News Wrap 04Good morning. Yes, it’s the news like you like it. Short. Sharp. And to the point.

Games

A(nother) title update for Battlefield 4 is available (since 17 December) on PS4, PS3 and Xbox 360. The update fixes numerous issues, but a few more remain. To see what DICE still has to sort out, head here.

Forza Horizon is on sale on Xbox Live for today. The game is discounted by 50%, while the Season Pass is reduced by a massive 75%.

The new Mass Effect is “Ambitious. Beautiful. Fresh but recognizable. And fun,” according to BioWare’s Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn. And? Details man… [More on CVG]

A (free) update for Ryse has been released and it adds two new level events. Slay barbarians (they might just be misunderstood you know…) and a random enemy turret will start making your life an arrow-filled misery until you destroy it. The second event grants one-time buff bonuses to your health or focus attributes via Reward Statues of Roman deities. A DLC pack – The Colosseum Pack, costing $3.99 – has also been released and adds two new arenas and two new player skins.

Team Ninja is “thinking of the next Ninja Gaiden“. We;re pretty sure many would prefer you to be working on it, rather than just thinking about it. [More on Siliconera]

A demo for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is now available for PSN and XBL. The demo offers four single-player missions and some multi-player portions. Some of the data and stats obtained in the demo will be transferable to the full game.

Skullgirls will be returning to Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam as Skullgirls Encore. The “transition” from Skullgirls to Skullgirls Encore will start on 31 December and run until “sometime in January 2014.” Some free content will be made available to owners of the original as well as new players. [More on CVG]

The PC version of the ‘Freedom Cry’ DLC for Assassin’s Creed IV has been delayed for a few days so that Ubisoft can take “the extra time to apply a final layer of polish to ensure that it meets the expectations of our fans.” The DLC will be available “in the coming days”. [via Ubisoft Forums]

The DayZ standalone alpha version has sold a pretty impressive 172,500 in 24 hours of release. The game is available on Steam Early Access and Bohemia’s online store at a price of £19.99 / € 23.69.

Hardware

PlayStation Mobile has launched in eight new countries. Users in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand can download the free PS Mobile app for their PlayStation certified smartphone or tablet to access a selection of games from the PS Store.

Industry

A second class-action suit against EA over the bugs in Battlefield 4 has been started by a Californian law firm. Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s lawsuit is based – as with another in the works – on the belief that EA made allegedly misleading statements to investors about Battlefield 4. [More on GameSpot]

Screenshots

Videos

The final EU PlayStation Store update for 2013 is live and brings the second season of The Walking Dead, Minecraft and more. Details here.

The second part of the ‘Stories from the City’ series for Thief. The video focuses on the ‘Queen of the Beggars’.

Batman: Arkham Origins ‘The Making of Copperhead’ video.

The official announcement trailer of Eliza for free-to-play Tekken Revolution on PS3. A new game update is also now available.

A Dark Souls II live action teaser trailer.

Nosgoth ‘War is Upon Us’ closed alpha trailer.

http://youtu.be/N01T5IXAvS4

A Bravely Default demo on 3DS will be available in the US on 2 January, and features a mini-story that is not part of the full game.

A new Mario Kart 8 trailer.

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze will be available exclusively to the Wii U on 21 February in Europe.

The three videos above were released as part of the recent Nintendo Direct presentations. To get all the details of what was announced, head here.

Games for Good. Imagine Band Aid for gaming (and by gaming), called – unsurprisingly – GamesAid. Well, there’s a Christmas single – nay, two – to raise money for charity.