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Preview Destiny Expansion II: House of Wolves In New Video From Bungie

Developer Bungie offers a good 5-minute long look at some of the new content arriving later this month in Destiny’s second expansion, House of Wolves. Have a look above.

To get a much greater overview of Destiny’s next expansion, be sure to check out Bungie’s full reveal of the new social space called the Reef, a first look at the Trials of Osiris end-game PvP event, and new gameplay from the Prison of Elders end-game PvE event.

House of Wolves is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 4 on May 19 at around 10AM Pacific. Destiny Update 1.2.0 will arrive one week earlier on May 12.

David Veselka

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Battlefield Hardline’s First DLC Will Launch With 4 Maps Total, 2 Night Maps, New Vehicles, & More Destructon

In a recent discussion with members of the Don’t Revive Me Bro podcast, Visceral Games Multiplayer Producer Zach Mumbach dropped a few juicy details on the Battlefield Hardline‘s first upcoming multiplayer expansion pack, which was previously revealed as “Criminal Activity”.

According to Mumbach, Hardline’s first expansion, included in all Premium memberships, will introduce four new multiplayer maps — a standard affair — two of which will be night maps. “Not, like, re-do’s of the main game, but, like, two brand new night maps,” he said.

The action will take place in a modern setting, like the main game, in locations like California and Florida. Maps will range in size and will be “a little bit more” destructible, but Mumbach says the studio has “done a better job of visually messaging what’s destructible and what’s not.” Players can also expect a few new vehicles, but probably no planes. He also told listeners that some of the DLC maps that are bigger in size are being saved for later, as they take longer to produce.

Non-Premium owners can also expect additional content in the future as well, like new weapons. “[…]the future is not just about Premium,” Mumbach explained. “We’re obviously doing a ton of Premium stuff, but we’re also going to support players that just bought the game and aren’t necessarily Premium.” No promises were made, but Mumbach says the studio also discussed letting non-Premium subscribers sample new maps with friends who own Premium. However, there are a few technical hurdles to overcome in order for that to happen.

Battlefield Hardline’s Criminal Activity DLC will be available this Summer with two weeks of early access for Premium subscribers.

Check out the full discussion with Zach Mumbach on Don’t Revive Me Bro’s Twitch.tv channel.

David Veselka

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Visceral Producer Shares Thoughts On Battlefield Hardline’s Shrinking PC Community

Zach Mumbach, Multiplayer Producer on Battlefield Hardline, recently dropped by the Don’t Revive Me Bro podcast to catch up with community members and talk about the current state of Visceral Games’ cops vs. criminals shooter.

Early on in the discussion, the topic of Hardline’s shrinking population on PC was brought to light, which Mumbach tackled honestly and with a few thoughtful remarks. He shared Visceral’s current game plan to bring Hardline on PC back to life, which begins with the recently announced Community Test Environment.

“Battlefield 4’s got some sweet hot new netcode. It feels really good. Awesome. We actually helped them with that. As soon as our CTE comes out, we’re going to roll that netcode in there and then we’re going to roll it to the main game,” he explained.

“This is a huge part in sort of getting the PC community back into the game. When the game came out, the first few days, we had good numbers on PC. Obviously, people are not playing heavily on PC right know. We know that. We’re not going to abandon PC. We want those PC players.”

Earlier this week, Electronic Arts reported their Q4 FY2015 earnings, leaving out PC sales numbers, but signifying very strong sales on current-generation consoles.

“The easy answer for us is to abandon that platform — ‘Oh, whatever. We’re selling tons on console. We’re great.’ But we’re not going to do that,” Mumbach assured. “The community is on that platform. We really like that platform. It’s an important platform for the company. We just have to figure out how we sort of build back up the interest. I think the first step is CTE.

“I think the first step is to get that netcode in CTE, get it working, and get it into the game. I think that right there is going to be a huge help. I think, at the very least, it will get some of these guys that were playing early on to come back and give us another shot. And then, from there, it’s just about how we react to the feedback in CTE, how we do our tuning based on the feedback in CTE. It’s just about sort of putting the game in the community’s hands and us listening to them about — ‘Look, it’s your game now. We made the game. It’s now the community’s game. What do you want out of this game to make you want to play it more? We’ll do it.'”

