Welcome to Next-gen-vember. We’re close boys and girls. PS4 is only two weeks away; XB1 is three weeks. “The anticipation is killing me. I hope it lasts.”
The news, or lack thereof, on Grand Theft Auto V is getting a bit tired. The game’s out, it’s fun, the multiplayer doesn’t live up, conversation over. But, the financial aspect of the game for Take Two is significant. As shown in their most recent quarterly results, 29 million copies of a game is a significant influx of cash. Need to wrap your head around that number? In six weeks it outsold GTA IV’s lifetime sales. So how do you follow up a quarter like that? Frankly, you don’t. But you do your best and CEO Strauss Zelnick says the company has “more than ten unique titles planned for next-generation consoles.” Among those titles they have “groundbreaking new intellectual properties and exciting titles from [their] proven franchises, along with digitally-delivered offerings to complement [their] core business.” When can we expect these ten planned titles? That’s not clear, although they do have “multiple releases slated for fiscal 2015.” For those who use a human calendar, not a bean-counter version, that means as early as Summer 2014 up to as late as Spring 2015. Take Two publishes games from several studios, including Rockstar. Their IPs and licenses include franchises from BioShock, Borderlands, and Grand Theft Auto to WWE and NBA 2K.
I’m not sure where the rumors started that Titanfall would eventually make its way to PS4, but it’s time to quash them. As we’ve already seen too many times regarding Star Wars: Episode VII, just because the internet wants a thing doesn’t mean it’s real. Next-gen exclusivity is going to be much like exclusivity from this generation. The Sony-exclusive content for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag? Staying with Sony. The timed exclusive content for Battlefield 4 Premium subscribers? Still a timed exclusive. Titanfall’s Microsoft exclusivity? Staying with Microsoft (and PC) “for the life of the title” according to EA. Will Respawn ever make games on PS4? Founder Vince Zampella says, “Of course we will, just not the first Titanfall.” Interesting phrasing. What about Titanfall 2?
What the hell is that picture doing here? That same question seemingly occurred to Ed Boon when he found the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks game guide sitting on his desk. Actually, this is probably all staged for a Twitter tease. Boon recently tweeted that picture with the note “Someone put this on my desk. WTF? Do they think we’re doing an HD version to download… um… or something.” If you are an unfortunate soul that doesn’t know what this game was then just trust me. This is good news. MK’s forays outside of two-player fighting haven’t always been great, but this platforming brawler was one of the good ones. It featured two-player co-op as Liu Kang and Kung Lao, brawling through hordes of enemies and solving puzzles. The puzzles weren’t particularly difficult, though they were occasionally gruesome. How do you get up to that cliff? Throw an enemy body onto the spikes in the ground so you have a place to stand, then throw another into the spikes on the wall so you can wall jump off him. Naturally. I can’t wait to hear more about the HD-ification of this one.
November isn’t just a big month because of the new consoles, but one of them is partially responsible for something else that makes it a big month. PlayStation Plus subscribers will get SEVEN free games this month, including two for the PS4 on launch day! Resogun is is a graphically rich “shmup” from Housemarque; Contrast is 2D/3D puzzle platformer with a unique visual style. Both are PS4 titles that will be free for PS+ subscribers on November 15th. Not getting a day one PS4? Remember to go to Sony’s webstore and “purchase” your two free titles. Whenever you do get your PS4, assuming you still have Plus, they’ll be ready for you to download, even if they’re no longer in the Instant Game Collection. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, ibb & obb, and Binary Domain for PS3 are also free for subscribers. There are also two titles joining Vita’s IGC: Soul Sacrifice and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath. As usual, these will drop at a rate of one a week (not counting the PS4 launches) but we don’t necessarily know the exact order yet. Check back weekly for updates as they’re usually in the Tuesday edition of VGQH.
Over on the XBox 360, Games for Gold is getting you the normal two titles this month. It starts with Ninja Bee’s A World of Keflings today through November 15th. It will be replaced on the 15th by Iron Brigade from Double Fine. Both are normally $9.99.
Obsidian’s South Park: Stick of Truth has suffered yet another delay. The latest release date for it was to be December 10th, but now it’s pushed all the way to March 4, 2014. According to a statement from South Park’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “We always wanted to the game to feel like you’re actually in an episode of South Park. Getting the game up to the crappy standard of the show has been a real challenge and we’re excited to say it’s taken way longer than we thought it would.” Typical humor from those two. Hopefully they can work with Obisidian to get the game back on track and into consumer hands as soon as possible.
Ubisoft has announced that they are no longer requiring the Online Pass for their games. Electronic Arts took a similar step in May of this year, ending the program that required users who bought their games used to buy an additional $10 entitlement to play them online. The move was made in an attempt to recoup money publishers felt they were missing on used game sales and rentals. It was not popular with consumers and clearly did not provide enough benefit to make it worth continuing. Ubisoft’s decision has been influenced by consumer backlash over the Online Pass requirement for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Not having that particular pass actually blocked the “Edward’s Fleet” single player feature. According to Ubisoft’s official statement:
In Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, ‘Edward’s Fleet’ is an innovative online single player feature that allows players to interact with multiple players on consoles or via the game’s companion app.
Every new copy of Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag includes the Uplay Passport code needed to unlock this online feature. However, we listen to our community and understand that there are concerns over some players’ ability to access this feature, so we have decided to eliminate the cost of the Uplay Passport for Black Flag.
This ensures that everyone will be able to use the companion app, Edward’s Fleet, online multiplayer and available bonus content at no additional cost.
That’s all for this week. Kind of a lot of news for the first day of November. If you just can’t stand the anticipation for your PS4 in two weeks, here’s something to tide you over. That is just about the most comprehensive FAQ on the PS4 you’re ever going to find. Have a good weekend everyone, check back on Tuesday for more gaming news.