Rumour: New Ubisoft IP Supposedly Leaked Ahead Of E3 2019
Spoilers ahead: A new Ubisoft IP appears to have been leaked ahead of its E3 2019 reveal. It’s called “Roller Champions” and is based on the sport, roller derby. The game has seemingly been confirmed for the Switch, after assets for the Nintendo controller layout were reportedly discovered alongside the following image of an Xbox controller:
This information comes from a private test which was supposedly conducted earlier this month. Other assets reveal an E3 logo, suggesting a more official announcement is on the way, and there are also screens of the game along with some early loading screen footage. Here’s a look at the main menu:
According to one of the sources, the game runs on Unity, will include quick play matches, ranked matches, custom matches, tournaments and is online only. There are a bunch of sound options as well – including a streamer mode – and the gameplay options menu includes two different aiming modes.
What do you make of this? Would you like to see this released on the Switch? Leave a comment down below.
These were the best-selling new releases on Steam in April
Physics-based tactics game Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and minimalist city builder Islanders were two of Steam’s best-selling new releases in April, according to data from Valve.
Keen to spotlight the “wide variety of styles, genres, and themes,” that find success on Steam, Valve compiled a list of the top 20 best-selling new releases for April, and it makes for interesting reading.
“To generate this list, we started by enumerating all the games released between April 1 and April 30. We then looked at revenue earned by each of those games in the first two weeks following that game’s release,” said Valve, explaining its methodology.
“From that list, we took the top 20 games by revenue to make our final list. Finally, we sorted the 20 games by release date.”
Although it’s disappointing that Valve hasn’t shared any revenue numbers or unit sales, it’s still fascinating to see what’s selling on the company’s massive digital storefront. You can check out the full list below.
Top Steam Releases of April 2019 (Sorted by Release Date)
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (Landfall)
Super Dragon Ball Heroes World Mission (Dimps Corporation, Safari Games)
Islanders (GrizzlyGames)
MarZ: Tactical Base Defence (doorfourtyfour)
Supraland (Supra Games)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (Capcom)
Vacation Simulator (Owlchemy Labs)
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (Spike Chunsoft)
Pathway (Robotality)
Weedcraft Inc (Vile Monarch)
Staxel (Plukit)
One Finger Death Punch 2 (Silver Dollar Games)
Forager (HopFrog)
Pagan Online (Map Head Games)
Katana ZERO (Askiisoft)
Driftland: The Magic Revival (Star Drifters)
Paper Dolls Original (Beijing Litchi Culture Media)
Proposed anti-loot box bill has big implications for devs and publishers
Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the sale of loot boxes and other “pay-to-win” monetization mechanics in the United States, and now he’s drafted up a proposed bill explaining how he’d achieve that goal.
The document explains exactly what that would mean for game developers and publishers. For starters, it defines a “pay-to-win” transaction as an add-on that “eases a user’s progression through content otherwise available within the game without the purchase,” or one that “assists a users in accomplishing an achievement within the game that can otherwise be accomplished without.”
Loot boxes, meanwhile, are defined as add-ons that “unlock a feature of the product or adds to or enhances the entertainment value of a product in a randomized or partially randomized fashion.” Those definitions mean content such as story DLC, paid-for cosmetic items, and other such one-time purchases would be exempt from the new regulations.
The proposed bill would specifically prohibit the sale of microtransactions and loot boxes in “minor-orientated games,” which it defines as “an interactive digital entertainment product for which the target audience is individuals under the age of 18.”
It would also make it unlawful for game publishers and distributors to release minor-oriented titles that include pay-to-win microtransactions or loot boxes, or add them to an existing title.
The legislation would also prohibit the publication or distribution of games containing pay-to-win microtransactions or loot boxes where there’s “constructive knowledge” that any users are under the age of 18.
That places the burden on publishers and distributors to ensure their games — even those targeted at people over the age of 18 — aren’t falling into the hands of minors, raising questions about the inclusion of loot boxes and microtransactions in mature-rated titles like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, which have a tendency to find their way into the hands of minors.
“While it is true that a large proportion of game players are adults, even games with predominantly adult player bases – including games marketed primarily to adults – tend to have enormous appeal to children,” wrote Hawley in an FAQ on his website.
“The onus should be on developers to deter child consumption of products that foster gambling and similarly compulsive purchasing behavior, just as is true in other industries that restrict access to certain kinds of products and forms of entertainment to adult consumers.”
Legally speaking, the “constructive knowledge” clause would likely make it easier for regulators to build cases against companies perceived to be in violation of the proposed bill, as Georgetown Law professor Angela Campbell explained to Polygon.
“Constructive knowledge requires the operator to make reasonable inferences and at least in some cases, investigate,” said Campbell.
“For example, the operator of a social media service that says in its terms of service that it is only for use by persons over age 13, and yet anyone who uses the service can see that many young children use it to post videos of themselves, would have constructive knowledge that children were on the service. It probably would have actual knowledge as well, but actual knowledge is harder to prove.”
