GamesBeat is reporting that the next Battlefield game is called Battlefield V and that it take place during World War II.

Citing sources familiar with the project, the report claims that the next Battlefield game has previously internally been referred to as Battlefield 2 due to it being a direct follow-up to the World War Iera title, Battlefield 1. However, a supposed leaked screenshot from the game's title menu - which has made its way to Reddit - along with the information from these unnamed sources seems to indicate that the current developer build of the game is being referred to as Battlefield V. 

If the next Battlefield game does take place during World War II, it will be the first time since 2009 that a main Battlefield entry has ventured to that particular time period (Battlefield 1943). Of course, long-time fans of the franchise will remember that Battlefield began as Battlefield 1942; a critically-acclaimed military shooter that famously allowed for up to 64 players to wage war. 

We have reached out to Electronic Arts for comment and will update this article if we receive an official statement regarding these reports. 

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As for the possibility that Battlefield could return to World War II...well, it does seem like a likely move. All reports indicate that Battlefield 1 was a tremendous success. The latest figures even suggest that the game has surpassed 25 million players. Furthermore, Battlefield 1 was met with largely positive critical acclaim as both critics and fans remarked how the series' move to a more familiar style of Battlefield combat helped the franchise feel fresh once again following attempts to convert the series into a sci-fi shooter and a cops and robbers affair. 

So while this news is currently speculative, we wouldn't be surprised if the official confirmation reveals that the Battlefield series has returned to its World War II roots. Of course, we still wouldn't mind if all this turns out to be a ruse to cover up the impending reveal of Battlefield: Bad Company 3. 

Sony Interactive Entertainment is undergoing some corporate restructuring designed to emphasize and foster the development of more first-party video games. 

During a recent press conference, the studio outlined what changes they are making and how they will affect the direction of the company moving forward. Starting on April 1st, the chairman of Worldwide Studios and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shawn Layden, will shift more of his focus towards Worldwide Studios in order to help them continue to "provide platform-defining content that helps drive the growth of SIE." In other words, it sounds like he's going to be Sony's point man as it concerns overall development strategies amongst Sony's various game development studios. 

As for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it seems that Jim Ryan, deputy president and head of global sales and marketing at SIE, will assume more duties related to Sony Interactive's other interests. He'll be joined by John Kodera who will help oversee the various regions and branches of the company. 

So what does all this mean for you, the gamer who is just patiently waiting to hear more about Bloodborne 2? Well, that's where things potentially get very interesting. 

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Take a look at the full list of Sony's first-party development studios. That list includes heavy hitters like Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, and Guerrilla Games. Based on the information we've gathered from Sony's press conference, it seems like studios such as these will receive more attention, potentially more resources, and should generally be looked at as Sony's primary weapons in the console wars. 

However, you'll notice that there are a few studios not included on that list. Studios like Insomniac Games, Kojima Productions, From Software, Supermassive Games, Ready At Dawn, and Quantic Dream are not officially recognized as first party studios. Now, that could mean nothing, but it could also mean that Sony might not be quite as intent on ensuring that these second-party developers make games exclusively for PS4. 

It's a bit too early to say whether that will prove to be the case, but it will be worth keeping an eye on over the next couple of years. 

If you frequented an arcade at some point in the '80s, you may have stumbled on one of Sega's Space Harrier machines. It was big, it was loud, and one of those games you had to try, even if it was just once: you played a floating, gun-wielding hero who zipped through a surreal landscape, shooting aliens, dragons, robots and one-eyed mammoths. 

One of Sega's earlier "body sensation" games, it was designed by the legendary Yu Suzuki, who would soon go on to use the same psuedo-3D engine to create other classics like OutRun and After Burner.

None of those later games shared Space Harrier's unique brand of fantasy surrealism, and you may have wondered - as we did: why the hell was the hero a floating guy with a massive gun? Quite simply, it was because of a technical limitation. 

Originally, the main sprite was intended to be a fighter jet, which barrel-rolled around the screen and fired missiles. The problem was, such a player-controlled plane would have required far more animation, and so Suzuki and his team designed a character that was more static. This is why the word Harrier remains in the title - it's the last remaining vestige of the old design concept. As for the weird aliens and fantasy theme, that apparently came from Suzuki's affection for the 1984 film, The Neverending Story, with its flying Luck Dragon and so forth.

Much of this has been public knowledge for a while, partly thanks to Retro Gamer magazine and other interviews with Suzuki (via Videogame Densetsu). What's never emerged before now is an image of what an early build of the game looked like. But thanks to a Japanese Twitter user, Naeonami2001, we now have a glimpse of what it would have looked like without the floating dude at the helm:

The image is apparently a snap from an old video, taken at a trade show back in 1985 - back when the game was still in development. What's surprising is that Sega did actually make a build of the game with a Harrier jet in the central role - which suggests that they tried the concept out, realised they couldn't animate it convincingly, and changed the graphics accordingly. It's striking how much less interesting the game looks without the hero in the red shirt floating around as a focal point.

Harrier, the name of the hero, was therefore a fairly late addition; Space Harrier came out in December 1985, so he must have been added only a few months before release. 

Still, the fighter jet concept didn't go to waste. Two years later, Suzuki returned to it with After Burner; though the plane in that was a F-14 Tomcat, the designer finally got to make the combat sim he'd imagined back in 1985.

A mysterious tweet had some fans believing that Blizzard may be interested in porting Diablo III to Nintendo Switch.  

In a late night post, the studio tweeted out a gif of a Diablo themed night light being "switched" on and off. The gif was accompanied by the message "sweet dreams."

Yes, yes, yes...that was pretty thin to begin with. We hear you. Actually, we agree with you. It's entirely possible that this entire thing is nothing more than a Blizzard employee deciding to have a little late night fun. As for that Diablo night light, it's not a new invention. It seems to have been created as a promotional item for Blizzcon. According to Amazon reviewers, it's not even that good of a night light. 

Sure enough, Blizzard has since released a statement to Polygon regarding the tweet and the Switch speculation that states, “We can assure you we’re not that clever,” a spokesperson for Blizzard Entertainment said via email. “[It was] meant to be a fun community engagement piece. We have nothing to announce.”

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Bummer. Still, there is the slimmest cause for genuine hope as it concerns this speculation. A rumor emerged not too long ago that said Blizzard is indeed interested in porting Diablo III to the Nintendo Switch. The rumor even suggested that it will support local play between multiple Switches. At the time, the rumor wasn't really credible enough to consider making more out of. It looks like there might indeed be nothing to make of it. 

Blizzard has name-dropped the Switch - or at least Nintendo - in the past. The company once sent out a much more direct tweet that seemed to indicate their interest in porting Hearthstone to Nintendo's next console. Blizzard has since stated that they no longer intend to do so, but we at least know that the console is on the studio's mind. Considering that Blizzard hasn't ported a game to a Nintendo console in quite some time, that's interesting in and of itself. 

As always, though, we're going to preach caution on this one. As much as we would love to see Diablo III on the Nintendo Switch - it would be a truly amazing way to play the essential game - we're not ready to believe that day will ever come until we receive more official information. 

The call for multiplayer-focused games to include some kind of single-player component is so loud and habitual that you’d think games that actually offer that functionality would be praised far and wide. Yet, Hearthstone’s single-player content has long been the game’s tragically unsung MVP.

In fact, the very first Hearthstone expansion, The Curse of Naxxramas, featured a lengthy single-player "adventure" campaign that sent players deeper into the halls of Naxxramas and beat bosses in order to unlock new cards. Said bosses required players to construct unusual decks designed to exploit the powers and weaknesses of their new A.I. opponents. While we'd later be treated to full Hearthstone expansions (which added about 135 cards to the game as opposed to the 40 or so in adventures), Blizzard would return to the adventure format with 2015's Blackrock Mountain and The League of Explorers and 2016's One Night in Kharazan.

