The Raven Episode 1 Free Through Games With Gold December 1, 2014

The Xbox Live Arcade title The Raven will have its first episode free for all Xbox Live Gold members starting today. That means gold members will be able to download the first episode completely free right now until December 15th, 2014.

As with all Xbox 360 games redeemed through Games With Gold, any users who downloads a participating game will never lose access to it, even if their Xbox Live Gold account expires.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Content Update 4 Patch Notes November 27, 2014

A promised update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection has just been released. The patch weighs in at only 500 MB or so and mostly addresses issues with multiplayer matchmaking, but other fixes were included as well.

Here are the complete patch notes:

Matchmaking

Made improvements to the way the matchmaking system handles player matching
Made improvements to the team selection process to improve team balancing
Made an update to the party system to improve searching with parties (2+ players)
Made further improvements to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player
Made an update to ensure that players do not enter a non-joinable state after searching for a match
Made an update to ensure that the “Game Session” UI does not persist after leaving a matchmaking lobby
Resolved a variety of incorrectly displayed matchmaking prompts
Improved matchmaking roster presentation during team creation phase to remove roster flickering
Corrected a “connecting to host” message that incorrectly displayed during the matchmaking searching phase
Made an update to ensure that FFA players do not appear as if they are on the red team in the pre-game lobby

Party, Lobby, and Custom Games

Made an update to ensure that custom game settings persist between matches
Made an update to ensure that player’s player emblems load correctly when returning to lobby
Made an update to improve nameplate and emblem display
Improved the display of emblems in the “Games Session Details” screen
Made improvements to parties to ensure that parties are merged when the host joins another player and “brings party”
Made an update to improve party stability after completing a matchmaking game
Made an update to ensure that players are joinable after playing a matchmaking game

Stability

Made a variety of updates to improve UI stability
Resolved stability issues that occurred while viewing medals in “Player Details”
Made an update to prevent stability issues caused by controller disconnects
Made an update to improve post-game-carnage-report stability
Made an update to address in-game stability for Halo 2
Improved matchmaking stability while searching with parties (2+ players)
Addressed a crash that could occur after searching in the Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
Resolved a variety of miscellaneous stability issues to improve overall performance

Achievements

Made an update to ensure that the “Zealot” achievement is unlockable

343 Industries has promised more content updates are on the way if this isn’t able to fix all the game’s issues. Personally I haven’t been able to test it myself yet.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now for the Xbox One.

National Nintendo StreetPass Weekend on Thanksgiving Weekend November 26, 2014

After the success of hosting StreetPass Weekend this past Halloween, Nintendo announced that they will be hosting another National StreetPass Weekend all Thanksgiving weekend! The best part is it starts today!

StreetPass Weekend allows Nintendo 3DS players to download and swap StreetPass tags with random 3DS players from all across the country at any Nintendo Zone location. The StreetPass tags you earn can then help you in StreetPass compatible 3DS titles like Find Mii and Monster Manor, and help you earn achievements!

You might have to download the latest firmware to your Nintendo handheld before you can join in the fun, but you can do that on site. Just make sure your device’s WiFi is enabled. Nintendo Zone locations can typically be found in Starbucks, McDonald’s, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble locations, on top of Nintendo World Headquarters in NYC.

National StreetPass Weekend will go from November 26th-November 30th.

Bonnie Ross Responds to Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s Issues November 25, 2014

Since Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched, it has been plagued by several issues especially wait times during online matchmaking. While the recent content update and server side maintenance have improved the online issues since the game launched, players are still experiencing problems.

Bonnie Ross, one of the head honchos of the Microsoft Halo Team, has actually posted a comprehensive article detailing the current state of the game as well as their future plans to fix the games.

You can read the entire article here but there are two or three really important points. The first is that 343’s priority right now is to fix the game and that will require for them to continue to deliver content updates as well as server patches on their end. Another content update is in testing right now and Microsoft plans to release it later this week.

The other important thing that Bonnie Ross mentioned is compensation to players who have had to deal with the game’s issues since launch. Right now all priority on 343 has been to stabilize the game, she said that after the game is finished they will discuss how they will reward their customers for dealing with the game’s launch issues.