Deep Silver was later acquired by THQ Nordic, which is now the publisher of Dead Island 2. This week, THQ Nordic announced earnings, and it included an image of Dead Island 2's logo. This suggested that the game is still in the works, and THQ Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors confirmed it.
"Dead Island 2 [is] still being worked on. Stay tuned," he said (via IGN).
That's all Wingefors had to say on the subject of Dead Island 2. There is no word as of yet as to when Dead Island 2 may resurface or what changes might be
Also during the call, Wingefors talked about THQ Nordic's massive development pipeline. He said the company has 80 projects in the works, including 32 titles that have been announced and 48 that are unannounced. The unannounced titles include new games from Kingdom Come studio Warhorse, Saints Row developer Volition, and Metro dev 4A Games.
Years ago, it was said that Dead Island 2 would feature a heavy emphasis on melee combat and role-playing game elements. According to Deep Silver, it will also have "never-before-seen" handcrafted weapons. The game is powered by Unreal Engine 4, and will take players to places like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and Venice Beach. Another previously touted feature is "seamless" multiplayer for up to eight players that can "cooperate, compete, or simply coexist." The publisher has described this as a "new-gen multiplayer experience."
However, it remains to see what might have changed throughout the game's tumultuous development. E3 2019 is coming up next month, but nothing so far has suggested that Dead Island 2 will resurface at the gaming show.
Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda Reflects On The Original Yoshi And Pokémon Games
Game Freak has shared a new video on its YouTube channel featuring director Junichi Masuda talking about the development of the original Pokémon games as well as the puzzle game Yoshi – also known as Mario & Yoshi in Europe and Yoshi’s Egg in Japan.
For starters, most people to this day still don’t know the classic puzzler for NES and Game Boy was developed by Game Freak, simply because there are no end credits. Masuda further explained how it was Ken Sugimori who came up with the gameplay and the development team wanted to add a “realistic sounding” Yoshi voice but was ultimately knocked back by Nintendo. Many players have probably also noticed how the items in the main menu bop up and down, which was something Masuda programmed into the game himself.
The conversation shifted to storage capacity limitations and this is when Masuda began to reflect on how the development team of the original Pokémon games had quite a lot of “fun” due to the fact pocket monster names (in Japanese) had a 5-character limit. Certain tricks were also required to get all 151 Pokémon voices in the game and if it wasn’t for the fact he was the main programmer of these games, Masuda believes he would have likely been told off.
Did you learn anything new about these classic Nintendo titles? Reminisce about these simpler times in the comments below.
The N64 Version Of Joanna Dark Joins The Totaku Collection This September
If you still have fond memories of the original Perfect Dark game on the Nintendo 64, you’ll likely be interested to hear Totaku has announced a figurine based on the Carrington Institute agent, Joanna Dark.
This particular figurine is expected to join the series later on this year in September and follows on from the previous Rare entries, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker. To ease any concerns about this model, it’s based on Joanna’s original design and is packing a Falcon 2 standard-issue pistol equipped with a scope. Here’s a description from the Totaku website:
The year is 2023, and mega-corporations rule the world. As a freshly-qualified agent of the Carrington Institute, Joanna Dark must infiltrate the mysterious dataDyne Corporation and uncover its dark secrets: a dangerous superweapon, alien intelligence and a global conspiracy that threatens to destroy all mankind.
Will you be making some space on your shelf for this agent? Do you still revisit Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64? Tell us below.
Star Ocean: First Departure R Announced For Nintendo Switch
Square Enix has announced Star Ocean: First Departure R will be released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in the near future. This particular version of the action role-playing game was first launched on the PlayStation Portable in 2007.
The enhanced PSP iteration is based on the Super Famicom Star Ocean game – published by Enix, developed by tri-Ace and originally released in 1996. The high definition versions of the remake for Switch and PS4 will include new features and a worldwide release has also been confirmed.
If you would like to learn more about this epic space adventure and its unique combat system, click here to read our review of the Super Famicom title or view the PSP remake trailer below, courtesy of YouTube channel xionlloyd:
Did you expect to see this game make its way across to the Switch? Shoot for the stars in the comments below.
Eight series in all are affected by the delisting, including Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us, Batman titles, and Tales from the Borderlands.
GOG notes that the games will no longer be up for sale following that Monday deadline, but those that previously purchased any of those games will still be able to download them from GOG.
Tales from the Borderlands also vanished from Steam the same day as GOG’s announcement, and a comment given to Eurogamer by 2K Games says the Borderlands publisher is working to get that specific title back up on Steam.
No statement has been made on if the affected Telltale-published games will be pulled from other platforms like Steam or console storefronts as well, though it’s not unlikely that the same will happen on stores beyond just GOG. Several of Telltale’s games were already delisted from Steam back in November as the company began the liquidation process, including Jurassic Park, Tales of Monkey Island, and Back to the Future.