Fans came to love adventure releases not only because they were cheaper than full expansions ($19.99 as opposed to the $49.99 card bundle pre-orders that accompany most expansions), but because they offered something different. Every week for a period of four weeks, a new wing of the adventure's single-player mode would unlock and bring with it exciting bosses, incredible puzzles, and a small stream of new cards that everyone tried to fit into their decks. Simply put, adventure releases were a lot of fun. 

That’s why so many Hearthstone fans were disheartened to learn that the studio was opting to move away from the adventure format in 2017. Instead, Hearthstone's Team 5 development group would release three full expansions throughout the course of the year.

However, Hearthstone’s single-player content was not meant to end there without ceremony. Team 5 revealed its intentions to include some kind of single-player component with each expansion beyond 2017’s first content release. The spirit of Hearthstone adventures would live on as a companion to more traditional expansions. 

According to the game's mission designer, Dave Kosak, that change in release structure was necessary to ensure that Hearthstone fans got the most out of the design team’s efforts.

“We were solving a couple of problems there,” said Kosak of the decision to unify Hearthstone’s release models. “What we found is that when a new full set is released, it had a big impact on the meta. It was super fun, super exciting to collect all the cards, but it was a little hard to tell the story then. You didn’t have a sense of who the characters are or where the place was. Adventures, meanwhile, did a tremendous job of setting up the characters, the mood, the place and everything, but they included significantly fewer cards. They didn’t always have the biggest impact on the meta.”

According to Kosak, Blizzard’s solution to that issue revolved around their desire to have - and give - it all.

“We really wanted to start having the best of both worlds,” said Kosak. “We wanted every release to feel alive and fresh. We wanted more full expansions every year, but we wanted to have that storytelling of adventures in there as well. Knights of the Frozen Throne was the first instance of that.”

2017's Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion was the first to include a full collection of 135 new cards as well as a new single-player adventure. For the most part, that single-player component played out like a traditional Hearthstone adventure. Fight some A.I. bosses, learn to play around their special skills and cards, etc. However, the team knew that what had come before wouldn’t suffice when it came to designing the adventure’s long-awaited battle against the Lich King.

“I'd just come aboard the team when work began on the Knights of the Frozen Throne missions,” said Kosak. “Our whole team wasn’t really ramped up yet, but….it was the Lich King, man! You have to fight the Lich King and we had to have a big boss fight.”

The Lich King boss battle ended up actually being nine separate boss battles - one for each of Hearthstone’s classes. Depending on which class you used to battle the Lich King, he would employ a special dirty trick designed to create puzzle-like scenarios. For instance, Hunters would take damage for every minion in their deck. Mages began the fight with just a single health point to their name.

It was a challenging series of conflicts that demanded deck creation creativity and even better problem-solving skills. According to Kosak, the difficulty of these encounters can partially be attributed to the freedom offered by Hearthstone's new single-player format.

“One thing about the old adventures is...you purchase the adventure and now in order to get all the cards you have to beat all the content,” said Kosak. “That sort of forced us to make sure the content wasn’t too difficult and that everybody could get their cards. Now that they’re separate, we asked, ‘If we could, what would be the most challenging fight we could make?’ That was the genesis of the Lich King fight. If we’re unchained on difficulty, what could we do that would be really challenging and really fun?”

While Team 5 ultimately pulled off a Hearthstone Lich King fight that felt appropriate to the mythical status of that character, the team still felt that more could be done with the game’s missions beyond the tried-and-true series of specialized boss encounters.

“That format works really well for telling a story,” said Kosak of the old-school Hearthstone adventures. “When we’re creating an adventure like that, though, we spend a lot of time creating these adventures, recording all these wonderful voiceovers, bringing in all this great art, and then players would blast through it really fast. That’s when we stepped back and said, ‘If we were to use these development resources, could we make something that is a little more replayable?’ Something that gave you more to do and more bang for your buck.”

That desire became the foundation of Kobolds and Catacombs' Dungeon Run mode. Dungeon Run is a brilliant little twist on the roguelike genre that tasks you with beating a series of randomized encounters and building your deck with cards and abilities you earn from your victories along the way. When you lose, you lose the deck you've built so far and must begin again.

Dungeon Run’s exceedingly clever twist on the roguelike formula makes Hearthstone feel like an entirely new game. That transformation required Team 5 to figure out why roguelikes work and how they can work within Hearthstone.

“We studied roguelikes extensively because we really enjoyed all of those games,” said Kosak. “It turns out that when you say roguelike it’s really just shorthand for design decisions that are related and inherently work out well together. There’s some sort of procedural content and these sort of spikes in difficulty. That’s what leads to these great stories and what makes a roguelike so interesting. That’s what we set out to do with the Dungeon Run.”

When it came to the seemingly impossible task of making a chaotic mode feel relatively balanced, the developers found a surprisingly elegant series of solutions.

“It turns out Dungeon Run wasn’t that hard to balance,” said Kosak. “What we found early on, and we were worried about this, is that if a boss is really difficult, we could just move it later in the dungeon. If a boss turned out to be easy, we just moved it earlier in the dungeon. The difficulty spaced itself out that way and it worked really well. I think in the end, we found a really good balance. It is very challenging, but occasionally you get these runs where you’re the monster of the dungeon. It makes a great story, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Along with its depth and wonderfully chaotic nature, Dungeon Run is notable for its generosity. It allows players to utilize not only cards included in the Kobolds & Catacombs expansion but cards from every other major release as well. That ability for all players to try new cards regardless of whether they opened them in packs is something the mission team wants to continue offering in the future.

“It’s one of the goals of the mission team to expose you to the new mechanics of the set,” said Kosak. “With Frozen Throne, we introduced you to the idea of your hero becoming a death knight, then gave you a death knight card. Here’s the story behind it, here’s the new thing, check out the new hotness. What I like about Dungeon Run is that it’s not just the new Kobolds and Catacombs cards but also key mechanics from lots of other sets so that you kind of get the grand tour of what Hearthstone has been up to. It’s great for returning players who may have missed recent expansions.”

Even though Dungeon Run is deep and entertaining enough to be its own game, Kosak warns that it will likely be forever tied to the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion and that we shouldn’t expect to see it updated in the near future. However, there is hope that the idea itself won’t end there.

“Now that we’ve created that roguelike format and we have the UI for it, that’s really cool for us,” said Kosak. “Our goal with the mission team is we really want to keep surprising players by giving them new things to experience with the lore and theme of each expansion. We have a couple of ways we want to do that and we’ll keep experimenting, but it’s a popular format and I’m certain you’ll see it again in the future in one way or another.”

As for what players can expect from the next Hearthstone expansion’s solo adventure, Team 5 isn’t quite ready to say. However, Kosak did share what the team hopes to accomplish with the next release.

“I guess I’d use the word whimsical,” said Kosak. “That doesn’t mean the theme necessarily, but just that sense of fun that makes you go ‘What was that, I’ve never played Hearthstone like that before.’”

Hearthstone's latest expansion, Kobolds and Catacombs, is out now.

In anticipation of Ready Player One's March 30th theatrical debut, the film's marketing team have begun tweeting out a series of riddles that, when solved, appear to unlock classic arcade games on the Ready Player Onewebsite. 

Yes, it seems that someone has created a Twitter account for James Halliday; the fictional tech tycoon whose death triggers the Easter Egg hunt that serves as the heart of Ready Player One's story. Well, this Twitter version of Halliday has taken to tweeting out some riddles that reference certain classic '80s arcade games. When someone solves the riddle, the answer is added to the growing digital library on the Ready Player One quest page. 

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At present, you can play Joust, Root Beer Tapper, Sinistar, and Robotron 2084 via the online arcade. While a teaser suggests that more games are coming soon, it appears that Halliday's account has gone silent. As such, it's difficult to say whether or not we'll receive any more classic games before the film's March 20th release. 

Still, getting to access a few arcade classics is hardly the worst way to promote a movie that is practically built on pop culture obsession (particularly '80s pop culture obsession). If you're wondering whether any of these games are still worth playing, the answer is "kinda."Rootbeer Tapper remains a somewhat underrated classic while Robotron and Sinistar retain some of their nostalgic allure. As for Joust...well, did anyone ever really like Joust?