Me, I just want the achievements I earned on day one to finally unlock.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now for the Xbox One.

Batman: Arkham Knight Ace Chemicals Trailer Part 1 November 24, 2014

Game developer Rocksteady Studios have had a huge winning streak with the Batman: Arkham Asylum series. Considered to be some of the best superhero video games ever made when they were released, Batman: Arkham Asylum has seen one prequel and one sequel launch over the past few years. But Rocksteady’s story is not over and it has all been building up to this, Batman: Arkham Knight.

We haven’t seen very much from the game since E3 2014, but today the guys at Rocksteady released this gameplay trailer of a single game mission which they promise is just the first part of a longer video. Take a look at what Batman will be able to do when he is able to send in his car.

The next part will be released on December 1st.

Batman: Arkham Knight is coming June 2015 to the Xbox One and PS4.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Cinema Trailer November 23, 2014

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a game trailer previewed at my local cinema, but I can’t think of a game franchise more worthy of that honor than Final Fantasy.  The entire franchise has based itself on its cinematic presentation since the 32-bit era, and boasts some of the best music in the history of video games.  With the HD version of Final Fantasy Type-0 just a few months away from release, what better time to bring a trailer worthy of being displayed on the big screen?  Don’t worry, while it will be shown to a wide audience, Square Enix has stated that this trailer was made specifically for the fans.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is coming March 2015 to the Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U Unboxing November 21, 2014

Since its release on the Nintendo 64, the Super Smash Bros franchise has always been a staple of Nintendo’s hardware alongside other franchises like Mario Kart and Mario Party. Now the game is out on the Wii U and it is poised to be the Wii U’s newest killer app.

On the morning of its release, Maniac takes a look at what is in the game’s box for all of you.

Super Smash Bros is out now for Wii U.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Animated Trailer November 20, 2014

Just in time for the midnight launch of the the third generation Pokémon remakes Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Pokémon Omega Ruby, The Pokémon Company have released this animated trailer. The trailer provides more than just a glimpse into the Pokémon world, new players will get a good look at all of the new Mega Evolved Pokémon that are going to be offered in this game.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire is coming November 21st, 2014 to the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Matchmaking Content Update Coming Today November 20, 2014

A major system update which is planned to fix issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s multiplayer matchmaking service will launch later today for Xbox One players.  The update was supposed to be released yesterday, but the game’s developer delayed the patch a day to add a lot more than just fixes to matchmaking, and because of those extra fixes have delayed the update’s launch to later today.

Here is the complete patch log for the third Halo: The Master Chief Collection content update.  You can read the official report here.

Matchmaking

• Made a number of updates to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player. With this update, you’ll see better, more frequent and more informative status updates throughout the matchmaking flow – so “Players Found” for example, will be displayed to let players know where they are in the matchmaking process instead of simply wondering if it’s going to connect.
• The improved matchmaking flow is as follows:
  • Searching
  • Searching for more players
  • Players found
  • Finalizing matchmaking process
  • Connecting session
• Made an update to ensure that parties stick together when returning from the post-game carnage report
• Prevented the ability for players “kick” other players from matchmaking games
• Made an update to ensure that the Roster correctly displays the “searching” UI rather than “My Game Session” while searching for players
• Removed the possibility to boost ranking through a custom games exploit
• Made an update to ensure that players cannot get stuck in the matchmaking screen during map voting
• Made an update to ensure that the “Connecting to your game” message no longer incorrectly displays in the lower right of the screen during gameplay
• Made an update to the “team creation” phase that allows players to be grouped by team
• Made an update to prevent players from seeing the “connection failed” dialogue if disconnected during the map voting screen
• Improved roster / matchmaking lobby stability
• Made improvements to the accuracy and stability of the “Game Session Details” UI
• Improved version compatibility

UI

• Improved emblem and nameplate behavior to ensure that they do not reset to default (especially after game sessions)
• Corrected career stats that did not update uniformly across different profiles in multiple titles
• Improved Forge map display names in Theater
• Corrected various medal inconsistencies across titles

