When the NBA G League arrived on Twitch last year, we told you more cool extension features were coming in 2018. Well, we checked the calendar and it turns out that it’s been 2018 for like, two whole months. So today we’re introducing all kinds of cool new stuff. Here’s a look at how NBA G League basketball on Twitch is heating up.
First, we’re introducing new ways to earn Loyalty Points through Muxy’s NBA G League extension. As always, you can sit back and relax knowing you’ll earn points just by watching games, but if you’re ready to take it to the next level you can pick the player you think will fill the stat sheet with the Boost Player function. Choose wisely and you’ll earn points based on that player’s performance. You can also earn points by participating in Quarterly Polling with your predictions during every game. Your points will add up all season, so get out there and rule the leaderboard. For more info on Loyalty Points and everything else having to do with the extension, you can check out all the details here.
For you statheads out there, we’re also expanding the on-stream statistics to include comparisons between players and teams. They’re all still updated in real-time, right on the video player.
NBA G League games are streaming all season long on Twitch, so make sure to tune in and get in on the action. And then, as they say in the sportsball biz, hit the showers.
Whether you’re catching up on your gaming with a new subscription to Xbox Game Pass or streaming an intense round of PUBG on Mixer, we’ve got a controller that fits every style.
Last spring, we debuted the Xbox Wireless Controller Tech Series – a line of special edition controllers inspired by military technology and performance patterns found in combat vehicles. Today, we’re excited to announce the third controller in the Tech Series, the Xbox Wireless Controller – Combat Tech Special Edition.
The Xbox Wireless Controller – Combat Tech Special Edition embodies a traditional army color palette with its classic Military Green base color (the same Military Green offered through Xbox Design Lab), bright orange accents and military insignia. Like the Recon Tech and Patrol Tech controllers that came before it, the Combat Tech controller features a textured laser-etched grip on the front of the controller and rubberized diamond grips on the back to help you stay on target. In select regions, you’ll get 14-day trials for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass. The Xbox Wireless Controller – Combat Tech Special Edition will be available for $69.99 USD and will start shipping to participating retailers worldwide, including Microsoft Store, on March 27.
All Xbox Wireless Controllers are compatible with the Xbox One family of devices and the Tech series controllers include the fan favorite features you know and love, a 3.5mm headphone jack and Bluetooth technology for gaming on Windows 10 devices or Samsung Gear VR. You can also take advantage of the custom button-mapping feature through the Xbox Accessories App. Xbox One is the only place to play the most anticipated console exclusive titles of 2018 like Sea of Thieves and PUBG. And, with Xbox One X Enhanced, you can enjoy steadier framerates and true 4K gaming on over 100 exciting titles right from your couch.
Since the launch of Super Lucky’s Tale, people have been asking us when they can expect more of the loveable fox’s adventures. The answer is – today!
Lucky is back and this time he is in Gilly Island, an all-new chapter of the game set in a tropical paradise which just so happens to be in need of some rescuing. What’s more, Super Lucky’s Tale is now part of Xbox Game Pass. Members can spend hours enjoying the game and, for additional adventures with Lucky, please check out Gilly Island, available for separate purchase.
Trouble in Paradise
Fresh from his victory over Jinx, Lucky is looking forward to a day off. But the Book of Ages has other plans, and Lucky is once again pulled in, this time emerging into the tropical resort of Gilly Island.
Despite its beauty and renown as an award-winning vacation spot, it’s quickly apparent that something is amiss on the island. Lucky learns Lady Meowmalade has hijacked the resort to throw the greatest (worst) party ever as she celebrates the release of her latest single. Now Lucky must save the island and its vacationers from Meowmalade’s chaos before it ruins their fun and ultimately wreaks havoc on all the worlds inside the Book of Ages.
Join Lucky for more classic platforming challenges, brain-bending puzzles, mysterious foxholes, and tropically treacherous obstacle courses. Meet characters new and old as you burrow, jump and spin your way through a sun-soaked paradise.
Gilly Island is available today for $4.99 across the Xbox One family of devices and Windows 10 PC.
Xbox Game Pass gives unlimited access to over 100 great games for one low monthly price, plus with new games added every month, Xbox Game Pass is your ticket to endless play. If you haven’t tried Xbox Game Pass yet, you can play free for 14 days.
Switch’s popularity has also been bolstered by great ports of some of the most popular Wii U games. We’ve already got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokken Tournament DX, and Bayonetta 2, but anyone familiar with the Wii U library knows that’s merely scratching the surface of what’s possible.
A port of Super Smash Bros. feels like a guarantee–the sort of game that stirs up a lot of excitement and attention among Nintendo’s player base. Looking beyond the obvious choice, however, Nintendo could give also give RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE a second chance at success, as they would benefit greatly from being made portable, let alone available on a console that people are eager fill with games.
There are plenty of games that could fit the bill, but if we were forced to pick five Wii U games to transition to Switch, we know exactly what we’d pick. Take a look at the video above for our choices and why we believe they’d be right at home on Switch. And if you have any suggestions for games we might have missed, give them a shout out in the comments below.
Have you ever accidentally deleted a file, or trash binned a document only to later discover that you still need it? Maybe you let someone hop on your PC and they accidentally managed to wipe away an entire folder of precious files. Or perhaps you forgot to backup your data before reformatting. There are all kinds of crummy scenarios that can lead to deleted data that you might wish you could have back. Well, good news–sending a file to the Recycle Bin is far from permanent, even after you’ve emptied it.
When you delete a file in Windows, it doesn’t actually get erased–it’s not like sending a piece of paper through a file shredder and then setting the scraps ablaze. Instead, Windows keeps an index of where parts of a file reside on your hard drive. When you delete a document or a photo (or any data), Windows marks the sectors of your storage device that it resided on as being available for new chunks of data. Think of it as swapping out the „No Vacancy“ sign for one that says „Vacant,“ without clearing out the space. This also applies to reformatting your drive–the data isn’t necessarily gone for good.