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In the event that no more games are added to this collection, we highly recommend that you head over to the good old Internet Archives and browse their considerable library of classic...err...mostly classic games. Along with arcade titles like Qbert, this free collection of browser-based games includes an array of hidden gems, PC classics, and some games that would have probably been better off being lost to history. 

Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to go fail a few more times at Rootbeer Tapper and wonder if our reflex and arcade gaming abilities left us around the same time that our childhood innocence was shattered like so many broken root beer mugs. 

Final Fantasy XIV's next major update will pay homage to Final Fantasy III's most infamous dungeon. 

On March 13th, patch 4.25 will add the Forbidden Land of Eureka to the increasingly popular MMO. Longtime franchise fans will remember that Eureka originally appeared in Final Fantasy III as an optional dungeon that so happened to contain some of the absolute best equipment in the game. Naturally, that means the dungeon also played host to some truly intimidating enemies. 

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The Final Fantasy XIV version of Eureka will pay homage to the spirit of that classic dungeon by rewarding players with unique equipment that can only be found in that zone. In fact, Eureka trades in the traditional level and equipment awards featured in the game's other zones and will instead reward players with the aforementioned gear on top of elemental experience. That elemental experience will be used in conjunction with Eureka's new customizable Magia Board mechanic. Basically, the Magia Board lets you tweak the elemental strengths of your characters and ensure that you're able to take advantage of the elemental weaknesses of the zone's enemies. 

You're going to want to master those new mechanics if you have any hope of surviving the massive Eureka zone and the 144 simultaneous players it supports. Needless to say, that many people questing at once are going to lead to some interesting scenarios. 

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Said scenarios are going to be further complicated by the fact that death in Eureka can mean the permanent loss of your elemental upgrades. Unless someone resurrects you within 10 minutes of your death, your character will lose all their acquired elemental experience. 

As much as we would have loved to see an epic Final Fantasy XIV raid based on Eureka, this is a pretty interesting interpretation of the concept that feels like it's going to add quite a bit of content to the game. 

This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

These days, things like realistic animation and performance capture are a common sight in videogames - games as varied as L.A. Noire, The Last Of Us and Beyond: Two Souls all use mo-cap and actors to create their uncannily lifelike character movements. But 30 years ago, squeezing smooth, convincing animation into a computer was a far trickier proposition.

For its time, the 1987 fighting game International Karate + (often abbreviated to IK+) looked stunning. Designed by British programmer Archer MacLean, and a sequel to his own International Karate, it allowed one or two players to fight one another in a fast, smooth virtual tournament. Although its design was inspired by earlier games of its type, including Data East's Karate Champ arcade machine and the 1985 brawler Way Of The Exploding Fist, IK+ was faster and smoother than either title, and, in a first for a fighting game, also saw a third opponent enter into the fray.

(Oh, and there was also a rather cheeky hidden Easter egg: pressing a button on the keyboard made the combatants' trousers fall down. Now there's something you never got in the Street Fighter franchise.)

To get the fighters performing their punches, kicks and flips so smoothly, MacLean employed a technique that was pioneered in animation's early years: rotoscoping. In a nutshell, rotoscoping involves tracing over live-action footage to create natural-looking movement in animated characters; one of the most famous examples of this technique can be seen in Disney's 1937 classic, Snow White And The Seven Dwarves. Animators like Max Fleischer and Ralph Bakshi also adopted the technique to impressive effect.

In the new realm of videogames, designer Jordan Mechner had used rotoscoping for his own fighting game earlier in the decade; for 1984's Karateka, Mechner drew over images of his karate teacher to create some of the most impressive videogame animation yet seen. It's a technique he'd use to even greater effect in the 1989 action adventure, Prince Of Persia, where its characters moved with uncanny realism through a maze of 2D platforms. 

For IK+, MacLean came up with his own simple yet ingenious method of capturing live-action footage, as he explains in Read Only Memory's book, Britsoft:

"I found myself jumping around at home doing my own karate moves, because I did some at university, videotaping it then slow mo-ing it. The trick was how you got that into the computer. It seemed fairly simply to me to put cellophane over the screen and resize the TV picture [...] Then I just freeze-framed and drew an outline around it on the cellophane, then advanced the tape three more frames, and drew it again."

These outlines on cellophane were then recreated in a software package called NEOchrome, one pixel at a time.

There were, however, a couple of moves too difficult for MacLean to pull off himself: a backflip and a fancy-looking split kick, where a fighter could knock down both opponents in one swoop. For these, MacLean dusted off a couple of VHS tapes. One was the 1978 musical Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and the other was The Cannonball Run, the 1981 action comedy starring Burt Reynolds and Jackie Chan.

The backflip was traced from one of the final sequences in Grease, where a dancer can be seen performing the move straight across the screen. The dancer's small and in the distance - largely crowded out by John Travolta, selfishly hogging the shot - but you can just about see him bust his move around 4:20 into the clip below.

The split-kick, meanwhile, came from Jackie Chan's fight sequence in The Cannonball Run - if you watch the clip below at the 38 second mark, you'll see it for yourself:

Released first for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, before appearing on the Atari ST and Amiga the following year, IK+ was widely praised for the flow of its combat and - of course - the quality of its graphics and animation. Even today, the characters' movements look convincingly fluid:

One of the most impressive and acclaimed fighting games of its day, IK+ did much to popularise the fighting game genre, at least until the seminal Street Fighter II, with its anime-style graphics and complex move-set, came along in 1991.

Back in the 80s, when players were happily gathered round their computers playing IK+, they were blissfully unaware that a couple of the game's most impressive moves owed a debt to two very different films.

Oh, and the advertising for IK+ also cribbed from the movies, with one face on one version of the cover looking uncannily like Steven Seagal... 

A year after Pong invaded homes all over America, there were already clear signs that the video game industry was here to stay. In 1973, another major pillar of gaming was released, one you might remember fondly from the arcade: Atari's Space Invaders, one of the first shooting games ever made. The game tasks you with taking down waves of aliens before they can destroy your city. It's not the fast-paced bullet hell you've come to expect nowadays, but Space Invaders is an important precursor to all of the different shooting games we enjoy today. In 2018, Space Invaders turns 45. 

Mario Bros., Star Fox, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Call of Duty, StarCraft, and Doomare only a few of the other classic titles that are celebrating milestone anniversaries this year. Below, you can find a complete list of the big video game anniversaries of 2018. 

Put a party hat on, pull out all of your old consoles, and, if you've been playing video games for a few decades, crack open a beer. Here are the gaming anniversaries of 2018:

January

30th Anniversary

January 1988 - Super Contra is released by Konami.

20th Anniversary

January 21, 1998 - Resident Evil 2 is released by Capcom.

January 28, 1998 - Final Fantasy Tactics is released by Square in North America.

January 29, 1998 - Panzer Dragoon Saga is released by Sega.

15th Anniversary

January 25, 2003 - Devil May Cry 2 is released by Capcom.

10th Anniversary

January 22, 2008 - No More Heroes is released by Nintendo.

January 31, 2008 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl is released by Nintendo.

January 31, 2008 - Devil May Cry 4 is released by Capcom.

5th Anniversary

January 15, 2013 - DmC: Devil May Cry is released by Capcom.

February

30th Anniversary

February 10, 1988 - Dragon Quest III is released by Enix.

25th Anniversary

February 1993 - Star Wars: X-Wingis released by LucasArts.

February 21, 1993 - Star Fox is released by Nintendo.

20th Anniversary

February 11, 1998 - Xenogears is released by Squaresoft.

February 24, 1998 - Gex: Enter the Gecko is released by Midway.

February 28, 1998 - Star Wars: Rebellion is released by LucasArts.

15th Anniversary

February 14, 2003 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance SP.

February 14, 2003 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is released by Square.

February 15, 2003 - Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is released by Konami.

February 24, 2003 - Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb is released by LucasArts.

10th Anniversary

February 4, 2008 - Sins of a Solar Empire is released by Stardock.