Campaign

• Made updates to the attainability of various achievements, including “Goat Roped,” “Monopolized,” “You’re Joking,” and “Devastating.”
• Improved Halo: CE career stat tracking
• Resolved scoring and time HUD reset and display issues
• Made an update to ensure that rival emblems are displayed correctly

Halo: CE

• Improved consistency and reliability of shot registration
• Improved headshot hitboxes
• Fixed an issue where respawning players could momentarily appear at their death location
• Made an update to ensure that the match ends when the entire opposing team quits
• Improved fall damage consistency (specifically in regards to uneven surfaces)
• Improved Halo: CE menu and loading screen stability
• Improved consistency with multikill rewards
• Made an update to improve post-game carnage report accuracy for Halo: CE FFA games
• Updated default language settings

Halo 2

• Made an update to ensure that the team color shown in pre-game lobby matches in-game
• Improved a variety of networking issues to allow for improved consistency between host and clients in peer to peer matches
• Improved a variety of networking issues to allow for improved gameplay consistency
• Made an update to service tag functionality, allowing for service tags to appear for all players
• Improved the post-game carnage report to correctly display team color
• Made an update to ensure that the match ends when the entire opposing team quits
• Improved “original” medal icon functionality in split-screen
• Improved host migration functionality
• Corrected “headshot” stat tracking
• Addressed a crash that occurred with the Scarab skull
• Addressed art errors that occurred on the opening cinematics for “Uprising” and “High Charity”

Halo 2 Anniversary

• Made an update to prevent players from gaining achievements in Forge
• Improved Forge item display names
• Resolved text overlapping issues
• Improved split screen stability
• Made an update to resolve the notorious “-1th” scoreboard text
• Improved lobby functionality to address players not being able to reconnect to the party leader after completing a match
• Improved host migration functionality
• Corrected vehicle and weapon thumbnails in the “Tools of destruction” table in the post-game carnage report
• Addressed a dedicated server issue that caused gameplay physics issues on Stonetown
• Improved split-screen party functionality to ensure that players are not directed to a broken lobby screen after completing a game session
• Improved Forge mode stability
• Made an update to King of the Hill scoring to prevent multiple hills from counting down at the same time
• Improved Shrine objective spawn points
• Improved King of the Hill and Ninjanaut mode stability
• Addressed an issue where controller vibration could persist during the pause menu
• Improved Race mode respawn zones

343 Industries have promised that more content updates are on the way, and this looks to be just the tip of the iceburg.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out now exclusively on Xbox One.

UPDATE: The patch is out now.

Final Fantasy XV Walkthrough and Tech Demo November 20, 2014

Tonight, Square Enix did a bit of an information dump on something that a lot of JRPG fans have been looking forward to for the past few years, the next numbered title in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XV.  Based on the original design for the highly anticipated but never released title Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy XV is being built from the ground up to take advantage of the powerful next generation consoles.

I’m sure there are a lot of people out there wondering just what this game’s engine is capable of.  Here’s a look at the technology behind the game.

Anyone else having Alan Wake flashbacks?  The terrain technology they’re using looks to be very similar to Remedy’s technology for Alan Wake.  Those tools were built from the ground up to be for an open world game, and from the looks of it, that’s exactly what the Final Fantasy XV engine will be capable of.

If a simple tech demo isn’t enough for you don’t worry, I have more.  Here is a ten minute walkthrough of the gameplay.  There’s not really much action in the video, but it does give a good look at the world the players will be exploring set to a beautiful score.  I don’t know if anyone heard it, but there was a distinct set of notes from a classic Final Fantasy theme at the very end of the video.

It looks like this game will allow you to have four character adventure parties during quests.  I always thought that three person groups were the typical party size in modern JPRGs (Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy XIII for example), but I know Final Fantasy games in the past have allowed it.

Square Enix cannot stress enough that this content is subject to change in the final version of the game.

Final Fantasy XV is coming to the Xbox One and Playstation 4.