2K Games launches “Advent” teaser campaign with possible XCOM connections.
A few weeks back, 2K Games reported in their annual investors’ call that a new “triple-A title” was on the verge of announcement. This past Monday, they got a start on revealing just what that means with the mysterious teaser site “Advent Future.” Claiming to represent some sort of utopian city free from illness, and protected by armed guards, it hocks the benefits of DNA splicing and ensures that its citizens feel ‘safe’ inside its walls. However, the site slowly morphs to show messages from a dissenting organization, warning the user of its dangers. On the site is a link to 2K’s newsletter, ensuring that this is connected to the aforementioned new “triple-A title” from the publisher. However, it’s not immediately apparent just what its for.
Thankfully, we have the internet, and with it, an army of tech-savy nerds ready to deconstruct every element provided to them. Thanks to some close analysis by users on NeoGAF, it seems that this will be the next installment of the XCOM strategy franchise. A few posters spotted in the universe bear striking resemblance to ones found in Enemy Unknown, a font used in a supplied PDF is labeled as “xcom-normal”, and the viral website’s themes of a mega city constructed for protection bear striking resemblance to the plot of XCOM: Apocalypse. It’s very likely that we’ll get to the bottom of this alien mystery at one of the various E3 press conferences, occuring on Saturday, June 15.
Sony apologizes for ‘sparse’ first-party lineup in 2015, signs Vita death certificate
It’s not often you hear gaming behemoths getting humble, which makes some statements coming out of Sony’s annual Investor Relations Day rather surprising. Global CEO Andrew House admitted that “Our first-party lineup is a little sparse this year, so I think this places even greater emphasis on getting good third-party support.” Currently, Sony only has three more first-party retail titles scheduled for release this year — two of which (God of War III Remastered, and Tearaway Unfolded) are remasters of previous releases. Uncharted 4, which was initially scheduled for this fall, was recently delayed into early 2016. This statement has been taken by many to suggest that Sony’s upcoming E3 presentation might not be announcing anything for release in the Fall to take its place. Whether or not this comes to fruition will be seen soon enough.
In addition to comments on the first-party output, House also referred to the PS Vita and PlayStation TV as ‘legacy devices’ — suggesting that significant support may be waning. Since ‘legacy’ is most often a term used when referring to consoles after their traditional lifespan (such as the PS3 or XBox 360), it seems clear where Sony stands on future Vita releases.
Microsoft teases a new controller for XBox ONE
Are you already sick of your old, outdated controller that came with your XBox ONE a whole 18 months ago? Yikes, it’s practically an antique. Fortunately, Microsoft will be giving you the chance to upgrade your experience very soon. Starting with a small teaser posted on the official French XBox Twitter, the cat quickly jumped out of the bag when the official Xbox.com guide for XBox ONE Wireless controllers was updated. So far, the only new feature seems to be the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack, presumably for game audio, akin to the PlayStation 4 controller. The feature is also “Only available on controllers released after June 2015”, so you won’t have to wait long to shell out $60 for a new plastic gizmo.
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