What this means is that your deleted data is often recoverable, even when all hope seems lost. Unfortunately, the same isn’t true for solid state drives that use TRIM, which involves a different method of recording and deleting data. For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to focus on how to recover deleted data from a hard disk drive or portable flash drive.
Are you ready to get your data back? Then let’s get started!
Hey Xbox players! Scavengers Studio here, checking in from Montreal, Canada, where winter’s going back and forth between “ok I’m going away now” and “haha jk here’s another blizzard.” But we’re not here to talk about the weather. We’re here to announce that Darwin Project’s release on Xbox One is just around the corner! You’ll be able to step in the arena and experience our snowy and survival-focused take on the battle royale genre starting Friday, March 9.
In Darwin Project, prisoners turned hunters are thrown into a twisted reality show that has them fight to the death to earn their survival. Ten players must withstand extreme cold, track opponents, craft tools, and set traps to be the last one standing at sunrise.
There are three ways to experience Darwin Project:
As a Contestant
When you join as a contestant, you’re one of ten players fighting in the arena in hopes of being the only one left alive. You’ll face off against the other inmates using a bow and axe, and if you’re lucky enough to score some electronics, you can also add tools like energy shields to your arsenal. But remember that everything you do, from building a fire to crafting items, leaves clues behind that can be used to track you to your current location.
As the Show Director
Entering the match as the Show Director allows to you oversee the entire arena aboard a drone and unleash special powers like nukes, zone closures, and gravity storms. As a kind of master of ceremonies, your goal in the Show Director seat is to spice up the match and provide extra entertainment for both players and spectators. We’re excited to see what types of Show Director styles the Xbox community comes up with!
As a Spectator
Tune in to streaming platforms like Mixer and support your favorite broadcasters who are playing as Show Director. Each time the Show Director uses a power, they can let their stream viewers vote on the target. The power is then automatically unleashed on the zone or player that obtained the most votes. Contestants will often compete for the favor of the audience as they try to survive both the cold and each other, and that’s where you come in!
Darwin Project will begin as an Xbox Game Preview title, which means that we’ll be looking for your precious feedback to continue improving the game over the next few months.
Darwin Project releases on Xbox Game Preview for $14.99 USD on March 9, 2018.
Xbox One players looking forward to becoming part of the Darwin Project community can join our official Discord channel, already over 6,400 members strong: https://discord.gg/darwin
Hello, Insiders! We are very excited to tell you about Robocraft Infinity, an awesome game that is coming to Xbox One very soon. In fact, Freejam and the Xbox Insider Program are teaming up to host an open beta this weekend for all Xbox Insiders! We met with Andy Griffiths, Communications Manager for Freejam Ltd., and asked him about Robocraft Infinity and Freejam.
Independent Studios are very popular this day and age, and it’s so cool to see awesome games come from them! How long has Freejam been a studio, and can you give us a little backstory?
Indie studios are certainly blazing the way when it comes to exciting, experimental game concepts, and we like to think of Freejam as being part of that trend-setting wave.
Freejam started life in 2013 in Portsmouth, UK. Our five founders had an awesome idea of building a unique sandbox experience where players could choose from dozens of different weapons, movement types and cubes and then take those weapons into combat online – think LEGO with guns! After two months in development, we popped the game that came to be called Robocraft onto PC through Steam and the game soon became massively popular. That core build-em-up concept, where players could build something very personal to them and use that vehicle was something our fans told us they hadn’t seen before.
As the game grew, so did our team and now Freejam has over 50 developers on staff and multiple projects in production, including not only the original Robocraft (PC) that we still regularly update but also Cardlife, Robocraft Royale and of course Robocraft Infinity, which is launching exclusively for Xbox One in the coming months.
Fast forward several years, and Robocraft (PC) has accumulated over 13 million users worldwide and received countless content updates – the best of which we’re bringing to Robocraft Infinity.
Where did Robocraft Infinity come from and what is the experience you are trying to create for players? If there’s a cool story, like this started in your basement, we’d love to hear about it!
Like most good development ideas, Robocraft Infinity as a concept really came from the fans. Since Robocraft has been available on PC, we have constantly been asked when we were going to take the game to consoles. Players across the world kept telling us that they wanted to play the game on the sofa with their friends, and we felt that the Xbox One was the perfect platform for us. Our game engine, Unity, plays very nicely with the Xbox One and very soon in Infinity’s development we got the basic Robocraft experience in place. This gave us ample time to build on the concept, optimize the experience for gamepad and make it very different from its PC cousin.
Fundamentally we want players to feel empowered, inspired and excited when they play Robocraft Infinity. Empowered to create the robots of their dreams, be it a cool T-Rex armed with a Chaingun Shredder, super-fast race car, intergalactic spaceship or anything playfully inspired by their favorite TV show, game series or meme. Inspired by the creations they see in the in-game community and the competition they meet in battle. Excited by what future components we’ll give them to create new robots and improve their existing designs.
Ultimately, we view Robocraft Infinity as not only a place where you can have awesome 5 vs 5 online battles, but also a regularly evolving sandbox for player expression.
What is your favorite robot in the game? Is there one that’s underestimated that should definitely be checked out by new players?
When you start out in Robocraft Infinity, you have four different robots to choose from; one of which is a massive green T-Rex. That guy is made up of lots of blocks and is perfect for soaking up damage and sitting on a point. He’s probably my favorite at the moment, but to be honest I find a new build that I like every time I play. One of our Alpha Testers, FlyingPig, managed to create an awesome Flying Spider bot that could not only zoom across the map super quickly, but he could also snipe enemies from afar with his Laser Leviathans. That’s one of the great things about Robocraft Infinity, you never know what kind of enemy you’ll face next!
Why should players participate in the upcoming beta weekend?
We are really, really close to launching Robocraft Infinity. We believe that all the major game-breaking bugs have been squashed, and we’re looking for help from the awesome Xbox Insider community to weed out the annoying ones that we may have overlooked.
