In The News
Look carefully. What do you see? Tim Neff, a motion capture actor, lists Grand Theft Auto 6 on his resume. While it could always be a typo, that’s exciting news for fans of the franchise. NeoGAF was the first to spot it, with user chadskin writing, “Suggests they’re making good progress as mocap work is usually done in the latter stages of development.” We’ll wait and see if the listing is removed or corrected.
Concrete news about GTA 6 has been scarce. Many originally predicted the game would be out in 2018 based on GTA 4 and 5 launch dates, but Red Dead Redemption 2 makes that scenario unlikely. There’s also talk of a 2020 release date and a potential female lead. Rockstar Games’ Dan Houser had this to say in 2013, “In the future, could we do a game with a lead female character? Of course. We just haven’t found the right game for it yet, but it’s one of the things that we always think about. It didn’t feel natural for this game but definitely for the right game in the future — with the right themes, it could be fantastic.”
Sean “Day[9]” Plott offered a fairly apt explanation for the common complaint heard across many online multiplayer games: that they are highly toxic.
“Ninety-five percent of the people who are toxic didn’t go into the game being toxic, but they felt justified in being an asshole because he was an asshole. That bothers me. That bothers me. Alright, here’s the rule of the Internet. Are you ready for the rule of the Internet? Anyone who’s acting like a 12 year old or who is saying, “oh god these 12 year olds,” they’re all in their 30s. Hundred percent of those people are in their 30s. Zero exceptions to that … He comes home and the one thing he has is /r/Dota2 where he can try to drop knowledge bombs because by god he hit 4k and it was hard.”
There’s a bit of a back-and-forth going on over at /r/pcgaming over PUBG’s decision to introduce microtransactions at Gamescom 2017. Redditor LinksGayAwakening posted an extensive thread explaining why microtransactions are bad. Comments quickly devolved into a brawl pitting the apathetic against the passionate.
Oh look, my nightmares come to life. Mick Ignis went to SDCC last weekend dressed as an unnervingly accurate Waluigi. “He had some make-up help from Cig Nuetron, who was looking just as awful/amazing as Wario,” Luke Plunkett at Kotaku writes.
Anyone who thought they got pretty lucky when Walmart sent out a pre-order notification for the Super NES Classic Edition has had their excitement dashed. Walmart cancelled every pre-order because it apparently never should have made them available in the first place, GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb reports. Here’s a part of the cancellation email:
“Unfortunately, due to a technical glitch, the Super Nintendo Classic Edition was mistakenly made available last Friday evening ahead of the official release date. We, regrettably, will have to cancel this item on your order. We know that this is incredibly disappointing to you, and we’re truly sorry for this mistake.”
Techland, creator of Dying Light, has a new online game store called Gemly. It’s available on Linux, Mac and PC, Polygon’s Michael McWhertor reports. “Gemly’s library of games is comparatively smaller to what’s available from more established services like Steam and GOG. The catalog includes Techland-developed titles like Dying Light: The Following and software the company publishes, like Torment: Tides of Numenera. Gemly is also selling games from Sega, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Tripwire Interactive, Harebrained Schemes and others.”
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodsail comes out first in China, but Ubisoft is contemplating releasing it in America, too. GamesIndustry.biz reports the company “made the details of its plans public. Blood Sail is an MMORPG for mobile devices, it is built with Unreal Engine 4, and it is currently slated for a China-only release. However, Aurelien Palasse, Ubisoft’s head of licensing and publishing, tells GamesIndustry.biz that its China specific strategy could change.” Check out the full article for the rest of the interview.
Nintendo boasted some nice numbers yesterday for the 3-month period ending June 30. “64.73 billion yen ($578 million) in gross profit and, with the usual operating expenses deducted, 16.21 billion yen ($145 million) in operating profit,” Engadget’s Nick Summers explains. “Nintendo sold 1.97 million portable-console hybrids during the quarter, bringing the system’s total lifetime sales to 4.7 million.”
Calling all lore lovers. Star Wars Battlefront II’s prequel novel, “Inferno Squad,” is out today. “Taking place after the events of the films Rogue One and A New Hope, the book Battlefront II: Inferno Squad introduces the cast and events that lead into Star Wars Battlefront II’s story campaign,” Game Informer’s Kyle Hilliard reports. “The book follows the titular Inferno Squad as they track down and attempt to infiltrate the rebel faction once led by the legendary Saw Gerrera.”
Esports legitimization is happening at “warp speed,” according to Rick Fox. Venues Today’s Linda Deckard interviewed Fox, Jace Hall and Pete Vlastelica about what’s happening with esports. “‘Everything mirrors major league sports, but it’s at warp speed,’” Fox said. Hall added that “‘The players are going to fill your stadium, just like Rick Fox or Kobe or Shaq [in the NBA]. For 35 years, eSports has been about the game. Now it’s about the players.’”