Mumbach went on to share his own personal insight as to why PC numbers may have dwindled since launch.

“We do a ton of market research and surveys and all this with the customer before we even make games,” he said. “We knew going into making this game that we were cutting off a certain percentage of Battlefield players that are like, ‘hey, look, nothing against you guys, but we’re into military — we play the military game.’ For whatever reason, that percentage is just higher on PC. The guys that are really into the war simulation and the military stuff, it’s just a higher percentage on PC.”

“But we did know that the expectation wasn’t to do BF4 numbers. The expectation was to do good numbers and we had good numbers on PC for a bit there, in the start, and they sort of tailed off.”

Mumbach wasn’t able to share exactly when Battlefield Hardline’s CTE will go live and to whom it will be open, but we know testing should commence some time this month with one of the new maps from Hardline’s upcoming ‘Criminal Activity’ DLC. The studio also plans to continue with netcode tweaks and weapon tuning, among many other things.

Are you a PC gamer? Did you leave Battlefield Hardline in the dust early on? What would it take to bring you back? We want to hear from you in the comments.

Be sure to check out the full discussion with Visceral Multiplayer Designer Zach Mumbach over on Don’t Revive Me Bro’s official Twitch.tv channel.

David Veselka

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Rockstar Dishes Out The Latest On Future GTA Online Updates, Rockstar Editor On Consoles, PC Mods, & More

With Grand Theft Auto 5‘s launch on PC now in our rear-view mirror, Rockstar Games isn’t done yet. Developers are as busy as ever keeping up support for five different platforms and planning future updates that the studio shed some light on in today’s Newswire update.

By now, you’ve probably pulled off your fair share of successful high-profile robberies following GTA 5’s Online Heists update. So with all that money in the bank, what is there to spend it on? Rockstar has the answer:

GTA V

“[…] beyond the many new vehicles and items that arrived to GTA Online as part of Heists, we are also working on another update coming soon that will feature some very cool new toys for you to enjoy and flaunt with your ill-gotten gains. For now, the screenshot above provides just a glimpse…”

In addition to all the graphical bells and whistles that shipped with the PC version of the game, Rockstar also gave mouse and keyboard warriors access to a powerful video editing tool called the Rockstar Editor. Being a big hit amongst the PC crowd, the studio hopes to offer something similar to the console audience as well, but in a limited fashion.

“The Rockstar Editor is an advanced tool requiring additional processing power so it would not be compatible with GTAV on the older systems, but we are currently working on a version tailored for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles – and we hope to release that sometime this summer, or as soon as it is ready. We are also planning to bring The Lab radio station to all four consoles in a forthcoming title update. Please stay tuned for more information.”

With more powerful hardware, GTA V on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 might get the treatment when it comes to additional features, but Rockstar still plans to support older-generation consoles for as long as possible. As a matter of fact, the game’s next big update will land on all five platforms.

“We want to support the older consoles with new content for as long as we possibly can. As we mentioned previously, we always knew there might be a point where we would reach the technical capacity of what the older generation of consoles can handle as each downloadable update requires additional memory both for assets and for additional scripting.

“We have continued to optimize the entire game over time in order to squeeze as much memory as we possibly could out of the last-generation hardware and at some point, continuing to add content for those systems could cause the risk of instability to the game overall. As of now, we are planning on releasing the next big content update for all five systems and we will continue to squeeze as much as we possibly can onto them.”

Though more updates are inbound, Rockstar urges fans to rule out the thought of any additional Heists.

“For those asking for more Heists, please understand that Grand Theft Auto Online Heists were a tremendous undertaking so it’s not the sort of thing where we can easily create and publish additional Heists like other Job modes and missions. We are, however, working on other cool updates for GTA Online that you can expect over the coming months.”

Finally, Rockstar had a few words to share to the PC modding community who’ve run into a bit of trouble over the past few weeks. You can read the full statement below, but, in short, Rockstar will allow the use of mods in GTA V’s single player campaign, but not in GTA Online.