We’ve done some mass tests for around 100 people to test our server infrastructure. We believe we can support over 10,000 players [at once], but we need to test that before being confident we’re ready for launch.
Help us, Xbox Insiders – you are our only hope!
What players will see when they take part in the beta is almost the full game experience. Players can build robots, view the Factory, and take part in both of our match types – Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch. We’re confident that anyone who has always liked building robots or who enjoyed smashing together LEGOs as a kid will get a kick out of our game.
The Xbox Insider Team has definitely been enjoying the game, and we’re all very excited to open it up to all Xbox Insiders starting this weekend! The playtest schedule is as follows:
Begins: Friday, March 2nd, 12:00PM UTC (4:00AM PST)
Ends: Monday, March 5th, 11:59AM UTC (3:59AM PST)
While there are no requirements for joining (outside of being an Xbox Insider), we’d encourage you to keep an eye out for the title in our “Insider content” tab on Xbox One, as the number of spots offered for this playtest are limited and available on a first-come-first-served basis. Thanks to Freejam for giving us their time and providing us with a super cool game, and thanks Xbox Insiders for helping us make it even greater! See you in game.
Since the launch of Extensions last September, we’ve been blown away by the community’s response and contributions. The Twitch developer community has created over 150 Extensions for streamers to use, and over 2000 of you have expressed interest in building more!
Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re bringing Extensions to our Twitch mobile apps starting in late March. As more and more of the community accesses Twitch on their phones and tablets, enabling Extensions on mobile will significantly increase the reach of your Extensions while allowing streamers to share a consistent experience with their viewers across all platforms — this has been one of the most requested features from the streaming community.
As promised when we shared our RFC (Request For Comments) on mobile Extensions, you’ll have a head start on building a mobile experience for your Extension, so that it’s mobile-ready by the time it rolls out to all Twitch app users. Starting today, you can access our design and technical guidelines to help you get started.
So how does it work?
Extensions with mobile support will occupy the same area as chat in our mobile apps. When a user watches a channel with a mobile Extension, they can view and interact with it after tapping on the Extensions icon. If the streamer has more than one Extension activated on their channel, the viewer can swipe left and right between multiple Extensions or navigate using the top tabs.
Streamers will know which Extensions support mobile via a badge in the Extensions Manager.
Extension on mobile in portrait mode.
Extension on mobile in landscape mode.
To enable your Extension on mobile devices, you’ll need to provide a mobile-specific front end file for your Extension. The Extension’s format on web (i.e. video overlay or panel) will not impact how the Extension is presented on mobile so you’ll want to think about how to develop a responsive experience. Over the next few days, you’ll be able to create a test version of your Extension, enable mobile support, and see that test version live in the Twitch app on version 5.10 or higher on iOS or Android prior to the rollout to all Twitch mobile app users in late March.
This is the first of many new features we’re working on to create access to Extensions in more places. We’ll share more about our roadmap in an upcoming live stream on March 13, and we’d love to answer your questions and hear your feedback — save the date!
If you have any burning questions before then, please reach out to us in the forums or talk to other Twitch developers in the chat server! And of course, don’t forget to check out the documentation to get started developing mobile Extensions today.
Hey Xbox fans! We’re excited to announce our next game, The Blackout Club, will be coming to Xbox One! The Blackout Club is a brand new co-operative horror experience, something that unites up to four players against an ever-changing and horrifying evil, set within a small modern town. We think it’s going to add a terrifying twist to your friends’ gaming sessions and will find a new home in your regular rotation.
The Blackout Club tells the story of a group of teenagers who band together after learning they’ve all been waking up in strange places with no recollection of what happened – sometimes for stretches of several days. Recently, a close friend of theirs vanished during one of these blackouts, and the teens can’t get anyone to believe them – not the police, not their teachers, not even their parents. Together they launch their own investigation and discover a terrifying conspiracy right below the surface of their small town. Now they must gather evidence of this monstrous secret and prove its existence to the world.
In The Blackout Club, you shape the experience as you see fit. We’ve drawn as much as possible on our experience making such games, such as the BioShock series, Prey, and Dishonored – but in this game we feel the cooperative element takes it somewhere we’ve always wanted to be. You’ll have a variety of customization options for your characters, including upgradeable powers, to face a whole ecosystem of intelligent threats. With a cooperative focus, we’re also allowing players to coordinate diversions as a team, using shadow and sound to outwit your enemies and capture their crimes on camera. You’ll improvise with devices like drones or deployable traps to ambush the mysterious group of adults that want to drag you away to a terrible fate. Survive long enough, and you’ll gain access to upgradeable powers to turn your enemies’ own tactics against them.
We know that playing scary games with your friends can be a lot of fun, but most horror games are single-player-only. To us, they have an experience that doesn’t feel quite as tense the second or third time you go through it. We don’t want you to have to share the controller, but instead work together to overcome these scary scenarios. In The Blackout Club, each game session is a brand-new adventure with many procedural elements so players never know what is around the next corner. You’ll need to stick together and help each other out if you’re going to make it through the dangerous night and uncover more of the mystery in your small community – and the cause of these teens’ mysterious blackouts.
At its core, The Blackout Club is about vulnerable heroes – teenagers, for whom co-op gameplay is a matter of survival. Friends to the end.
We’d love to hear what you think, so please check out our announce teaser trailer above and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date about Question and for further details aboutThe Blackout Club.
It’s hard to believe that a full year has passed since we released Horizon Zero Dawn. The old adage “time flies when you’re having fun” certainly rings true for us – these last 12 months have been an absolute blast, thanks in no small part to the terrific response from our fan community.
And yet, so much has happened that the actual launch of Horizon Zero Dawn sometimes feels like a distant memory. The positive critical reception; the explosive rise of fan artists, cosplayers and Photo Mode experts; the rollout of patches containing new functionality; the release of The Frozen Wilds and the Complete Edition; the various awards and honors bestowed on Horizon Zero Dawn and its creators. All of these occurred in such rapid succession that we’re still trying to wrap our heads around them.
