Mirror’s Edge E3 2014 Preview June 9, 2014
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Last year, the announcement that a sequel to Mirror’s Edge was coming from EA and DICE was, in my opinion, the biggest announcement that EA made last year. After a year of hearing nothing further about that title, EA broke the silence on the next Mirror’s Edge game with a behind the scenes look at the new game. Take a look.
Mirror’s Edge is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection Announced June 9, 2014
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Take a look at this, straight from the Microsoft E3 2014 press conference.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will include Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 AND Halo 4 on one disc exclusively for the Xbox One system.
As 2014 is the tenth year anniversary of Halo 2, the collection will include an anniversary edition release of that game with a fully updated graphics engine, although players will be able to switch between the original and updated graphics on the fly.
All of the games will run off the same game disc and will be running at a native 1080p 60 frames experience. Over 100 multiplayer maps, spanning all of the Halo games, will be included, all running on their original game engines and with their multiplayer gameplay fully intact.
The collection will also feature two new features. It will guarantee players access to the Halo 5: Guardians Beta Test when it launches in December 2014 and will also include the new Halo TV series, Halo: Knightfall.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming November 11th, 2014 exclusively for the Xbox One. The price will be $59.99 US.
Battlefield: Hardline Beta Signups Now June 9, 2014
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Today is the first day of E3 and we’re kicking off our E3 coverage with a huge announcement. At the end of the Electronic Arts E3 Press Briefing, EA announced they are starting Signups for the PC and PS4 versions of Battlefield: Hardline right now.
Anyone who has the PS4 version of Battlefield 4 can start a download for the beta right now the next time they insert the BF4 game disc into their PS4. Everyone else can sign up for the beta right now at battlefield.com. An EA Origin account is required to sign up for the beta.
Battlefield: Hardline is coming soon to multiple platforms.
Hartford Comic Con Wrap Up June 7, 2014
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It’s been a week since the Hartford Comic Con has wrapped up, and Maniac was fortunate enough to attend the event. Armed with a ton of great things to say about the 2-day show, here’s a video with all of Maniac’s thoughts on the venue, the events scheduled, and all the people who attended.
Kingdom Hearts HD II.5 ReMIX Release Date June 6, 2014
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Just before E3, Square Enix has released their latest official trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD II.5 ReMIX. This game will include fully updated HD versions of the PS2 hit Kingdom Hearts II and the PSP Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, retooled specifically for the Playstation 3. Finally, as a bonus, it will include a newly produced cinematic retelling of the game Kingdom Hearts RE: Coded, which was originally released to mobile platforms and the Nintendo DS.
How will these games look? Take a look for yourselves. Oh and pay close attention to the ending. There’s a quick teaser at the end for Kingdom Hearts III.
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this rerelease. Kingdom Hearts II was my favorite game in the Kingdom Hearts series, and Square Enix has promised that like they had with the earlier HD ReMIX, they will be bringing the updated versions of the game which only saw a release in Japan. The updated games include new areas, bosses, and a lot more. Secondly, never having a Nintendo DS or a compatible cell phone, I was never able to play the game Kingdom Hearts RE: Coded. It will be nice to finally see that game’s story in all new cimematics.
Kingdom Hearts HD II.5 ReMIX is coming December 2nd, 2014 exclusive to the Playstation 3.
Why Doesn’t Sony Bring Home to the PS4? June 4, 2014
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With E3 a week away, I decided to fire up my PS3 and give Playstation Home a look. Sony’s actually been really good over the past few years at offering exclusive content and spaces to celebrate E3 every year. Sony may have recently added Trophies, but after a thorough search, I noticed Sony hasn’t activated any E3 2014 content on Home just yet but after spending so much time playing Sony’s newest console, it was surprising that I still have to use older equipment to access such an important piece of Sony’s Playstation Network.
I was one of the first Beta Testers for Playstation Home, and over the past few years I’ve seen it grown tremendously but even after reviewing the most recent version of the program, I’ve noticed it isn’t perfect. Most of these issues are actually technical. It reserves a lot of space in the PS3’s Hard Drive, and yet most of the game’s content is downloaded as its being accessed. It has a large and diverse catalog of avatar clothing and accessories, and yet it takes forever to load each user’s appearance alongside all the other content it must load when entering a new area. I’m seriously concerned that since the program has worked like this for quite a while now, users appearances are phased in like this because of hardware limitations.
