This week in video games: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 revealed, multiplayer comes to No Man’s Sky, and Halo comes to the arcades. Here’s our roundup of the week’s top gaming news stories.
PUBG Miramar map heading to Xbox One
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds‘ desert-themed Miramar map is coming to Xbox One on May 24, 2018. The map is currently available for one last round of testing, should players wish to jump on the test server. Addition tweaks and fixes are detailed in the latest patch notes. The Miramar map was also released for PUBG Mobile this week.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 release date
The rumours were true. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will not include a single player campaign, but it will be offering its own battle royale mode, called Blackout. The multiplayer-centric game will also include a significantly expanded zombie mode.
The wonderfully named Dan Bunting, co-studio head at Treyarch, said:
“At its core Black Ops has always been about challenging convention and boldly taking our gameplay in new directions. With Black Ops 4, we’ve designed an experience for all play styles and skill levels from casual to competitive. It brings a layer of tactical depth that rewards players for mastery, and just feels so good to play.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 12, 2018.
Fortnite Battle Royale coming to Android
In a blog post, Epic Games has confirmed that Fortnite Battle Royale is planned for release on Android this summer. The post also outlines plans to add voice chat, and a customisable UI.
And in case you missed it… Fortnite Battle Royale now has an in-game Fork Knife food truck. Love it.
No Man’s Sky gets full multiplayer
Hello Games’ space exploration game, No Man’s Sky, will be getting full online multiplayer this summer. The ‘Next’ update coincides with the release of the Xbox One version of the game.
Skull & Bones and Metro Exodus delayed
Two anticipated games have had their release dates push back. Ubisoft’s seafaring Skull & Bones will now release in financial year 2019/2020. And Deep Silver has confirmed that 4A Games’ Metro Exodus will now be released in Q1 2019. Both titles will still make an appearance at next month’s E3.
Introducing the Xbox One Adaptive Controller
Microsoft has revealed the Xbox Adaptive Controller, a new programmable game controller designed for players with limited mobility. It’s a beautiful piece of design and is fully compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10. It will launch later this year, priced $99.99 USD. Hats off to Microsoft on this one.
State of Decay 2 review roundup
Undead Labs’ zombie survival game, State of Decay 2, was released this week on Xbox One and Windows. Unfortunately if appears that any innovation found in its gameplay systems is let down by a multitude of performance problems.
Alessandro Barbosa, writing at GameSpot, says:
“State of Decay 2 runs extremely poorly, even on Xbox One X. Despite not standing out graphically in any regard, the framerate will frequently dip well below its 30 frames per second target, sometimes locking up momentarily when the action is thick on screen.”
Stacie Ponder at Kotaku warns of the perils of ladders:
“For as much fun as I had with the game, I expected a bit more polish. Ladders were generally a bigger threat to my survival than the zombies, as wonky controls sent me plummeting to the ground as I tried to descend.”
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell at Eurogamer says:
“It tantalises with the thought of raggedy everyday heroes pooling their myriad talents to survive, only to quantify and busywork all that out of existence. Its resource and scavenging elements are as suffocating as its social elements are underplayed.”
GTA V sales continue to rocket
Take Two’s financial earnings call revealed that Grand Theft Auto V has sold 95 million copies to date. It was only in February that the publisher reported 90 million copies shipped.
PS Vita game cards end production
Kotaku reports that Sony’s American and European arms “plan to end all Vita GameCard production by close of fiscal year 2018.” Production looks set to continue in Japan, for a short while at least, according to a report from GameSpark (via Siliconera).
The Division 2 gets a release window
During this week’s Ubisoft earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that The Division 2 will be released before the end of April 2019. He also spoke about the steps being taken to improve the sequel’s end game.
Cliff Bleszinski shares game concepts following Boss Key closure
Following the closure of Boss Key Productions, Cliff Bleszinski has released a slew of game concepts and design documents from titles that never got off the ground.
The next Halo game is revealed
The next Halo game, is an arcade cabinet. Halo: Fireteam Raven supports up to four-players, and features four turret-mounted machine guns, and a 130-inch, 4k screen. The game – which is produced by Play Mechanix and Eugene Jarvis’ Raw Thrills – will debut at Dave & Busters in the United States and Canada this summer.
What the heck is this Nintendo Labo rip-off?
This is one of the best unofficial gaming products we’ve seen in while. A completely unlicensed Nintendo Labo guitar kit that promises origami fun (it looks like it will take 30 seconds to build) complete with the promise of a ‘game incoming’. Don’t hold your breath. Colourful string though…
Video game sales and promotions
It’s another busy week for sales and promotions. If you’re quick there’s still time to pick up a game in this weekend’s PlayStation Store Flash sale, Ubisoft are cutting prices over on the Nintendo eShop, and there a few days left on the Humble Store’s spring sale.
Sunday reading
Josh Wise continues his series of features that examine the intersection of film and video games. In this week’s Cut Scenes he looks at Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Josh has also penned some thoughts on Detroit: Become Human, the latest game from David Cage and Quantic Dream.
And finally, if you’ve ever been interested in the design of Pokémon, check out Kotaku’s report on concept art shared by Game Freak designer, James Turner.
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Video games news from Thumbsticks
- PlayStation Store releases for May 22, 2018
- Xbox One digital game releases for May 21-25, 2018
- Save up to 75% in the new PlayStation Store Flash Sale
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