February 12, 2008 - Lost Odyssey is released by Microsoft.

5th Anniversary

February 5, 2013 - Dead Space 3 is released by Electronic Arts.

February 19, 2013 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is released by Konami.

March

45th Anniversary

March 19, 1973 - Konami enters video game industry.

25h Anniversary

March 26, 1993 - Kirby’s Adventure is released by Nintendo.

20th Anniversary

March 10, 1998 - Yoshi’s Story is released by Nintendo in North America.

March 29, 1998 - Parasite Eve is released by Square.

March 31, 1998 - StarCraft is released by Blizzard.

15th Anniversary

March 9, 2003 - Sonic Advance 2 is released by Sega.

March 11, 2003 - Mega Man & Bass is released by Capcom.

March 13, 2003 - Final Fantasy X-2 is released by Square Enix.

March 19, 2003 - Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are released by Nintendo.

March 24, 2003 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is released by Nintendo.

10th Anniversary

March 24, 2008 - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is released by Square Enix.

5th Anniversary

March 19, 2013 - Gears of War: Judgmentis released by Microsoft.

March 20, 2013 - Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is released by Nintendo.

March 26, 2013 - BioShock Infinite is released by 2K Games.

April

25th Anniversary

April 1, 1993 - The 7th Guest is released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment.

April 3, 1993 - Mortal Kombat II is released by Midway.

10th Anniversary

April 10, 2008 - Mario Kart Wii is released by Nintendo.

April 29, 2008 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released by Rockstar Games.

5th Anniversary

April 9, 2013 - Guacamelee! is released by DrinkBox Studios.

May

20th Anniversary

May 12, 1998 - Gran Turismo is released by Sony.

May 22, 1998 - Unreal is released by GT Interactive.

15th Anniversary

May 2, 2003 - Mega Man Zero 2 is released by Capcom.

May 6, 2003 - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrowis released by Konami.

May 23, 2003 - Silent Hill 3 is released by Konami.

May 27, 2003 - Brute Force is released by Microsoft.

June

40th Anniversary

June 1978 - Space Invaders is released by Taito.

35th Anniversary

June 1, 1983 - Mario Bros. is released by Nintendo.

June 16, 1983 - Microsoft releases the MSX console.

June 23, 1983 - Dragon’s Lairis released by Cinematronics.

30th Anniversary

June 1988 - Metal Gear arrives to North America for the NES.

June 1, 1988 - John Madden Football is released by Electronic Arts.

25th Anniversary

June 6, 1993 - The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is released by Nintendo.

June 25, 1993 - Day of the Tentacle is released by LucasArts.

20th Anniversary

June 11, 1998 - X-Men vs. Street Fighter is released by Capcom.

June 29, 1998 - Banjo-Kazooie is released by Nintendo.

15th Anniversary

June 26, 2003 - Star Wars Galaxies is released by LucasArts.

June 26, 2003 - Viewtiful Joe is released by Capcom.

10th Anniversary

June 12, 2008 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is released by Konami.

5th Anniversary

June 5, 2013 - State of Decay is released by Microsoft.

June 14, 2013 - The Last of Us is released by Sony.

July

45th Anniversary

July 16, 1973 - Atari releases its second game, Space Race.

40th Anniversary

July 22, 1978 - SNK enters the video game industry.

July 25, 1978 - Koei enters the video game industry.

35th Anniversary

July 1983 - Bomberman is released by Hudson Soft.

July 15, 1983 - Nintendo releases the Famicom console.

July 15, 1983 - Sega releases the SG-1000 console.

30th Anniversary

July 1988 - Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.

July 20, 1988 - Bionic Commando is remade by Capcom for home consoles.

15th Anniversary

July 1, 2003 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is released by Blizzard.

July 15, 2003 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is released by LucasArts.

July 17, 2003 - Mega Man X7 is released by Capcom.

July 28, 2003 - Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour is released by Nintendo.

August

30th Anniversary

August 1988 - Altered Beast is released by Sega.

25th Anniversary

August 1993 - Daytona USA is released by Sega.

August 6, 1993 - Secret of Mana is released by Square.

20th Anniversary

August 21, 1998 - Tom Clancy’s Rainbox Six is released by Red Storm Entertainment.

August 31, 1998 - Mega Man Legends is released by Capcom.

10th Anniversary

August 6, 2008 - Braid is released by Number None.

September

25th Anniversary

September 6, 1993 - Master of Orion is released by MicroProse.

September 23, 1993 - Sonic CD is released by Sega.

September 24, 1993 - Myst is released by Broderbund.

20th Anniversary

September 1998 - Dance Dance Revolution is released by Konami.

September 9, 1998 - Spyro the Dragon is released by Sony.

September 28, 1998 - Pokemon Red and Blue are released in North America by Nintendo.

September 30, 1998 - Fallout 2 is released by Interplay.

15th Anniversary

September 12, 2003 - Valve launches Steam.

September 17, 2003 - Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is released by LucasArts.

10th Anniversary

September 16, 2008 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is released by LucasArts.

September 22, 2008 - Mega Man 9 is released by Capcom.

5th Anniversary

September 4, 2013 - Outlast is released by Red Barrels.

September 10, 2013 - Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is released by Frictional Games.

September 17, 2013 - Grand Theft Auto V is released by Rockstar Games.

October

40th Anniversary

October 1978 - Namco releases its first arcade game, Gee Bee.

30th Anniversary

October 1988 - Ninja Gaiden is released by Tecmo.

October 9, 1988 - The North American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (originally Doki Doki Panic in Japan) is released by Nintendo.

October 23, 1988 - Super Mario Bros. 3is released in Japan by Nintendo.

October 29, 1988 - Sega releases the Genesis home console.

25th Anniversary

October 1993 - Virtua Fighteris released by Sega.

October 7, 1993 - Ridge Racer is released by Namco.

20th Anniversary

October 20, 1998 - Metal Gear Solid is released by Konami.

October 21, 1998 - Turok 2: Seeds of Evilis released by Acclaim Entertainment.

October 21, 1998 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy Color handheld console.

October 30, 1998 - Grim Fandango is released by LucasArts.

15th Anniversary

October 14, 2003 - Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is released by Rockstar Games.

October 21, 2003 - Castlevania: Lament of Innocence is released by Konami.

October 21, 2003 - Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is released by Microsoft.

October 28, 2003 - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is released by Ubisoft.

October 29, 2003 - Call of Duty is released by Activision.

10th Anniversary

October 13, 2008 - Dead Space is released by Electronic Arts.

October 21, 2008 - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is released by Konami.

October 21, 2008 - Far Cry 2 is released by Ubisoft.

October 21, 2008 - Fable II is released by Microsoft.

October 27, 2008 - LittleBigPlanet is released by Sony.

October 28, 2008 - Fallout 3 is released by Bethesda.

5th Anniversary

October 12, 2013 - Pokemon X and Y are released by Nintendo.

October 14, 2013 - The Wolf Among Us is released by Telltale Games.

October 25, 2013 - Batman: Arkham Originsis released by WB.

October 29, 2013 - Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is released by Ubisoft.

October 29, 2013 - Battlefield 4 is released by Electronic Arts.

November

30th Anniversary

November 1988 - Splatterhouse is released by Namco.

25th Anniversary

November 1993 - Sam & Max Hit the Road is released by LucasArts.

November 5, 1993 - Mega Man 6 is released by Capcom.

November 11, 1993 - Disney’s Aladdin is released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment.

November 15, 1993 - ClayFighter is released by Interplay Productions.

November 23, 1993 - Atari releases the Jaguar home console.

20th Anniversary

November 19, 1998 - Half-Life is released by Valve.

November 20, 1998 - Tomb Raider III is released by Eidos Interactive.

November 21, 1998 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is released by Nintendo.

November 27, 1998 - Sega releases the Dreamcast home console.

November 30, 1998 - Thief: The Dark Project is released by Eidos Interactive.

15th Anniversary

November 7, 2003 - Mario Kart: Double Dash is released by Nintendo.

