PS4 Controller Supposedly Works With Xbox 360

Following on from last week's news that the DualShock 4 will work with PC and Mac, it turns out it'll also work with a rival console.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/28/p...h-xbox-360

How Final Fantasy Plans to Survive

Final Fantasy XV and Lightning Returns prove the turn-based JRPG franchise we once knew is no more, so what does the future hold?


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/28/h...to-survive

GTA 5 In Slow Motion Part 3

Face-slapping, shotgunning, tire-shredding shenanigans in super slow motion.


http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/10/27/gta...ion-part-3

What is Call of Duty: Ghosts Extinction Mode?

17 screenshots for the long-rumoured co-op mode have leaked online ahead of its reveal.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/28/w...ction-mode

Deus Ex’s Adam Jensen was Originally Far Cry 3's Jason Brody

Deus Ex: Human Revolution voice actor Elias Toufexis spent two years recording dialogue for protagonist Jason Brody before he was pulled from the project.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/28/d...ason-brody

3DS Castlevania Coming to Xbox 360 & PS3

Konami is bringing the 3DS game to consoles later this year. PC version possible.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, which originally came out on Nintendo 3DS earlier this year, is being re-released in HD on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game's publisher Konami announced the news on the game's official Facebook page. The game is a direct sequel to Lords of Shadow, which came out on current-gen consoles in 2010 and was something of a reboot for the long-running gothic adventure series. The HD version will be coming to PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, rather appropriately, on October 31st.



Does this mean we could see the game coming to other platforms in the future? When asked about the possibility of a PC version, the producer of the franchise, Dave Cox, said on Twitter, "No announcement today but we are seriously looking into it." But he seemed less optimistic about a possible Vita version, adding "we have no plans for a Vita version."

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is expected for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in November.

Oculus VR Launches a Marketplace for Rift Demos and More

Now in beta, Oculus Share will one day be the place to download all your Oculus Rift content.

Someday, in the (hopefully near) future, Oculus VR will bring its impressive headset to the consumer market. But for the time being, the company is also focused on helping developers to learn the hardware and start creating compatible software. On Monday, Oculus announced the beta version of Oculus Share, a place to publish and download Oculus Rift demos and games.



Currently, Share is a way for Oculus Rift developers to share content and collect feedback from the community. But going forward, Oculus VR has made it clear the platform will function as a sort of marketplace, like Xbox Live or Apple's App Store. "Oculus Share is the first of many steps we’re taking to build the ultimate virtual reality platform," reads a post on the Oculus blog. "While Share is simply a sharing service today, over the coming months we’ll work toward making it an incredible marketplace for Oculus-ready games, experiences, and applications."

Submissions to Oculus Share will apparently undergo some type of approval process from Oculus VR, in an attempt to "make sure content isn't offensive or malicious." Recently, id Software co-founder John Carmack joined Oculus as Chief Technology Officer, and while there's still no solid date on a consumer Rift headset, be sure to check out IGN's impressions of the latest 1080p prototype.

Defiance: "The Bride Wore Black" Review

Darkness overtook Defiance this week as a murder mystery threatened to derail a big wedding.

This week's episode of Defiance finally delivered on the big McCawley/Tarr family wedding that the series has been building towards all season. But despite the happy occasion, this was quite possibly the darkest episode of Defiance to date. A murder mystery was the catalyst for a great deal of character conflicts, sinister flashbacks, and even more murders as a result. Dark, perhaps, but this was also easily the strongest episode yet.

Early on the series frustrated me somewhat because, while there was never a shortage of character building material for the big players (Nolan, Irisa, Datak, etc.), most of the supporting cast seemed to be left by the wayside. Even Mayor Rosewater rarely seemed to receive the sort of deep focus needed to turn her into a fully realized character with wants and needs and flaws. The novel flashback format in this episode went a long way towards addressing those problems for multiple characters. Tommy benefited from this episode more than anyone. We learned about his past as an illiterate card hustler and the one act of kindness that set him on a better path. I liked that Tommy's loyalty to the late Hunter Bell served as a driving force throughout the investigation, and that said loyalty set him apart from the rest of the cast. The flashback repeatedly showed why various the characters would have reason to kill Bell. It was nice to see one character who had reason to revere him.

One element of Tommy's conflict I wish the episode had explored a bit more is his tension with Nolan. Almost immediately after learning about the circumstances that led to him becoming a lawmaker, it occurred to me that Tommy must harbor some amount of resentment against Nolan for showing up and taking charge out of the blue. Nolan has only been in town for a few months, whereas Tommy has spent six years honing his craft. There were a few spot where that tension seemed to leak through as Tommy became exasperated with Nolan's lack of dedication to the case. But this is a dynamic I hope we see explored in more depth down the road.



