/ Check out the latest DLC for Killzone: Shadowfall. Wed, 14 May 2014 14:06:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/killzone-shadow-fall-the-canyon-dlc/2300-6418806/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-bmw-vision/2300-6418803/ The virtual race car BMW Vision Gran Turismo takes to the racetrack in Gran Turismo 6. Wed, 14 May 2014 13:34:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-bmw-vision/2300-6418803/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-goes-gold-on-track-for-release-later-this-month/1100-6419641/ <div data-embed-type="video" data-ref-id="2300-6418765" data-width="100%" data-height="100%"><iframe src="/videos/embed/6418765/" width="100%" height="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p style=""><span>After more than five years in development, work on Ubisoft's open-world game <a href="/watch-dogs/" data-ref-id="false">Watch Dogs</a> is complete, the publisher announced today.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Watch Dogs has gone gold, and is right on track for worldwide release on May 27, 2014," reads a post on <a href="http://blog.ubi.com/watch-dogs-gone-gold/" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Ubisoft's blog</a> by communications manager Gary Steinman. The post goes on to state that the game entered development in 2009, making this a development cycle of roughly five-and-a-half years.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"It's exciting to be gold," said creative director Jonathan Morin. "But it'll be more exciting when people are playing. For the fans it means that it's true. It means there will be no such thing as another delay. But for us, it's not done until they actually have it in their hands."</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Watch Dogs had been slated to arrive last November before being <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-delayed-to-spring-2014/1100-6415591/" data-ref-id="1100-6415591">delayed until this spring</a>. This decision was later described as a "<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-ubisoft-delayed-watch-dogs/1100-6416756/" data-ref-id="1100-6416756">very intense one</a>" by Ubisoft, which felt the game would be best served by giving developer Ubisoft Montreal the additional development time.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">We learned this week that <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-runs-at-900p-on-ps4-792p-on-xbox-one/1100-6419607/" data-ref-id="1100-6419607">neither the Xbox One nor the PlayStation 4 version</a> of Watch Dogs will run at 1080p or 60 frames per second, despite <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-ps4-may-not-end-up-running-at-1080p-and-60fps/1100-6419588/" data-ref-id="1100-6419588">indications to the contrary</a>. Instead, the PlayStation 4 version runs at 900p and the Xbox One version runs at 792p; both run at 30fps.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Resolution is a number, just like framerate is a number. All those numbers are valid aspects of making games," Morin said of that announcement. "But you make choices about the experience you want to deliver. In our case, dynamism is everything. Exploration and expression are everything. You want to have a steady framerate, but you want to have dynamism at the core of the experience. The same goes with resolution."</p><p dir="ltr" style="">When it releases later this month, Watch Dogs will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, with a Wii U version <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-for-wii-u-definitely-not-canceled/1100-6418164/" data-ref-id="1100-6418164">coming sometime later</a>.</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSmokingManX" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter @TheSmokingManX</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><em><strong>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com</strong></em></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 13:30:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-dogs-goes-gold-on-track-for-release-later-this-month/1100-6419641/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-behind-the-bmw-vision/2300-6418802/ Get a look behind the scenes of Gran Turismo 6 and learn more about the ideas from the BMW design team. Wed, 14 May 2014 13:23:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/gran-turismo-6-behind-the-bmw-vision/2300-6418802/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-amplitude-for-ps3-ps4-won-t-happen-unless-crowdfunding-is-successful/1100-6419640/ <p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529103" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529103"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/1179/11799911/2529103-newamp.jpg"></a></figure><p dir="ltr" style=""> </p><p dir="ltr" style="">If the Kickstarter campaign for a <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">new Amplitude game for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4</a> comes up short, the game will not be made, developer Harmonix says.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"There aren't publishing funds waiting in the wings or some third party who's eager to offset our costs--either we fund the game here, or the game goes back on the shelf," Harmonix director of publishing and PR John Drake <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harmonix/amplitude" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">said on the developer's website</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The new Amplitude Kickstarter campaign has raised <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harmonix/amplitude" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">$234,691 from over 6,000 backers</a> so far. That's well short of the game's $775,000 target. The campaign ends in nine days on Friday, May 23. Of course, it's not uncommon for Kickstarter games to rally near their funding end-date and come out successful. </p><p dir="ltr" style="">Asked what Harmonix would do if the crowdfunding effort came up short, creative lead for the new Amplitude game, Ryan Lesser, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">told GameSpot earlier this month </a>that he didn't think that would happen.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Our hope is, of course, that people dig it and want to have the game made," Lesser said at the time. "In the unlikely event that it fails, we will take that as a lesson learned and say 'OK, this is a game that people are either not ready for or don't want right now.'"</p><blockquote data-align="left"><p dir="ltr" style="">"Making games of any size is risky and takes tremendous time, resources, and creative efforts. It's also far more expensive than you might think" -- Harmonix's John Drake</p></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="">Also in the new blog post, Drake addressed the thought that Harmonix is too big and resource-laden a developer to need to use Kickstarter to fund a new game.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"The one thing we think an acceptable 'game on Kickstarter' needs to share is that the project is, at its heart, a dream that can't become a reality without fan funding. And we think that Kickstarter has room for dreams of all sizes, including ours," Drake said.