November 11, 2003 - Beyond Good & Evil is released by Ubisoft.

November 11, 2003 - Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is released by Sony.

November 17, 2003 - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is released by Nintendo.

November 27, 2003 - Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly is released by Tecmo.

10th Anniversary

November 10, 2008 - Gears of War 2 is released by Microsoft.

November 17, 2008 - Left 4 Dead is released by Valve.

5th Anniversary

November 12, 2013 - XCOM: Enemy Within is released by 2K Games.

November 15, 2013 - Sony releases the PlayStation 4 home console.

November 21, 2013 - Super Mario 3D World is released by Nintendo.

November 22, 2013 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is released by Nintendo.

November 22, 2013 - Microsoft releases the Xbox One home console.

December

30th Anniversary

December 1, 1988 - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is released by Nintendo in North America.

December 17, 1988 - Final Fantasy II is released by Square.

December 24, 1988 - Mega Man 2 is released by Capcom.

25th Anniversary

December 10 - Doom is released by id Software.

December 17 - Mega Man X is released by Capcom.

20th Anniversary

December 1998 - Rockstar Games is founded.

December 3, 1998 - Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is released by LucasArts.

December 21, 1998 - Baldur’s Gate is released by Interplay.

December 23, 1998 - Sonic Adventure is released by Sega.

15th Anniversary

December 2, 2003 - Deus Ex: Invisible War is released by Eidos Interactive.

10th Anniversary

December 18, 2008 - Dissidia Final Fantasy is released by Square Enix.

Miscellaneous

45th Anniversary

1973 - Taito enters the video game industry.

40th Anniversary

1978 - Konami releases its first arcade game, Block Game.

1978 - Magnavox Odyssey 2 is released.

35th Anniversary

1983 - The Video Game Crash of 1983 in North America.

1983 - Spy Hunter is released by Midway.

1983 - Punch-Out!! is released by Nintendo.

30th Anniversary

1988 - Phantasy Star is released by Sega in North America.

25th Anniversary

1993 - NBA Jam is released by Midway.

Monster Hunter World is officially Capcom's best-selling game ever. 

Capcom has recently announced that they've shipped a record-breaking 7.5 million copies of Monster Hunter World. Despite using the word "shipped," that number seems to indicate both units shipped to retailers and digital copies of the game sold. To really appreciate that number, though, you have to remember that Monster Hunter Worldonly came out about five weeks ago and that the game's PC version has yet to be released. Indeed, Capcom has already stated that World is also their fastest selling game of all-time. 

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So what was the best-selling Capcom game before Monster Hunter World took the crown? Well, according to this list from Capcom's website, it was Resident Evil 5. However, you could make the argument that the various versions and ports of Street Fighter II have probably outsold every other game in Capcom's library. There's also the fact that there's no good way to really translate arcade cabinet sales into modern sales figures. A single arcade unit could have been played by hundreds of different people. 

Still, this is a significant achievement for Monster Hunter World. At the very least, it has outsold entries into such popular franchises as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, and Dead Rising.

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Monster Hunter World's success may come as a surprise, but recent sales figures suggest that it probably shouldn't. Monster Hunter has always sold incredibly well...in Japan. With World, Capcom made a concentrated effort to promote the game more in Western markets. It appears that their efforts paid off, and the increased interest in those regions likely pushed the game over-the-top in terms of sales. 

We certainly found Monster Hunter World to be a great game and a fantastic series entry for franchise veterans and those who have never played a Monster Hunter title before. 

Sea of Thieves is legendary developer Rare's first game since its ill-fated Kinect era. Surprisingly, Rare's not returning to the 3D platformer genre it helped usher in during the Nintendo 64 era. Nor is Sea of Thieves anywhere close to Rare's shooter titles. Instead, the studio's new game is a pirate adventure game where players command a ship, fight enemies, and look for treasure. 

Here's everything we know about the game:

Sea of Thieves News

Rare continues to announce more features for the final version of Sea of Thieves as the studio has recently released a new video that breaks down how customization works. 

Basically, Sea of Thieves will sport some fairly robust customization options. You'll be able to tweak everything from your pirate to your ship with a variety of different clothes and materials. While many of the items available can be accessed by all players - such as peg legs and hook hands - there will be some items that are tied to certain skill ranks or achievements. Rare specifically mentioned special ship sails that they hope will have a very important meaning to those players who see them on an incoming ship. 

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It also turns out that microtransactions will be added to Sea of Thieves at some point. 

Rare executive producer Joe Neate told IGN that the company will begin rolling out microtransactions to the game about three months after its release. The first wave of microtransactions will likely come in the form of pets - parrots, monkeys, etc. - and will gradually be expanded to include other cosmetic items. Rare has stated that they intend to give players the chance to earn currency for all these items in-game. As they put it, these items will have an emotional value, but no mechanical value. 

As for why they are doing this, the answer is quite simple. Rare simply wants to be able to keep up with the costs of keeping an ongoing online game in development. They hope these microtransactions might give them another way to do so. Already, Rare has stated that they intend to turn the current base game's endings into the start of an entirely new adventure.

Rare has also patched an update the now-closed Sea of Thieves beta that reveals some of the content that will be added to the full game. 

The full list of files can be found over on Reddit where dataminers have been posting their findings. Most of the updates relate to improved animations - better shopkeepers, better female characters, better animals, etc. - but there are a few files that hint at more significant additions to come.

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For instance, it seems that Rare is going to add a Kraken to the final version of the game. While many people expected that they would - this is a game about pirates after all - it's not clear how the Kraken will work in the game. Will it be a boss battle? A random encounter? 

Also included in this update are various types of skeletons, new clothing and accessories, new weapons, legendary hideouts, and the ability to transport livestock for extra money. 

Sea of Thieves Release Date

Sea of Thieves will arrive on March 20, 2018. Microsoft confirmed that it will be part of their new Play Anywhere program, which features crossplay on both Xbox One and PC.

Sea of Thieves Trailer

Sea of Thieves will feature events centered around the game's mysterious skeleton forts. 

In a new video above, Rare breaks down the way these encounters will work. They start with the appearance of floating skull with glowing eyes in the sky that indicates the fortress is "active." Players will then be able to raid the fortress in order to do battle with a large number of skeletons. What makes this all the more interesting is that other players can raid the fortress at the same time that you and your crew are doing battle. If you both want to survive, you may have to work together. 

These events culminate with the appearance of a skeleton captain who serves as the fortress boss. Taking him down won't be easy, but if you manage to do so, he'll drop a key that allows you to access a vault full of riches. Of course, only one crew can plunder the vault, so survivors will have to fight over it. 

A new trailer premiered at The Game Awards 2017! Check it out below:

Here's the E3 2017 gameplay trailer for Sea of Thieves!

It's been all quiet on the stormy shores as it relates to Sea of Thieves updates in recent weeks, but this developer gameplay video offers us a fresh look at Rare's most exciting game in years. 

The focus of this video is on the game's cooperative elements and the way that players will need to work together in order to effectively run their pirate ship. It's clear from the video that an incredible amount of cooperation is necessary for players to make it far in the game, especially as it relates to ship-to-ship battles which seem to demand that crew members play multiple roles at once. 

Rare released another dev diary all about the co-op mechanics of Sea of Thieves. There's a great discussion between the two designers regarding how the players will have to work together to navigate their ship through the world map. Check it out below:

Check out 14 minutes of gameplay footage below:

Rare took the stage at Microsoft’s E3 2016 presentation to unveil the debut gameplay footage of their upcoming swashbuckling adventure, Sea of Thieves. The trailer is comprised of real gameplay taken from three teams of fans who were invited to Rare’s studio to play the multiplayer first-person game for the first time.

The gameplay trailer showcases sailing pirate ships across colorful seas, jumping off the plank and exploring uncharted islands, and engaging in high-octane battles with enemy pirates on the open water.

Check out the trailer below:

Here is the announcement trailer:

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If you're ok with compromising the Kingdom Come: Deliverance's realistic aesthetics, then you should probably check out this new PC mod for the game that turns swords into lightsabers. 

