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A few day ago Capcom revealed that all projects were being shut down at Capcom Vancouver, the studio behind the Dead Rising series. While certainly dire news, this still left some room for optimism as the studio could've just been undergoing a restructuring or something similar. Unfortunately, this has turned out to not be the case.
In the latest update Capcom has announced that Capcom Vancouver is shutting down, most of its staff is being laid off, and the ones that remain will only be performing critical duties until the studio is fully closed. Capcom didn't give any concrete reasons as for why the studio is being shut down, but I think it's safe to say that the poor reception of both Dead Rising 3 and 4 is the likely culprit.
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After the massive success of the original Life is Strange and its prequel Before the Storm, the series is set to continue this September 27th with Life is Strange 2. However, unlike the past two games which focused primarily around Max and Chloe, Life is Strange 2 will be bringing in entirely new characters and an entirely new setting.
There are very few details currently available, but what I can tell you is that we will be following Sean and Daniel, two brothers that are forced to run away from home after a tragic accident. As they attempt to flee into Mexico they will discover a mysterious supernatural power, a power that will either save them or get them in even more trouble. A simple enough premise, but there's certainly potential for interesting storytelling here.
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In an announcement that I must admit comes as a massive surprise, Valve has now revealed that they will be providing free forum moderation for all games on Steam. Yes, you read that right. Valve, the company that is so hands-off that they barely even produce the items they sell in Dota 2, has actually just announced that they will be taking on the rather herculean task of keeping the Steam forums civil!
"Starting on Tuesday, when a discussion thread or post in your community is reported by a player, it will be added to a queue for our moderation team to review," reads the brief update. "We’ll look at these reported posts (along with all other reported content we are already reviewing) and remove anything that violates our Community Guidelines."
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[Update]: Ubisoft has now announced a brand new sequel to Wildlands - Ghost Recon Breakpoint!
Ghost Recon Wildlands is Ubisoft's tactical open-world shooter designed with squad-based co-op in mind. As such, you can either explore the giant world with a couple of fairly adequate AI companions, or team up with your friends and wreak havoc upon hordes of entrenched enemies.
It's a fairly simple but enjoyable concept, so if you're curious about what Ghost Recon Wildlands has to offer, I'm sure you'll be interested to hear that it's currently having a free weekend. To be more specific, from now until September 23rd, Ghost Recon Wildlands will be entirely free to play on both PC and consoles.
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The Resident Evil 2 remake is set to arrive this January 25th, bringing with it a whole host of improvements over the original. You can expect to see greatly enhanced visuals and voice acting, Resident Evil 4 inspired gameplay rather than the classic 'tank controls' one, support for 4K resolution and stable 60 FPS, and the list goes on for.
While the recently posted trailer won't give you a detailed overview of everything the new Resident Evil 2 brings to the table, it will give you an excellent idea of what the remake will look and sound like. So if you're curious, have a gander:
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As I've mentioned throughout my review, Battle for Azeroth's Azerite Armor has unfortunately ended up falling short of being a 'proper' replacement for tier sets, legendary items or even artifact weapon traits, let alone all three of them at the same time as was originally advertised. At the forefront of this problem is the simple fact that some of the generic traits are significantly more powerful than the class-specific ones, meaning that while each class technically has plenty of choices, a lot of those choices are actually a trap.
With that in mind, I am very glad to say that Blizzard has now issued a balance update in order to bring overperforming and underperforming traits into line. The list is relatively short, so here it is in full:
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The survival focused city management game Frostpunk has now been updated with the completely free 'The Fall of Winterhome' expansion. You can expect to see a new campaign with hours of fresh content, a brand new map with unique visuals and challenges, a new storyline and plenty of additional lore to discover, as well as a variety of new mechanics and buildings to toy around with.
While the recently posted trailer won't tell you much about the actual gameplay, it will give you a pretty decent idea of the sort of story The Fall of Winterhome is trying to tell. Have a gander, it's a fairly short video:
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If you feel like Overwatch's current Free-for-all Deathmatch mode just isn't chaotic enough, I'm sure you'll be delighted to hear that Blizzard has now taken things a step further by adding Mystery Deathmatch. Much like the always-popular Mystery Heroes mode, the new Mystery Deathmatch operates under the same rules as the standard FFA Deathmatch, though instead of choosing a hero you are given one at random every time you die.
The concept is about as simple as it gets, so simple in fact that I'm surprised it took Blizzard this long to implement it, but don't take that as me trash-talking Mystery Heroes. Quite the contrary actually, I find it to be much more fun than the classic FFA Deathmatch mode where even a couple of people playing Brigitte, Roadhog and similar heroes can really put a damper on everyone's experience.
Guild Wars 2's A Star To Guide Us update has now arrived with a new zone, raid and personal instance
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After the somewhat disappointing Long Live the Lich patch, ArenaNet has now gone all-out with Guild Wars 2's newly released update - A Star To Guide Us. You can now explore the brand new Jahai Bluffs map that exists under the constant threat of Branded attack, and if you're feeling particularly adventurous, you can also take a plunge down the 'mystic toilet' (or Mystic Forge as sensible people call it) to face down the djinn Zommoros himself.
There will also be a new upgradeable armor set to collect, a fancy new Legendary scepter that summons a familiar that accompanies you in battle, and perhaps most interestingly of all, a new personal instance by the name of Sun's Refuge. Not only will you be able to build it up and decorate it with trophies found throughout your adventures, but you will also able to use it to unlock new collections, NPCs, lore, as well as the above-mentioned armor set.
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World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth arrived about a month ago, bringing with it a whole bunch of new new regions to explore, some interesting new dungeons to delve through, as well as the entirely new Island Expeditions, Warfronts and Azerite Armor. Unfortunately, due to what appears to be rush to release the expansion on time, a good few of these features have ended up falling short of what they originally promised.
Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon for them as Blizzard has just announced Patch 8.1 - Tides of Vengeance. The first major update will focus mostly on correcting the issues from launch, both balance and design related, as well as on adding a seemingly massive amount of new content to play around with. So if you're curious about what exactly the future brings for Battle for Azeroth, allow me to give you my summary of the most recent developer stream: