Recap!

Weekly Recap: No New Assassin’s Creed This Year, Destiny 2, New Call of Duty Announced

Here’s a recap of the week’s big news stories and some you might have missed.

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Not This Year

Confirming earlier reports, Ubisoft announced this week that it will not release a new Assassin’s Creed mainline game this year. Part of the reason is to “give the brand a new dimension,” Ubisoft said. [Full story]

PS4 Wins Again

The NPD Group released its report for January 2016 this week, confirming that Sony’s PlayStation 4 was again the top-selling console in the US. PS4 was also the software sales leader. [Full story]

Destiny 2 Confirmed

Destiny 2 will launch in 2017, Activision Blizzard announced this week. You won’t have to wait that long for some new Destiny content, as a “large” new expansion is coming out this year. [Full story]

Infinity Ward Is Up Next

A new Call of Duty game from Modern Warfare creators Infinity Ward will launch this holiday season, Activision announced this week. The game is described as “innovative,” but that’s all we know so far. [Full story]

Watched Dogs

Ubisoft made it official this week, announcing Watch Dogs 2 and confirming it will launch by April 2017. We don’t know much about it yet, but a report claims it will be set in San Francisco, not Chicago, the setting of the first game. [Full story]

Whoops!

Did you know that Suicide Squad‘s Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie, is a tattoo artist? She totally is. But she doesn’t have the best track record. She tells Stephen Colbert that she gave someone on the Suicide Squad production team a tattoo that read “SWAD” instead of “SKWAD.” Whoops.

All Three

All of the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles 2.5D games–China, India, and Russia–are now available. You can buy them alone or through a Trilogy Pack on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Thomas Is No Longer Alone

Thomas Was Alone Developer Mike Bithell is expanding. He’s opening a new studio to prepare for his upcoming games. You can read this interview he gave to MCV to learn more about what’s next.

What’s Next?

Alex Ward, who co-founded Burnout studio Criterion and now heads up new studio Three Fields, is already thinking about the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Two. He tells EDGE in a new interview that these unannounced consoles will allow developers to build “far more dynamic” and interactive worlds.

Doom Gets an Artbook

“The Art of Doom” is a new artbook for id Software’s upcoming shooter. It comes with a bunch of never-before-seen artwork and arrives in June, about a month after the game arrives on May 13. You can preorder your copy of the 184-page book here at Bethesda’s website.

New Director

WildStar has a new director, Chad Moore, and one of his first duties was penning a “state of the game” blog post for the PC MMO. In it, he covers, at a high level, the developer’s goals for the game in the New Year. Read it here.

Get Out of the Way

Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One will no longer debut on December 21. Why? It’s probably because that’s the day Star Wars Episode 8 arrives on that day. Ready Player One is now penciled in for March 2018, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

PC Exclusive No Longer

Dungeons and Dragons RPG Sword Coast Legends won’t be a PC-exclusive for much longer. The game is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this spring, developers n-Space and Digital Extremes announced this week.

Update!

Minecraft’s PC and mobile editions are getting a big update called Overworld Update this month. Among other things, it adds new mechanical items like comparators, repeaters, dispensers, droppers, hoppers, trapped chests. Get all the details here.

It Begins!

Star Wars: Episode VIII has started filming, Disney announced this week. The movie doesn’t open until 2017, and it will be preceded by Rogue One, which comes out this December. Episode VIII is directed by Rian Johnson.

Beast Mode

Treyarch updated Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’s multiplayer map Combine with a tribute to Marshawn Lynch, the NFL running back (and big-time Call of Duty fan) who recently announced his retirement. Check out the video here.

No “Endless Menus” in this RTS

This is a new PC and mobile RTS from Tera publisher En Masse Entertainment. The game aims to separate itself from the pack by using “simple, intuitive controls” instead of “endless menus.” The game is scheduled to arrive this spring, and you can sign up for the PC beta test here

Your Witness Questions, Answered

The Witness creator Jonathan Blow held a Reddit AMA this week in which he fielded all manner of questions about the mysterious puzzle game that launched at the end of January. Head here to see what he had to say. Other developers from the team also chimed in to explain why there won’t be a VR version of The Witness anytime soon and more.

Fryerwatch

Apparently Denny’s, yes, the diner Denny’s, really likes Firewatch. They posted this image to their company blog this week, clearly modeled after the Campo Santo game.

Unraveled

Indie developer Coldwood Interactive has shared some details on why it partnered with EA for the adorable-looking platformer Unravel. One particularly interesting bit from creative director Martin Sahlin’s interview with GI.biz is this section about the pitch meeting:

“We came there expecting to pitch the game and we showed a level and talked a little bit and answered a couple of questions but then [they] took over and just started pitching EA to us instead… basically telling us of the direction that they wanted to go. [EA] was very upfront in telling us that this is not a game that EA needs from a financial perspective because they’re doing good already. But it was a game they felt like they needed creatively and personally they felt very strongly about it and felt like this is something that we totally want to get behind.”