The flashbacks were a boon for several other characters as well. We learned about more past drama between the Rosewater sisters and that Kenya was the victim of an abusive marriage. For a while I honestly thought Amanda would be revealed as the killer. We also saw the origins of the Rafe McCawley/Datak Tarr rivalry. As it turns out, both men started out on friendly terms, motivated by a mutual dislike and distrust of Bell. As prickly as the two are in the present, one can only assume that Datak sometimes overcompensates because Rafe is one of the few people that knew him before his rise to power and glory within Defiance.

It was a lot of fun to watch the two characters square off in the present. Rafe finally connected the dots and realized why Datak was so willing to allow his son to marry one of the damned, smelly "pink skins." And when Datak learned that Rafe had already taken steps to protect his mines from a Tarr takeover, he responded in his usual manipulative fashion. Datak talks a big game about honor and tradition, but this episode once again hammered home the idea that he's just obsessively self-interested at the end of the day. His narrowly averted physical showdown with Rasfe was also entertaining. Rafe was nothing if not a bad-ass throughout the episode, brandishing firearms and generally putting the bad guys in their place. The question is how swift and damaging Datak's revenge will be.

Ultimately, the episode revealed that Nicky Riordan was the culprit. No real surprise there considering her track record on the series so far. But there were plenty of surprises that accompanied this revelation. This episode delved heavily into last week's cliffhanger that Riordan and Doc Yewll were once co-conspirators, a relationship that included covering up Bell's murder. Not only that, but Riordan is actually an Indogene in human disguise. As if those twists weren't enough, the episode climaxed with Riordan being outsmarted and killed by Yewll. I certainly wasn't expecting that turn of events. As much as I'll be sorry to see Riordan gone, the twist was a major boost for Yewll, who has really only started to come into her own in the last couple weeks

But the episode wasn't a complete downer, as Rafe was able to talk some sense into Alak and the wedding commenced. There were some genuinely sweet moments between various characters during this scene, especially as Irisa showed up to savor the occasion with Tommy. The fact that she still snuck a few weapons into the ceremony was a nice touch. I only wish we had gotten to see a little of the reception. As fond as this show is of post-climax musical sequences, I would have thought a scene of all the attendees dancing to some early 21st Century rock music would have been a natural choice. But I suppose the Castithen choir filled the quota as far as music for the week. In any case, with a hefty dose of darkness and some strong character growth on various fronts, this episode really showcased Defiance's storytelling potential.

Disney Infinity Review



Full imagination and charm, Disney Infinity really brings your toys to life.

Disney Infinity attempts something really ambitious: translating the principles of the childlike way in which we play with toys into a video game. And so it lets you build whole new worlds where logic is an infrequent guest, and then gives you the power to knock them down and start again. It wants you to go on new adventures with the toys you own, but it also wants you to reenact the scenes that made you fall in love with them in the first place. It’s crammed with creativity and variety, and I think, above all, it just wants to make you smile. And it succeeds, time and time again.

Infinity is neatly divided into two complementary parts: the Play Sets and the Toy Box. Again, it’s all structured around how we think of toys as kids, or at least how I did. The Play Sets are mission-based adventures – the closest Infinity has to a straightforward campaign – and each take place exclusively within a single Disney movie setting. When inside a Monster’s University Play Set, don’t expect to see Jack Sparrow sauntering across the manicured campus lawns. Those kinds of lawless mash-ups are reserved for the Toy Box, a level-editor where you’re free to create your own adventures.



And that’s the key to really appreciating the magic of Disney Infinity: you don’t play as Jack Sparrow; you play as the toy version of Jack Sparrow that comes in the box (he still has the boozy pirate’s wayward swagger, of course). And that toy comes to life and is transported into the game the moment you place it down on the Infinity Base, a peripheral that plugs directly into your console.

The toys themselves are well-made statues; they’re not poseable, but each one really captures the personality of that character with a charismatic stance. The toys have their own unique style that sparked desire in my inner Disney fan. It’s a good thing, too, because Disney Infinity is really all about celebrating the wonder of toys, and that concept is really sold through some lovely deft touches. For instance, Jack’s just a tad too short to see clearly over the helm of the Black Pearl; the robots you fight as Mr. Incredible have visible battery slots; and or when you “die” you break apart like a neglected plaything. These really are toys that have come to life.

