THE BIG STUFF:
PS4 Is Best-Selling Console Once Again: After being outsold by the Xbox One in November and December, Sony’s PlayStation 4 finally turned the tide in January, selling more consoles than the Xbox One. Sony has sold more than 18.5 million PS4s so far, along with 81.8 million games.
EA Teases Titanfall 2 Won’t Be Xbox-Exclusive: It may not be much of a surprise, but Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen said this week that a second game in the series, which is “probably” in development will have a “bigger footprint than just a single platform.” Translation: Expect Titanfall 2 to show up on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Rocky Road Ahead For Godus As Key Devs Depart: Drama surrounding Peter Molyneux and his new studio 22Cans dominated the headlines this week, beginning with news that several key developers had left the studio amid worries that 22Cans would not be able to fulfill promises made during Godus’ original Kickstarter campaign. Things only went downhill from there, as Molyneux said he and his family faced threats over the news.
THE OTHER STUFF:
Hello Games isn’t focused only on the ambitious space game No Man’s Sky, you know. The developer announced this week that its racing game Joe Danger is coming to soon to Android, and with controller support, too. Huzzah!
Tickets for the Brasil Game Show went on sale this week. Haven’t heard of BGS? It’s the biggest game show in Latin America, and this is its eighth year. It will be held October 8-12 at the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo. Buy your tickets here. www.brasilgameshow.com.br
PlayStation 4 game The Order: 1886 arrives in just two weeks, but if you just can’t wait, here’s 11 minutes of leaked footage. Be warned, there are spoilers of course. And it’s not the best quality. But if you’re OK with those parameters…enjoy!
“Open Letter To Parents of League of Legends Players“– That sounds like something potentially terrible, but there is actually some great advice here, or what sounds like great advice. I don’t have kids, but if you do, and if they play League of Legends, you might want to read this very well-written and thoughtful advice column.
Ever wonder what classic GameCube game Super Mario Sunshine would look like at 60 frames-per-second? Wonder no more, as the folks at Dolphin Emulator have created a 60fps version of the game, and it’s a sight to behold.
Did you know that Nintendo was among the bidders who, in 1998, pitched author J.K. Rowling with ideas for Harry Potter video games? It’s true, apparently. Insiders told Unseen64 all about it, even providing some tantalizing concept art.
You like hot deals, right? GameStop has announced its latest suite of promotions, offering NBA 2K15 for $40 through February 17, and $20 off select Turtle Beach headsets now until February 15. Head to GameStop’s website to see all the deals.
With just two weeks to go before the release of PS4 game The Order: 1886, Sony announced this week that award-winning composer Jason Graves scored the title. You can hear his music when the game is release only for PS4 on February 20. Graves also wrote the chilling music for Dead Space, and he also did the score for 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot.
What the heck is going on in this GTA 5 video? Does it matter? Watch and enjoy:
Weekends are great, especially long weekends such as this one. If you live in New England like I do, you’re likely buried until 17 feet of snow right now. So you should definitely stay inside and play video games. Speaking of…Guerrilla Games has announced that, all weekend long, Killzone: Shadow Fall players can enjoy double XP. So play, play, play, but don’t forget to tell your Mom you love her on Valentine’s Day.
Activision announced this week that its $3 billion Skylanders series is growing further still through new marketing arrangements with General Mills and Crayola. Specially marked General Mills cereal boxes will come with an interactive version of Skylanders, while Activision’s arrangement with Crayola for a new initiative called Skylanders Trap Team Crayola Color Alive! Video games, man.
OK. It’s not video game news per se–or even a little–but this Harry Potter video is too good not to share. Snape has always been one of the best/most interesting characters from J.K. Rowling’s series, in part because his story is cripplingly tragic. Watch this video to see Harry Potter from Snape’s eyes, unfolding in chronological order. Such sad.
This year’s Call of Duty Championship, a marquee event where the world’s top teams will duke it out for a share of the $1 million prize pool, will be the first in the show’s history to be open to the public. Activision this week announced that it will sell a “limited number” of tickets for the event starting at 10 AM PDT on February 17. Tickets start at $50, but you can also buy a “Platinum Package” that comes with Advanced Warfare DLC, a sweatshirt, VIP seating, and more. You can buy tickets from MLG’s website.
Not interested in SimCity? Paradox Interactive announced this week that its city simulation game Cities: Skylines will launch for PC, Mac, and Linux on March 10. The game is also now available to pre-purchase, and Paradox has even launched a new gameplay trailer to mark the occasion. Watch it below.
New Star Wars skins are now available for Microsoft’s sandbox game Minecraft on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Players can now buy the Star Wars Rebels Skin Pack, which comes with 23 new Minecraft skins based on characters from the TV series, for $3. Some of the characters are Ezra, Bridger, Her Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, and Chopper.
Veteran Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski, who has since left Epic Games to start to his own company, celebrated a birthday this week. His friends marked the occasion by tweeting what you might consider to be embarrassing photos of him. Bleszinski took it all in stride, though, retweeting some of his favorites, such as the one at right.
Good news for gamers taking part in the upcoming first-ever Halo Championship Series competitive gaming event. Tournament organizers announced this week that they will double the Season 1 Finals prize money, meaning the prize pool is now $100,000.
Kalypso this week announced the latest DLC for Tropico 5, and it may not be what you expect. The DLC is called “Gone Green” and it’s an eco-friendly add-on that sees El President needing to “go green” to get out of trouble and protect his Swiss Bank account. The tongue-in-cheek add-on is available now on PC for $4.
Free-to-play shooter Warframe is expanding. Developer Digital Extremes announced this week that the game is getting new modes, features, weapons, and more. Read all about the new additions here.
He did it. After years of false starts and troubles, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter finally finished and released a mobile game based on the series called The Prospect. It’s available to buy right now on iTunes, but IGN has also done a great interview with Sutter about it. He talks about the challenges of making the game, how it ties into the larger Sons fiction, and more. Read the interview here.
Here’s something to do this weekend…Activision and Sledgehammer Games have released a “Gun Game” playlist for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Gun Game is quite simple–you start with a pistol and unlock a better gun for every kill you get. What’s more Sledgehammer is enticing you to try the mode by offering double XP all weekend long. Enjoy!
Last but not least comes yet another look at a canceled Justice League game. I’m a sucker for looking at canceled projects, even for franchises I’m not even particularly interested in such as Justice League. Maybe you are? Check out the gameplay video below.