“We have always appreciated the creative efforts of the PC modding community and we still fondly remember the awesome zombie invasion mod and original GTA map mod for GTAIV PC among many other classics. To be clear, the modding policy in our license has not changed and is the same as for GTAIV.

“Recent updates to GTAV PC had an unintended effect of making unplayable certain single player modifications. This was not intentional, no one has been banned for using single player modifications, and you should not worry about being banned or being relegated to the cheater pool just for using single player PC mods. Our primary focus is on protecting GTA Online against modifications that could give players an unfair advantage, disrupt gameplay, or cause griefing. It also bears mentioning that because game mods are by definition unauthorized, they may be broken by technical updates, cause instability, or affect your game in other unforeseen ways.”

For more questions and answers, head on over Rockstars latest Newswire update.

David Veselka

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Destiny Gets Two Updates To Prepare For House of Wolves DLC – More Reveals To Come, Says Bungie

To prepare for the launch of Expansion II: House of Wolves, Destiny will receive two updates in the very near future, Bungie revealed today.

According to Community Manager “DeeJ”, the first one, Update 1.2.0, will arrive this Tuesday, May 12 some time after 10AM PST. The second, Update 1.2.0.1, which will help deliver Expansion II and its contents, will appear next Tuesday, May 19 at around the same time.

The official change log will be available at a later date, but some players were able to extract a few notes following yesterday’s maintenance. It’s likely incomplete and subject to change, but you can see what they found for yourself right here.

So far, we know changes are inbound for Destiny’s Weekly missions and Crucible activities, as well as for the game’s weapon and armor upgrade systems. Stay tuned for more details to come.

In anticipation of Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion, the past few weeks were filled with big reveals and infosplosions. If you missed any of it, you can probably find what you’re looking for in the links below:

Lastly, stay tuned tomorrow, as Bungie says it has even more House of Wolves goodies to reveal. “Tomorrow, you’ll want to keep an eye on Bungie.net, or any of our off-world social outposts,” DeeJ wrote. “There are more secrets from the Reef to share.”

Keep your sights on MP1st for updates!

David Veselka

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New Elder Scrolls Online Trailer Talks About Freedom And Choice In Tamriel

Taking your first steps into any MMO experience can be a daunting experience, especially as worlds get bigger and bigger with every new generation of RPG games. Luckily, publisher of Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited has got you covered with a few basic steps.

Today, Bethesda Softworks released a short start-up video guide that takes you through some of the game’s first few actions. It’s the start of a new video series, so keep your eyes out for more. You can have a look in the featured section above.

The Tamriel Unlimited edition, announced earlier this year, drops all subscription fees and packages the original game plus all previously released content, including the new Justice and Champion systems. It’s available now on PC and Mac and is arriving this June 9 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Visit the official website for more details.

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Star Wars Battlefront Gameplay Will Have “Nothing To Do” With Previous Work, Says DICE

Battlefield developer DICE says its upcoming Star Wars shooter will stay true to its own unique vision, avoiding any copy-and-pasting from the studio’s previous work in the first-person shooter genre.

“We’re not taking into account what we’ve done before, because I think that would be disrespectful to the fans, and to what we’re trying to achieve here,” Executive Producer Patrick Bach told OXM in an interview.

“A lot of the things you saw in the game have nothing to do with anything we’ve done before. Some features of course resemble [our other shooters], because we want to make the best possible shooter, but in general we’ve tried to do something completely unique.”

Aside from many of the multiplayer details we were previously fed, Bach used the traditional aiming down sights mechanic, adopted by many Battlefield titles and other first-person shooters over the years, as an example of this.

“There are no ironsights in Star Wars, on the ordinary blasters,” he said, suggesting that players will instead focus on firing from the hip, just like real Stormtroopers in the original trilogy. “You have scopes on some rifles, but there are no ironsights.”

Our first look at Battlefront’s first-person and third-person views arrived last month with this behind-the-scened video.

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront will ship with 12 multiplayer maps based on four different locations and that vehicles like the AT-ST will be playable.