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Some fans have suggested that Harmonix has deep pockets from their famous franchises like <a href="/rock-band/" data-ref-id="false">Rock Band </a>and <a href="/dance-central/" data-ref-id="false">Dance Central</a> and might think, 'Can't you find this yourselves?'</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"The short answer is: nope," Drake said. "Making games of any size is risky and takes tremendous time, resources, and creative efforts. It's also far more expensive than you might think," he added.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The $775,000 Harmonix is looking for to make the new Amplitude a reality is the minimum amount of funding the studio needs to be able to self-fund the rest of the project, Drake said. He pointed out that $775,000 is actually less than half of the entire budget for the game, meaning the true budget is somewhere north of $1.55 million.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Even in the scenario where we raise the $800,000 or so on Kickstarter, we'll be risking more of Harmonix's money than we probably should--all because we want to make this game so badly," Drake said. "Harmonix had successes in the past that let us keep the studio going and make small games, but at this point our coffers as a company aren't full enough to fund the entirety of Amplitude by ourselves. There isn't a secret vault of Rock Band money that we've forgotten about."</p><p style="">If Harmonix is able to secure enough funding to make the new Amplitude game, it is <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/there-s-a-new-amplitude-in-the-works-for-ps3-and-ps4/1100-6419421/" data-ref-id="1100-6419421">scheduled to be released sometime in March 2015 across PS3 and PS4</a>.</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on<a href="https://twitter.com/EddieMakuch" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false"> Twitter @EddieMakuch</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong><em>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email <a href="mailto:news@gamespot.com" rel="nofollow">news@gamespot.com</a></em></strong></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 13:05:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-amplitude-for-ps3-ps4-won-t-happen-unless-crowdfunding-is-successful/1100-6419640/ http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-4-art-director-leaves-343-to-join-oculus-vr/1100-6419639/ <figure data-align="center" data-size="large" data-img-src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529098" data-resize-url="" data-resized="" data-embed-type="image"><a href="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg" data-ref-id="1300-2529098"><img src="http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/ignore_jpg_scale_super/123/1239113/2529098-halo+4.jpg"></a></figure><p style="">A senior employee at <a href="/halo-4/" data-ref-id="false">Halo 4</a> developer 343 Industries, Kenneth Scott, has left the studio to join Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift which continues to amass talent from throughout the industry.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Scott will assume the same title--Art Director--that he carried at 343, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/oculus/status/466309521824948224" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">tweet</a> sent out by Oculus (via <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-05-14-halo-art-director-joins-oculus-vr" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="2014-05">GamesIndustry.biz</a>). He had been with 343 since 2008, and prior to that he spent a decade as the art director for id Software.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">"Welcome Kenneth Scott, Oculus Art Director, formerly of 343 and id Software," the tweet reads. "Ken is building our 1st-party content team!"</p><p dir="ltr" style="">Scott is hardly the first former id Software staffer to end up with Oculus; most notably, John Carmack <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/john-carmack-takes-full-time-job-at-oculus-rift-developer/1100-6412625/" data-ref-id="1100-6412625">assumed the role</a> of chief technology officer while still at id, where he continued to work <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/doom-co-creator-john-carmack-officially-leaves-id-software/1100-6416346/" data-ref-id="1100-6416346">until several months later</a>. (The parent company of id, ZeniMax, is currently <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/report-elder-scrolls-parent-company-seeking-compensation-for-oculus-rift-headset-oculus-calls-claims-ridiculous/1100-6419351/" data-ref-id="1100-6419351">suing Oculus</a>, which has <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-responds-to-claims-that-it-stole-vr-tech-from-fallout-parent-company/1100-6419420/" data-ref-id="1100-6419420">vowed to fight back</a>.) Soon after Carmack went to Oculus, another id staffer, former <a href="/rage-2011/" data-ref-id="false">Rage</a> creative director Matt Hooper, <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/former-id-software-creative-director-also-joins-oculus-vr/1100-6412736/" data-ref-id="1100-6412736">made the same move</a>. Notable developers from other studios, including Valve's <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-veteran-joins-oculus-rift-company-brings-expertise-in-eliminating-simulator-sickness/1100-6418241/" data-ref-id="1100-6418241">Atman Binstock</a> and <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-vr-hires-another-valve-virtual-reality-veteran/1100-6418627/" data-ref-id="1100-6418627">Michael Abrash</a>, have also been hired by Oculus.</p><p dir="ltr" style="">The company aspires to create a platform with a billion people using it--what CEO Brendan Iribe describes as "<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-vr-aspires-to-create-an-mmo-world-with-1-billion-people-in-it/1100-6419518/" data-ref-id="1100-6419518">the largest MMO ever made</a>." After its recent <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/facebook-buys-oculus-rift-company-in-a-massive-deal-worth-an-estimated-2-billion/1100-6418540/" data-ref-id="1100-6418540">$2 billion acquisition by Facebook</a>, there has been some doubt cast on whether gaming remains a key point for the company, but Iribe has stated Oculus is "very committed to gaming."</p><table data-max-width="true"><thead><tr><th scope="col"><em>Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSmokingManX" rel="nofollow" data-ref-id="false">Twitter @TheSmokingManX</a></em></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><em><strong>Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com</strong></em></td></tr></tbody></table> Wed, 14 May 2014 12:49:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-4-art-director-leaves-343-to-join-oculus-vr/1100-6419639/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/super-time-force-now-playing/2300-6418801/ Join the GameSpot crew as we travel through time to encounter dinosaurs, and robots and fun! Wed, 14 May 2014 12:44:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/super-time-force-now-playing/2300-6418801/ http://www.gamespot.com/videos/war-does-not-make-one-great-valiant-hearts-preview/2300-6418800/ Carolyn Petit explores the lives of three people caught up in World War 1. Wed, 14 May 2014 12:14:00 -0700 http://www.gamespot.com/videos/war-does-not-make-one-great-valiant-hearts-preview/2300-6418800/
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