It’s been a while since we’ve had a VGQH and I can’t possibly hope to do full credit to any of the stories I missed while on vacation the first section is going to be bare-bones. Most of it is probably old news to you anyway, but I pretty well skipped all gaming news while I was traveling and it’s new to me.
[Yes, my vacation was quite fine, thank you for asking. Turns out sea lions resemble bears much more than lions.]
Take Two has filed a new trademark for Rockstar’s Bully (2006). This doesn’t mean a new game is coming for sure, but the two things are normally connected.
Multiplayer for Batman: Arkham Origins has been revealed. Zombietron has the trailer.
The South Korean ratings board has received a submission for XCOM: Enemy Within. No word yet what it is. DLC for Enemy Unknown or Declassified? Sequel? 2K confirms it is real and promises more information at Gamescom later this month.
Star Wars: Battlefront, the first game from the recent deal between EA and Disney has been set for 2015. Looks like that should be a good Star Wars year.
Naughty Dog spoke on Reddit about The Last of Us. DLC for the title is coming soon.
Saints’ Row IV has cut the anal probes and alien drugs for Australian release, earning them an MA15+ rating. Grand Theft Auto V did get the R18+ rating without needing any cuts.
Phil Rogers Square Enix Chief Executive for the US and Europe, has confirmed the next-gen Tomb Raider sequel is “well into development.”
Microsoft has confirmed there will be an adapter for XBox One to use your current gen headsets. It will be sold separately, not bundled with the console. But, it may not be necessary, as they’ve also confirmed a headset will come bundled as well.
Wolfenstein: The New Order has been delayed. It is now planned for 2014, instead of late 2013. Bethesda says the delay is due to the difficulty of developing a cross-gen title with so many different kinds of gameplay.
A sequel to Rainbow Moon is coming in the form of Rainbow Skies. It’s set for 2014 on PS3 and Vita via PSN, with cross-compatibility.
Street Fighter V is still a possibility. But, Capcom Producer Tomoaki Ayano expects we won’t see it until 2018.
The release date for Square Enix’s Murdered: Soul Suspect has been narrowed down to March 2014.
Most gamers were already of the opinion that Saints’ Row IV had gone beyond the pale of ridiculousness long ago. Think again. Now they’ve gone beyond the pale. The real shark-jumping point is the reveal of the latest “collector’s” edition. Limited to one copy only, the Super Dangerous Wad Wad Edition will set you back a cool million US dollars. That’s right, $1,000,000.00. But is it worth it? It doesn’t include the season pass for DLC or the steelbook packaging, so probably not. What it does include is:
- The Commander in Chief Edition of the game
- A seat on the Virgin Galactic Space Flight
- Full-size replica Dub Step gun
- Plastic Surgery
- Personal Shopper
- 7 Nights at the Top Royal Suite in Dubai
- A hostage rescue experience
- Spy training day
- Capsule wardrobe
- A week’s stay at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, DC
- First class flights to Dubai and D.C.
- Lamborghini Gallardo
- Toyota Prius with one year’s insurance
- One year Super Car membership
Really? Now is it worth it? I didn’t do the research myself, but I’ve seen the “major” portions of this estimated at about $660k, leaving about $340k for plastic surgery, spy training, etc. Which seems about right. My guess is Deep Silver actually researched this and probably won’t take a suitable amount of profit for the one unit, but the publicity if it sells should be great. Contact makemeasaint@deepsilver.com to order this version.
Cory Barlog may or may not be a name you recognize in gaming, but you really should. Barlog was a Lead Animator on the first God of War at Sony Santa Monica. He later became the director for God of War II and briefly directed God of War III before moving on to Crystal Dynamics to direct the Tomb Raider reboot, one of my favorite games so far this year. He has recently moved back to Sony Santa Monica which makes me eager to see what he’s making for them. What is it? “Good question,” Barlog said on the PS Blog. “Sadly, I cannot tell you… yet. But I can say that it is freaking huge, and it will live up to the standards that I helped establish here at SMS.” The project is obviously going to be for PS4, but is it more Kratos or something new? And I do encourage you to read the whole Blogpost linked above. Cory’s a good humor writer and his [mis]adventures are entertaining.
That’s all for my catch-up edition. Friday’s VGQH should look a little more normal. Gamescom is coming later this month, so don’t be surprised if the news is a little slow until then. I doubt Microsoft or Sony will be announcing console release dates in Germany but if they want to do it an event that’s the one that makes the most sense. Then again, Microsoft rarely has much of a presence at Gamescom anyway.