Thanks, Gamesradar

David Veselka

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Ubisoft Shares Rainbow Six Siege Closed Alpha Statistics, Community Feedback To Be Addressed Soon

Several weeks after the conclusion of Rainbow Six Siege‘s Closed Alpha on PC, developer Ubisoft is sharing a few notable statistics as the studio moves along in development.

“There were several topics of feedback that were consistent across the community, and soon we will be updating you with how we are addressing them,” Ubisoft wrote in a recent blog update.

“Until then, we thought it would be fun to share an infographic displaying some of the gameplay stats captured during this testing period.”

Check it out and tell us in the comments which Operator class and which weapons you favored during the Closed Alpha.

You can read and listen to our impressions of the Rainbow Six Siege Closed Alpha right here.

R6_CAInfographic_Final-us_201985

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Destiny’s “Biggest Content Addition To Date” Arrives This Fall, Content Expected Throughout The Summer As Well

Echoing statements from earlier this year, publisher Activision has re-confirmed that Bungie’s shared-world shooter, Destiny, is still on course to receive its “biggest content addition to date” this Fall.

This point was highlighted in Activision’s Q1 2015 earnings report where Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg elaborated on future plans for Destiny during a Q&A session.

“[…] we have a very robust content plan for Destiny starting with our second major expansion pack, House of Wolves, which has already been announced, and then you’ll also see content being dropped off this summer,” he explained. “And then, in the fall, we’ll have a major release which will be the biggest addition to the Destiny universe yet across all modes of play.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have more details than that today, but we’re confident it’s going to incredibly appealing to not just our current fans, but also to people who haven’t yet joined the Destiny universe. It’s going to be that big of an expansion.”

Activision and Bungie have yet to announce their summer plans for Destiny, so we’re not certain if Hirshberg was referring to additional expansion releases, or perhaps more title updates and special events. Either way, it sounds like there’s a lot in store for Destiny’s future.

According to reports from earlier today, a filing of a new trademark at Activision suggests Destiny’s next major expansion could be called “The Taken King.” This, along with today’s news, falls directly in line earlier reports of a major Destiny re-release that would include both old and new content in one package called a “Comet”.

Bungie revealed new details on Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion earlier today, launching May 19, including the new Prison of Elders end-game event and new Strike mission called The Shadow Thief.

Keep your sights on MP1st for more Destiny news and updates.

David Veselka

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Next Destiny Update Will Bring Big Changes To Heroic And Nightfall Strikes, Patch Notes Leaked

As Destiny’s House of Wolves expansion approaches, developer Bungie has plans to implement a few new tweaks to the game’s weekly activities in order to keep things interesting and keep non-DLC buyers happy.

Soon, Destiny’s weekly Heroic and Nightfall strikes will reset independently of each other, meaning they’ll more than likely be different from one another each week. On top of adding some variety to Destiny’s weekly activities, it will also ensure that those who haven’t bought into any DLC will have something to do every week.

“We’ve heard the feedback from players about not being able to do the weekly activities, so two things we wanted to do were always have one of the activities available if you didn’t have one of the DLC’s,” House of Wolves Lead Designer Matt Sammons told IGN. “So you’ll never have where all of the missions are from the House of Wolves expansion. We also wanted to have more variety for all players so we’ve actually uncoupled the Nightfall and Heroic so those will be different every week now.”

New DLC missions will be featured more heavily in the first few weeks after House of Wolves’ launch, but will space out over time, Sammons added.

Many new updates are expected to launch with Destiny Update 1.2.0, which, as some of you may have already noticed, was applied to the game earlier today. The changes it presents, however, won’t take effect until later on, says Bungie.