The latest news to reach us is that Horizon Zero Dawn has sold more than 7.6 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling new first-party franchise launch on PlayStation 4 as of February 28. To quote Guerrilla’s co-founder and managing director, Hermen Hulst:
“We had huge ambition for Horizon Zero Dawn and as we approached the launch we knew people were excited, but to see sales of this volume is truly mind blowing. Since launch, millions of players have joined Aloy on a quest to discover the secrets of the old ones. We hope they enjoy playing Horizon Zero Dawn as much as we enjoyed making it.”
To which we can only add: thank you, dear fans. The past year ranks as one of the greatest in our studio’s 18-year history, and your unwavering devotion to and evangelism for Horizon Zero Dawn helped make that happen.
Obviously, we can’t let a milestone like this go by uncelebrated. We have several things planned for the coming week that we hope you’ll enjoy, including (but not limited to):
Free Horizon Zero Dawn PS4 avatar bundle and Photo Mode theme
Available tomorrow as free downloads from PlayStation Store, we’ve created a bundle of PS4 avatars of all your favorite Horizon Zero Dawn characters, as well as a PS4 theme containing some of the most stunning fan-made Photo Mode snaps out there.
‘Inventing Instruments for Horizon Zero Dawn’ Video
The Horizon Zero Dawn score continues to garner accolades, most recently winning Best Main Theme in the VGMO Annual Game Music Awards. But there’s more to the soundtrack than mood music, as music supervisor Lucas van Tol explains in this behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Horizon Zero Dawn’s in-world (or ‘diegetic’) music.
PlayStation Gear store promo
Throughout the entire month of March, the PlayStation Gear store will be running an anniversary discount on the Modern Icons Aloy statue: get 25% off when you enter the code ‘anniversary’ at checkout, while supplies last!
PlayStation Store
If you don’t have Horizon Zero Dawn yet, now’s the time to take advantage of the ‘Critic’s Choice’ sale on the PlayStation Store! Until March 6th, Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition is being offered at 30% off for regular customers, and 35% off for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
…and more!
Stay tuned to PlayStation Blog and Guerrilla’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts for more Horizon Zero Dawn one year anniversary goodness!
March is just around the corner, along with spring and some really great games. Let’s see what’s coming to PS Plus next week!
First up, we have the award-winning action RPG Bloodborne. Hunt your nightmares as you search for answers in the ancient city of Yharnam, now cursed with a strange endemic illness spreading through the streets like wildfire. Danger, death and madness lurk around every corner of this dark and horrific world, and you must discover its darkest secrets in order to survive.
Next, we have Ratchet & Clank. Get acquainted (or reacquainted) with some of the greatest heroes in PlayStation history. Based on elements from the original Ratchet & Clank (PS2), Ratchet & Clank brings Insomniac’s classic, out-of-this-world-gameplay to the PS4. Join Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark, and their new friends as they battle to save the Solana Galaxy. Armed with an arsenal of original weapons the franchise is renowned for, including the new Pixelizer and fan-favorites like the dance-party-inducing Groovitron, you’ll explore the galaxy and get a deeper look at the origin story of these two beloved characters.
This month’s PlayStation Plus lineup also includes:
Legend of Kay, PS3
Mighty No. 9, PS3 (Cross Buy with PS4)
Claire: Extended Cut, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
Bombing Busters, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)
For fans of Dungeon Defenders II, we also have the Dungeon Defenders PS Plus Pack available starting March 13 to April 10 for PS Plus members. This pack contains 4 Shadow Costumes, 1 Million in gold, 5 Campaign Shard Packs, 5 Defender Packs, and a Ninja Gato Pet. Get your hands on this PS Plus Pack and jump into the action.
We also have an important service update. Starting next year on March 8, 2019, the PS Plus monthly games lineup will focus on PS4 titles and no longer include PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita titles. This won’t affect any games you’ve already downloaded, or will download, prior to March 8, 2019. Those games will still be part of your PS Plus games library as long as you remain a member. Your game saves and other benefits of PS Plus will also remain the same – the only change is that no new PS3 and PS Vita games will be added to the PS Plus monthly games lineup beyond March 8, 2019.
Many of our fans are playing on the PS4 platform, with the increasingly vast number of PS4s in homes around the world. We’ll continue to prioritize the benefits you receive through your PS Plus membership, such as online multiplayer, online game save storage, PS4 monthly games, and exclusive PS Store discounts across content and network services. As a reminder, if you do not wish to continue your subscription, please be sure to cancel it by turning off auto-renewal in your account settings before March 8, 2019.
There are plenty of new games and exclusive PS Store discounts to come for PS Plus members, and we look forward to sharing this with you in our ongoing monthly blog posts. As always, we thank you for your continued support.
We at Twitch Prime are excited to introduce the new Prime Subscription & Loot Reminder Extension, which is now available to all streamers on Twitch starting today. This extension will notify viewers of your channel when they have a new Twitch Prime channel subscription available to use and when there is new Twitch Prime loot to claim. Viewers who do not have Twitch Prime will see a crown icon that lets them know how to get a free sub to spend on your channel when they sign up for Twitch Prime.
To get the extension, select the extensions tab on the left hand side of your broadcaster dashboard. Search for ‘Prime Subscription and Loot Reminder’ and click through to install and activate.
If you’re strictly a Twitch viewer, be sure to let your favorite streamer know about the extension!
We’ve compiled a brief FAQ for additional information:
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to disable other video overlays to use the Prime Subscription and Loot Reminder?
Yes, currently you may only install one video overlay extension at a time.We know this current limitation may be an inconvenience and are currently working through a solution. Stay tuned for additional updates.
Can a viewer subscribe to my channel directly from the icon?
No. This icon reminds viewers that a subscription or loot is available. Subscribing still happens through the sub button, and claiming loot still happens through the Crown Icon and we are looking at options to improve this experience.