Yes, this mod replaces some of the game's longswords, short swords, and sabres with various models of Star Wars lightsabers. A few appear to be taken directly from the films - most notably Kylo Ren's blazing hilt lightsaber - but others just employ slightly altered handle designs. Of course, the lightsabers are also available in a variety of colors. 

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That's the good news. The bad news is that this mod doesn't try to fully-integrate lightsabers into the game. That means that there are minimal lightsaber sound effects, no proper lightsaber sheathing animations, and you still must sharpen your lightsaber at the grindstone. Needless to say, this isn't one of the most advanced mods out there. 

However, we highly recommend this mod simply because it's been too long since someone has taken a shot at implementing advanced lightsaber combat into a game. Kingdom Come's combat system isn't perfect, but it's great to wield a lightsaber in a game that actually requires you to consider sword-fighting techniques. Actually, this mod leaves us hoping that some ambitious user out there just goes ahead and totally converts Kingdom Come into a Star Wars game. 

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Speaking of which, there are quite a few great Kingdom Come mods already floating around the internet. While many of the earliest mods focused on improving some of the game's issues - an unlimited saving mod was released pretty much right away - we're starting to see content mods that are much more significant in their scope. 

For instance, there's already a Game of Thronesconversion mod in the works as well as a very ambitious mod that makes Kingdom Comemuch more challenging. There are even mods that add some of the missing perks back into the game and mods that let you treat halberds like primary weapons. 

However, our favorite mod thus far may just be "Roads are Dangerous." This mod simply makes it more likely to encounter enemies while on the road or fast traveling and adds a few new random encounters into the game designed to spice things up a bit. 

For professional Dota 2 players, all roads lead to The International 8. 

The International is an esports tournament unlike any other. It's a competition that sees invited teams who have proved their worth during the Dota 2 competitive season share space with qualified teams who made it to the big stage by virtue of their performances in qualifier tournaments. All of these squads are competing to make it out of group play and eventually play in the final match. 

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That's where things get really interesting. Along with the right to call themselves the best in the world, the final two teams are competing for the bulk of one of the richest prize pools in all of esports. Last year's International winners - Team Liquid - walked away with an astonishing $10,862,683 in prize money. As you can see, then, Dota 2 pros have plenty of incentive to be among the best in the world. 

Before they get there, though, they have to survive one of the toughest competitive seasons in all of esports. Across several majors tournaments and a host of minor tournaments, Dota 2teams from across the world will do battle against and amongst the absolute best. Along with prize money, they are vying for competitive points, a boost in the rankings, and perhaps even a chance to secure a coveted invite to The International.

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If you are one of the millions who follow the Dota 2 competitive scene - or you are looking to start watching one of the world's largest esports competitions - then we're here to help you keep up with all the madness. Be sure to check out our guide on how Dota 2's competitive season is structured, when the biggest tournaments will take place, what the current international standings are, and much more. 

As for the matches themselves, you can follow those right here by tuning into the video player below:

Kongregate has revealed a new digital gaming platform called Kartridge, which is described as "a community-driven, downloadable games platform offering consumers a wide range of titles, with a focus on premium games." What that means to you is that Kartridge will sell a variety of indie games as well as some larger titles across several different pricing structures.

For instance, it will allow for traditional direct payment as well as free-to-play titles and bundle deals similar to what Humble Bundle offers. Kartridge will also emphasize social interaction among the service's various users and will implement a kind of service achievement system that can reward discounts. 

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“Kartridge is more than just a platform,” said Emily Greer, CEO and co-founder of Kongregate. “It’s a culmination of more than 10 years in the gaming industry. We’ve combined our experience building and running a thriving web gaming portal at Kongregate.com with the knowledge and relationships we’ve built through our publishing program to bring something to both players and developers that was missing in the market.”

Of course, it will take more than a few good deals to help Kartridge stand out from the likes of Steam, Humble Store, and GOG. That's why the service will also push a more focused recommendation algorithm that will supposedly help ensure gamers see the games that truly interest them (as well as some they might not yet know about). Additionally, Kartridge will utilize a more generous revenue model that rewards the first $10,000 in revenue to the developer as well as 70% of all additional revenue for games put on the platform before October 31st. This move is designed to assist and incentivize developers to join the platform.  

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Greer has also stated that “Kartridge is not a replacement for Kongregate.com; it is an evolution." Kongregate's website, which serves as a web gaming portal, will continue to operate as it has before, while Kartridge offers another platform for indie developers looking for additional exposure and, potentially, additional revenue. Greer also hinted at the possibility of Kartridge supporting a built-in streaming service sometime in the future. 

If you're interested in Kartridge, you can sign-up for the beta here. There is no word on when it might be formally released. 

In an update that we sincerely hope will put an end to this story once and for all, Nintendo has seemingly confirmed that Mario is indeed still a plumber. 

Mario fans on the Nintendo subreddit have noticed that the official Mario bio on Nintendo's website which started the whole plumber fiasco has recently been altered. Now, it seems to say that "[Mario's] occupation is plumber," but that he just so happens to have many other interests in life that sometimes divert his attention. 

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Why the change? Nintendo isn't saying, but if we had to guess, it's probably because of some strange internal logic that in no way brings us any closer to a new Animal Crossing game for Nintendo Switch. 

In case you don't remember, this whole "Is he still a plumber" debate began when fans noted that Mario's official profile page on the Nintendo of Japan website had been updated to reflect that Mario is no longer just a mere plumber. At that time, much like your average hipster yuppie, it appears that Nintendo had tried to indicate that Mario was now pursuing everything in life that is cool.  

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"All around sporty, whether it's tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, [Mario] does everything cool," states the profile according to a translation by Kotaku. "As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago..."

Those concerned with the gaping plot holes in the Mario gaming universe found comfort in the fact that Nintendo has now explained how a plumber can also serve as a doctor, a kart racer, a tennis player, a golfer, and so many other professions. As it turned out, plumbing was just one of those things that Mario thought he'd dabble in for awhile. 

Some of you might also remember that Miyamoto confirmed that he imagines Mario to be a twenty-something-year-old man at this point. Not only does that mean Mario apparently doesn't age, but it also lends some weight to the above-stated theory that he is enjoying the hipster renaissance man stage of his life for as long as he is able. Of course, it seems that plumbing still pays the bills (along with all those gold coins). 

There is still no word regarding whether Luigi ever found gainful employment. 

Sci-fi horror fans begging for more experiences like System Shock and BioShock got the highly anticipated Prey reboot last year. While there's much to be said about how those influences play off this creepy space adventure, Prey is still very much a worthwhile entry in the shrinking lineup of recent story-focused, single-player games.

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For those of you hoping to return to the world of Morgan Yu and the Typhon, there might be some good news in the form of a mysterious tweet released by the game's official Twitter handle over the weekend. If the teaser is meant to indicate that an expansion is on the way, players may soon be visiting the Moon. 

Here's the teaser in question:

As PC Gamer pointed out, there's definitely precedent for a new adventure on the Moon. There's a reference in the game to a Pytheas facility that "sits deep in a crater on the Lunar pole, permanently shadowed and surrounded by kilometers of ice." It may very well be this facility that players will be exploring in the rumored expansion. 

Preydropped almost a year ago today, so it might be surprising to some to see Arkane Studios teasing an expansion this late in the game, but there's precedent for that, too. After all, the studio released The Death of the Outsider expansion about a year after the debut of Dishonored 2. 

The latest entry into the Far Cry franchise figures to include all of the mini-missions, base destruction, and open-world exploration that we've come to expect from the game's most recent titles, but this Far Cry breaks the mold just a bit by moving players from a harsh jungle setting to the heart of rural America. 

In Far Cry 5, you will be tasked with liberating a small town from the oppression of a cult that has coerced the populace through fear and intimidation. Doing so will require you to seek the help of a small band of local rebels who share your goal. 