Patch notes aren’t yet available, but thanks to the efforts of Destiny sub-reddit user Quinonvocabitur, we can see some or most of what Update 1.2.0 will have to offer. Here are the tentative notes that were discovered in today’s patch:

  • Three maps from The Dark Below DLC will be available to all Crucible players in select playlists (Pantheon, Skyshock and The Cauldron).
  • Etheric Light has a chance of being included in Iron Banner reward packages for Rank 3 and Rank 5.
  • Reputation and Mark gains will double for each completed Crucible match.
  • Your first match in the daily featured Crucible activity will earn you a new reward package each day.
  • Legendary items will be added to post-game reward tables for all Crucible activities.
  • The spawn locking issue currently affecting Iron Banner will be fixed.
  • Fixed a bug where the Hive Disruptor perk on the Black Hammer would interrupt with White Nail.
  • Fixed a bug where a player leaving a game or an occurrence of host migration would result in players being unable to respawn.
  • Fixed a rare bug where if a player were to use a consumable it would reset their ammo.
  • Increased the percent chance to obtain rewards when playing crucible.
  • Players who preform at the top of their team in crucible have a greater chance of rewards as to those at the bottom.
  • Fixed a bug where the time between shots of the Black Hammer to activate White Nail was reduced.
  • Fixed a rare bug where a locked item could not be unlocked.
  • Reduced the amount of total ammo of the perk Double Down when combined with Field Scout.
  • Increased the percent chance of activating the perk Mulligan upon missing a shot.
  • Fixed a bug where players were able to obtain Iron Banner weapons according to the rank of their previous Iron Banner.
  • Changed the description of certain perks to be more fitting with their abilities.
  • Fixed a bug where a player would lose all ammo upon switching special weapons in the crucible.
  • Added reward packages for players who participate in the daily featured crucible activity for their first game.
  • Added Crucible maps from The Dark Below to the normal Crucible rotation for Control, Clash, Skirmish and Rumble. (Pantheon, Skyshock and The Cauldron).
  • Fixed a bug where the perks on the Vex Mythoclast would occasionally fail to load.
  • Fixed a bug which allowed players to manipulate ammo when equipping an Icebreaker and switching weapons.
  • Fixed a rare bug which would prevent players wearing the Light Beyond Nemesis from being revived.
  • Fixed a rare bug where the Flawless Raider achievement would not show after completing it on Xbox One.
  • Fixed a rare bug where players would not be able to purchase the Urn of Sacrifice from Xur.

Earlier today, Bungie provided fans with a first look at the House of Wolves’ new end-game three-player activity, the Prison of Elders. Read here to find out more and keep your sights on MP1st for more Destiny updates.

House of Wolves launches may 19.

David Veselka

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Destiny Players Clock 3 Hours Of Game-Time Per Day, Over 20 Million Registered Users

Publisher Activision reports “strong” player engagement with Bungie’s new IP since launch in September of last year.

According to the company’s latest earnings report, Destiny has seen “more than 50 million registered players and nearly $1 billion in non‐GAAP revenues1 life‐to‐date” in combination with Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. UPDATE: Activision clarified during an earnings call that 20 million registered users belong to Destiny.

Research shows that Destiny’s active players play about three hours per day, which has lead to “strong digital sales and expansion attach rates.”

“Additionally, Destiny was awarded Game of the Year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a prestigious addition to the 31 Game of the Year awards that Destiny has been honored with to date,” Activision writes.

Earlier today, Bungie revealed the new Prison of Elders end-game content coming to Destiny’s House of Wolves DLC, which launches on May 19 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

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Destiny House of Wolves Live Stream Recap – Prison of Elders End-Game, Wave-Based Event Explored

Continuing on with its live stream reveal campaign for Destiny’s upcoming House of Wolves expansion, Bungie tells all its willing to tell about the DLC’s new end-game, three-player, wave-based event called the Prison of Elders.

For starters, Guardians will be able to participate in the base Prison of Elders’ event on any day of the week, that is, after they’ve completed all of the new story missions the House of Wolves DLC has to offer.

This even starts off at level 28 and includes online matchmaking, so you can enter as a party of one and automatically match up with a couple of teammates. Challenges are combat-focused with randomized elements and an assortment of modifiers, some of which are brand new to Destiny. Players will face five rounds of three waves, each containing different sets of objectives and enemies with some waves containing a boss battle.

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From there, the difficulty increases with the Prison of Elders’ challenge modes. Each week, three additional challenge modes will open up at levels 32, 34, and 35. They will require players to form their own Fire Teams and can only be completed once per week.