What if a viewer has a free sub, free in-game loot, and free games available to download? Which icon will show?
Sub Ready icons will always be prioritized when applicable. Loot and game download icons will only show for users who have already claimed their free sub for the month. Regardless of a viewer’s status, the icon will disappear in 10 seconds if they don’t mouse over the icon.
What devices can this extension be used on?
Currently extension are only available on desktop.
Bridge Constructor Portal leans heavily upon its iconic forebears. GlaDOS, an uncaring-though-humorous AI, greets you at the beginning of many levels, setting the stage for the plentiful puzzles that lay before you. It sounds like the setup for another delicious brain-teaser that will tickle your funny bone while pushing your logic muscles. But neither the story nor the puzzles capture your imagination, resulting in a predictable slog that grows more tedious the deeper you get into the adventure. Even worse: I encountered a game-breaking bug that completely halted my progress at the home stretch.
The story in Bridge Constructor Portal is little more than a collection of references to the previous Portal games. GlaDOS is back to make light of your shortcomings, but her insults feel like diluted copies of familiar quips, lacking the clever tongue-lashings that she used to so easily dish out. She’s there to greet you with an insult at the beginning of some stages, and then you’re left on your own in a bleak and bland test chamber. Periodic cutscenes borrow familiar artifacts from previous games, but do little with these props other than make you fondly remember happier days. During one such segment, a picture of Portal’s famous cake appears on a computer screen while an instrumental version of „Still Alive“ plays over the loudspeakers. This scene means nothing if you aren’t familiar with that game…and it’s just a quick nostalgia jab for those who are.
As the name implies, Bridge Constructor Portal has you building a series of bridges in the facility made famous in Portal. The goal is to guide a self-driving forklift full of cute little stick figures from the entry point to a faraway exit–all while avoiding turrets, leaping over acidic lakes, and triggering switches. Building a bridge is no easy task, though; physics are a constant and punishing presence, forcing you to consider the impact of gravity as you build rickety structures. With only metal planks and guy-wires to hold your contraptions in place, you have to make smart use of your materials to ensure that the entire structure doesn’t topple as soon as you begin.
A handy „best practices“ tutorial teaches you the fundamentals of architecture. Build a series of triangles, for instance, to hold a bridge in place, or affix an arch to add even more support for your road. Bolts in the ceilings and walls can bear a lot of weight if you hook guy-wires up to connecting points, but make sure you balance the bridge properly, or it’s still going to cause your forklift to crash and burn as soon as it lays its wheel upon the road.
All of the techniques you need are doled out slowly, so it’s easy to get a handle on what the game is demanding of you. While you start out building simple ramps and roadways, you’re soon sculpting hundred-piece structures that dangle impossibly high in the air. The early going is tense: I would hold my breath as the forklift sauntered across my swaying bridge, hoping that the guy-wires were strong enough to carry the weight. My forklift would often land on a bridge from too high a distance, and I would watch helplessly as it all toppled to the ground. Then it was a matter of going back to work, adding a few more supports and tweaking the angle of ramps, before once again testing my creation.
It doesn’t take long, though, before you’ve seen all of the obstacles Bridge Constructor Portal can dish out. Once you’ve mastered suspension bridges, oscillating bridges, and angles of incidence, the stages force you to go through the motions to show–once more–the tricks you already learned. The game tries to keep things fresh by injecting obstacles and items from the original Portal game into this one; you’ll encounter talking turrets, companion cubes, speed goo, death lasers, bounce pads, flying balls, and (of course) portals. Later levels throw all of these into a single stage, but that only makes the experience more tedious, not more interesting.
The game often confuses complexity with fun, as throwing in more moving pieces doesn’t mean you’re going to have to think harder.
Bridge Constructor Portal is at its best when it focuses on one or two key ideas. Figuring out how to use a companion cube as a shield to block the laser attacks from a turret took enough clever construction that I was satisfied when my forklift glided gracefully through the exit. But the game often confuses complexity with fun, as throwing in more moving pieces doesn’t mean you’re going to have to think harder. Rather, it means you’re going to spend most of your time making small adjustments, wallowing in small details instead of appreciating the greater whole that surrounds you.
The best part of puzzle games is figuring out how to overcome a tricky obstacle. That’s the easiest and shortest aspect of Bridge Constructor Portal, though. Long after you’ve devised a way through the portals, off the bouncing pads, and past the lasers, you’re fiddling around with one small part of the contraption that is close, but oh so far, from the necessary perfection.
A lot of the tedium comes from how editing works. In test chamber 49, for instance, I had to guide my forklift through a series of portals on the right side of the screen while crashing into turrets from behind, and hitting a button that would release a companion cube on the left side. The cube is supposed to knock down three more turrets and hit a switch that opens the exit. The problem is that I couldn’t quite get the angle needed to guide the cube to its destination. So I would tweak a ramp, start the level up, and then wait 30 or so seconds until the forklift hit that switch to release the companion cube. Then, I would watch the cube fall, see where my mistake was, and move a ramp a few more pixels to try to get it in the right spot. And then… I’d start the whole process again. Tweak, wait 30 seconds, tweak, wait 30 seconds, tweak. There’s no way to start a run from a certain point to iterate on the one problem area, so I went back and forth with this project for a half hour until I finally got it right.
And then the game crashed.
From beginning to end, it took me about an hour to pass test chamber 49. Most of the later stages take 30 minutes or longer to get right, and some took even more than an hour. Losing my progress after spending so much time constructing the perfect series of ramps and bridges was maddening. But I had no time to pout: I jumped right back into test chamber 49, moving quicker than my first time through, and got my trusty companion cube to knock down the turrets and trigger the exit door in about 20 minutes.
And then I ran into an even bigger problem.
Test chamber 50 is much easier than the previous stage, but I experienced a bug every time I reached the exit that forced the game to crash to the Switch OS. I tried to save my work before exiting, crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t have to start from the beginning if the game crashed again–but the save function failed consistently, too. So I never got beyond test chamber 50, and never saw the last 10 challenges.