The most logical solution to all of these technical problems with the game is to simply make it available on the Playstation 4. Since the PS4 has a lot more memory to offer developers, it could be able to load all of the data Home streams whenever you enter a new area, and possibly could hold that data in memory for longer. This could also decrease load times. For more than a year, Playstation Home has been able to sync all of a player’s progress on their servers. So everything that a player unlocks remains consistent regardless of which console the player is using. This means Home could, in theory, be able to keep track of a player among multiple different platforms.
Home works on a very similar income structure as the free-to-play model, and because of that it benefits economically by having a wide user base. The game is free to access to anyone with a Playstation 3, online access, and a Playstation Network account. It makes money by selling premium content, like Home Spaces, avatar clothing, and other digital accessories. Having it available on multiple platforms is the best way to ensure a wide user base, and it could attract more developers who use the free-to-play model to design premium Home exclusive content.
On a separate note, I am surprised Home hasn’t been released on the Playstation Vita either. Why not offer Vita integration? The developers were talking about PSP integration ever since the closed beta, although they never did anything with it. The reason why was because Home used to have a virtual PSP as the framing device for manipulating Home’s menus, and you could personalize it quite a bit, which was something I appreciated. During last year’s E3 promotion, Sony used a virtual Playstation Vita to assist players in completing the E3 quests. It would have been great to actually have that information that was keeping track of my progress on my actual personal device, like a Vita or Playstation App compatible Smartphone/Tablet. The Vita’s hardware is better than the PS3’s in a lot of ways, and it can already be used as a PS4 second screen. I would love to be able to navigate all the in-game menus from a second device.
In short, bringing Home to the PS4 seems almost like a no brainer. In fact, I’m shocked it wasn’t included with the Playstation 4 at launch. However, the console has been out for a few months now, and I think the time is about right for Sony to make an announcement about their future plans for Home. With the PS3’s lifespan starting to wind down, Sony should use this year’s E3 to announce their future plans for the Playstation 4. Not only would this encourage people to buy their new console, but give early adopters a lot to be excited about. Anyone want to place a bet to see if Home PS4 gets announced on June 9th?
Wii U Firmware 5.00 Released June 3, 2014
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Just a week after the release of Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has released a major system update to the Wii U. Firmware 5.00 includes multiple system improvements including a faster boot option, a standby option which can send notifications to the Wii U gamepad even when the system is off, and other bug fixes and optimizations.
The Wii U will download the update automatically the next time it is turned on. It will notify you to perform the update upon completion. If you prefer to do the update manually, you can also update the Wii U from the System Settings menu.
PS4 Firmware 1.71 Released June 3, 2014
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Sony has just released a required update for the PS4 in the form of firmware 1.71. Sony’s release notes mention that the update adds no new features but improves the system stability during certain tasks.
Could this update be in response to the PS4 corruption error that put my PS4 in the shop for almost a month? Post a comment with your thoughts.
Firmware 1.71 is required to connect to PSN.
Dark Souls Free Through Games With Gold June 2, 2014
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The Xbox 360 version of the cult classic game Dark Souls has been made free of charge to all current Xbox Live Gold members thanks to Microsoft’s Games With Gold promotion.
Dark Souls will continue to be available to download for free to Xbox Live Gold members on the Xbox 360 until June 16th. After the Dark Souls promotion expires, Charlie Murder and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition will be made free until the end of the month.
Just remember, as long as you download this game during the period it is free, your ownership of this game will not expire even if your Xbox Live Gold account expires. However, Microsoft has recently announced that when they bring this promotion to the Xbox One, you will lose access to any Xbox One games you download through Games With Gold.
The initial titles coming to the Xbox One’s Games With Gold promotion are expected to be Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault.
Watch Dogs Collectors Edition Unboxing June 1, 2014
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Maniac picked up the Collector’s Edition of the highly anticipated multiplatform title Watch_Dogs. Let’s crack it open and see if it’s worth a price of $130US.
Note: The Watch_Dogs CE includes no download codes. After going through all the enclosed leaflets, it turns out that all the bonus content included with the PS4 version of the game appear to be on the physical game disc and do not need to be downloaded separately.
Watch_Dogs is out now for the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. It is coming out on Wii U later this year.
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