There are six different challenges in total, five of which rotate every week. The level 35 challenge, however, will remain constant and will prove to be the most difficult, considering the House of Wolves’ Light level cap is only 34. It is also the only challenge that features a sixth round where players will face the Prison of Elders’ most powerful enemy, a Fallen Kell known as Skolas. Instead of being randomized, these higher-level challenges will feature a set progression of rounds and enemies.

Each challenge arena will be themed around one or a combination of Destiny’s four enemy races. Players will face all enemies of the Reef, including the Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cabal.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 3.02.18 PM

Rewards will scale appropriately, meaning the highest level gear will only be attainable in the Prison of Elders’ level 35 challenge. Players will score tokens that can be used to purchase gear from the new vendor, Variks.

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In addition to new PvE content, the House of Wolves DLC will also provide players appropriate end-game PvP challenges in the new Trials of Osiris event, which Bungie explored in detail last week. It will also introduce four new multiplayer maps to the Crucible, which you can learn more about right here.

House of Wolves launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on May 19. Keep your sights on MP1st for more Destiny news.

You can watch a full replay of Bungie’s live stream below:

[youtube id=”plR5X6zt0tU”]

Update

Check out this batch of new Prison of Elders images below:

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David Veselka

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DICE Confirms Playable AT-STs In Star Wars Battlefront, Reveals New Model

Star Wars Battlefront developer DICE has confirmed that players can pilot the AT-ST in their upcoming Star Wars-themed shooter, launching this November 17.

In a tweet earlier this morning, the studio revealed a new model for the iconic vehicle used by the Imperial Army.

Earlier this week, DICE revealed that Star Wars Battlefront will launch with 12 playable multiplayer maps with two more to come in the upcoming Battle of Jakku DLC.

David Veselka

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Bungie Goes Behind-The-Scenes With Destiny’s House of Wolves Expansion, New Strike and Images Revealed

Bungie explores the House of Wolves, Destiny’s upcoming expansion arriving on all platforms this May 19, in a new video presented by PlayStation.

The studio also reveals a new three-player Strike mission called The Shadow Thief that begins on the Moon. Guardians will need to track down a mercenary named Taniks the Scarred who’s holed up on the Wolfship Kaliks-Syn. Players will need to find a way to teleport to the ship where they will face more challenges, including a Fallen Walker and a dangerous Captain.

Have a look at the behind-the-scenes video above, as well as a batch of brand new screens from the House of Wolves’ new Strike mission below.

shadow_action_3rdP_03.0 shadow_boss_3rdP_01.0 shadow_action_3rdP_02.0 shadow_action_3rdP_01.0 shadow_action_3rdP_04.0

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Bungie Trademarks “The Taken King,” Possibly For Upcoming Destiny Expansion

Destiny developer Bungie has filed for a trademark for “The Taken King” last week, according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The name is presumably related to Destiny, as the “oxblood” logo beneath the title itself strikes a close resemblance to the symbol for the enemy race known as the Hive.

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According to NeoGAF user Kifimbo, the attorney who filed the trademark is also responsible for filing “The Dark Below” and “House of Wolves,” the names of two previously announced expansions for Destiny.

Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg stated earlier that the studio has already planned a “major content release for Fall” of 2015, which this filing might pertain to. He also confirmed a “very robust pipeline plan after that.”

It was previously rumored that a major Destiny expansion called “Comet: Plague of Darkness” was planned for a September launch with additional DLC packs to follow.

Bungie plans to reveal new content for Destiny’s upcoming House of Wolves expansion at 11AM Pacific today on the studio’s official Twitch.tv channel. A short teaser was released yesterday.

With the House of Wolves DLC out in the hands of players by this May 19, it’s possible we’ll soon here more about Bungie’s future plans for Destiny.

David Veselka

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Xbox One & PlayStation 4 Made Up 80 Percent Of All Battlefield Hardline Console Sales, EA Reports

Update

We’ve clarified that the sales reported in EA’s Q4 FY2015 earnings call were concerning console sales, not total sales.

Original Story

80 percent of all Battlefield Hardline console sales since launch belong to current-generation platforms, publisher Electronic Arts revealed in a recent earnings call earlier today.