Obviously, a game-breaking bug is a serious problem, but I was tired of Bridge Constructor Portal long before my progress was abruptly halted. This game falls short in just about every area; an amusing story or eye-catching visual design could have at least distracted from the dull puzzles, but you get no reprieve here. The game doesn’t even feature any music while you’re building the many bridges. Long after you’ve figured out how to pass a stage, you’re still left tinkering with minute portions, adjusting ramps by mere pixels at a time, crossing your fingers that you landed on the exact angle needed to guide a companion cube or bounce a ball of light toward the wall trigger. Instead of testing your puzzle-solving ability, Bridge Constructor Portal just sees how long you can withstand tedium before you want to walk away from the whole endeavor.
We’re absolutely thrilled to share the news with you that Deep Rock Galactic, our co-op first, dwarven mining FPS is officially available as a console launch exclusive on Xbox Game Preview! In celebration of this momentous day, we thought we’d fill you in on where our intergalactic mining operation is now, and all the epic plans we have for the development of Deep Rock Galactic leading up to full commercial launch.
Deep Rock Galactic has come a long way since we first began recruiting hardy mining dwarfs in Closed Alpha in 2016. We’ve added ridiculous amount of new content to bring you the polished product now available on Xbox Game Preview, with highlights being:
Seven vastly different Biomes with new minerals and lots of new cave content,
Two new mission types (the supremely satisfying ‘Egg Hunt’ and the self explanatory ‘Kill’ missions.)
We’ve added ‘Bosco,’ the all-purpose-drone, your personal assistant if wish to take on the terrors of Hoxxes solo.
Basic Vanity Shop where you can buy new armors, hats and beards!
Lots of new one-lines for our dwarven heroes, and new Mission Control lines
Lots of new music tracks to set the mood
Many, many performance and stability improvements.
Now onto the good stuff: our grand plans for Game Preview! We have huge ambitions for Deep Rock Galactic, and can’t wait to start introducing all of our ideas.
We’re looking to add more creepy encounters in the caves, including new enemies, new alien flora, and maybe a boss encounter. You’ll meet new classes of dwarves in addition to the Driller, Engineer, Gunner and Scout, each with their own roles and gear. Tackle new mission types, as the corporate overlords at Deep Rock Galactic have a long list of cruel and unusual tasks they will assign. You’ll even be able to open up the sealed off areas of the Space Rig, with the Abyss Bar being high on that list. Finally, we will also continue to develop and expand the ways in which you can level up and customise your mighty mining dwarf, including the all-important cosmetic upgrades.
We have huge plans for Deep Rock Galactic, and we need you, the Xbox Community, to help us make these dreams a reality. The new content listed above is just the beginning, we want to know what you would like to see from the continued development of Deep Rock Galactic, so get playing, and let us know what you think!
Epic Games is squading up with Twitch Prime to bring you the Fortnite Twitch Prime Pack! Starting Feb. 28, Twitch Prime subscribers will be able to grab a pack of exclusive Fortnite loot.
That’s …
Exclusive Battle Royale Havoc Outfit & Back Bling: Style on friend and foe with the Havoc outfit and his Back Bling..
Exclusive Battle Royale Sub Commander Outfit & Slipstream Glider: Navigate the battlefield in the Sub Commander Outfit and Slipstream Glider.
Exclusive Save the World Heroes: Even the mighty Smasher won’t stand a chance against Havoc and Sub Commando Jonesy.
Twitch Chat Emotes: Join the Fortnite community and show your pride with 4 exclusive Twitch chat emotes.
All of this loot is free as a benefit for Twitch Prime subscribers.
We’re very excited to announce Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, a tactical adventure game that combines the turn-based combat of XCOM with story, exploration, stealth, and strategy.
The game will be hitting Xbox One in 2018. Today we’re excited to share the first bits of information along with the first screenshots and the cinematic reveal Trailer.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is developed by The Bearded Ladies, a Sweden-based team of developers that include former leads on the Hitman games and Ulf Andersson, the designer of the megahit Payday. The game is being published by Funcom.
You will take control of a team of Mutants exploring a post-human Earth, navigating crumbling highways, abandoned cities, and overgrown countryside. Nature is slowly reclaiming the planet, the humans are gone, and the Mutants have risen – some of them good, some of them not so good. You and your team of Mutants must survive the Zone and, with a little luck, succeed in your mission: finding the legendary Eden.
Your team is made up by some rather unique characters. Dux has an uncanny ability to sneak into a camp full of enemies unnoticed, despite being a 4-foot tall walking, talking duck with a crossbow. Bormin is a boar with an anger problem, which could come in handy when you need to break down a fortified door. These are but two of the unlikely heroes that will make up your team of Mutants.
In addition to a deep, turn-based combat system inspired by the popular XCOM games, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden presents you with an engaging story that you will unravel as you explore the world in real-time. Stealth is also a key ingredient in the game, and you can sneak through shadows to avoid conflict or to catch enemies unaware. This gives you full control of approach: sneak into an enemy camp, position the team to your advantage, and gain the element of surprise.
Thank you for having a look at this first early reveal of the game. Keep your eyes peeled, as we have more cool stuff to show you soon!
We’ve kept it under wraps far too long and we simply can’t take it any longer. Now we can finally spill the beans. TwitchCon is bringing the party back to NorCal in 2018 and this time we’re coming to San Jose, CA. It’s our biggest event of the year and you’re invited.
It’s all going down October 26–28th at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and oh boy, do we have a crazy weekend lined up. In fact, once again we have the entire convention center all to ourselves. San Jose, we hope you like purple.
To help you get your TwitchCon travel plans settled right now, a limited number of reduced-rate hotel rooms right near the convention center are available. You can take advantage of these deals by booking through the link at TwitchCon.com. Rooms at this special rate are available on a first-come, first-served basis so book early to make sure you get the best price.
