Wait, Rockstar has a new game and Halo 5 was announced? In the same week? We got another top 5 stories of the week for you and this week is a doozy. Plus while the PS4 outsells the Xbox One, Titanfall is the highest selling game in April. Very interesting conundrum right there. Enjoy our summaries or click through to read the full stories. Leave us some love in the comment section and tell us which story you thought was top of the pile this week.
Number 5
Rockstar Will Launch Its First New Gen Project Before April 2015
In their conference call for the past fiscal year, Take Two has revealed that Rockstar’s first new gen project will be released in the next 12 months. The news came from Take Two’s CEO Strauus Zelnick. Whilst this is certainly exciting it is important to note that the phrase used was new gen project, not new gen game. This means that this statement could be referring to the rumoured GTA V port to Xbox One and PS4.
Of course there are other possibilities as well. With Red Dead Redemption possibly coming to PC, it could be that this new gen project is the next instalment in the Red Dead franchise. It could even be Rockstar’s long awaited new IP, Agent, which was announced back in 2007 and has not really been heard from since.
Number 4
Darksiders Will Return, New Publisher Is ‘Very Committed’ To The Franchise
The creative director of the Darksiders series, Joe Madureira, has hinted that there may be another sequel in the works. Whilst ansering fan questions on his Facebook page, Madureira wrote ”DS is not dead!!! The new owner, Nordic seems very committed to continuing the series. As far as my involvement, I can’t say at this point. Hopefully we will all have exciting news about the franchise soon!!!!!! ”
The fact that he cannot give any information on his involvement is perhaps the biggest hint that a Darksiders 3 is currently in production. it could mean that his involvement in the project is still being negotiated or it could be that he is actively involved but is unable to say publicly until the game is officially announced. The big question is who will develop the next title. Darksiders and Darksiders II were developed by Vigil Games and published by their parent company THQ. When the publisher went bankrupt in January 2013, Vigil was disbanded.Many of the developers joined up with Crytek to form Crytek USA, whilst others found new jobs with Retro Studios. Darksiders and many other THQ IP were snapped up by Nordic Games, a small Austrian publishing company.
Number 3
Microsoft to sell Xbox One without Kinect starting in June
Drastic times call for drastic measures and Microsoft has just made their move. Today via Xbox Wire, Phil Spencer announced that starting on June 9th, Microsoft will now start selling a cheaper Xbox One model, which will not come with Kinect. This model will retail for $399.99. Spencer was quick to point out that Kinect is still a huge part of the Xbox One and they will continue to sell the premium bundle at $499.99. For those who want to purchase a Kinect for the Xbox One at a later date, Microsoft will start selling them in the Fall.
So where is this decision coming from? Is it a reaction to the PS4 outselling them because the console is $100 less or is this the first step in Microsoft acknowledging the Kinect has been a colossal failure?
Other noteworthy items included in Phil Spencer’s post on Xbox Wire included announcements around Games with Gold. In June for Xbox 360, the free games are Dark Souls, Charlie Murder, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Games with Gold comes to the Xbox One in June as gamers will get a chance to play Max: A Curse of Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault. A single Gold membership will get you access to the free games for both Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Number 2
Halo 5: Guardian Is Coming To Xbox One In 2015
Microsoft has just announced the next installment in the massive Halo franchise. Halo 5: Guardians will be the first original Halo title for the new generation and will be released in the fall of 2015. The game is developed by 343 Industries who made Halo 4 and took over the franchise from after Bungie left in 2011. The announcement was made by 343 Industries’ general manager, Bonnie Ross. In a statement on the official Xbox website, Ross wrote that, ”Halo 5: Guardians is a bigger effort than Halo 4. That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine”. ”Any time you transition to a new platform, there is the opportunity to look at things with a new perspective. For us at 343 Industries, the launch of the Xbox One was an opportunity to think about what stories we wanted to tell, how to tell them, and how best to push the Halo franchise to showcase the platform” she said.
Halo 5 was initially revealed at Microsoft’s E3 press conference last year. The IP is incredibly important to Microsoft and the company know how vital Halo 5 will be in driving sales of Xbox One. ”In the past, Halo games have pushed the Xbox forward, showcasing the console and its ecosystem in entertaining and innovative ways” Ross said. ”Making a Halo game that runs at 60 frames per second, on dedicated servers, with the scope, features and scale we’ve been dreaming of for more than a decade, is non-trivial. It’s a task that we, at 343 Industries, are taking very seriously to ensure we deliver the Halo game that fans deserve, and a game that is built from the ground up for Xbox One.
Number 1
PlayStation 4 and Titanfall are April’s Sales Winners
April’s NPD numbers were released and for the fourth consecutive month the PlayStation 4 has outsold the Xbox One. It remains to be seen if the PS4 is doing so well because of the plethora of games that are out for the system or because there is a $100 price difference. We won’t know till July or August if Microsoft’s Kinect-less bundle will put them back on top of the charts. Starting June 9th, an Xbox One without Kinect will cost the same as a PlayStation 4, $399.
For the second consecutive month, Titanfall has been the best-selling retail game across all platforms. Respawn Entertainment released new Titanfall DLC today entitled “Expedition.”
Honorable Mentions
This week had a lot of big news and the news staff and I found it hard to narrow it down to the usual five stories: