Ubisoft Earnings Call Reveals Sequels To Far Cry, Assassin's Creed

Not much to elaborate on here, both games did good enough business to warrant sequels. Assassin's Creed 3's sequel won't continue to follow Connor and will no longer take place in the American Revolution; whereas Farcry 3's sequel has far fewer details, but we found out that the game sold 4.5 million copies, outperforming expectations. Ubisoft promise Farcry 4 (or whatever they call the next one) will happen much quicker than a sequel to Farcry 2 took, with 4 years between the 2nd and 3rd instalments.

Top tip for playing Far Cry 3: Try to avoid this situation as much as possible!

J.J. Abrams and Gabe Newell Discussing Portal/Half-Life Movies and Game Ideas

This week in Las Vegas was the annual D.I.C.E. summit with a joint keynote being performed by J.J. Abrams (Mr. TrekWars himself!) and Gabe Newell (founder of Valve, but you knew that already). the two showed clips from Valve's games, J.J's movies, even some movies not made by J.J (Die Hard, for example) all the while discussing why these things were awesome and how awesome they were, basically shooting the shit. Apparently, the 2 have been in talks for quite some time, having these exact same conversations about what makes for awesome entertainment and what either guy would do if faced with the other's work.

The fact that Gabe Newell and J.J. Abrams would get along isn't at all surprising, they're both basically geniuses in theor respective fields, the surprising thing is the length at which they've discussed things. I'll just quote this before I cum all over myself:

Newell: What we are actually doing here, we are recapitulating a series of conversations going on. We reached the point that we decided to do more than talk.

Abrams: There’s an idea we have for a game that we’d like to work with Valve on.

Newell: We’re super excited about that and we’re going to figure out if we can make a Portal movie or Half-Life movie together.

Nothing's set in stone here, obviously, but my god, could you imagine? Could you?!? EH?!?!?

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!

This picture actually gives me a boner

THQ Auction All Of Its Properties, But Who Got What?

I realise this is days old news right now, but I've had a fucked up few days, so I'm just now getting round to writing about, at 5am on a saturday morning. You can't beat accurate reporting like this!

THQ, everybody's favourite maker of those awesome N64 wrestling games from back in the day (and other stuff, ofcourse) had been in financial difficulties for a while, but it all came to a head recently when  the company ran out of money. It was forced to sell off all of its franchises in order to pony up some dough for debts and such, and some interesting companies bought some interesting game licenses:

• Sega buys Relic and Company of Heroes - $26M

• Ubisoft buys THQ Montreal and South Park: The Stick of Truth - $5.7M
  Interestingly, Patrice Desilets, former creative director for the Assassin's Creed series, left Ubisoft for THQ Monstreal to pursue new challenges... But now finds himself right back where he started. Awkward.

• Koch Media acquired Volition, Saints Row and Metro - $29.1M
  Koch Media are best known for Dead Island

• Crytek acquired Homefront - $500K
  Your guess why is as good as mine

• Take Two acquires Evolve, which is in development at Turtle Rock - $11M

Not all of THQ's teams and games got bought, so far the big stuff still left to go is:

• Vigil Games - Makers Of Darksiders
• Darksiders
• Red Faction
• Warhammer 40,000
• de Blob
• Destroy All Humans

I think some of these are good fits, Sega getting Company Of Heroes makes sense, seeing as the Total War games do very well for them and they're in similar veins. I kinda like the idea of the Dead Island guys being in charge of Saints Row, Dead Island wasn't exactly a serious game when it got down to it, so they'll probably be able to agree on the right tone for the series.

Nobody got Darksiders. That's not gonna take long to get swept up!

Playstation 4 and Xbox 720 Rumour Collection.

It's no secret, we're on the cusp of another exciting console generation! With new rumours coming up every day, and each one becoming more and more likely the closer we get to the official announcements, I thought I'd do a little collection of the info we have on the next generation so far:

The Next Generation:

• Both consoles are rumoured to include Blu-ray drives, though whether Xbox's will be actual Blu-ray or a proprietary form (like the Wii-U uses) is still unclear.
• Both will use different brands of main graphics chip, though the 2 are comparable in quality.
• Neither console has a confirmed name yet. Playstation 4 seems a likely final name, but it's not final, with Orbis being the console's codename. Microsoft's codename is Durango, though again, nothing is final on that front.
• Both consoles are expected to have their own press conferences in March to handle the announcements, similar to the way Apple has been doing for the past few years.

Playstation Rumours:

• The latest rumour is that the PS4 will be more straight-up powerful than the next Xbox, beating its run-capability by .61 Teraflops, around 50% higher than the Xbox.
• As far as pricepoint, the word that is being thrown around for the console is "affordable", an interesting word for Sony to be using, for sure. They're not exactly know for their cheap launch prices.
• The console will allegedly support 4K resolutions, the new 'Ultra HD' picture quality that is basically the next step up from HD as we know it.
• The PS4 will contain 2 graphics chips, a main chip and a smaller one. Presumably the smaller one will be used to keep pressure off the main one for less graphics intensive tasks than playing games, though what do I know.

Xbox Rumours:

• Supposedly some media outlets have documents relating to the new Xbox, but have to wait a few weeks to leak them, so keep an eye out.
• Though the Xbox will be less powerful than the PS4, it easily bests Sony's console on RAM. Xbox will contain 8GB (with the OS taking up 3GB) compared to PS4's meager 4GB (their OS taking up 1GB)
• Skype will be at the core of the new console, replacing Xbox Live's voice and video call services.