We will, of course, have all kinds of TwitchCon 2018 news for you in the months ahead. We’ve got big plans for San Jose, so stay tuned to the Twitch blog and our social channels for the latest news as it’s announced.
What’s going to be Portal in Bridge Constructor Portal?
You might ask yourself this question just as we did when we started to work on this game. Of course, we chose the Aperture Science Laboratories as the game’s setting to bring up good old memories. Also, GLaDOS had to be there to accompany and support the players in her typically charming way.
We also thought it would be paramount to expand the aspect of puzzle solving. In addition to getting creative with your constructions, we wanted the whole level layout to become a puzzle, just like in the Portal games.
The Aperture Science test chambers really did the perfect job here: first of all, by placing several pairs of portals we were able to create complex and unusual, often even intersecting passages for the test vehicles.
We also filled the chambers with lots of fun Aperture Science technologies like catapults, bouncing gels, buttons and doors, cubes and energy pellets. In many cases, several of these mechanics are connected to each other, challenging players to figure out how to operate them and open up the way to the chamber’s exit.
So, in addition to building bridges and ramps for the vehicles, players might need to do the following: Build an angled construction to redirect an energy pellet to a switch, that makes a cube dispenser drop a cube, that needs to be transported with a slide-like construction to a button in order to deactivate a laser field, that is blocking the way. Yeah, Rube Goldberg style!
We are very happy that Bridge Constructor Portal comes to Xbox One today on February 28! We would also like to thank all fans of the Bridge Constructor games for their immense support in the last couple of years. Without all of you, we would never have had the chance to work on this beloved project.
2018 is shaping up to be a great year for Gwent! Even though the game is still in beta, players have already put a vast number of hours either playing it casually or taking it to the competitive scene.
We’ve also got to experience some amazing and skillful battles over the course of Gwent Masters – our ongoing official eSports series – and we can’t wait to see who gets the title of first ever World Champion.
But you don’t need to be a professional gamer to enjoy Gwent! Up until now, certain units were tied to one specific faction out of the available five — Monsters, Nilfgaard, Scoia’tael, Northern Realms and Skellige. It’s time to switch things up and give you a fresh perspective on The Witcher Card Game. To do that, we bring you to the Arena!
In this mode, you enter the mysterious realm of Master Mirror, whom players already had an occasion to meet as one of the most prominent characters in Hearts of Stone – one of two big expansions released for The Witcher 3.
This time, he offers you a challenge – create a deck drafted from randomly chosen cards and use it to win a series of battles. To make matters even more interesting – in accordance to the rule set of this new mode, there are absolutely no limits in available units.
They can be drafted out of every faction and regardless of whether or not you already unlocked them. This makes it a great way to learn cards and mechanics for new players who might have not had the time to assemble a large army just yet.
If you’re already familiar with Gwent, your creativity and ability to think of ways to integrate random cards into your play become your strongest feat.
You need to think outside the box as every battle is completely different. Both you and your opponent carry a unique deck of cards, the usual combinations can be outside the realm of possibilities and the next move is almost impossible to predict.
No match feels alike, as new strategies need to be crafted during each and every battle to best utilize your current hand. Gwent’s array of cards truly covers a lot of ground when it comes to possible playstyles and offers a lot of options for both veterans and newcomers to The Witcher Card Game.
Naturally, Arena comes with unique rewards.
Winning battles against other players will net you prizes and the more players you outsmart, the bigger those prizes will be. Only you can gauge if you’re ready for the next battle against an army where the Wild Hunt joins forces with the clans of Skellige, Elven Archers march next to Nilfgaardian Knights, and mages use their abilities to heal mighty dragons.
Are you up to the challenge? The Arena awaits!
We are giving away three free Arena tickets! Simply log into Gwent during Arena’s launch week to receive your reward. After that period, you will still be able to receive one free Arena ticket by logging into the game. See you on the battlefield!
SoulCalibur VI’s roster is growing rapidly. While last year’s announcement was only headlined by series veterans Mitsurugi and Sophitia, they were swiftly joined by Kilk, Xianghua, Nightmare and new fighter Grøh. And late last week, familiar faces Ivy and Zasalamel were revealed to be returning the stage of history.
Those last two sadly weren’t part of a preview build I had hands on with earlier in the week. But I did manage to spend several hours putting the rest of the currently announced roster through their paces and try out the new game’s mechanics.
Here’s 12 random observations from an evening with the returning fighting franchise.
1.There are so many memorable one liners
Not that Soul Calibur ever flirted with realism, but VI favors – consciously or not – fabulous one liners that have the soul of the 80s action movie era.
New man Grohl’s an early quotable favorite. His taunt (kick + block) goes from whisper to roar: “I have… THE ANSWER”. Then there’s his pre-fight hope of a decent match (“Try and resist your inevitable fate”) and mid-fight anger at his opponent not offering a challenge (“curse your weakness”).
Even the round commentator can’t help himself. Take his intro to the snow-covered stage for example: “A single slash can even cut the frozen air in two”.
2. Reversal Edge is a risky rock, paper, scissors duel that can go either way
Available to either fighter at any time during a match, Reversal Edge is a risky QTE-style attack. Here’s why: it takes a few seconds to charge, it needs to connect to initiate and it can be blocked. And even if you do land a successful strike, the move doesn’t necessarily favor its initiator.
Strike and a cut scene kicks in: both players have a second to tap an input, be that an attack or dodge command. Weapon reach and attack angle both dictate whether one fighter will have the advantage and land a hit, or whether a weapon clash forces a stalemate.
3. You can shatter multiple armor parts off your opponent
Every character has multiple pieces of armor (or clothing) that can be destroyed through a powerful combo called a Lethal Hit. The effect’s cosmetic, but permanent. A shameful reminder the battle’s not going your way.