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts or Chicago, Illinois
Disbelief is a game development studio focusing on contracting and consulting services. We’ve worked with both AAA and independent studios to help their projects ship. Notable projects we’ve worked on include Gears of War 4, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, and Perception.
At Disbelief we value work-life balance, and want to create an alternative to the crunch-culture prevalent in game development. We also believe strongly in investing in our talent and our team. Disbelief is a place to puzzle out the solutions to cutting-edge problems in graphics and engine programming, but also a place where people can grow their careers and skill sets as valued members of a stable and close knit team.
Currently, we’re looking for a senior programmer. This opportunity is for a full-time position in Cambridge, MA or Chicago, IL. Senior programmers at Disbelief are leaders and developers in their project. You should be comfortable working independently and with a team to develop, test and integrate software into a larger codebase. A key responsibility is mentoring and guiding fellow programmers to improve.
We believe a diverse team is a stronger team, and we encourage marginalized programmers to apply.
Key Responsibilities
Clearly communicate your work to others
Mentor fellow programmers in and out of your team
Communicate with clients on team progress and problems as they arise
Debug code with precision
Estimate your and others work
Assess impact of issues on schedule
Diagnose and solve performance issues
Document your code
Study version histories and code documentation to solve present problems
Implement features in innovative ways
Skills and Requirements
BA/BS or MS Degree in Computer Science, or equivalent experience
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
3-5 years of experience in writing software in C++
5+ years in game development, or 10+ in a related industry
Experience working on a large code base
Experience with version control with P4, git, or equivalent
Experience with multi-threaded systems
Remote: No, but we do enjoy working from home up to two days a week, when project constraints allow.
Visa Sponsorship: No
Technologies:
Most of our work is C++ of varying standards with a sprinkling of other languages as needed for tooling. We do a lot of graphics programming work, using shader languages and platform graphics APIs. Since we often are debugging the lower levels of systems, being able to read x64 or ARM assembly is useful. Primarily we work with Unreal Engine 4, but we also work with Unity and custom game engines. Our work uses rendering, physics, audio, VR, AR, and other APIs frequently. Our primary platforms are PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and VR/AR devices.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Call Of Duty Mobile's 100-Player Battle Royale Mode Revealed
This year's mainline Call of Duty title is rumored to be a new Modern Warfare, but it's not the only Call of Duty game coming this year. Activision is also releasing Call of Duty Mobile, and the company has now revealed the title's Battle Royale mode. In a blog post, Activision said the mode is similar in structure to Black Ops 4's Blackout mode and other battle royale games in that players are dropped onto a "colossal map" and must fight until only one player--or one team--remains alive.
It does share some similarities with Blackout, but it stands alone with its own unique elements as well, Activision said. It's referred to specifically as battle royale, rather than Blackout. The key points are as following:
Up to 100 players supported
Solo, Duo, and four-player teams are being tested currently
There are six classes, each with their own unique ability and skill
You can revive teammates, who drop back into the map from a cargo plane after healing
You can play in first- or third-person, though this is locked in before a match begins, and players will be matched together with those using the same camera perspective.
The map features locations from past CoD games including Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, and Black Ops II.
Vehicles are supported, including ATV, Light Helicopter, SUV, and Tactical Raft.
Call of Duty Mobile is only still in the "early" stages of development and testing, so things could change. That being said, Activision released some work-in-progress images; see them in the gallery below.
Defender: With the ability to place a deformable Transform Shield, this class also is Reinforced, raising resistance to all damage except bullets.
Mechanic: Able to call an EMP Drone to create electro-magnetic interference on hostile forces, this class also features the Engineer ability, granting augmented sight to vehicles, hostile traps, and other equipment.
Scout: Utilizing the Sensor Dart that can view hostile positions in the immediate area of the radar map, this class also benefits from the Tracker ability; allowing you to see fresh footprints of hostiles.
Clown: A master of distraction and friend of the undead, this class has a Toy Bomb to detonate, summoning zombies that only attack hostiles near to them; due in part to the Clown having the Anti-Zombieability, which reduces the zombies’ aggression distance.
Medic: This class can place a Medical Station that continuously heals the Medic and associated allies in the immediate vicinity. In addition, the Master Healer ability allows a Medic to heal more quickly, and reduces the time it takes to revive teammates.
Ninja: Lastly, this clandestine class has a Grapple Gun that fires a hook, allowing you to propel yourself up and onto target buildings or across the landscape at speed. Movement is quiet too, due to this class having the Dead Silence ability.
In terms of reviving, players who die drop a dog tag. Players can pick up the dog tag and press a button to revive their fallen teammate. It takes some time, and it must be completed fully before a player gets respawned via a cargo plane drop.
The full blog post has all the important details you need to know, so head to Activision's website to read all about Call of Duty Mobile's battle royale mode.
Call of Duty Mobile is developed by Tencent's Timi studio. It will release around the world, and the first, small-scale beta recently began in India. Another beta is coming to Australia "soon," with more regions to be supported later on.