“Illustrating how far the transition has come, four out of every five copies [of Battlefield Hardline] sold for consoles that were either Xbox One or PlayStation 4,” said EA CFO Blake Jorgensen. That leaves about 20 percent made up of PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 sales. The number are interesting, considering the franchises strong history with PC gaming.

EA also reports that over 2 billion minutes and 30 million game sessions have been played since launch.

Battlefield Hardline launched on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 17.

David Veselka

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Star Wars Battlefront Expected To Ship 9-10 Million Units By Next March, Says EA

EA is predicting notable success with their upcoming Star Wars launch from the developers at the Stockholm-based studio, DICE.

According to the company’s CFO, Blake Jorgensen, EA expects to ship 9 to 10 million copies of Star Wars Battlefront by the end of its fiscal year 2016, or by the end of next March.

“We certainly hope we can leverage a lot of the hype,”Jorgensen said in a recent earnings call. “We’re thinking about it as two bookends: One bookend is the historical Battlefront, which did roughly 9 million units. The other bookend is our first-person shooter franchise, Battlefield, which typically does around 15 million units. Our guidance we’ve put in there roughly 9 to 10 million units for the title, which we believe is the upside if things go well.”

Star Wars Battlefront officially releases on November 17 only on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, followed by the launch of a free downloadable expansion pack shortly after that ties into the upcoming movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

David Veselka

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Latest Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Patch Lands On Xbox 360

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s latest title update, which hit Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC just last week, is now available to users on Xbox 360.

The update arrives alongside an offering of new weapon DLC, personalization packs, and weapon camos, which were revealed earlier today. A similar patch is expected soon on PlayStation 3. We’ll update this article when we hear more.

Read on for the full list of patch notes in today’s update, courtesy of the official Advanced Warfare forums.

Advanced Warfare Xbox 360 Update – May 5

In-Game Updates

  • Matchmaking improvements.
  • Connectivity optimizations.
  • Fixed a rare issue where some players were not receiving an Advanced Supply Drop when they reached 20, 30, and 40 levels.
  • Fixed a rare crash issue when entering the System Link menu.
  • Fixed an issue where spectators in third person would see first person crosshairs on some weapons.
  • Fixed an issue where the stock of the ARX-160 would disappear when cloaked.
  • Fixed an issue where scopes would not display after viewing a player in third person Spectator mode.
  • Fixed an issue where the field of view would not change when changing from first person to third person in Spectator mode.

Weapon Updates

  • MK14 – Increased headshot damage multiplier.
  • ASM1 – Reduced the magazine size.
  • Pytaek – Decreased initial recoil, decreased aim down sights time.
  • EPM3 – Increased the headshot damage multiplier, decreased the heat build up when firing.

UI Updates

  • Fixed a rare issue where the game could freeze when redeeming an item from the Armory.
  • Fixed an issue for the virtual firing range could display a higher than 100% accuracy when using shotguns and grenades.
  • Fixed a issue where arms without bodies would show up in the virtual lobby.
  • Fixed an issue where some players were not able to pass leadership of a party to another player in the party.
  • Fixed an issue where Season Pass owners through the Complete Your Season Pass promotion were not able to download Ascendance.

Challenges Updates

  • Fixed an issue where the “Woo Who?” slide-kill challenge was not tracking kills with certain variants.

Store Updates

  • Added quick access to the in-game store to the Message of the Day.
  • Various improvements and network optimizations for the in-game store.
  • Removed quantity limitation on Advanced Supply Drops in the In-Game Store.

Scorestreak Updates

  • Fixed an exploit with the Aerial Attack Drone scorestreak.
  • Fixed a rare animation bug for the XS1 Goliath scorestreak.
  • Fixed a rare issue where a player could be invincible after calling in a Goliath.

Ranked Play Updates

  • Fixed a rare issue where players would lose functionality after entering and exiting the Create A Class menu.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to get around the probation period when leaving a game early.