The Starter Pack comes with three Play Sets, one for each of the three characters included: Jack Sparrow, Sully, and Mr. Incredible. Sadly, there’s no place for classics like Donald Duck, Snow White, or Peter Pan as a fully playable character. Classics still appear – Mickey welcomes you at the beginning (and has now been confirmed as an additional character) – but Infinity is definitely pitched more at a contemporary audience.

My biggest fear going into Infinity was that each of the Play Sets would be very similar, differing in largely superficial ways. I was very wrong. Each Play Set really embraces its unique setting in a way that shows not only an abundance of imagination but also a canny respect for its source material.

Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep Review



Have fun storming the castle!

Within the same single hour of playing Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, I saw a giant d20 die crush a man like a grape and a questline that offered insightful commentary on the exclusionary nature of nerd culture. It takes a special sort of writing and creativity to facilitate that kind of on-the-fly tone switching, but the fourth (and possibly final?) DLC add-on for Borderlands 2 does it regularly and effortlessly. Whether you're buying the wittier, headier stuff that's on tap here, or just checking in for another shot of shoot 'n' loot crack, Dragon Keep has you covered.




Like the name suggests, this is Tiny Tina's show, and she puts her stamp on it early by introducing you, and the other vault hunters, to Bunkers and Bad-asses, the table-top role-playing game of choice for nerds all over Pandora. “Roll for initiative suckas,” and just like that, our intrepid pack of monster-slaying heroes are playing parts that should be painfully familiar to anyone who's ever tried to get a group of friends together for a D&D session. This oddly playful setup is a key part of Assault's charm, as well as its effectiveness when things take a turn for the somber. Without getting spoilery, lets just say that Tiny Tina finally gets to be more than just an amusing side character, and this campaign she's cooked up is just as much about coping with loss as it is about fire-breathing dragons and dwarven farts.

Borderlands 2 has always been a constant parade of pop-culture jokes, and boy do they come thick and fast here. It's a lot more than just nerd-pandering and name dropping though. This is some of lead writer Anthony Burch's best stuff, deftly walking a thin line between adoration and loving criticism of fantasy fandom. That’s a greatsword that swings both ways though, as folks familiar with the source material get a constant stream of terrific winks and nods, while those not so well versed will likely be left scratching their heads. But even if the humor had been lost on me (which it wasn’t), the diverse set of enemies and locales on offer would have been more than worth the price of admission. A Game of Games indeed.

If not for the familiar gameplay and characters, you'd be forgiven for thinking Assault on Dragon's Keep was a completely new game. Orcish berserkers level up over the course of battle with tribal warcries, and immortal skeletons rise again and again unless you pull the glowing sword from their backs after downing them. Even then, a necromancer could just raise them to fight on his behalf as he proceeds to throw everything but the magical kitchen sink at you. You'll could be gazing at a beautiful rainbow that arches over a verdant green valley until Tina exerts her narrative omnipotence as Dungeon Master, transforming it into a lifeless plateau of “butts and dead people.” From towers that spiral near-endlessly into the clouds, to the provincial charm of Flamerock Refuge, all the art is brand new, and its visual diversity is remarkable.

But don't worry: this is the same Borderlands 2 you've come to know and love. The many new enemy types add fresh variables to the equation but you'll still solve it by familiar means. In terms of gear, Assault's only real addition is a sweet one: highly unique grenade mods that behave like popular D&D magic spells, essentially transforming your stock grenade indicator into a recharging mana bar. You can't quite spam them to plow through encounters, but you definitely can - and should - use them liberally, as they're equal parts effective and amusing. Hearing my assassin shout “MAGIC MISSILE!” as he hurled two homing slag-balls at a distant skeleton archer made me cackle aloud, and I can see lightning bolt and fireball earning spots in certain builds too. Sure, their humor is dependent upon the context of the DLC, but their utility is unquestionably universal.



As much of a blast as the new grenade mods are though, they're pretty much the only tangible reward you get from Dragon’s Keep. The final two bosses do shower the battlefield with loot, but it's almost all gold and ammo with just a handful of weapons, which I found a tad underwhelming. Sure, there are new raid bosses, and completing the DLC gives you access to a very special vendor who accepts eridium in exchange for random loot, but ultimately the real reward for taking up this epic quest is the fun of playing through it.



The Verdict

Like Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is an example of how DLC can match, and in some ways surpass the quality of the original release. With eight to 10 hours of brand-new enemies and locations that have been built from the ground up to look like nothing else in all of Borderlands, it offers a great value, especially to those who can appreciate the cavalcade of nerd culture references it makes. Sure, the loot rewards are a bit light, but the chance to give a virtual King Joffrey a proper smack in the face with the butt-end of a rifle will be reward enough.