How to Play Mirror's Edge Catalyst Five Days Early

How to Play Mirror's Edge Catalyst Five Days Early

EA and Origin Access subscribers will be able to play from June 2.

EA Access and Origin Access subscribers will be able to play a trial of Mirror's Edge Catalyst from June 2, five days ahead of its full launch.

While many previous trials gave subscribers 10 hours to play a new game, Mirror's Edge Catalyst will be limited to six. This is, presumably, to prevent it from being completed within the trial period. Madden 15's trial was also only six hours long.

Although neither EA nor developer DICE have said how long the game will take to complete, it has said the game's open-world city is "huge" and explorable.

GameSpot recently played Catalyst and our hands-on impressions can be found here.

The game was originally expected to launch on May 24, but after a delay, it's now set for launch on June 7 in North America and June 9 in Europe. It will be available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

EA Access will be free for 10 days for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The service is available on Xbox One, and a PC version called Origin Access arrived earlier in 2016. You can sign up for $5/month or $30/year, and in return get access to a library of free games, as well as a discount on all EA digital content.

Additionally, EA gives members the opportunity to play most new games five days before they are released publicly. Battlefield 1, for example, will be playable early for subscribers.

Source: GameSpot

Here's What Uncharted 4 Players Receive for Unlocking Its Platinum Trophy

Here's What Uncharted 4 Players Receive for Unlocking Its Platinum Trophy

Sony offers a small congratulations to the most dedicated of players.

Earning every Trophy in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End rewards players not just with the satisfaction of a Platinum Trophy, but with a small gift of sorts from Sony.

As shared on Reddit by user unique-, Sony sends an email to Uncharted 4 players who manage to unlock the game's Platinum. It contains the image below, congratulating players on their accomplishment with artwork used for the game's collector's edition. Some commenters on Reddit claim to have not received such an email; it's unclear why.

This isn't the first time players have been rewarded in some way for earning a Platinum. Bloodborne took things a step further, offering a special PS4 theme to those who unlocked its Platinum.

Earning a Platinum in Uncharted 4 is no easy task (though there have been loopholes for earning some Trophies more easily). Among the requirements are finishing the game in under six hours, finishing it on Crushing (the highest difficulty), and finding every hidden treasure in the campaign.

Uncharted 4 is off to a strong start at retail, surpassing 2.7 million sales in its first week.

Source: GameSpot

Fallout 4 Dev "Actively Working" to Improve Far Harbor DLC Performance

Fallout 4 Dev "Actively Working" to Improve Far Harbor DLC Performance

Bethesda says it understands "some people are experiencing issues" and is working on improvements.

Fallout 4 developer Bethesda is "actively working on more improvements" for the RPG's recently released Far Harbor expansion. In a forum post, Bethesda said the version of Far Harbor that launched on May 19 was improved over an earlier, beta version, but the developer acknowledged it's still not all it can be.

"We made optimizations based on the Far Harbor beta feedback, but understand some people are experiencing issues," Bethesda said. "We are actively working on more improvements."

Bethesda's forum post does not get any more specific than that. The developer said it will share more details at a later date.

GamesRadar mentions that Far Harbor's frame rate, in some sections, has been less than great, possibly as a result of lighting and atmospheric effects such as fog. This video from YouTube user Oblivions Reaper shows that frame rate can chug in one particularly foggy location.

Far Harbor is Fallout 4's third paid expansion, following Automatron (March; $10) and Wasteland Workshop (April; $5). It sells for $25 on its own, and is also included with the $50 Fallout 4 DLC pass.

Bethesda has told fans to "stay tuned" for even more Fallout 4 DLC coming this year. Whatever it is, DLC pass owners will get it at no extra cost.

In other news about Fallout 4, Bethesda has announced that invitations to join the Xbox One mods beta test are going out now. Mods are expected to launch for everyone on Xbox One later in May and on PlayStation 4 in June.

Source: GameSpot

Metal Gear Man documentary explores a gamer's Big Boss-inspired prosthetic arm BBC tackles Konami's "Phantom Limb Project"

The story of James Young, the British man who was outfitted with a prosthetic arm inspired by the Metal Gear series, is now the subject of a BBC3 documentary called Bodyhack: Metal Gear Man.

You can watch the two-part special, which runs about 30 minutes, on YouTube.

Bodyhack: Metal Gear Man touches on the accident that left Young without his left arm and part of his left leg, and the efforts of prosthetics maker Sophie de Oliveira Barata to develop a high-tech bionic arm to replace his missing limb. Metal Gear publisher Konami, who paid for development of the prosthetic, branded it the Phantom Limb Project — a reference to Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

Spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 5 abound in the video.

Source: Polygon

New Final Fantasy 15 Trailer Shows Off Gorgeous Environments "World of Wonder."

During the Final Fantasy XV Uncovered event in March, Square Enix premiered a "World of Wonder" trailer for the game that showed off its towns, cities, caves, buildings, and other environments. Now, that video has been published online and in full quality. Check it out below.

In other news about Final Fantasy XV, Square Enix has confirmed that it will produce more Collector's Edition copies of the game, though it cannot guarantee they will be available by launch.

Final Fantasy XV launches on September 30. A new playable demo was released in March; you can read more about how the two versions compare here and what Square Enix has to say about some of the technical complaints here. An anime prequel is also on the way, as is a feature film.

Square Enix will hold the next Active Time Report broadcast in June during E3 where more information about Final Fantasy XV may be divulged.

Source: GameSpot

Square Enix Outlines E3 2016 Plans, Teases "Exciting Tomb Raider News" E3 2016 is almost here.