4. Nightmare should leave his helmet off during fights
Shattering Nightmare’s helmet with a Lethal Hit reveals an untarnished and familiar face beneath: the long haired Siegfried. Confirmation then that not only is the franchise veteran once more host to the Soul Edge, but that his corrupted and mutated persona should keep the helmet off: it’s a badass look. Here’s hoping it becomes an alternate costume.
5. Alternate costumes are worth switching out the defaults for
Alternate costumes are color palette swaps that – in my eyes – work much better than the defaults. Grøh gets an all-white outfit coupled with a rose gold gauntlet, Nightmare ice blue armor plating and matching color light trails from his glowing eyes.
6. Where SoulCalibur VI sit in the series timeline: the Beard theory
As the Soul Calibur franchise continued, samurai sword-wielding warrior Mitsurugi gradually became a grizzled, bearded vet. In SCVI, the beard’s gone, and our favorite fighter looks practically baby-faced. Does SCVI skip backwards in the franchise timeline, or is this just how fresh-faced you look after buzzing off the facial fuzz?
7. Fighters’ shared histories add story flourishes to SCVI’s fights
Perform a throw on Kilik as Xianghua, and she’ll apologise as grapples him. Fight Nightmare as Kilik, and the bo staff master will grip his heart in pain in the pre-match preamble, affected as he is by the lure of Soul Edge. Little touches like this help flesh out the connections between the roster.
8. You’ll get a Soul Charge buff if you’re losing
Lost two rounds in a row? The game will automatically fill one level of your two-tier Soul Charge (stationed by the round timer at the top middle of the screen). This auto-buff is to give you a fighting chance. Soul Charge is important to match flow, as it allows you to activate Fury mode (back and R2, briefly super-charging your standard attacks) or perform your character-specific Critical Edge
9. Stages have different layouts
The Stage Select screen offers a top-down view of your selected level. If the two stages from the preview build are anything to go by, expect a variety of different layouts that could provide strategic advantages.
10. The replay camera can be controlled
The round winner gets control of the replay camera, letting you pan round the arena or tap a button to focus in on a specific fighter.
11. Grøh offers instant gratification when playing him
It’s easy to pull off some flashy combos with SCVI’s new combatant from the off. His weapon(s) is dual swords joined at the hilts, which detach and can land individual hits during particular combos. He’s instantly showy in the way Kilik was way back in the original Soul Calibur, and like the bo staff master, this guy’s move set will be worth digging into come release.
Hello, PlayStation fans! My name is Michael Kelly, a producer and designer here at Question. We’re a small independent studio made up of former AAA veterans who worked together on games such as the BioShock series and Dishonored, as well as our indie debut The Magic Circle. Today I’m thrilled to finally announce our next game, The Blackout Club, a cooperative horror mystery coming out next year for PS4!
In The Blackout Club, up to four players become a team of teenage investigators uncovering a monstrous secret at the heart of their quiet community. Like many of our favorite horror movies and shows in the “teens vs. monsters” genre, we love vulnerable heroes working together to survive a harrowing journey into the unknown. Unlike those beloved movies, though, we put you directly in the protagonists’ sneakers to solve the mystery together with your friends.
The Blackout Club follows a group of teens who bond over a shared secret. They’ve all been temporarily losing consciousness — sometimes for days at a time — and waking up in strange places with no memory of what they’ve been doing. During one such blackout, a friend of theirs mysteriously vanishes. No one believes them — not the police, not their teachers… not even their parents. The club’s only recourse is to launch an investigation on their own.
Together, they pull on a series of threads that hint at a grand conspiracy that may or may not have supernatural origins. The teens coordinate to elude detection as they search for their missing friend and investigate the cause of their uncontrollable blackouts. And yet, caution is not always enough; each teammate must put themselves in harm’s way to capture video evidence of their tormentors’ plans so they can expose their dark agenda to the world at large.
Unlike most games where you fulfill a typical power fantasy, the members of The Blackout Club aren’t strong enough to confront adults directly. Engaging in combat by yourself is a dangerous proposition with perilous consequences. There is strength in numbers, though, so cooperation is key. Your team will need to improvise ways to overcome challenges and operate as a pack, using hit-and-run tactics to outwit your foes.
You will have a variety of items and abilities to customize your loadouts and balance different play-styles with your team, including direct assault, ghostly stealth, and resourceful hacker. Do you want to specialize in loud, riotous diversions or cleverly-concealed traps? As you complete more missions, you will level up your characters and unlock new abilities and customizations. If you survive long enough, you might even discover the mysterious source of your blackouts — and the hidden talents locked behind them.
In The Blackout Club, you can drop in and out of a session with your friends for a single mission, or several in a row. Each mission takes place in the kids’ own neighborhood and the bizarre network of tunnels hidden below the surface. An ever-changing variety of procedural elements populate the world, including enemy encounters, discoverable loot, and a range of objectives, making each night different than the last. Internally, we think of the experience as “the horror next door.” If you dare, you’ll explore a familiar modern community, and the twisted truth beneath it.
We would love to hear what you think about The Blackout Club and can’t wait to share more with you soon! Check out the new teaser trailer above and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date about Question and The Blackout Club.
February is nearly over, which spells the beginning of another Players’ Choice vote! Players’ Choice is a way for PlayStation fans to recognize the very best games on PlayStation platforms.
Last month, Monster Hunter World captivated PlayStation fans and managed 50% of the overall vote. Who will take the crown in February? That’s up to you!
Read on for more details on Players’ Choice, or scroll down to cast your vote. The poll closes on Sunday!
How does it work? On the last day of every month, PlayStation.Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. Seven days later, we’ll close the polls and announce the winner on PlayStation.Blog. PlayStation Store will also showcase some top Players’ Choice winners will throughout the year.
What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? In keeping with our long tradition in the Game of the Year Awards, remastered or re-released games won’t qualify. Larger-scale rebuilds and remakes like Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will.
How are nominees decided? The PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation Store editorial teams will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. Write-in votes will be accepted.
Time to get started! Tell us: what was the best game of January 2018?
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