As I said, none of these rumours are officially confirmed, but at this point, so close to the reveals, I'd be more inclined to believe all of them than not.

No coincidence a lot of these rumours have come about around CES. Back room spies, we thank you!

Fallout Television Show May Be In The Works

Remember a few days ago, when that ThreeDog voice actor guy tweeted his character would be back? Well it now looks as if, thanks to a user on Bethesda's forums, that may be for a TV show and not a Fallout 4, as would otherwise make sense. The trademark filing protects the name 'Fallout' from being used by anybody else but Bethesda for "Entertainment services in the nature of an on-going television program set in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world." It makes much more sense to incorporate TheeDog into a television series based around Fallout 3 than to just shove him into Fallout 4 and hope nobody cares. This is by no means a sure thing, but combine TheeDog getting new lines and this recent trademarking and we've definitely got grounds to begin assuming things. Oh so many things. Assume all the things.

Okay, you know what. I'm looking at this screenshot, and I would TOTALLY watch that shit if it was on TV!

Playstation 4 Looks Likely To Be Out Before Christmas And Will Debut At E3

Video game rumour website VGLeaks says they've obtained the "roadmap" for the PS4/'Orbis' and that it indicates a coming out party at E3 followed by a Q4 release date (basically Christmas time). It all makes sense, but it probaby means a big Playstation Vs. Xbox Christmas for all of us... Which will be awesome, always is.

When in doubt what to put as the story image, go with Fillion. Can't go wrong.

Warner Bros Registers A Shitload Of Batman Domains

Fans of the Batman 'Arkham' games (so, everyone then) should be cautiously optimistic today, as the properties owner Warner Bros has done a spot of website registering, indicating a return to the series may be fairly imminent. Highlights amongst the list include: Arkham Universe, Batman Arkham Origins and Batman Arkham Stories. Granted, a lot of these sound like WB are just covering their bases, but there are still some interesting ideas here, Arkham Stories being my personal favourite.

Here's the full list:

arkhamuniverse.com
batmanarkhamuniverse.com
batmanarkhamarises.com
batmanarkhambegins.com
batmanarkhamdarkknight.com
batmanarkhamknight.com
batmanarkhamlegend.com
batmanarkhamlegends.com
batmanarkhamnight.com
batmanarkhamorigins.com
batmanarkhamstories.com
darkknightarkham.com
dcarkhamuniverse.com
dcarkhamverse.com
thearkhamuniverse.com

I like me some Batman, and like me some Batman: Arkham video games even more!

ThreeDog Voice Actor Teases Fallout 4

Games are always getting teased, and weird sources are nothing new, so I truly believe this. The guy who played ThreeDog in Fallout 3, has tweeted that there may be more TheeDog coming, but doesn't say in what form (though he did mention in a subsequent tweet that he had 'permission' to tweet the tease). If you remember a few months ago, Bethesda were seen doing some research around the Boston area, so a new Fallout seems likely, and though it's probably not close, them casting ThreeDog 6 months after location scouting seems to line up to me.

My only nitpick about this is why go with ThreeDog again? I'd like to see them cast a brand new radio host, someone a little less... grating?

All I remember about ThreeDog is that he was annoying. I wish this was wittier.

3DS Titles Pokemon X And Y Announced For October 2013. Fully 3D Graphics. Mental.

Well, imagine my surprise to get home from work and see this nugget of news floating around! Not only are we getting new Pokemon games (not a huge deal on its own) but these will be the first ever full Pokemon games to be presented with full 3D graphics! Titles like Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap have, in the past, offered a gameplay experience featuring 3D Pokemon models but never before have the core games in the series been 3D. These aren't sprites, these are fucking MODELS, with fucking polygons and shit!

The gameplay looks exceptionally Pokemonish, running through long grass to discover new Pokemon, "Pikachu, I choose you!" and all that good stuff, and though some of the camera angles look very restrictive on what you can actually see happening, the character models actually looks super nice, considering the size of the 3DS screen in comparison to a monitor, I think this thing is gonna look super pretty. On the downside though, Nintendo continue to show how inept they've become at designing new Pokemon. Seriously guys, do we really need ANOTHER toad pokemon? A pathetic Vulpix clone? 2 more SUPERFLUOUS AS FUCK legendary dragons? No, we fucking don't. Don't waste energy on new inbred-looking Pokemon and focus on giving us new and amazing ways to use the ones we already have. The day we reach 1000 Pokemon is probably the day we watch our 'Chairough' evolve into a 'Sofarocious', and also coincidently, the day I chainsaw myself to death horribly whilst using blood magic to curse you all to the 9th circle of hell.

Please don't use those fucking chair-based pokemon I just invented, for the love of god just... don't.

Greatest Video Game Music 2 Makes Classic FM's Albums Of The Year

I wrote a story a few weeks ago, about how video game music had been discriminated against in the UK charts, but in that story I also pointed out that Classic FM have embraced the medium and accepted it as works that are as artistically valuable as any other classically composed music they recognise. Well, they've gone above and beyond now, including it in their album of the year list for 2012!

Joining such works as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, The Beethoven Journey and The Hobbit's Official Soundtrack, it really brings the album a credibility beyond its staggering commercial success. The album made 13th on the list, no small feat, and the radio station will be having another show dedicated to video game music a week from today, on Saturday the 29th December at 5pm.

Tune in and enjoy, for music from the hobby we love, and show your love to Classic FM, leading the charge where so many have turned up their noses. 2013 will see this medium grow like never before, it's going to be great.

Hearing songs like this on the radio is actually kind of exhilarating. Be sure to tune in next week!