‘Halo 5’ pushed Xbox One sales past the PS4 in October
No matter how you feel about the single-player experience for Halo 5: Guardians, its place as the Xbox family’s standard-bearer is secure. NPD data reveals that its release last month not only topped software sales charts in the US, but also drove Xbox One to a victory over the rival PlayStation 4. There aren’t any exact numbers attached, but in a statement Microsoft said Xbox One sales were up 81 percent over the same month last year. In case you didn’t already know, the expensive but oh-so-good Elite Controller sold through its supply at most retailers, also providing a lift. The only question now is if the victory will turn into a streak, as Xbox features the new Tomb Raider this week to go with an early launch of Star Wars: Battlefront on EA Access. In other NPD news, the Yoshi’s Wooly World on Wii U came in at number 8 in game sales for the month, beating out Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live.
Storytelling in video games doesn’t have to be scary
Benjamin Rivers believes in the dramatic, emotional appeal of the video game industry. He’s the man behind Home, a surprisingly complex, pixelated horror game that found great success once it debuted in 2012. It’s praised for impressive narrative arcs that branch in twisted, unique ways depending on the decisions of each player, and this is precisely the type of story-centric design that delights Rivers. He sees video games’ potential to convey convoluted human experiences through strong narrative design, and he’s bringing these sensibilities to Alone with You, a science-fiction adventure due to hit PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in the spring.
Alone with You stars a lonely survivor on a planet due for implosion in a few weeks; players have to escape with help from the colony’s AI system, which eventually takes on the personalities of dead crew members. And, it’s a romance. A futuristic, interstellar romance starring just one actual human — because that’s the kind of storyteller Rivers is.
Playdate: We’re giving away the ‘Fallout 4’ Pip-Boy Edition!
The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition proved insanely popular, so much so that developer/publisher Bethesda Softworks had to apologize when it couldn’t meet demand for the plastic wrist-computer. You know who isn’t saying sorry? Us at Engadget. That’s because we’re giving away the PlayStation 4 premium edition of this fall’s most anticipated game during our Twitch broadcast today. All you need to do is hit the contest widget after the break. Join Sean Buckley and myself as we stream two hours of irradiated galavanting around the Boston Commonwealth starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific. Sean’s playing the PC version and you can watch us here on this very post, the Engadget Gaming homepage, or Twitch.tv/Joystiq if you’d like to participate in chat. How many hijinks will we get into? You’ll just have to tune in and find out. So go grab a Nuka Cola Quantum and settle in. Oh, and good luck!
Talking it out: Do I buy a console or the Oculus Rift?
So my old Xbox 360 finally gave up its ghost last weekend and presented me with the most dreaded of error codes, the ‘Red Ring of Death’. It wasn’t an entirely shocking turn of events, mind you. I’d had that console since 2006 — it survived four intra-state moves, countless roommates and a bitter ex armed with a croquet mallet (seriously Ashley, if you’re reading this, you still owe me a croquet set) — but the increasingly common and severe loading screen freezes made it clear my 360 was reaching the end of its operational service life.
Now I’m faced with a difficult choice: What gaming platform do I buy next? Do I suck it up and embrace Microsoft’s current console, Xbox One? Should I jump ship to the PlayStation 4 which all my own friends own and use? Or, do I say goodbye to console gaming altogether and get one of those fancy new Oculus Rifts?
Playdate: We’ve got the ‘Need for Speed’ on PlayStation 4
It’s time to kick some tires and light some fires, folks. The new Need for Speed, out this week, is awesome. More importantly, it shows exactly what can happen when a video game publisher (Electronic Arts, in this case) says that a developer can take a year off to work on a game rather than churn out sub-par sequels on an annual basis. Usually when the word “cinematic” is thrown around to describe a game, that means big explosions and scripted events — not usually the visual style. The team at Ghost Games doesn’t subscribe to that theory and rather than focusing on “water-cooler moments” that only happen once, it instead made Need for Speed look as much like a movie shot on film as possible. Need proof? At 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific Sean and myself are broadcasting two hours of the game on Twitch.
Playdate: Clambering around London in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate’
It’s autumn, so that means it’s time for a new Assassin’s Creed game. This time out the franchise has gone back to London’s industrial age with Syndicate. A period when kids worked in factories and hooded folks jumped off of tall buildings to kill members of the Knights Templar. That last part might not be historically accurate. Maybe. There are a lot of variables at play here. Regardless, the last few AC releases haven’t been great, but I’m determined to give Syndicate the old college try to see if it can recapture the franchise’s highpoint, 2009’s Assassin’s Creed 2. This time you can come along for the ride with Sean and myself as we explore London’s seedy underbelly starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific. As always, we’ll be playing for two hours and you can tune in either on this post, the Engadget Gaming homepage or Twitch.tv/Joystiq if you’d like to join us in chat.
‘Overwatch Origins Edition’ will be on PC, PS4 and XB1 next year
Until now only a PC version had been announced for Blizzard’s first all-new game in years, but today a splash page on its Battle.net website promises it will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Overwatch Origins Edition is expected to arrive “on or before” June 21st, 2016, although the link to BuyOverwatch.com isn’t working yet. The listing itself has very little information other than promising “all digital content included with Origins Edition will be available by launch,” but an eagle-eyed Reddit poster spotted what may be a full listing of items on a videogame retailer’s website. The shooter has generated hype with a public beta and many Twitch streaming sessions, but for now it’s just one more reason (besides that Warcraft movie trailer) to keep an eye on BlizzCon over the next few days.
Via: Wario64 (Twitter)
Source: Battle.net
Disney and ESPN channels are coming to PlayStation Vue
For all the channels that PlayStation Vue gives you, there have been a few conspicuous gaps: without Disney or ESPN, you didn’t have much in the way of kids’ programming or sports. That gap is closing today. Disney has announced that all of its media networks are coming to Sony’s streaming TV service, including local ABC stations, the Disney Channel and (of course) ESPN’s many offerings. Importantly, this is a rare chance to watch live Disney streams on multiple devices — you can watch sports on your iPad while your kids monopolize the TV. Disney hasn’t said when its channels are showing up or whether you’ll pay a premium to get them, but this is still big news if you’ve wanted to ditch cable or satellite without springing for a relatively barebones option like Sling TV.
Source: ESPN MediaZone
The ‘Fallout 4’ Pip-Boy app is available right now
Attention future Commonwealth explorers: The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy app is available for you to download. Unlike the gap between the release of Fallout Shelter on Android and iOS, both versions are available right this very moment. More than just acting as a mobile menu setup, you can play any holotape games you find in Fallout 4 within the app (with what sounds like a version of Missile Command built in). Sounds cool, right? Well, now you’ve got another something to keep you busy until November 10th — even if you have an oversized phone.
Source: iTunes, Google Play
The new ‘Need for Speed’ looks like a movie shot on film
The new, simply titled Need for Speed (out this week on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) is as close as you’re going to get to an art-house, video game version of The Fast and the Furious. The series has had players recreating cop chases from movies since 1998’s Hot Pursuit, but this is the first time the game actually feels filmic. It isn’t going to stand toe-to-toe with Microsoft’s Forza series or Sony’s ill-fated, but gorgeous Driveclub because it doesn’t have to — visually, they aren’t even competing against each other. NfS doesn’t run at 60FPS like Forza Motorsport; it doesn’t feature those meticulously detailed cockpits either. What’s more, car models aren’t nearly as detailed as Driveclub‘s. But whatever NfS lacks in “perfection,” it makes up for with killer arcade-like handling and a visual style guided by a clear aesthetic: Make a racing game that looks like a movie shot on film.
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