Here's the latest from Far Cry 5:

Far Cry 5 News

The next Far Cry game will include an extensive arcade mode that lets players create custom maps and game types. 

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According to the video above, Far Cry 5: Arcade is described as such because it will ultimately house a variety of in-game experiences. The Arcade mode allows players to utilize over 5,000 in-game objects that include assets from the Far Cry series as well as other Ubisoft properties like Assassin's Creed. The amount of options it offers seems to be quite daunting. The brief preview above shows that players can create just about everything that they can imagine within the context of a Far Cry game. 

Ubisoft intends to expand the already impressive initial offering of assets included in the game's Arcade mode with every DLC release. They will also continue to upload official custom map designs and plan to host events designed to show off various creations. 

Far Cry 5 Release Date

Far Cry 5 has been delayed to March 27, 2018 from an original release date of Feb. 27. The game is coming for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. PlayStation 4 users will receive a free in-game skin pack upon purchase. 

Far Cry 5 Trailer

Take a look this fantastic new story trailer for Far Cry 5's campaign:

The developers of Far Cry 5 took a little time to break down some of the things you can look forward to in Far Cry 5. While the bulk of the footage focuses on previously revealed features - co-op gameplay, freedom of exploration, recruiting characters - this video does include some never before seen looks at the game's wildlife. 

This Far Cry 5 trailer focuses on the game's co-op options by detailing the many ways you and your friends will be able to destroy the game's small-town cultists. Hint: many of them involve rather large guns.

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E3 2017 didn't bring us quite as much information about Far Cry 5 as we thought it might, but these two new trailers for the game do expand upon the game's unique look at the modern world. We also get a brief look at a cinematic mock-up of the title's gameplay which seems to suggest that the latest Far Cry may place a greater emphasis on squad-based objective completion and combat. 

Along with Far Cry's first official trailer, Ubisoft is releasing a few character trailers that highlight some of the prominent members of the game's resistance movement. Get to know bar owner Mary May, Pastor Jerome Jeffries, and pilot Nick Rye courtesy of these new previews:

The official trailer for Far Cry 5 seemingly confirms many things we already new about the game. It takes place somewhere in the Montana countryside, it sees you combat a radical religious leader and his congregation, and it will feature plenty of open-world action. It also serves to get us very, very excited about the next installment in the Far Cry series.

Far Cry 5 Story

Far Cry 5 will cast players into the role of a junior deputy in Hope County, Montana. Somewhere along the way, this young deputy will cross paths with the local doomsday religious cult known as Project at Eden's Gate. It seems that it will be up to you to bring together local members of the growing resistance movement and fight back with the help of various vehicles and weapons. 

You'll also be able to hire special activist groups in order to help you along the way. It's not entirely clear how these groups will affect the overall gameplay beyond assisting you in combat, but we do know that Far Cry 5 will feature a co-op option and will revive Far Cry 3's map editor program. 

Far Cry 5 DLC

Ubisoft has revealed the batch of post-release content that you expect from Far Cry 5's season pass. It's...interesting to say the least. 

The first piece of DLC for a game that is set in rural Montana will take you to the jungles of Vietnam and pit you against the Viet Cong. The second DLC release will be a grindhouse-style zombie adventure. The last will see you fight alien spiders on Mars. 

Think we're making this up? Just take a look at this photo that is way too professional to have possibly come from us: 

As noted in that awesome picture above, the Classic Edition of Far Cry 5 will contain all Season Pass content and a downloadable copy of Far Cry 3. 

In 1982, Steven Spielberg was at the height of his filmmaking powers. He'd changed the Hollywood landscape with Jaws; enjoyed huge success with Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and he was about to release his biggest film to date with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

A photo taken at the time shows a 30-something Spielberg slouched in his office, surrounded by some of the trappings of his success: framed posters of Jaws and Close Encounters, and signed copies of E.T. draped over a table. But the photo also reveals something else about Spielberg - something that a lot of cinema-goers probably didn't know at the time: he was really into video games. The evidence is right there over the director's shoulder: a full-sized Donkey Kong cabinet, a hit arcade game that had only appeared in America a few months earlier.

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Given the expense of such a machine, it's fair to say that it didn't end up in Spielberg's office by accident - and neither is it the only time the director had shown off his collection of arcade games to photographers. Years earlier, he donned a pair of shades and posed for a photo next to his Missile Command cabinet; another photo shows Spielberg - now bearded and wearing Chinos and a leather jacket - at the helm of his Space Invaders machine.

Spielberg's '80s passion for gaming went further than just playing them in his spare time, however. As Slashfilm pointed out a few years ago, Spielberg wrote the introduction for Martin Amis' unusual (and now very rare) book about his addiction to space invaders. And then, of course, there was E.T: the videogame.

Not only was E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial one of the biggest films of the 1980s, but it also indirectly sparked one of gaming’s first urban legends. Atari's spin-off game, hastily put together in time for Christmas 1982, was so poorly received - and produced in such huge quantities - that its creators ended up with thousands of unsold copies. And as the market suffered a nasty slump in North America, word got around that those unsold E.T. games were quietly being buried in the New Mexico desert. 

It almost sounded too wild to be true, yet the legend was revealed to have more than a grain of truth behind it: in 2015, the documentary Atari: Game Over covered a kind of archaeological dig at the rumored burial place of those E.T. games, and sure enough, a number of copies were recovered, along with other unsold Atari 2600 cartridges that were discarded in the wake of the early-80s crash.

Although he wouldn’t exactly rush to bring the subject up in interviews, E.T. director Steven Spielberg had at least a small hand in that ill-fated videogame. While the design and programming of E.T. was handled by Howard Scott Renshaw, who produced the thing in a dervish of all-night coding, Spielberg himself had reportedly pushed for a videogame. When Renshaw agreed to make the game, he met with Spielberg on a private jet to pitch his idea: a 2D adventure game that takes place in a complex world of interlocking screens. Spielberg had reportedly expected a Pac-Man clone; nevertheless, he was clearly convinced by what Renshaw proposed - the programmer even stipulated that Spielberg play the game and sign off on it before its release.

Around the time of E.T's release, Spielberg appeared on television and briefly praised the game based on his hit movie. "I was amazed at how difficult it was and at the same time how much fun it was to play," Spielberg said. The general public, certainly at the time, didn't exactly agree. 

Despite E.T.'s gloomy fate, the game's story is almost as ingrained in 80s popular culture as Spielberg's movies. Whether he directed them, like E.T. or the Indiana Jones movies, or served as producer, like the Back To The Future trilogy or The Goonies, he had a hand in some of the most quoted and referenced bits of pop entertainment of that era. It’s doubtful, in fact, that Spielberg himself could have predicted just how enduring all of these movies would prove to be; what once might have looked like an ephemeral children’s adventure - The Goonies - is still popular even in the 21st century. It’s telling, too, that all of the films mentioned so far have received videogame spin-offs - some dreadful, like E.T., and some very good, like The Goonies on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Affection for Spielberg’s movies runs deep in Ernest Cline’s best-selling book, Ready Player One, which is all about a virtual world steeped in '80s culture. It’s fitting, then, that Spielberg should end up as the director of its adaptation; it’s the post-modern serpent nibbling on its own tail. More than a chance to reference his own classic movies, Ready Player One may also give Spielberg the belated opportunity to speak to his affection for videogames - an affection that endured long after the E.T. videogame in the early '80s.

In the mid-90s, for example, Spielberg joined forces with LucasArts to create a point-and-click adventure game, The Dig. The previous decade, the concept had begun life as an episode in Spielberg's anthology TV series, Amazing Stories; about a group of scientists who investigate the evidence of an alien civilisation on an asteroid orbiting Earth, it was deemed too expensive to make as a television show, or even a movie. Instead, Spielberg reworked the idea into a game with sci-fi author Orson Scott Card. The Dig wasn't quite as warmly received as some of LucasArts' other hit adventure games, but it was still recognisably a Spielberg story: its sense of fear and wonder in the face of the unknown has a clear link to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

While The Digwasn't a hit, it was still a more satisfying experience than Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair - a kind of filmmaking simulator released in 1996. Featuring full-motion video clips of celebrities like Quentin Tarantino and Jennifer Aniston (back when such a thing was still a novelty), it tasked the player with guiding a fictional movie from its script stage, through post-production and onto release. In real terms, this simply meant splicing together a bunch of pre-recorded clips. A classic it was not.