Game Mode Specific Updates

  • Adjusted various spawning logic for Domination, Momentum, Capture the Flag, Hardpoint, and Uplink game modes.
  • Fixed an issue where players were able to enter into a Free-For-All match while using splitscreen.
  • Fixed an issue where the grapple was able to be used on glass surfaces instead of breaking them.
  • Fixed a rare issue wher players were able to advance more than one Gun Rank with a multi-kill in Gun Game.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Contested” and “Taking” notifications were displaying incorrectly in Domination.

Map Specific Updates

  • Fixed various out of map exploits across different multiplayer maps.
    Adjusted various spawns for Drift for before and after the dynamic map event.
  • Fixed an issue where the animation for Aiming down sights would not show correctly after the map based scorestreak has worn off on Site 244.
  • Adjusted the height of the XS1 Vulcan scorestreak on Perplex.
  • Fixed a rare issue where the Missile Strike would be uncontrollable on Climate.
  • Fixed an issue where orbital care packages could be called into inaccessible areas.
  • Fixed an issue where the playercard would show up twice in the killcam when the player was using the map based scorestreak on Site 244.

Exo Survival Updates

  • Adjusted damage for the EM1.

Exo Zombies Updates

  • Fixed various out of map exploits where players could remain in place and not be attacked by zombies.
  • Fixed a rare issue where the fire rate of some weapons would affect the secondary weapon of a player.
  • Various improvements to the Exo Zombies menu.
  • Improved graphical stability when using the Magnetron gun.
  • Fixed an exploit where the Magnetron weapon could have unlimited ammo.
  • Fixed an issue where a trap was issuing an incorrect amount of credits.
  • Fixed an issue where players weren’t being damaged by Toxic Gas.
  • Fixed an issue where Bubby could focus on the Distraction Drone.
  • Fixed an issue where the Achivement for rescuing 20 suvivors was not unlocking.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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“Titanfall 2” Expected To Launch Between April 2016 And March 2017, Says EA

According to publisher EA in a recent earnings call, fans can “assume” that a Titanfall sequel will launch in the company’s fiscal year 2017, which translates to any time between April 2016 and March 2017.

In other words, don’t expect “Titanfall 2” this Fall. With Star Wars Battlefront already on course for a November 17 release, EA’s late 2015 and early 2016 is filling up with additional launches in the Plants vs. Zombies, Need for Speed, and Mirror’s Edge franchises, according to recent reports.

Last March, Respawn Entertainment Studio Head Vince Zampella confirmed that a Titanfall sequel is indeed in the works and that it will likely support free downloadable content and won’t be an Xbox and PC-exclusive.

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber

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Battlefield Hardline Nets 2 Billion Minutes Played, Plants Vs. Zombies PC & Console Game Dated For 2016

Following the company’s fourth quarter fiscal year 2015 financial report earlier today, publisher Electronic Arts shared a few stats on their current line-up of titles, as well as some details on upcoming 2016 releases.

According to a just-released EA infographic, gamers have already spent over 2 billion minutes played in Visceral Games’ cops and criminals shooter, Battlefield Hardline, since launch last March. A press release highlights more than 30 million game sessions played to-date.

PopCap HD’s Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare has enjoyed similar success this year with over 46.7 million game sessions played between January and March.

Speaking of which, fans of the series might be pleased to know that a more detailed earnings report puts a new Plants vs. Zombies console and PC game at a tentative release date of early 2016, between January and March. Given the original Garden Warfare’s late-February release date in 2014 on Xbox One and Xbox 360, we wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that EA and PopCap HD might have a sequel in the pipeline for next Spring.

UPDATE: During EA’s earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson commented on the original Garden Warfare’s success, hinting that the new title could be a direct follow-up. “After Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare became a sensation last year with console players young and old, we will be returning to the Plants vs. Zombies universe with a bigger and bolder new console experience in FY16 that we’ll share more about at E,” he said.

Likewise, the report puts DICE’s Mirror’s Edge 2 in a similar launch time frame. Later this year, EA plans to release Star Wars Battlefront on November 17 for current-gen consoles and PC, as well as an unannounced Need For Speed title between October and December.

Meanwhile, here are a few stats to look over concerning EA’s most popular titles.

EA_Earnings_InfographicQ12015

David Veselka

Musician, Gamer, Geek. Subscriber