Yes, this normally posts on Tuesday and Friday. I’m a day late this week, but the whole week is sort of a day behind anyway, right? Plus, I had to learn a few things about the back end of our gorgeous new site that slowed me down a bit. It’s a better system, but just different enough to confuse me. On to the news:
Digital Extreme’s Warframe has been live on Steam for some time, but they recently announced it will be coming to consoles as well. The free to play shooter will be a timed PS4 exclusive when the console launches November 15th. The exclusivity deal is for three months of Sony-only Space Ninja action. I haven’t played the PC version, but I’m hoping this is a good enough game to keep us entertained for the post-launch drought of games from which all consoles suffer.
Evolution Studios has finally offered some clarification on the “PS Plus Edition” of DriveClub, free with PS+ at launch. According to Design Director Paul Rustchynsky, this will be the full version of the game, minus a few cars and tracks, which Plus subscribers can purchase separately. “There will be a discount to upgrade to the full digital edition from the PS+ edition, but prices won’t be announced for a few more weeks yet.” For trophy hunters, rest assured you can earn your platinum through the free edition. DriveClub will be a featured game on Plus “well into the new year.” I expect this will be PS4’s version of Uncharted or LittleBigPlanet, being a long-standing piece of the Instant Game Collection to serve in advertisements and on PS4 packaging.
Today’s PlayStation Store Update sees Resident Evil Chronicles HD Collection joining PS+ the Instant Game Collection. That means Knytt Underground is no longer part of the offering. Other benefits activating today are sale prices on Puppeteer, F1 2013, Kickbeat, Zombie Driver HD, and Retro City Rampage.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox One will support up to eight controllers. That’s twice as many as the Xbox 360, but there is a catch – two actually. First, only six players can be logged into their profiles, meaning the remaining two would have to operate as guests. Second, no games currently in the works are planned to use that many inputs. I wouldn’t expect that to change anytime soon. Pairing the controllers should be easy though, as Kinect will use the infrared LEDs in the controller to pair you up with your profile.
Meanwhile, Sony is moving the opposite direction. The PS3 supported up to seven Bluetooth devices (controllers). Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will support only four controllers for local multiplayer. Score one for Microsoft in this category, but it’s an irrelevant point unless developers support the feature.
Despite assurances from Ubisoft that the PS Vita version of Rayman Legends would include all of the console content, that doesn’t seem to be the case. The extremely difficult “Invasion” levels are missing. We have no official comment from Ubisoft yet. This seems like it would be an awfully big oversight, but perhaps they have an explanation? The Vita version is coming next week.
If you’re one of the many Battlefield players that just avoid piloting aerial vehicles because you just can’t figure it out? DICE’s Creative Director Lars Gustavsson explains the vehicle test range for Battlefield 4: “If you want to learn to fly a helicopter you can get in there and you can find the settings that work best for you. And then start doing some stunt flights just to feel safe before you go out and get the responsibility of a bunch of other people sitting in your helicopter, so I truly hope that this will help people feel more safe about trying out the whole battlefield.” Good news the terrible pilots and their unfortunate passengers.
Microsoft has announced the launch date for the Xbox One, November 22, 2013 – one week after the PS4’s launch. That’s really all there is to that part of the story, as it’s basically the only thing we didn’t know yet. The additional news on this topic is that Yusuf Mehdi of Microsoft explained how this will not end support for the Xbox 360. Support for that console will actually continue until at least 2016. This includes 100+ new games and Xbox Live support.
EA Sports UFC franchise isn’t one that gots brought up in VGQH often, but I’m a fan of their recent announcement. Their next game, coming in Spring 2014, will include female fighters for the first time. UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey and her #1 contender, Miesha Tate, are both confirmed for the game. Hopefully there will be more than just the two, and it would also be great to use the fairer sex in character creation.
That closes out this week’s [late] early edition. Friday’s edition may be abbreviated or cancelled this week, as I’ll be hitting up Salt Lake City Comic Con at the Salt Palace Convention Center. If you’re going, bring your PS Vita. I’ll have mine and I want some Near Game Goods.