The mid-90s also saw Spielberg get involved in another videogaming venture: Sega GameWorks, a kind of Planet Hollywood for videogames. Spielberg reportedly offered a certain amount of creative input in GameWorks ("I'm an addicted game addict, I always have been, and that's the reason for my involvement in Sega GameWorks," he said at the time), though he and his company DreamWorks eventually withdrew from the project in 2001.  

All of this might imply that Spielberg's involvement in the games industry failed to generate much creative heat - but then, we haven't gotten to the first-person shooter phase of his career yet. Not long after he directed the acclaimed WWII film Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg and his team at DreamWorks Interactive began thinking about porting the realism of that movie into a videogame. Saving Private Ryan's celebrated opening sequence brought a quasi documentary feel to the Allied assault on the beaches of Normandy; what if that intensity could be recreated on a computer or console? The result was Medal Of Honor; published by Electronic Arts, it was a hit shooter that went on to redefine the whole genre. Spawning a series of spin-offs and sequels, the series' influence spread further when several of its creators went off and made a rival game, Call Of Duty. Spielberg therefore unwittingly helped to create one of the biggest videogame franchises of all time. 

Nor was this Spielberg's only collaboration with EA. In 2005, the director signed a contract with the publisher to make three videogames - a high-profile deal that saw Spielberg get an office in EA's headquarters. First came Boom Blox, a Jenga-like action puzzler for the Nintendo Wii; designed by Spielberg himself, the game was well received but, on a console crowded with sub-par shovelware, the nifty little title was somewhat lost in the mix (it did, however, get a sequel - the even more obscure Boom Blox Party).

Spielberg’s other project at EA was far more ambitious: codenamed LMNO, it was billed as a triple-A action adventure with a story that contained vague echoes of E.T. It concerned an ethereal, apparently female alien named Eve, who manages to escape from an Area 51-like secure facility in the desert. A male protagonist, Lincoln, has a chance meeting with the visitor in a diner, whereupon the place is set upon by heavily-armed government agents. This would form the basis of a single-player action game where the player cooperates with a computer-controlled side-kick; not unlike the Japanese cult game Ico, LMNO pivoted on creating the illusion of a flesh-and-blood character that was alternatively vulnerable and powerful - the alien’s telekinesis would serve as a useful tool at decisive moments in the story, if only the player can coax her into using them. Spielberg had planned to create a compelling emotional journey for the player, too: he famously hinted in an earlier interview that he wanted the game to elicit tears from its audience.

Sadly, LMNO would never get far beyond the prototyping stage, and despite its initial promise, Spielberg’s tear-jerker quietly withered on the vine.

A direct hand in game design aside, Spielberg has long incorporated cutting-edge computer tech in his movies. In the pre-digital days of optical effects, he worked with the VFX genius Douglas Trumbull to create Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’s spectacular finale; it was the kind of go-for-broke visual fireworks display that, had it failed to pass muster with audiences, would have brought the entire film tumbling down. Instead, Trumbull’s sequences of UFOs descending on Wyoming were a triumph, and the film was a colossal hit.

Jurassic Park, meanwhile, was among the 90s films that ushered in a new era of CGI; its sequences of computer-generated dinosaurs were brief, but melded with the animatronic effects almost seamlessly. Even as Spielberg’s entered the later stages of his filmmaking career, he’s remained undaunted by technological advances. Minority Report’s CG-heavy future world of virtual interfaces and ubiquitous advertising were heavily copied elsewhere; Spielberg even managed to fit in an all-CGI Tintin movie alongside War Horse in 2011. 

All of which brings us back round to Ready Player One - a project that we might have imagined would go to a younger director more steeped in hectic action sequences (at one point, Chris Nolan was courted for the role).

Then again, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Spielberg would go for a movie about VR and all-enveloping pop culture. With the likes of Jaws and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, he and George Lucas pretty much wrote the rule book for modern blockbusters. But while his success in the world of interactive entertainment has been mixed, the liked of the infamous E.T., and the huge impact of Medal Of Honor mean that Spielberg's helped shape the videogame landscape, too.

State of Decay caught quite a few gamers by surprise back in 2013. Few people had ever heard of the title prior to its release, and those that had probably didn't expect it to be the fairly unique take on open-world zombie apocalypse action that it was.

While almost everyone that played State of Decay was caught off-guard by its quality, the sequel will likely not enjoy such an advantage. In order to replicate State of Decay's surprising success, developer Undead Labs is going to have to pull out all the stops for State of Decay 2. Fortunately, it sounds like that's exactly what they have in mind.

Here's everything we know about State of Decay 2:

State of Decay 2 Release Date

State of Decay 2 is coming on May 22. The game will arrive for XBO and PC.

State of Decay 2 Trailer

Here's the first trailer for State of Decay 2:

State of Decay 2 Details

In a blog post on the State of Decay 2 website, Undead Labs outlines some of the ways they hope to improve the original experience by expanding the size of the game's maps. Yes, that's maps as in more than one. According to this latest update, State of Decay 2 will launch with three separate maps that are all "roughly the size of the original."

So what do Undead Labs plan to do with all that new space for activities? Well, the developer wants to make players feel like they are "moving from one small town to another" in order to create a greater sense of immersion in the overall world. The studio also hopes that this expanded overall game size will eliminate some of the repetitiveness of the original's late game by removing the constant need to engage in the same series of missions. 

Undead Labs also alludes to future expansions by stating that, "the multiple map set up makes it easy to expand the world down the line, if you know what I mean."

The developer also suggests that you'll be able to transfer your survivors and resources between maps but seem hesitant to confirm the specifics of this set-up at present. It will be interesting to see how this new set-up affects the story and progression structure of the original game. Will you be able to explore these areas from the start? Will each map feature unique resources and survivors?

Of course, we'll have the answer to all of these questions when State of Decay 2 launches in 2018. 

E3 2018 is almost here. The Electronic Entertainment Expo may have started as an industry trade show, but it is has ballooned into a full-on spectacle. Gaming companies from across the world converge on Los Angeles in June for a week full of exclusive announcements, incredible updates, and celebrations regarding the gaming industry in general. There's nothing else like it in the video game world, and this year's event figures to be one of the best yet. 

This year's conferences will begin on Sunday, June 10 and run through Tuesday, June 12. The expo floor will be open from Tuesday, June 12, and will run until Thursday, June 14. As always, the event will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and the immediate surrounding area. Some studios, like Sony, have also elected to hold their conferences away from the show's main stage.

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Between Microsoft making aggressive moves to get back into the console race, Sony loading up on exclusive titles, and Nintendo continuing to shock the world with its success and innovations, this year's major game studios will likely roll into E3 - or, in the case of Nintendo, an E3-themed Direct video - looking to steal the show. Competing with them are a host of major publishers - Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Electronics - that have recently been stealing the show from E3's biggest presenters. 

You can expect more and more information about E3 2018 to be leaked out in the days and weeks to come, but for now, here's everything we know about the biggest gaming show of the year:

E3 2018 Conference Dates and Times

*All times listed are ET

Bethesda: Sunday, June 10 - 9:30 p.m

More dates and times as they are confirmed...

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E3 2018: How to Watch

While E3 2018 will be open to the public, it appears that tickets to the show have once again sold out rather quickly. Unless you qualify for a media pass - which you can double check here - you'll have to settle for watching the show from home. 

So far as that goes, you can expect that there will be plenty of ways to keep up with all the action. Every major conference from E3 should be streamed via Twitch and other popular streaming platforms. As for Nintendo, they will be publishing a special E3 Nintendo Direct video as they have done in recent years. 

We'll be sure to provide you with all the links you need to watch E3 2018's biggest conferences as more information about them becomes available.