If you’re South African, you’re probably not reading this because the public holiday means you can have a sleep in. If you are reading this you’re either an unlucky South African or an international reader. Good morning either way.
We’ve probably appeared a little indifferent to all the next-generation news and rumours around these parts. It’s mainly because we’re happy to see official confirmation as far as possible before getting overly wound up in the speculation. We’re not saying the speculation and leaks are wrong, just that show someone something incomplete and they’ll make the rest up. So what’s the Xbox Durango rumour today? The same as before really. “Always online” and “Kinect and mandatory game installs”. Those ever sharp chaps at VGLeaks have the skinny, but has anyone actually wondered if the Dev Kit requirements aren’t actually a security measure on Microsoft’s part to prevent an e-Bay buyer from getting himself one? Or, better yet, MS is just simply trolling the internet? Or that maybe that’s just a fact of life for the next Xbox. April might be the end of speculation we believe… or the start of new assumptions.
VGLeaks have also suggested that Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been renamed Final Fantasy XV and will be released as a PS4 exclusive. Doesn’t seem too much of a stretch I suppose. Sony has almost always had a Final Fantasy game accompany their consoles.
On the official – irrefutable – news side of things. Activision has told CVG that they will be revealing official details about its upcoming Fast & Furious game shortly. Another quick, get rich movie tie-in inbound?
A Battlefield 4 ‘teaser’ site has been launched. The more you visit (and login), the more that will be revealed. Logging in also gets you an ‘I Was There’ dogtag, which you can use immediately in Battlefield 3. And remember to wipe away the condensation when you visit.
According to The Verge (and confirmed by Microsoft), a number of Xbox Live accounts held by senior employees have been targeted by hackers who are using “several stringed social engineering techniques to compromise the accounts.” They have “law enforcement and other affected companies” on the case.
Sony has announced that the standalone, free-to-play version of Uncharted 3‘s multiplayer has been downloaded over 350,000 times. To tie in with the announcement, they have also announced that Oddball DLC is now available for download… but that’s not free.
Speaking of treasure hunters, Crystal Dynamics has said that they have “no plans” to expand Tomb Raider‘s single-player campaign. All upcoming DLC is to be entirely devoted to Tomb Raider’s multiplayer mode, according to global brand manager Karl Stewart. [via Eurogamer]
The EU PSN Store update brings a number of new games, DLC and other goodies to your PlayStation 3 and Vita. To get the full list, head over to the EU PlayStation Blog.
Thw classic PS2 fighter Capcom vs. SNK 2 has been confirmed for an end of April re-release on PS3 via the ‘PS2 Classics’ section of the PlayStation Store.
The studio that brought The Unfinished Swan to the PS3 last year, Giant Sparrow, has teased a new game codenamed Edith Finch, saying it’s “it’s not a million miles away either” from their previous game.
Blizzard has confirmed it will showcase the PS3 port of Diablo III and its “reimagined interface and inventory system” at PAX East, which is on 22 to 24 March in Boston. [via CVG]
The Carmageddon reboot will be heading to next-gen consoles according to the developer Stainless Games, who have bagged a $3.5 million investment, on top of the $625,000 raised on Kickstarter for the originally planned PC version. [via Eurogamer]
Traffic congestion has been relieved in SimCity. That’s what the latest patch (1.7) did for the traffic at the intersections in the game.
A new making of video for the Star Trek videogame has been released and focuses on the Gorn.
To keep the excitement levels high for BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games has released a video about the women who influenced and helped bring Elizabeth to life.
A new Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time video has been released before the games release next week.
Finally, Steam now offers players early access on upcoming games. This ‘Early Access’ (official name) allows players to “purchase unfinished games and play them while they’re still being developed.” Or as Valve says: “provide gamers with the chance to ‘go behind the scenes’ and experience the development cycle firsthand and, more importantly, have a chance to interact with the developers by providing them feedback while the title is still being created.”