With E3 2016 just around the corner, Square Enix today announced some of its plans for the show and teased some "exciting Tomb Raider news."

In a blog post, Square Enix listed off some of the games that will be playable at its booth on the show floor. These include Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Hitman (the third episode), Just Cause 3 (the Land Mech Assault DLC), Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, and I Am Setsuna.

Also playable at Square Enix's E3 booth will be some of the crowdfunded games from the company's Square Enix Collective program, including The Turing Test and Black the Fall.

Additionally, Square Enix will again host a "Square Enix Presents" live show, during which it will make announcements, while developers will also appear on the broadcast to talk about their games.

No mention was made regarding if Square Enix will hold an official E3 briefing like it did last year.

Whatever the case, Square Enix still has more announcements to make about its E3 plans. A blog post to come in the future will include details on "other exciting demos" for Square Enix's booth, while the company also told fans to stay tuned for some "exciting Tomb Raider news." Also to come are "details on a few new games that our team has been hard at work on."

We'll report back with more information as it becomes available.

The next Active Time Report broadcast, which is expected to bring more news about Square Enix's long-awaited Final Fantasy XV, is also scheduled to take place during E3.
What are you hoping to see from Square Enix at E3 this year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: GameSpot

EA Forms New Team to Explore Future Tech, Including Virtual Humans for VR

EA Forms New Team to Explore Future Tech, Including Virtual Humans for VR

Say hello to Frostbite Labs.

Today during its Investor Day briefing, EA announced that it had formed a new internal team dedicated to exploring the trends of tomorrow, including virtual humans for virtual reality, among other things. The team is called Frostbite Labs, and it has two offices, one in Stockholm and the other in Vancouver.

EA Studios boss Patrick Soderlund said there are around 30-40 people working at Frostbite Labs right now. The people working on the team are "highly specialized" and "highly talented," he explained. They are working on "longer-term" projects that could one day have a "profound" impact on EA and in the industry. These projects could be considered "out there" and not so easy to wrap your head around, he said.

One area that Frostbite Labs is looking at is creating "virtual humans" for virtual reality devices. Soderlund said that if virtual reality takes off the way in which some believe it will, it will be important that EA can create highly believable character models. "How you're seen as a virtual human in that world is something we need to solve for," he explained.

Frostbite Labs is also pushing ahead on efforts in the deep learning space. What this may mean for EA in the long run is that a future version of the Frostbite Engine could allow a developer to input something like a season or time of day, and then the engine would produce a basic concept of a map, without a conceptual designer. This would, in theory, give developers more time to think about and work on iterating on actual gameplay elements.

"Now, we will never get to the point where the level is just taken from there, put into a game, and shipped. That won't happen," he explained. "But, if we can get a base set of levels created that the artists and levels can then go in and alter, imagine just much time we've won and how much more time we can spend on iterating on the game instead of actually making the game. In a sense, it should drive economy of scale and should also drive a better product."

Speaking broadly about innovation at EA, Soderlund said, "Innovation is not something you have to ask permission to do. This is something that has to be in our DNA. It's something that should be ingrained in the culture of the company."

He also joked that EA does not have an "innovation squad" that runs around to the company's offices and injects new ideas. "This happens at a team level, it happens at a tech level, [and it] actually happens even at an executive level," he said about EA's attitude towards innovation.

"I am a big believer in the need to constantly push and constantly innovate and try to be better," Soderlund said. "We need to dare to look into the future and dare to go deep into the crazy corners of technology. It's our responsibility as a company, it's something I'm passionate about, and it's something I think we have the right people to do."

Source: GameSpot

EA-Published Indie Game Unravel Getting a Sequel

EA-Published Indie Game Unravel Getting a Sequel

Coldwood Interactive extends agreement with EA.

Unravel, a unique puzzle platformer released earlier this year, is getting a sequel. Electronic Arts announced today that it had extended its agreement with developer Coldwood Interactive for a new game, which Game Informer has confirmed to be a sequel to Unravel.

"At EA, we love working with creative and passionate development teams, in our own studios and our partners," EA Studios boss Patrick Soderlund said in a statement. "Which is why I'm very pleased to announce that we've signed a new agreement with Coldwood to work with them on their next project."

"We look forward to sharing more when the time is right. We could not be more excited to continue working with [creative director] Martin Sahlin and the great team at Coldwood, and to see the next adventure they bring to life."

The hero of Unravel is a character named Yarny, who is made out of thread. In the game, players use Yarny's thread to do things like swing across a gap or rappel down a tree, among other things.

Unravel was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but platforms for the next game have not yet been announced. There is also no word yet on a release date.

"Unravel's wonderful sights and sounds won't escape your own memory so soon. But assessed purely on gameplay, it's everything I tend to fear about indie projects; Beautiful, heartfelt, but like Yarny himself, not robust enough," reviewer Rob Crossley said.

Source: www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-published...

Max: Curse Of Brotherhood Ch2 Blind Run First Playthrough

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a cinematic adventure filled with action-packed platforming and creative puzzle-solving. Armed with only a Magic Marker, Max must confront evil at every turn in a hostile and fantastical world in order to save his kid brother, Felix. Join Max on his great adventure!

WARNING! VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!

#maxcurseofbrotherhood #gamingtribe #dcwgaming #pcgaming

Max: Curse of the brotherhood Ch1 blind run 1st playthrough

WARNING! VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!



Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a cinematic adventure filled with action-packed platforming and creative puzzle-solving. Armed with only a Magic Marker, Max must confront evil at every turn in a hostile and fantastical world in order to save his kid brother, Felix. Join Max on his great adventure!